Wow, I'm the opposite I found The Big Red One to far too commercial and lifeless, as well as boring, when compared to something like SPR that is much more personal and full of life.
I'm confused. How is "Saving Private Ryan" much more personal than "The Big Red One" since Spielberg was never in WWII and Fuller was not only in WWII, he was in the titular infantry? How does that work?
Whether or not the author was in the war matters not. My grandpa was in the war, but hearing him talk about the war was a detached and emotionless experience. Conversely my sophomore history teacher was never in the war, but when he talked about it he infused emotion into his speech and you could feel how personal the topic was for him, for whatever reason.
The same holds true for Fuller versus Spielberg, Fuller may have been there, but his tale is dry and without emotion, it doesn't feel personal, it feels like someone talking about the war without actually wanting to get into the truth of the war to them. Spielberg wasn't there, but you can tell the war meant something to him and that personal connection drips from every moment of SPR.