The Steel Helmet

Fuller’s first great film was this tough, condensed Korean War story, shot in ten days, about a makeshift squad of American soldiers instructed to take a Buddhist temple that’s been converted into a North Korean observation post. ‘I was driven to turn my wartime experiences into a movie in order to convey the physical and mental upheaval of men at war’, Fuller wrote in his autobiography. ‘That’s how I ultimately came to grips with my experiences.’ The Steel Helmet was an inspiration to everyone from Godard to Scorsese. It caused a small sensation when it was released, and Fuller was accused of being a Commie-loving America-hater. In reality, he had no political agenda. ‘I wanted an opportunity to show audiences that war was more complex than the front-page newspaper articles. You never saw the genuine hardship of soldiers, not ours, nor the enemy’s, in movies. The confusion and brutality of war, not phony heroism, needed to be depicted.’ With Gene Evans, the actor who would eventually become Fuller’s alter-ego. (KJ)