Multimedia
Blogs
Forum
Affordable HD
Whitepapers
Newsletters
Events
Advertisers
Blogcast
MillimeterThe Big Red One
Aug 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Darroch Greer
Director Sam Fuller’s tendency to shoot in one long take made reconstructing the film especially difficult.
Editor Bryan McKenzie likes to quote the following from the Internet Movie Database: “If you want to be shaken, watch the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan. If you want to know what it's like to be in a war, watch The Big Red One.” He's referring to the film by iconoclastic director Sam Fuller, released in 1980, which McKenzie is now reconstructing to Fuller's original cut. “I remember overall when I saw the movie I liked it, but it felt like it was missing something.”
The reconstruction project is taking shape under the auspices of Richard Schickel's documentary company Lorac and will screen at the New York Film Festival in October. “In a certain sense, it's a Holy Grail project,” McKenzie says. “People have been trying to do this for 20 years. I'd heard that there existed this mysterious print of it that was four hours long. We thought, ‘Man, it's a two-hour movie now — that's a lot!’ What was in the other two hours?”
Schickel had given The Big Red One a great review in Time Magazine in 1980. Fuller wrote him a thank-you note. McKenzie initially suggested reconstructing the film in the mid-1990s, but Schickel didn't see any interest until Saving Private Ryan came out. Then a few other things happened. Through a researcher, they found Fuller's shooting script with his notes, which also included two outlines for a long cut. Also, Warner Brothers came up with a strange demo reel. “It was kind of a bizarre sales reel, but very low key,” relates McKenzie. “Basically you got Lee Marvin narrating, but not much more. ‘This is the story of the Big Red One. Four guys and their sergeant. They go to places like North Africa.’ And as we're watching this, I'm saying, ‘Well, Richard, these are the missing scenes!”
A sales reel proved essential in reconstructing this battle scene (photo courtesy Kelly Ward).
Schickel pressed executive Brian Jamieson to push things through at Warner Brothers. Seed money was put up, and requests were made to tech-ops to dig up footage. They initially reported they had 12,000ft. of film, perhaps enough for a documentary. Soon, 12,000ft. of film became 15,000ft, then 20,000ft. “The whole time we were waiting for this footage,” McKenzie says. “They're transferring it, but we're not seeing it. It could be 20,000ft. of garbage. It could be a bunch of tanks driving around the desert for six hours. Finally, the magic day happens. They send me these 15 rolls of SP-Beta copies for viewing, and I start looking, and one after another, here are the scenes. There's the first scene that I'm missing. Oh, there's that cutaway I was thinking of. Oh, yeah, I read that scene; that's scene 23, yeah! All of a sudden it's like, I think we can do this.”
One of the most amazing finds was buried in the day-for-night footage. “It was very dark on the dubs, so very often I couldn't tell what the scenes were.” McKenzie continues. “But there was one scene I had kind of skipped over, and it turns out it was the last scene in the movie, not the movie as it ends, which is a series of stills, and it's a little bit '70s TV. I thought, ‘Gee, that's sure looks like the way I'd end the movie.’ I went back to look at the script. Sure enough, that's how it's supposed to end.”
The camera reports were lost, so McKenzie was working off sound reports, which gave him a pretty good clue as to how much footage was shot. Coverage, however, was a problem. There wasn't much of it. Fuller famously shot in long takes and usually only one of them; two was the exception.
The strange demo turned out to be key, particularly for a new battle scene in an amphitheater in North Africa. “I would never have been able to cut that from the raw footage,” says McKenzie. “But there are a couple [edits] that are just exactly what were on the demo tape. We just found the negative and overlaid it. There are actually a couple places where all we had was the demo tape, and that's what's in the movie.”
Altogether, it's a satisfying return for an old warhorse, and McKenzie is proud of the effort. “There were times when I actually felt like I was channeling Sam Fuller — or his vibe — and I kind of thought I knew what he was trying to do.” Including the bad cuts. “There was one, it took you from one place to another in a close shot. It's a little bit jarring, but it kept the action going. … I just said, ‘That's a Sam cut, and I'm not changing that. Sam would have cut it that way.’”
Continue the discussion on “Crosstalk” the Millimeter Forum.