JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonSam Fuller: Groundbreaker and World Shaker
March 13th 2007 08:32
Sam Fuller: A John Doe Retrospective.
Sam Fuller, a life in the shadows.
Dismissed as a B Grade pervayer of Porn, an exploiter of taboos, in his lifetime, Writer, Producer, Director and sometimes actor Sam Fuller was described as everything from a “primitive” to a “visionary”.
"I hate violence. That has never prevented me from using it in my films." – Sam Fuller
Aggressively opposed to sentimentality, cliché or predictability in 1949 he made his first feature film “I Shot Jesse James”, which contained many of the provocative traits that would become synonymous with his career all the way to his final feature film, Street of No Return (1989).
"Am I a cult director? Yeah, I love all that. I want to join the cult of the 100 to 200 million grossers and still make an artistic picture." - Sam Fuller
Made fast and cheap, with forbidden subject matter interwoven into the context of the film, pedophilia, homosexuality and racism were often present in a Sam Fuller world.
Manipulating the audience and censorship codes he confronted with violence and ferocious storytelling that always followed through on barbed wire promises.
“Movement should be a counter, whether in action scenes or dialogue or whatever. It counters where your eye is going. This style thing, for me it's all fitted to the action, to the script, to the characters.” – Sam Fuller
“Being a hooker does not mean being evil. The same with a pick-pocket, or even a thief. You do what you do out of necessity.” – Sam Fuller
Focused and determined, by the age of 13 a teenaged Fuller was copy boy with the New York Journal. Driven to succeed as a writer he became a Crime reporter by his 18th birthday. Observing grisly scenes, then punching out a couple of hundred words with a headline attached.
Shock Corridor, bite on this.
Fuller’s attention grabbing, blunt to the point, style of communicating information in the most economic way, would make him famous and it was learnt during this time.
Honed further when at 24 he was published as a pulp novelist, these were page turners, again tightly constructed plots involving violence, sex and mystery.
“I don’t want you to see, what you know you are going to see, that’s what I wanted to do with my pictures”. – Sam Fuller
Sam enlisted in the Big Red One, US first Infantry as a rifleman just after Pearl Harbour, further opening the future filmmaker’s eyes to universal truths about the sudden shock of death. The ugly side of human behaviour and the tragic futility of heavy combat, heroics are abandoned in favour of survival and under these conditions Fuller became hardened.
“Film is a battleground. Love, hate, violence, action, death...In a word, emotion." – Sam Fuller
War was one of the obvious fascinations in his work the authentic, gritty stories he conveyed are loaded with the painful sting of truth. Fixed Bayonets (1951) and The Steel Helmet (1951) began exploring men under pressure exposing betrayal and forced bravery with empathy and understanding.
The Big Red One, Marvin...Lee Marvin
Violence is the ultimate motivator in a Fuller universe, simultaneously driven by plot and detailed characters towards inevitable confrontation, physical, emotional and psychological.
“I researched every milieu. If I were to do a movie tomorrow about a fashion designer, say, I would have to spend some time to find out what language they spoke. Because I would never be satisfied with my dialogue, I want something that gives you the color of that character right away.” – Sam Fuller
A Fuller western also smashed down the romantic imagery. Set against a more historically precise backdrop of the people who pioneered a country and the men who killed for a living. Gunfighters were conflicted, Indians mistreated with political betrayal and strong women lived in a white male dominated world of unlawful greed and gunplay.
Forty Guns Poster
A scene from 40 Guns
Run of The Arrow (1957) is essentially the same story as Dances with Wolves, only made 30 years earlier with a surprisingly more objective eye. Opening at the tail end of the civil war with the unflinching shot of a Yankee cavalry man eating a stolen lunch on the belly of a Southerners corpse he just shot.
"The Confederate in that scene who sang the song against the Constitution was played by a Southerner, whose hobby was collecting folklore and ballads. He loved it, being a Southerner and against the damn Yankees. My art director on the picture was a very virulent Yankee I'm only telling you this because there's an evil streak in me that I like. I thought it would be wonderful to get them together in my office. I'll never forget it; it was the most wonderful moment of my life to introduce these two men who despised each other. They immediately got into a tremendous argument. I heard the whole Civil War fought all over again in my office." Sam Fuller on making Run of the Arrow)
When Sam expressed himself in the murky noir genre of urban crime and mob rule is where the best examples of what he brought to the history of cinema can be seen.
Shock Corridor (1963) is a two-hander with dynamite fists and a scorching commentary on American ideals. Opening with a ruthless Journalists faking of incestuous feelings towards his sister in order to be committed to a mental asylum. (click on the title to read John Doe’s review.)
“I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross, whether it's Brutus doing it to Caesar or Bob Stack doing it to Robert Ryan that defines what kind of drama it is.” – Sam Fuller
One of the many great scenes from Shock Corridor with a black man who is a white supremacist.
Underworld USA sees a good guy go bad as revenge is served cold in an era of gangsters. The Naked Kiss sees a prostitute fleeing the scum of the city to a conservative all American town in the 1950’s. She goes looking for morality and a better life and instead finds dark secrets of unspeakable evil.
The striking opening scene from Naked Kiss
In “Pickup On South Street” (1953) Richard Widmark takes the lead as a pick pocket who accidentally scores government secrets with a tempting price tag. Treason and apathetic patriotism were seen as affronts to the establishment of 1953 and the FBI tried to stop the film being made.
House of Bamboo Poster
“Personally, the thrill I got out of making House of Bamboo was shooting in Japan, having a major studio budget and enough money and working counter to stereotypes. In terms of style, I wanted the wide screen and the color. I loathe this cliche vision of the underworld. Dark alleys and wet streets. I've done it. Everybody's done it. It becomes fake, and I don't like it.” – Sam Fuller on making House of Bamboo
By the late 1960’s the ground breaking Director was ignored by most studios and decided to make a film with Burt Reynolds called “Shark” (1969) Predating Jaws by 6 years, the story goes that cameras were rolling as a stuntmen got mauled and killed by a real shark tolerant to synthetic sedatives.
The studio saw dollar signs and decided to promote the fact as a reason to see the movie. Sam Fuller, appalled and already throwing hands with producers quit before the editing was finished.
He still worked steadily throughout the 70’s but for foreign producers and TV execs. Released a year after the Big Red One His final masterpiece was White Dog (1982). A racially charged inditement told through a symbolic white dog that has been trained to kill black men.
Burl Ives in White Dog
Dating back to his earliest works, the intolerant prejudices of white America were never hidden and this powerful film unashamedly shows that hate can be taught and fear is the tool.
"Ninety-five per cent of films are born of frustration, of self despair, of ambition for survival, for money, for fattening bank accounts. Five per cent, maybe less, are made because a man has an idea, an idea which he must express." – Sam Fuller
These are JD's highlights from an inspirational and confrontational artists career. Rivetting and intelligent, a lethal mix and when wielded without fear.
Developing a deeper appreciation from film lovers over the years, now in 2007 Sam is now, posthumously recognized for his single minded sacrifice in the name of exciting cinema and respected as a man with a sixth sense for what felt honest.
“Van Gogh was a great inspiration for me, a guy for whom life was work and work was life. I wanted to be like him, except I didn't want to go nuts and cut off my ear." - Sam Fuller
Quotes : www.thinkexist.com & www.imdb.com.
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Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Comment by The Duke
They're that damned good.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
The purpos of my posts are always to try and introduce new flavours to readers pallette's....Fuller is easily one of my biggest influences, listen to the Duke, he speaks the truth.
Thought you might be a fan of this guy Duke,
I love Fuller so much I couldnt stop writing, thats why the post turned into a monster at over 1500 words....I could have kept on going to because it was so much fun but I think I managed to scratch teh surface of what the attraction is in a Fuller film.
Have you read The Fuller book on filmmaking?
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Superb retro ... And as we've discussed, I haven't really seen any of his films, shame of shames ... so you know what I need to do ...
Martin Scorsese's quote at the top is brilliant!
Well done on a thorough scraping off the top of the Fuller iceberg.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Glad you appreciated it all the same.
Yes I know what I have to do. I have a few Fuller's on DVD that you will enjoy watching.
Forty Guns
Pickup On South Street
Run of the Arrow
Shock Corridor
The Naked Kiss
The Big Red One
Underworld USA (Thanks to good ole Bill Collins on cable)
So it wont be long before you are aquainted with the man.
Comment by Luke
Book Club
Old Movies
Cane Toad Warrior
I've only seen 'The Big Red One' and it was great.
I'm keen to see more Sam Fuller films, I think I'll check out Pickup on South Street next.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD