Line #3 Creator/SamuelFuller


1	[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sam_fuller_5494.jpg]]
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3	->''"It’s been said that if you don’t like Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}}, then you just don’t like {{rock and roll}}. By the same token, I think that if you don’t like the films of Sam Fuller, then you just don’t like cinema. Or at least you don’t understand it."''
4	-->-- '''Creator/MartinScorsese'''
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6	Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran.
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8	Born in Worcester, Massachusetts to a Russian Jewish family called Rabinowitz (which had anglicized to Fuller), he was [[MeaningfulName named after]] Dr. Samuel Fuller, who served on the ''Mayflower''. This pedigree and lineage defined Fuller, a WorkingClassHero who was an outsider but who was paradoxically more American than American, and represented the same profile to his European fans as satirists like Creator/MarkTwain and Creator/HLMencken.
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10	After his father's death, Fuller's mother arrived in New York, where Fuller's autodidactic zest eventually led him to skip school and work as a [[ExtraExtraReadAllAboutIt newspaper boy]]. This started an association with the Hearst press, and Fuller eventually became a copyboy, and then left the newspaper and became a crime journalist. His first big story was the death of Broadway star, Jeanne Eagles. In the years of TheGreatDepression, Fuller traveled the land, covering strikes, race riots, brothels, bar dives and the Klan in the South. He even ran into UsefulNotes/AlCapone. Then he became a pulp fiction writer, then he went to Hollywood as a screenwriter and then UsefulNotes/WorldWarII broke out and Fuller enlisted as a US First Infantryman serving several tours of duty in North Africa, Sicily and he was part of the first waves on Omaha Beach on D-Day. [[SeenItAll All this]], before directing his first film in 1949 at the age of 36.
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12	There's TaughtByExperience and there's a life that allows you, in Fuller's words, "to cover [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor the biggest crime story of the century"]]. The very first film Fuller shot was footage of the liberation of [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust the concentration camp Falkenau]], an experience which needless to say left a mark on him. When Fuller made his films, he had little time for sentiment or phony gimmicks, possessing a journalist's instinct to get [[HatesSmallTalk to the heart of things]]. The result is some of the most visually exciting and unforgettable films of the 50s, in genres like TheWestern, FilmNoir and especially WarMovies. He also made some GenreBusting satirical films like ''Film/ShockCorridor'', ''The Naked Kiss'' and ''Film/WhiteDog'', which explored the underbelly of America. As a director, Fuller's personality was incredibly charismatic and large hearted and he was never without his impressive cigar, instead of calling action, he would fire a revolver on set. He wrote, produced and directed his best films and was prized in France for being an auteur, counting many a famous fan like Jean-Luc Godard, Creator/FrancoisTruffaut and others.
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14	The MediaNotes/FallOfTheStudioSystem led to a period in wilderness for Fuller, where he worked in Television and as a screenwriter for hire with many projects stuck in DevelopmentHell. Paradoxically, Fuller became a LivingLegend, appearing in films by other directors and regarded as an OldMaster who young directors took pilgrimages to seek advice and inspiration from. He was the first choice for the role of Hyman Roth in Creator/FrancisFordCoppola's ''[[Film/TheGodfather The Godfather Part II]]'', and an audition with him and Creator/AlPacino exists (the role was passed over by Elia Kazan and was later played by acting teacher Lee Strasberg). Eventually, Fuller made his comeback with the film he waited all his life to make, ''Film/TheBigRedOne'' starring Creator/LeeMarvin and Creator/MarkHamill. ExecutiveMeddling prevented it from becoming a major hit (a ReCut after his death restores the full vision of Fuller's great film). It's the only major UsefulNotes/WorldWarII film shot by an actual veteran infantryman and survivor and is uncanny for its accuracy in portraying the psychology of warfare. His second film of the 80s was ''Film/WhiteDog'', about a dog trained to attack black people; it was shelved and {{Misblamed}} although it would be VindicatedByHistory. Fuller made TV films after that, and retired in France where he had a daughter in his later years and spent his final years working on his autobiography with the distinct title, ''A Third Face : My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Film-making'' which was published and edited by his wife Christa Fuller (herself an actress who appeared in Godard's ''Alphaville'').
