SAMUEL FULLER

'Samuel Michael Fuller' (August 12 1912 – October 30 1997) was an American film director.

Contents

Early life

Films as writer and/or director

Style and theme

Legacy

Filmography

Further reading

External links

Early life

Fuller was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the son of Benjamin Rabinovitch (a Jewish immigrant from Russia) and Rebecca Baum (a Jewish immigrant from Poland). At the time of his birth, the family had already changed their surname to "Fuller". At the age of 12, he began working in journalism. His first newspaper job was as a copyboy. He became a crime reporter in New York City at age 17, working for the ''New York Evening Graphic''. He broke the story of Jeanne Eagels' death. He wrote pulp novels and screenplays from the mid-1930s onwards. Fuller also became a screenplay ghost writer but would never tell interviewers which screenplays that he ghost wrote explaining "that's what a ghost writer is for".
During World War II, Fuller joined the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, and saw heavy fighting. He was involved in landings in Africa, Sicily, and Normandy. He also saw action in Belgium and Czechoslovakia. For his service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and the Purple Heart. He used his wartime experiences as material in his films, especially in the 1980 film ''The Big Red One'' (a nickname of the 1st Infantry Division).

Films as writer and/or director

''Hats Off'' (1936) marked Fuller's first credit as a screenwriter. Fuller wrote many screenplays throughout his career, but he is best remembered as a director. He did not direct a film until ''I Shot Jesse James'' (1949), which he also wrote. His first five films were genre films. His first two films were westerns and they were followed by two war films in 1951 and then a period piece set in 1880s New York City. He followed these with ''Pickup on South Street'' (1953), which remains his most well-known film. This film was condemned by the FBI as Communist propaganda and condemned by the Communist Party as anti-Communist propaganda. Other films that Fuller directed in the 1950s include: ''House of Bamboo'', ''Forty Guns'', ''China Gate'', ''Run of the Arrow'', and Merrill's Marauders (film).
Fuller's work throughout the 1950s and early 1960s followed a basic format: lower-budget genre movies that nonetheless explored controversial topics. ''Shock Corridor'' (1963) is set in a psychiatric hospital, while ''The Naked Kiss'' (1964) features a prostitute attempting to change her life by working in a pediatric ward. When she meets the man of her dreams a rich and handsome benefactor, she discovers that he is a pedophile.
Between 1967 and 1980, Fuller directed only two films, the Mexican-produced ''Shark'' (1969) and ''Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1972)''. Fuller asked the Director's Guild to remove his name from the credits. ''Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street'' featured his wife, Christa Lang. Fuller returned in 1980 with ''The Big Red One'', which won critical praise but failed at the box office. He followed this film with the controversial ''White Dog'' (1982), which the studio refused to release until 1991. In 1983 Fuller moved to France and would only have two more theatrical releases, ''Les Voleurs de la nuit (Thieves After Dark)'' (1984) and ''Street of No Return'' (1989), both were produced outside the United States. He directed his last film, ''Madonne et le dragon'' in 1990. He wrote his last film, ''Girls in Prison'', in 1994. His last work in film was as an actor. In 1997 he appeared in ''The End of Violence'' .

Style and theme

Fuller's work is generally included in the "primitive" style. This was the result of his often lower budgets, but also reflected Fuller's pulp-inspired writing. The dialogue in his films has been criticized by some as heavy-handed or over-the-top.
Fuller often featured marginalized characters in his films. The protagonist of ''Pickup on South Street'' is a pickpocket who keeps his beer in the East River because he cannot afford a refrigerator. ''Shock Corridor'' concerns the patients of a mental hospital. ''Underworld USA'' (1961) focuses on an orphaned victim of mobsters. These characters sometimes find retribution for the injustices against them. ''White Dog'' and ''The Crimson Kimono'' (1959) have definite anti-racist elements.

