THE STEEL HELMET Movie Review
1951 Samuel Fuller
Reportedly written in one week and filmed in 10 days, Sam Fuller's war film is a low-budget marvel. It tells a simple, carefully paced story without a single wasted frame. Though Fuller takes time to comment on other social issues, he has stripped the standard combat story down to its fundamentals, eliminating extraneous details.
The film begins literally at ground level with the opening credits shown over a G.I.'s helmet with a bullet hole prominent near the front. It raises slowly to reveal Sgt. Zack's (Gene Evans) wary eyes. Wounded, his hands tied behind him, he slowly crawls forward among dead Korean soldiers. He is freed by a bright, spunky Korean kid he calls Short Round (William Chun). But Zack wants nothing to do with the boy. He's the only survivor of his unit. The war is no place for a child, even a child with a rifle. But the kid is persistent. He's still there when Zack meets Cpl. Thompson (James Edwards), a black medic who's another lone survivor. The three of them join up with Lt. Driscoll's (Steve Brodie) small patrol, which has been sent out to establish an artillery observation post. They do that at a Buddhist temple, where most of the rest of the action takes place and where at least one North Korean is hiding.
Within that simple frame, Fuller addresses several forms of racism. Most obvious is Thompson's treatment back home. Sgt. Tanaka (Richard Loo), a nisei (second generation Japanese-American), has suffered similar discrimination. Both of them are called upon to defend their decision to fight for America and their answers are careful. Zack's casual racism is part of a veteran's emotional armor, a flexible “us vs. them” view of the war that changes with his perception of the enemy. Zack sums up with “He's a South Korean when he's running with you, and he's a North Korean when he's running after you.”
The line is a perfect example of the film's skeptical attitude toward the Korean conflict and war in general. It's grim, fatalistic, completely without patriotic fervor. It's also funny. Sgt. Tanaka's speech about his bald mother is vintage Fuller, and the incident with the live grenade must be based on a real event. The various conflicts and problems that must be addressed in the temple are handled with the same dispatch. Fuller makes his points and moves on. He didn't have the time or money to do anything else.
The limitations of the budget are apparent in the final attacks by the North Koreans. Despite one character's yelling that there's a million of 'em out there, it looks more like a dozen or so at most. In most war films that would be a serious flaw, but not here. The battle is finished quickly and indecisively. The Steel Helmet is meant to be a snapshot look at one part of a war that was barely six months old when the film was released. Fuller has nothing to say about Korean politics or American involvement in them. He's interested in soldiers—guys like the ones he served with in North Africa and Europe during World War II. Causes and patriotism are unimportant.
Cast: Gene Evans (Sgt. Zack), Robert Hutton (Pvt. Bronte), Steve Brodie (Lt. Driscoll), William Chun ("Short Round"), James Edwards (Cpl. Thompson), Richard Loo (Sgt. Tanaka), Harold Fong (The Red), Neyle Morrow (1st G.I.), Sid Melton (2nd G.I.), Richard Monahan (Pvt. Baldy), Lynn Stalmaster (2nd Lieutenant); Written by: Samuel Fuller; Cinematography by: Ernest Miller; Music by: Paul Dunlap. Producer: Lippert Productions, Samuel Fuller. Running Time: 84 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV.