The Steel Helmet
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| The Steel Helmet | |
|---|---|
 Poster |
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| Directed by | Samuel Fuller |
| Produced by | Samuel Fuller, Robert Lippert |
| Written by | Samuel Fuller |
| Starring | Gene Evans Robert Hutton Steve Brodie James Edwards Richard Loo Sid Melton |
| Music by | Paul Dunlap |
| Cinematography | Ernest Miller |
| Editing by | Philip Cahn |
| Distributed by | Lippert Pictures Inc. Burbank Video (VHS) |
| Release date(s) | 1951 U.S. release |
| Running time | 85 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
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 that anti-communist war, and the first of several war films by producer-director-writer Fuller.
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[edit] Plot
The film features Gene Evans as "Zack", a hardened infantry sergeant. When his entire company is killed by the North Korean communist enemy, Sgt. Zack is made prisoner. The film's first close up is of Zack's helmet, lying in a ditch, hiding from a North Korean sniper. Rescued by South Korean orphan "Short Round" (William Chun), the cynical Sgt. Zack is bribed into leading a ragtag group of American soldiers, who likewise were separated from their units. Commandeering an abandoned Buddhist temple, Zack establishes an observation post, awaiting the enemy's next move.
[edit] Cast
- Gene Evans ... Sgt. Zack
- Robert Hutton ... Pvt. Bronte
- Steve Brodie ... Lt. Driscoll
- James Edwards ... Cpl. Thompson
- Richard Loo... Sgt. Tanaka
- Sid Melton ... Joe
- Richard Monahan ... Pvt. Baldy
- William Chun ... Short Round
- Harold Fong ... The Red
- Neyle Morrow ... First GI
- Lynn Stalmaster ... Second Lieutenant
[edit] Production
In October of 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 for $105,000.[citation needed] 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 Pentagon who summoned Fuller for a conference on the film.[1] The U.S Army was upset over Sgt. Zack's shooting a POW. 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 the matter.[1] In contrast, the Communist newspaper, The Daily Worker condemned The Steel Helmet as a right-wing fantasy.
Fuller cast Gene Evans as Sergeant Zack, refusing a major studio's interest in assuming The Steel Helmet with John Wayne as Sergeant Zack. Fuller threatened to quit when the producers wanted Evans replaced with Larry Parks.[1]
