SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Discussion of the actors, directors and film-makers who 'made it all happen'
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ChiO
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SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

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And the battleground is not just in his combat War movies (THE STEEL HELMET, FIXED BAYONETS!, CHINA GATE, VERBOTEN!, MERRILL'S MARAUDERS, THE BIG RED ONE), but in every movie he made, from the Westerns (I SHOT JESSE JAMES, RUN OF THE ARROW, FORTY GUNS) to the Noirs (PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, UNDERWORLD U.S.A., SHOCK CORRIDOR, THE NAKED KISS, WHITE DOG) and all of the rest.

His emotion is neither hidden nor romanticized. It is front and forward with no apologies. The luridness of the subject matter, the often cynical view, and his blunt style is often shocking and, as a result of the unease it creates, is sometimes initially off-putting, but the rewards of continued viewings are many.

And, I would contend, he is one of the finest directors of women.

Love him or hate him (it is hard for me to imagine a middle ground), he is an auteur.

(P.S. None of the above applies to HELL AND HIGH WATER, which even I cannot in good faith defend.)

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Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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CineMaven
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by CineMaven »

Hey!!! Samuel Fuller's got his own thread just like some of the other boys. Cool. Don't forget you can see some of his films this Friday night.
"You build my gallows high, baby."

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RedRiver
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by RedRiver »

I don't enjoy Fuller's films the way I do those by some directors. They're too much "in the head." Psychology, philosophy, unanswered questions. NAKED KISS is so brooding it's annoying. I almost resent being robbed of the time. STEEL HELMET ponders this, considers that, and ultimately grinds to a conclusion short on excitement. I do like THE BIG RED ONE, a more entertaining, less introspective war story.

And my old friend SHOCK CORRIDOR. (Nymphos!) This is either the weirdest comedy ever made or simply bad drama. I just can't take it seriously. "Jesse James" is OK. "South Street" is good. But as often as not, I'm disappointed in a Fuller film. With or without...NYMPHOS!
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

kingrat wrote:
Fuller generally seems more interested in ideas than in emotion. Though apparently ChiO would not agree with us.
I wouldn't say that Fuller is more interested in ideas than in emotion. The two go hand-in-hand in Fuller's films. His ability to elicit strong emotional reactions, I would contend. is one of his distinguishing characteristics and clearly reflective of his view of film (or, at least, his films), as his bit of improvised dialogue in PIERROT LE FOU attests. That, however, is not to say that his movies are devoid of ideas -- they are replete with his view on those ideas that he sees as important. His style of emotional filmmaking is simply his way of conveying those ideas.
kingrat further wrote:
To borrow a useful distinction from, I think, Jim Kitses' Horizon West, there are politically conservative and liberal philosophies and also conservative and liberal styles.
I certainly need to read that book (if that's the one) in order to see what is useful about that distinction. What and who are the determinants of "conservative" and "liberal" philosophies, and does time and context alter the designations? The issues are the same regarding "conservative" and "liberal" styles. The attempted pigeonholing seems so simplistic and fraught with false bright-line tests as to be decidedly non-useful.
kingrat continued:
Fuller is a politically conservative director, as staunchly anti-communist as anyone
And here is a prime example of the difficulties with the designations. For example, when THE STEEL HELMET was released, some (Fuller calls them "reactionaries" and "conservative bastards") exploded, saying he was pro-communist and anti-American, while a reviewer for The Daily Worker called him a reactionary for making a "beast" (Sgt. Zack) the hero. Fuller wrote about that episode:

I didn't give a good goddamn whether lefties or righties liked the picture. I didn't make The Steel Helmet to please any constituency. At its origin, a work of art is apolitical. Popular taste and history can transform it. .... My goal was to show the organized insanity of war. The movie had touched some raw nerves. That wasn't my purpose but, hell, it was a free country, wasn't it?

