Movie Details
| Title: | The Steel Helmet | |
| Director: | Samuel Fuller | |
| Year: | 1951 | |
| Genre: | War | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 11.06.10 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (5)
- The Big Red One
- Forty Guns
- House of Bamboo
- Shark!
- White Dog
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 11.06.10 | DVR | This Screening is part of event: DVRfest 2010 The Second night of DVRfest starts off with Sam Fuller's The Steel Helmet. It's really a powerhouse of a war film, following one bastard of a Sergeant through a few incidents in the Korean War. We start the movie with him tied up and a bullet hole in his helmet, the lone survivor of a squad due to freak luck (the bullet slid around the bowl of the helmet and grazed his forehead on its way out) as he meets a South Korean kid that he calls Short Round. Honestly it's pretty hard to really absorb the fact that this movie came out in 1952. Not only was the Korean war going on but it had been less than ten years since Fuller himself was at war. Comparing this to any other war movie of the 40s, 50s, and even 60s, this is by far the most realistic view that I've seen. This movie could be made today and it would fit right in with the tone and message of current war films. The only thing it's missing is blood and flying limbs. Everything else feels 100% authentic. That makes this film a real experience to behold and I can completely see how this basically made Fuller's career. Great movie. So... the next one I had planned I thought was feature length but it turns out to be only 40 minutes. I think I'll just update this entry after I watch it since that's a little rough to call a whole entry. Also, it starts with the words "Brett Ratner Presents" which... I'll be honest, if it was "Martin Scorsese Presents" it probably would've gotten its own entry. Oh well. I'll be back in 40 minutes. I Knew it was You: Rediscovering John Cazale It's interesting that this is only 40 minutes. It really should be longer, just like the man's life and his career, but I get the sense that there just isn't quite enough. The doc is well done even if the weird animated info-graphics set to catchy music is pretty out of place here (I wonder where that trend began. Was it Super Size Me? The Kid Stays in the Picture? Youtube?). They go over his short career and give glimpses of his stage work and get everyone you'd expect to talk about him. It makes me want to re-watch all five films that he was in. That's about it. For some reason, I have no problem watching Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, and Philip Seymour Hoffman talk about John Cazale (I guess because they're good actors and so was he?) but seeing Brett Ratner put himself on screen is offensive to me. I guess because they got more than enough people who actually knew them (the Carol Kane and John Savage interviews are hilariously short) so did we really need a random director thrown in the mix? whatever. Anyway, that was surprisingly short. On to a romantic comedy that I've heard is bad but want to see anyway. And maybe some pizza. |
