Plot
The film begins in black and white at the end of World War I. A Private (Marvin), using his trench knife, kills a German soldier who was approaching with his arms raised and muttering in German. In the background stands a wooden crucifix, the wood infested with termites.
When he returns to his company's headquarters, the private is told that the war ended "about four hours ago." The 1st Division patch is shown in color.
The film then transitions to a Sergeant (also Marvin) as he leads his squad of infantrymen through North Africa, Sicily, and then on to Omaha Beach at the start of the Battle of Normandy.
The squad crosses the same field where the sergeant killed the surrendering German decades before, where a memorial now stands. The following short conversation takes place:
- Johnson: Would you look at how fast they put the names of all our guys who got killed?
- The Sergeant: That's a World War One memorial.
- Johnson: But the names are the same.
- The Sergeant: They always are.
The squad then treks though Europe, ending up at the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.
At the end of the film, the sergeant is in a forest, at night, having just buried a young boy he had befriended after liberating a concentration camp. A German soldier approaches, attempting to surrender, and the sergeant stabs him. His squad then arrives and informs him that the war ended "about four hours ago." This time, as the squad walks away, Pvt. Griff(Mark Hamill) notices that the German is still alive; the sergeant and his men work frantically to save his life as they return to their encampment.
Read more about this topic: The Big Red One
Famous quotes containing the word plot:
“The westward march has stopped, upon the final plains of the Pacific; and now the plot thickens ... with the change, the pause, the settlement, our people draw into closer groups, stand face to face, to know each other and be known.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)
“But, when to Sin our byast Nature leans,
The careful Devil is still at hand with means;
And providently Pimps for ill desires:
The Good Old Cause, reviv’d, a Plot requires,
Plots, true or false, are necessary things,
To raise up Common-wealths and ruine Kings.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)
“Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)