20 Movies That Are Flawed Masterpieces

16. The Big Red One (1980)

Sam Fuller's underrated war flick, The Big Red One, received a restoration in 2004 that factored in 50 minutes of previously unseen footage. This was seen as "long overdue." Though said footage is interesting enough, it doesn't improve the movie and it clashes with the established style of the film - that is, the inherent rawness of it all. The better version - the "flawed masterpiece" version, in fact - is that of the original cut, which feels more like a Fuller movie because it is plainly rough around the edges.

It runs at 113 minutes. Starring Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine as three soldiers caught up in the blistering hellfire that is World War II, The Big Red One wears its imperfection on its sleeve; it is a big, loud and obnoxiously silly at times - to the point where one might declare it as a "B-movie masterpiece." But the way in which Fuller hones in on the soldiers, and ultimately makes the movie about each of them, marks it out as something more: a near classic.