See also PICK UP ON SOUTH STREET ("Are you waving the goddam flag at me?" J. Edgar Hoover called Darryl Zanuck to complain about it being anti-American, especially that line; Zanuck said he'd remove the adjective, causing Hoover to get angrier); WHITE DOG (an expose of the irrationality of racism, buried by the studio for fear it would be perceived as racist).

Fuller, reflecting on the time between THE STEEL HELMET and FIXED BAYONETS!, wrote:

People continued trying to pigeonhole me as a lefty or a righty, and my work as being liberal or conservative, projecting their own notions on me. I wouldn't let them affect my deeply held belief system. Peace and ethics were my beacons. I wanted to transcend the narrow political terms and emblems that imprison a creative person. McCarthyism had spawned a horrible climate of fear and suspicion. The blacklists, coercion, witch-hunts, accusations, and self-imposed censorship were inadmissible in our democracy. It was execrable how artists felt compelled to label themselves as "left" or "right." I was deeply hurt by what was happening in America so soon after putting my life on the line to fight the fascists in Europe. All the venom and general hysteria at home seemed like just more fascism.

A conservative? A liberal? I prefer Martin Scorsese's label for Fuller: Smuggler.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

Today, WesternGuy posted this on another thread:
May I share a Sam Fuller story told to me by (NAME DROPPING ALERT) my buddy Mickey Knox?

MICKEY: Sam Fuller had seen me in Killer McCoy and contacted me through Kirk Douglas because he wanted to write a movie with me in the lead. Well, this was flattering but I quickly forgot about it because I'd heard a lot of this (expletive) before.But he called me about three months later and told me he'd finished the script and he wanted me to come over so he could read it to me. I asked him if he could just send it over but he said "no", he had to read it to me.So I thought (expletive), but I went anyway. Of course Sam was a true war hero and had won all kinds of medals and citations, including the Bronze Star for saving a buddy during the D-Day invasion, so he had a different outlook on war than most people. He had his whiskey bottles out on the table and he read me the script, pulling out all the stops, and it made war sound great. I was drunk enough by then to tell him I hated pro-war pictures, and he said to me: "Well, write your own (expletive) script!" So that was it. I went home and was happy until the picture The Steel Helmet came out. Then I spent a few sleepless nights.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

More shattering than last night's thunderstorm was seeing a new, absolutely gorgeous, 35mm print of HOUSE OF BAMBOO (1955). Fuller took full advantage of his location shooting and, as kingrat alluded to, the climatic scene is a dizzying, thrilling and poignant ride. Robert Ryan's performance is among his finest in a career of incredible performances. The scene when he expresses his love, devotion and regret to Cameron Mitchell -- immediately after having killed him in cold-blood -- shows Fuller and Ryan at their best: a man, a sociopath, clinging to the edge of reality, feeling betrayed and, therefore, giving the Monster a humanity.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

While rummaging through some Jonathan Rosenbaum essays, a short essay he wrote about FULL METAL JACKET (Kubrick 1987) appeared. Rosenbaum saw it with Fuller shortly after its release. He writes of Fuller:

He didn’t much care for the picture, he said afterwards, because he didn’t much like films about training, and besides, this movie wasn’t antiwar enough for his taste; he thought it might even encourage some teenage boys to enlist in future wars.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
RedRiver
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by RedRiver »

Hmm...the training portion was the part I did enjoy. When they go to war, the film loses me.
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CineMaven
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by CineMaven »

Click onto Sam's photo to hear Fuller's widow speak of him.

Image
( Foto courtesy of Mongo II - 8/12/2009 )
"You build my gallows high, baby."

http://www.megramsey.com
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

Fuller on the creation and opening of PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET.

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Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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JackFavell
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by JackFavell »

Gosh that was beautiful, ChiO. I wish they had gotten Fuller to go through the entire movie that way!
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ChiO
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Re: SAMUEL FULLER: Film Is a Battleground

Post by ChiO »

Here's a condensed version of an interview of Fuller. The complete interview is available in four parts on YouTube, labelled "Samuel Fuller - Paris 1986".

My favorite line: I never wrote "The Shirley Temple Story."

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Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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