Legacy

Although Fuller's films were not considered great cinema in their times, they gained critical respect in the late 1960s. Fuller welcomed the new-found esteem, appearing in films of other directors and associating himself with younger filmmakers.
The French New Wave claimed Fuller as a major stylistic influence. His visual style and rhythm were seen as distinctly American, and praised for their energetic simplicity. He makes a cameo appearance in Jean-Luc Godard's ''Pierrot le fou'' (1965), where he famously intones, ''Film is like a battleground... Love, hate, action, violence, death. In one word, emotion!'' He plays a film director in Dennis Hopper's ill-fated ''The Last Movie'' (1971). Martin Scorsese praised Fuller's ability to capture action through camera movement. Recently, Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch credited Fuller as influential upon their works.
In the mid-1980s, Fuller was the first international director guest at the Midnight Sun Film Festival. The festival's hometown, Sodankylä, named a street "Samuel Fullerin katu", Samuel Fuller's street.

Filmography

★ ''I Shot Jesse James'' (1949)

★ ''The Baron of Arizona'' (1950)

★ ''The Steel Helmet'' (1951)

★ ''Fixed Bayonets!'' (1951)

★ ''Park Row'' (1952)

★ ''Pickup on South Street'' (1953)

★ ''Hell and High Water'' (1954)

★ ''House of Bamboo'' (1955)

★ ''Run of the Arrow'' (1957)

★ ''China Gate'' (1957)

★ ''Forty Guns'' (1957)

★ ''Verboten!'' (1958)

★ ''The Crimson Kimono'' (1959)

★ ''Underworld USA'' (1961)

★ ''Merrill's Marauders (film)'' (1962)

★ ''Shock Corridor'' (1963)

★ ''The Naked Kiss'' (1964)

★ ''Shark!'' (1969)

★ ''Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street'' (1973)

★ ''The Big Red One'' (1980)

★ ''White Dog'' (1982)

★ ''Les Voleurs de la nuit'' (Thieves After Dark) (1984)

★ ''Street of No Return'' (1989)

Further reading

★ Amiel, Olivier. ''Samuel Fuller''. Paris: Henri Veyrier, 1985.

★
★ A detailed biography of Fuller, describing his narrative style, ''mise en scene'', production, the critical and commercial reception of his films, and his ambitions in directing and screenwriting. It includes long investigations into the process of making individual films.

★ Fuller, Samuel with Christa Lang Fuller and Jerome Henry Rudes. ''A Third Face : My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking''. New York: A. Knopf, 2002

★
★ Sam Fuller's autobiography

★ Gifford, Barry. ''Out of the Past: Adventures in Film Noir''. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001.

★
★ This book discusses Fuller’s work (specifically ''Pickup on South Street'') as a precipitator of the French New Wave.

★ Hare, William. ''Early Film Noir: Greed, Lust and Murder''. London: McFarland & Company, INC. 2003.

★
★ Responds to the fame of Fuller and ''Pickup on South Street''.

★ Muller, Eddie. ''Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir''. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

★
★ Discusses Fuller’s work in cinema, specifically film noir, in the context of the war drama.

★ Porfirio, Robert, et al. ''Film Noir: Reader 3''. New York: Limelight Editions, 2002.

★
★ Provides, “Interviews with filmmakers of the Classic Noir Period”. Includes an extended interview with Fuller, in which he talks about his work as a noir screenwriter and director, discusses his novels, and speaks about his thoughts on his place within the noir genre.

★ Server, Lee. ''Sam Fuller. Film Is a Batttleground''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. 1994.

★
★ The Subtitle describes the contents: 'A Critical Study, with Interviews, a Filmography and a Bibliography'. Includes an extended interview with Fuller himself, and shorter reminiscences of collaborators, such as Vincent Price, Richard Widmark, Constance Towers and Robert Stack.

★ Silver, Alain, et al. ''Film Noir''. New York: The Overlook Press, 1979.

★
★ A reference guide to the American style; provides detailed information concerning many of Fuller’s more obscure titles, and discusses mise en scene, plot, structure, etc.

External links

★

★ Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database