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16	The list of people influenced by Fuller are legendary, including Creator/StevenSpielberg (who cast him in his ''Film/NineteenFortyOne1979'' in a brief cameo), Creator/MartinScorsese, Jonathan Demme, Creator/QuentinTarantino, and Creator/JimJarmusch in addition to his large following in Europe. There's a street named after him in UsefulNotes/{{Finland}}. Put it simply, they don't make 'em like Sammy Fuller anymore.
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18	!! Selected Filmography
19	* ''Film/ItHappenedInHollywood'' (1937) (writer only)
20	* ''Film/AdventureInSahara (1938)'' (writer only)
21	* ''Film/PowerOfThePress'' (1943) (writer only)
22	* ''Film/IShotJesseJames (1949)''
23	* ''Film/TheSteelHelmet (1951)''
24	* ''Park Row (1952)''
25	* ''Film/PickupOnSouthStreet (1953)''
26	* ''House of Bamboo (1955)''
27	* ''Run of the Arrow (1957)''
28	* ''Film/FortyGuns (1957)''
29	* ''The Crimson Kimono (1959)''
30	* ''Film/UnderworldUSA (1961)''
31	* ''Film/ShockCorridor (1963)''
32	* ''The Naked Kiss (1964)''
33	* ''Film/TheAmericanFriend'' (1977) (actor only)
34	* ''Film/TheBigRedOne (1980)'' (ReCut version released in 2004)
35	* ''Film/WhiteDog (1982)''
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37	!! Tropes from his movies.
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39	* AmbiguouslyGay : Or not so ambiguous, his first film ''I Shot Jesse James'' asserts this of Robert Ford and also in ''House of Bamboo'' via gang leader Creator/RobertRyan.
40	* AntiHero : Many types show up. But this is a common feature of his movies.
41	* BackedByThePentagon : [[invoked]] A major subversion. His film ''Film/TheSteelHelmet'' made at the height of the RedScare made [[ValuesDissonance controversial]] anti-racist statements and showed American soldiers violating the Geneva convention which earned him an invitation to the Pentagon to explain himself. Years later, Fuller was proud when a screening of ''Film/TheBigRedOne'' by Army brass resulted in one officer lamenting it had "no recruitment potential".
42	** Fuller stated broadly that he was always skeptical of people enlisting because of how war looks good in the movies. He tried to avert this in his own works by showing it for what it is.
43	* CulturedBadass: Fuller was an infantryman, a WWII veteran and before that a crime reporter and an all around tough guy but also a genuine gentleman, he was also a voracious reader all his life, drawing from Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/CharlesDickens, Creator/FyodorDostoevsky, Creator/WilliamShakespeare and he became a great film-maker with a powerful visual style, highly influential on the European avant-garde.
44	* CoolOldGuy: [[invoked]] Among his admirers, and in his video interviews, he gives this impression. Also borne out in his wonderful autobiography filled with anecdotes. His many cameo appearances in films by Godard, Creator/WimWenders and others also have him portray cool old guys who often shine as OneSceneWonder.
45	* CreativeClosingCredits: Quite famous for this in the Golden Age where instead of "The End" he would use different phrases:
46	** ''The Steel Helmet'' states "There is no end to this picture" [[spoiler:befitting the fact that the soldiers having survived the siege against the Reds and regrouping with another unit, go on to fight the next battle which they may or may not survive]].
47	** ''Park Row'' ends with the phrase "thirty" [[spoiler:old fashioned newspaper tradition to end every wire with a thirty at the end]].
48	** ''Run of the Arrow'' ends with "The End of this Story can only be written by you!"
