by the Mysterious Michael J. Whyte
Only a motion picture screenwriter could have concocted a story as hardboiled and colorful as that of Samuel Fuller. That Fuller himself was a screenwriter (as well as a producer and director) with an unquestionable knowledge of the cold, hard facts of life and an unquenchable thirst for truth undoubtably shaped his best films into the volatile, brutal masterpeices they are. Sharp, kinetic, shockingly violent and unendingly poetic, the films of Sam Fuller paved the way for such contemporary filmmakers as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Sam Fuller ws born on August 12, 1912 in Worcester, Massachusetts. At age 14, Fuller took a job as a copyboy for William Randolph Hearst's New York Evening Journal. In the 1920's, Fuller became a cartoonist for the New York evening Graphic (one of his most notorious contributions to that publication was a balloon headline topping a story about a recent New York State electric chair execution that screamed 'ROASTED ALIVE!').
From there, Fuller became a crime-beat reporter, the youngest such reporter ever to hold that position at the New York journal. The cigar chomping, suspender snapping 17 year old cut quite a bold profile on the streets of New York, and, in turn, the streets made quite an impression on Fuller, informing his first published novel, the hardboiled "Burn, Baby, Burn," and those that followed.
By the late 1930s, Fuller had begun writing screenplays in Hollywood, penning scripts for films with titles like ADVENTURE IN THE SAHARA, FEDERAL MAN-HUNT and THE GANGS OF NEW YORK. With the outbreak of World War II, Fuller enlisted in the U.S. Army. Fuller ended up an infantryman with the 16th infantry, First Division (the "Big Red One"). Fuller saw much action on the "Big Red One's campaign through North Africa, Italy and the Normandy invasion and ending with the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald (which he captured on film with the 16mm motion picture camera sent to him by his mother).
After the war, Fuller returned to Hollywood, and in 1949 directed his first film, I SHOT JESSE JAMES. The film had all the earmarks of what would come to mark most of Fuller's films: a dark, menacing atmosphere, almost viscerally powerfulaction and a unique viewpoint (that of "cowardly" Bob Ford over "heroic" Jesse James).
After directing Vincent Price in THE BARON OF ARIZONA, Fuller tackled the subject of war in the powerful THE STEEL HELMET (starring the grizzled Gene Evans, who would become a Fuller mainstay), followed closely by FIXED BAYONETS (look for a young James Dean as an infantryman). In 1952, Fuller dealt with a subject near and dear to him, the newspaper business, in his shamefully overlooked masterpiece PARK ROW (also starring Evans).
Yet another masterpiece (and perhaps Fuller's best known film) was to follow in PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET. SOUTH STREET was a tough, uncompromising film of lies and betrayal and features a gut-wrenching performance from character actress Thelma Ritter. Fuller soldiered on through the 1950s, making lean, brutal westerns, war films and noirs, mostly under the auspices of Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox.
Films like HOUSE OF BAMBOO, CHINA GATE and RUN OF THE ARROW, while never critical successes, formed the cornerstone of Fuller's reputation as a hardscrabble individualist and came to influence generations of filmmakers. After making two film noirs for Columbia, the intriguing THE CRIMSON KIMONO and the mean, underrated UNDERWORLD U.S.A., Fuller turn his sights on war again, this time dealing with the Americans' march through Burma in W.W.II in MERRILL'S MARAUDERS.
Fuller's next film would prove to be one of his most controversial and one of his best. SHOCK CORRIDOR tells the story of a fame hungry journalist who has himself commited to a mental institution in order to catch a murderer. Once inside, he slowly goes mad himself. Fuller blatantly uses the institution as a metaphor for America, its injustices and hypocrisies. The film features powerful performances from Peter Breck as the journalist, and, especially, Hari Rhodes as a black inmate who believes himself to be a member of the Ku Klux Klan. The film's climax comes with a surrealistically frightening thunderstorm in the institution's corridor (shot, it is said, so that Fuller could flood the set, destroying it so that the film's producers couldn't force Fuller to shoot new toned-down scenes).
Though the gritty, low budget SHOCK CORRIDOR had its defenders (one story has Fuller winning a "humanitarian" award for the film at a European film festival. Fuller's response from the podium: "This isn't a goddam humanitarian film! This is a hard-hitting action-packed melodrama! Give your award to Ingmar Bergman!"), it further cemented in Hollywood's (as well as filmgoer's) minds the idea of Fuller as a vulgar, brutal and slightly sleazy figure. His followup film, the wild and punishing THE NAKED KISS did little to dissuade those of this opinion.
By the late '60s, Fuller was finding it increasingly difficult to find work. In fact, he was only able to complete two films in the '70s: the dire SHARK!, starring Burt Reynolds (and which Fuller disowns), and the curious DEAD PIGEON ON BEETHOVEN STREET, made for German television. Frustrated, Fuller began working on his long time passion: a film about the "Big Red One."
THE BIG RED ONE was finally made and released in 1980 to rave reviews, but little business.
THE BIG RED ONE was a robust and heartfelt film, featuring a wonderful performance from Lee Marvin as the hardbitten but watchful sergeant to a platoon of young infantrymen. A very Fulleresque character, in the form of the films' cigar chomping narrator, Zab (Robert Carradine), even shows up to lend the film the voice of remembrance. THE BIG RED ONE is surely one of the greatest war films ever made, but audiences in the post-STAR WARS days of the early '80s weren't ready for an emotionally complex film about W.W.II (even though Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill, played one of the young soldiers).
Fuller's next film would embroil him in the controversy of his career. WHITE DOG was based on a Romain Gary novel about a white German Shepard trained to attack black people on sight. Featuring a haunting score by Ennio Morricone, many beautifully fluid tracking shots and excellent performances from Burl Ives and (especially) Paul Winfield, the film was mangled by the heads of Paramount Pictures when they feared that scenes of the dog attacking African-Americans (including children) were too powerful and incendiary, and the film was eventually shelved among ridiculous claims that it was a racist film.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact WHITE DOG is one of the most potent films about race relations ever made in America, and one of the great abandoned films.(The Hollywood suits drop the ball, again. Big surprise!--Dr. Mality) Fed up with the treatment afforded WHITE DOG, Fuller retired to France to direct the occasional French television episode, but mostly to write and spend time with his wife of several decades, the beautiful actress Christa Lang.
In 1996, writer-director Adam Simon put together a loving documentary tribute to Fuller. THE TYPEWRITER, THE RIFLE & THE MOVIE CAMERA traces Fuller's rich life through his films, his words and through the insights of a younger generation of admirers, filmmakers Tim Robbins, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and jim Jarmusch. It's a wonderful documentary, with many great asides from the grizzled Fuller. The film ends with Fuller and Robbins walking around the grounds of the Rodin Museum in Paris. Fuller is excitedly telling Robbins about a movie biography of Balzac he has been writing: "He was a scoundrel, he was a liar, he was a bullshit artist...he was a WRITER!"
Samuel Fuller died on October 30, 1997 at the age of 86.
The Mysterious Michael J. Whyte is a man with a passion for film,food and folderol!