Main Cast: Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Richard Loo, Steve Brodie, James Edwards, Sid Melton
Release Year: 1951
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
Plot
Writer and director Samuel Fuller enjoyed his first box-office and critical success with this hard-boiled but human tale of men at war, informed by his own experiences in the armed forces. Zack (Gene Evans) is a gruff U.S. Army sergeant who is the lone survivor of an attack on his outfit in North Korea. Rescued by a friendly Korean orphan he dubs Short Round (William Chun), Zack tries to make his way back to friendly territory with the boy as his guide. Zack crosses paths with Thompson (James Edwards), an African-American medic who like Zack narrowly escaped death after an enemy attack, and as they make their way through the jungle they encounter a platoon led by Lt. Driscoll (Steve Brodie), a humorless by-the-books type who has no use for Zack. Zack, Thompson and Driscoll's men -- among them Japanese-American "Buddhahead" Tanaka (Richard Loo), former conscientious objector Bronte (Robert Hutton) and nervous grunt Baldie (Richard Monahan) -- make their way to an abandoned Buddhist temple to set up an observation post, but they soon run afoul of the enemy. Shot in a mere ten days, with the battle scenes staged in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, The Steel Helmet captured the tension and gritty circumstances of war with commendable accuracy and Evans delivered a superb performance in his first starring role as Zack. The film proved controversial in some quarters due to scenes in which Fuller's characters discuss racism against Asians and Blacks in the United States, though the film manages to be resolutely patriotic at the same time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Steel Helmet was the first war movie of many for American auteur Sam Fuller, and his first picture to gain any degree of critical attention. Independently made, the film was also a surprise success, garnering the writer-director the attention of many Hollywood studios. One of the first feature films to tackle the subject of the Korean War, Helmet featured Fuller's trademark blend of cynicism and humanism. A former soldier himself, the director captured the grim vagaries of its heroes with a no-holds-barred style. Not as energetic as his later war classic, 1980's The Big Red One, the film relies on its performances: Gene Evans, a regular in Fuller's pictures, has a powerful turn as the hard-boiled veteran; and James Edwards has a memorable turn as a wartime surgeon. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
William Chun - "Short Round"; Richard Monahan - Private Baldy; Harold Fong - The Red; Neyle Morrow - 1st GI; Lynn Stalmaster - Second Lieutenant
Credit
Theobold Holsopple - Art Director, Alfred Berke - Costume Designer, Samuel Fuller - Director, Phil Cahn - Editor, Paul Dunlap - Composer (Music Score), Ernest W. Miller - Cinematographer, Samuel Fuller - Producer, Clarence I. Steensen - Set Designer, Ray Mercer - Special Effects, Ben Southland - Special Effects, Samuel Fuller - Screenwriter
The Steel Helmet (1951) is a war film directed by Samuel Fuller and produced by Lippert Studios during the Korean War. It was the first film about the war, and the first of several war films by producer-director-writer Fuller.
When an American infantry unit surrenders to the North Koreans, the prisoners of war have their hands bound behind their backs and are then executed. Only Sergeant Zack (Gene Evans) survives the massacre, saved when the bullet meant for him is deflected by his helmet. He is freed by South Korean orphan (William Chun), nicknamed "Short Round" by Zack, who tags along despite the sergeant's annoyance.
They come across Corporal Thompson (James Edwards), an African-American medic and also the sole survivor of his unit. Then they encounter a patrol led by inexperienced Lieutenant Driscoll (Steve Brodie). Contemptuous of the "ninety day wonder", Zack refuses Driscoll's request for his veteran help, but when the patrol is pinned down by snipers soon afterward, Zack returns and bails them out. Together with Sergeant Tanaka (Richard Loo), another "retread" from World War II, he spots and kills the snipers. Zack reluctantly agrees to accompany Driscoll on his mission: to establish an observation post at a Buddhist temple.
The grouping was "designed" by Fuller to be broadly representative of the Korean War-era US Army. Thus, there is an element of stereotyping in the characters. Among them are Joe, the quiet one (Sid Melton); the former conscientious objector; the "intellectual" (the officer); an African-American; the naive radio operator (Richard Monahan); and the Nisei Tanaka.
They reach the apparently deserted temple without incident, but Joe is killed that night by a North Korean major (Harold Fong) hiding there. The officer is eventually captured. He tries without success to suborn first Thompson, then Tanaka, by pointing out the racism they face in 1950s America. Sergeant Zack prepares to take his prize back for questioning, cynically looking forward to a furlough as a reward. Before he leaves, Driscoll asks to exchange helmets for luck, but Zack turns him down. Then Short Round is killed by another sniper. After the major mocks the wish the boy had written down (a prayer to Buddha to have Zack like him), Zack loses control and shoots the prisoner, who dies soon after.
Then the unit spots the North Koreans on the move and calls down devastating artillery strikes. When the enemy realize the artillery is being directed from the temple, they attack in large numbers, supported by a tank. The attack is repelled, but only Zack, Tanaka, Thompson, and the radio operator survive. When they are relieved, Zack responds to the question, "What outfit are you?" with the statement, "US infantry." As they leave the temple, Zack goes to Driscoll's grave and exchanges his helmet with the one marking the man's grave.
In October 1950, Fuller made his film in ten days with twenty-five extras who were UCLA students and a plywood tank, in a studio using mist, and exteriors shot in Griffith Park[1] for $104,000.[2] According to Ben Mankiewicz of Turner Classic Movies, Fuller wrote the script in a week. The Steel Helmet grossed more than $6 million dollars.
The Steel Helmet confronts American racism when a North Korean Communist prisoner baits a black soldier in conversation with accounts of American society's Jim Crow rules. Moreover, the Korean soldier makes the first-ever mention, in a Hollywood film, of the internment of Japanese Americans in World War II. The film infuriated the military, which summoned Fuller for a conference on the film.[3] The U.S Army was upset over Sgt. Zack's shooting of a prisoner of war. Fuller replied that in his World War II service it frequently happened, and, had his former commanding officer, Brigadier General George A. Taylor, telephone the Pentagon to confirm it.[3] In contrast, the Communist newspaper, The Daily Worker condemned The Steel Helmet as a right-wing fantasy.
Fuller cast Gene Evans, refusing a major studio's interest in filming The Steel Helmet with John Wayne as Sergeant Zack. Fuller threatened to quit when the producers wanted Evans replaced by Larry Parks.[3]
References
^ pp257-258 Fuller, Samuel A Third Face 2002 Alfred A. Knopf
^ p.26 Server, Lee Sam Fuller: Film is a Battleground 1994 McFarland
^ abc Fuller, Samuel A Third Face Alfred A Knopf (2002)