49	* DarkerAndEdgier : To American cinema on the whole, Fuller's films were much less sentimental, harder and more brutal than earlier crime films or westerns at the time. In particular, his Western ''Run of the Arrow'' is reportedly the first movie to use squibs to simulate bullet hits.
50	* DeadlySparring: In ''The Crimson Kimono'', an exhibition kendo match between the Japanese-American cop Joe and his white partner Charlie turns into a brutal brawl due to a combination of their rivalry over a woman and suppressed racial tensions between the two of them.
51	* {{Deconstruction}} : He was especially concerned with how war and violence was shown in movies. ''Film/TheSteelHelmet'' has a JerkAss AntiHero deliberately making fun of NoOneGetsLeftBehind when one private insists on recovering dog tags from a corpse, and ends up getting blown up by a booby-trapped body. His films even attack the BandOfBrothers sentimentalism, with a squad composed of soldiers who are bound more by TeethClenchedTeamwork, with each one focused on their survival and they avoid people they consider incompetent and accident prone and avoid forming bonds with newer soldiers or "replacements" once they become veterans.
52	** Fuller's films constantly deconstructed the underbelly of America, showing them as being closer to the mainstream than they would allow, with ''The Naked Kiss'' criticizing a StepfordSuburbia which turns out to be more corrupt than the brothel the HookerWithAHeartOfGold is fleeing. Gangsters likewise are shown as PunchClockVillain and AntiVillain.
53	* FilmNoir: ''Film/PickupOnSouthStreet''. ''Underworld USA'', ''The Naked Kiss'', and ''Film/ShockCorridor'' also use elements of noir.
54	* FreakOut : His films in scenes of great emotion and violence and action feature wild camera movements and editing tricks, which has this effect.
55	* GoAmongMadPeople : His film ''Film/ShockCorridor'' is a famous example of this trope.
56	* GunNut: For example, instead of yelling "Action!", he would fire a revolver in the air.
57	* MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting: Fuller was a veteran infantryman so he definitely loved America and was a true patriot but he was also quite critical of American society in films like ''Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss'' and ''Film/WhiteDog'' as well as the empty patriotism that characterized the RedScare (Widmark in ''Pickup on South Street'' mocks the police officer for "waving the flag at me"). The scientist Boden (Played by Fuller regular Creator/GeneEvans) in ''Shock Corridor'' probably serves as an AuthorAvatar when he remarks:
58	--> "I love my country even if it gives me ulcers"
59	* OldMaster : Had this reputation in the 60s and 70s among the directors who looked up at him. They would visit him for script advice and other anecdotes or cast him in their movies in cameos.
60	* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: ''Underworld USA''. Interesting take on this as the protagonist--whose father was killed by mobsters--is given an effective ''license'' to do this by the FBI!
61	* SeenItAll : Before he directed his first film, he covered urban riots, city crime, waterfronts, fascist rallies in America and during the war, he saw tours of duty across North Africa and Europe, and participated in the liberation of a concentration camp which haunted him for the rest of his life. All this before directing his first film.
62	* SophisticatedAsHell : This is perhaps the truest definition of Fuller's style. His dialogue and plots were over-the-top and obvious but they were also intelligent, critical and brilliant, mixing high and low culture frequently.
63	* WarIsGlorious : Fuller has the last word, the final narration of The Big Red One narrated by AuthorAvatar who is retelling the story,
64	-->''"We'd all made it through we were alive. I'm gonna dedicate my book to those who shot but didn't get shot, because it's about survivors. And surviving is the only glory in war, if you know what I mean."''
65	* WarIsHell : Fuller's movies show that war for the foot-soldier is a painful trudge through trenches, dense forest and dirt cover, surrounded by a squad who are out for their own neck when their incompetence is not likely going to get you killed and where most of the time, you can't see your enemy and can not feel any real ideological connection to why you are fighting.

Context Creator / SamuelFuller