DVD Review: Fuller's Fulfilling First Films

Review by Noah Mallin

I've been on a Sam Fuller kick lately, partly from being engrossed in his lively autobiography. This underrated American director has a thriving cult and I suppose I can be counted as a member. You could do worse as an introduction than Eclipse's The First Films of Sam Fuller, out now on DVD.

The budget priced set consists of his first three films (duh) and like many multi-film sets the overall quality varies. None of the three are stinkers but only one is a mind-blowing lost classic. Let's dispatch with the others first.

I Shot Jesse James (1949) is a fine debut for the novelist soldier turned screenwriter/director. The relation to real life history is Hollywood scant as John Ireland plays Robert Ford as a petulant lovesick asshole and Reed Hadley plays a Jesse James full of backslapping bonhomie. The titular shooting takes a backseat to the rivalry between he and prospector turned sheriff John Kelley for a lady singer. There are several good scenes here, like Ford taking part in a staged re-enactment of the shooting in a rapt theater full of slack-jawed patrons but the pacing is gummy and scenes that are meant to build tension barely skirt unintended humor.

His second film, The Baron of Arizona (1950), is yet another unhistorical history piece and is hampered by a poorly conceived framing device. Vincent Price is the scheming land grabber who creepily finds a young girl, fakes her royal bloodline, and then waits till she's barely old enough to marry her and become the Baron of Arizona. Price is at his hammy best and there are several sequences that find him plumbing the wry humor inherent in going undercover as a Franciscan monk to forge records that are kept in the Abbey. Still, Fuller still hasn't caught the fine art of pacing.

It's on his third film, The Steel Helmet (1951), that his genius emerges from the very first shot of Sgt. Zack emerging from a field of dead bodies. It's no accident that this is the film of the three that is clearly drawn on Fuller's own harrowing experiences in World War II, experiences he would bring to The Big Red One which made my list of the best war movies ever. The Steel Helmet could easily find a berth on that list. Set during the then-current Korean War, this is a brutal unsentimental anti-war film that never stoops to preaching. It also happens to rip the guts out of the rampant racial prejudice that existed in the first war in which American troops were fully integrated. The scene in which a captured North Korean tries to turn a Japanese-American and a black soldier against their own country is incendiary stuff indeed for 1951 -- neither American soldier can dispute the facts of racism at home, even as they love what America stands for.

At the heart of The Steel Helmet is the relationship between gruff cigar-chomping Sgt. Zack and a young South Korean boy he nicknames Short Round. No this isn't the prequel to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom but you can see what inspired Spielberg and Lucas with this pairing and how woefully inept they were at creating the same chemistry in their 80s homage. This Short Round may correct Zack by saying "I'm not a gook, I'm a South Korean!" but the vet still throws the kid down to the ground several times when the enemy fire starts to the immortal line "Eat rice kid!" The unknown actor Gene Evans, who plays Zack, is magnificent and utterly believable as the seasoned war weary dogface.

The gorgeous black and white cinematography by Ernest Miller and a strong ensemble cast all do their part to make this a bleakly exhilarating film from beginning to end, a must see. Eclipse is Criteron's no-frills budget line so aside from a pristine transfer their aren't many extras, not that you need them. At the affordable list price, consider the first two films as the extra and spring for The Steel Helmet.

Film: The Best War Movies Ever

By Noah Mallin

My good friend Cletus and I put our heads together this week and other than coming away with grease in my hair I also came away with this list of the best war movies ever, in time for Memorial Day here in the United States. They are in no particular order. Cletus argued for 10 films, I argued for 20 and we settled on 15 plus one more for extra value.


1) Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Steven Spielberg's epic was a big Summer hit, coinciding with a generational re-examination of the Second World War at a time when what's been dubbed "the greatest generation" was thinning considerably. The first twenty minutes rank with the best cinema has to offer, a harrowing re-creation of the D-Day landing at Normandy Beach that uses hand-held cameras, washed out cinematography and inventive sound design to pummel the viewer into a state of mute horror. The rest of the flick has a hard time grabbing the viewer's attention after the bravura opening but taken on their own there are some incredible scenes and fine performances, led by Tom Hanks and Jeremy Davies as a combat shy language expert. Essentially an homage to the films that originally honored these men, it's a moving and sometimes breathtaking work.



2) Paths of Glory (1957)
Stanley Kubrick's tough, impassioned anti-war film cuts deep. The story set during World War I concerns a group of French soldiers, led reluctantly by Kirk Douglas, who balk at joining the carnage. The overall battle ends in defeat and the higher-ups decide to make an example of this small group to shift the blame for the failure. Absolutely searing.


3) Sergeant York (1941)
Legend has it that real-life World War I hero Alvin York requested three things from the producers of this film before he would sell them the rights to his life story. His wife shouldn't be played by a typical Hollywood starlet, the heroics had to be told straight and without embellishment, and he would have to be played by the everyman actor of the day Gary Cooper. All accounts have Director Howard Hawks sticking to this agreement, delivering a rousing film about heroism that is inspiring while also being though-provoking. York was a pacifist who tried and failed to obtain conscientious objector status and was drafted. A crack shot, he had to be convinced to take part in combat. When a force of Germans mow down several of his unit members, he personally killed 25 of the enemy, while capturing 132 of them.


