that deprives him of rights and freedoms. He asks Tanaka
how he can kill other Asians for a country that locked up Japanese
citizens in camps during World War Two. Both of these scenes caused
great controversy with the US Army which had provided the production
with stock footage. In fact, The Steel Helmet was reportedly the
first American film to acknowledge the Japanese internment camps. Ever
the hard-hitting reporter, Fuller refused to back down from these
controversies.

In one last moment of scandal, Sgt.
Zack guns down their prisoner for mocking Short Round after he is killed
by sniper fire. The Army was appalled by Fuller’s implication that
Americans executed POWs, but he fought back by having his former
commanding officer, Brigadier General George A. Taylor, contact the
Pentagon and confirm that such instances were historically accurate.

The
film climaxes with afilm was a
hit when it was released, grossing more than $6 million and becoming
the first independently produced film to play at Loew’s State Theater in
New York City. The Steel Helmet also brought Fuller to
Hollywood’s attention, scoring him a contract with Fox.

From there on
Fuller would direct some of the most daring and iconoclastic films of
the late Hollywood Studio System. Fuller’s ultimate masterpiece is
widely considered to be The Big Red One (1980), a film that
followed the exploits of his beloved 1st Infantry throughout World War
Two. But I still feel inclined to declare The Steel Helmet as his best war film. With its go-for-broke mentality and sweaty aesthetic, The Steel Helmet is as good a war film as was ever made about the “Forgotten War.”

6 comments:

Fuller's masterpiece (and he had several