4) M*A*S*H (1970)
M*A*S*H was set during the Korean War, but it was clear to audiences that this was a sharp satire of the then-current war in Vietnam. The film was a huge hit, establishing director Robert Altman and stars Elliot Gould and Donald Sutherland as avatars of a new Hollywood elite. Altman would never have a hit as big again, but many of his innovations are here most notably his flair for ensemble casts, his overlapping dialogue and sound, and his flaunting of genre conventions. Some of the humor comes of as sexist now but this is an uproarious iconoclastic war comedy. Those who only know the television show are in for a treat.


5) The Great Escape (1963)
Based loosely on a true story, The Great Escape is a rousing adventure that also contains much of the tragedy of war. Set during the Second World War, it has a brilliant ensemble cast including Steve McQueen, James Garner, British director Richard Attenborough, and Charles Bronson planning a daring operation to flee the German POW camp that holds them. Includes a famous motorcycle chase with McQueen.



6) Bridge on The River Kwai (1957)
One of the greatest films of all time, David Lean's epic explores issues of duty and honor and offers no easy answers. Alec Guiness won an Oscar as did Lean and the blacklisted writers. Guiness is simply unforgettable as the leader of British officers in a brutal Japanese POW camp. At first he resists camp commander Sessue Hayakawa's edict that the British prisoners build the titular bridge. After a brutal solitary confinement he agrees, believing that the British will prove their superior engineering and building skills to the Japanese. William Holden is haunting as an American officer who escapes the camp but is coerced to return.



7) The Dirty Dozen (1967)
In it's own sly way, as incendiary an anti-Vietnam film as M*A*S*H would prove to be only disguised even better for mass consumption by director Robert Aldrich. World War II set film concerns a band of dead end criminal soldiers forced into a brutal mission with very little chance to survive. Lee Marvin is outstanding as their commander and the cast including Telly Savalas, Ernest Borgnine, John Casavetes, Robert Ryan, and Jim Brown is top-notch.


8) The Thin Red Line (1998)
Terence Malick came back from a long absence to direct this film set in the Pacific during World War II. Criticized by some for it's incredible lush scenery, the fecundity surrounding the soldiers is the point of the film. The rich life around them in these islands acts as a rebuke to the brutality the young soldiers experience and are asked to perpetrate. Fantastic cast including John Cusack, Nick Nolte, Jim Cavaziel and Woody Harrelson and stunning cinematography.




9) The Story of G.I. Joe (1945)
The true story of war reporter Ernie Pyle, beloved by the troops for telling it like it was in his dispatches. William Wellman's film shows incredible contrast between the downtime and the battles and Burgess Meredith was never better as Pyle. Robert Mitchum became a star on the strength of his portrayal of the caring, hard-bitten Commander who has to see his unite depleted as he receives unasked-for battlefield promotions. Pyle was felled by a sniper's bullet shortly before the film's release.




10) The Deer Hunter (1978)
Michael Cimino's epic tragedy was one of the first Hollywood films to deal with Vietnam directly. Though it's harrowing war scenes may have been divorced from reality, they pack a punch, especially when contrasted with the scenes depicting life before and after the experience of the young men who go off to war, played beautifully by Robert DeNiro, John Cazale, John Savage, and Christopher Walken. The controversial Russian roulette scenes in a POW camp are indelible.




11) Apocalypse Now (1979)
Avoid the overhyped Director's cut and seek out the tighter original version which stays on course without a some lengthy pointless digressions. Coppola aimed for a masterpiece but like the Vietnam war he was depicting, he ended up biting off more than he could chew in this troubled production. There are some incredible sequences, particularly involving Robert Duvall who nearly steals the movie as a surf-happy air cavalry man. The ending featuring Brando was as anticlimactic and depressing as the actual wars denouement.




12) Platoon (1986)
For better or worse, the film that put Oliver Stone and Charlie Sheen on the map. Kicking off a wave of Vietnam films in the 80s this was a surprise hit. Bombastic, over-the-top, and reductive, it's still a helluva film. Tom Berenger and Willem Dafoe are standouts in career-making roles.




13) Stalag 17 (1953)
Billy Wilder's pitch dark drama is shot through with moments of levity but the cynicism of its worldview is as inescapable as the POW camp the characters are stuck in. William Holden, in an Oscar winning performance, plays the sardonic king of the cynics in the Nazi camp. He's trusted by no-one, just as he trusts nobody. The Nazi's deftly play the interns against one another, especially when it appears that there is a mole in their ranks.




14) Das Boot (1981)
The six-hour TV miniseries version of Wolfgang Petersen's submarine-set film is a bit much to take but the theatrical film version is nail-bitingly good. Told from the point of view of the crew of a Nazi u-boat, it's impossible not to sympathize with them. They are as much victims of Hitler's brutality as the Americans they are pitted against. The claustrophobia and fear of their lives underwater is palpable throughout.




15) Patton (1970)
Star George C. Scott saw Patton as a critique of war but Franklin J. Shaffner walks a delicate line, allowing the viewer to draw their own conclusions from Patton's megalomania and military genius. Scott was never better and the Academy agreed, awarding him Best Actor which he refused to accept. The film also won Best Picture and its sweeping scope and intelligent screenplay make it timeless.




16) The Big Red One (1980)
Director Sam Fuller made a number of lean low-budget Word War II flicks in the 1950s but all of his work would lead up to this, based on his own combat experiences. Originally compromised by an inelegant studio cut, film critic and historian Richard Schickel assembled a longer version after Fuller's death based on his original screenplay and using leftover footage. The result was a revelation, showing the full sweep of unexpected juxtapositions of beauty in the midst of carnage. A lost masterpiece.