we talked about this on the fuller thread.
but again, for me the film is “shock corridor”. granted i haven’t seen all of fuller’s work. it seems to be a condensed textbook example of his style and concerns. and its also the most aesthetically pleasing film of his i’ve seen.
Bobby — sorry, missed the previous thread.
My first Choice is Forty Guns — Barbara Stanwyck is a total Bad Ass in that film. The image of her with the whip is hard to get out of my mind. Second on my list is Steel Helmet — you can see the themes begin that would eventually be more fully developed in Big Red One. Steel Helmet was very political for it’s time and I think much of that is lost in our modern view.
We can make this a thread devoted to Forty Guns. I just ordered this from amazon so I should be watching it soon and might have some comments to make.
Big Red One
I’ll still need to check out FORTY GUNS and PARK ROW; however, my next Fuller will be RUN OF THE ARROW.
My favorite still remains THE STEEL HELMET out of the 8 I’ve seen.
Shock Corridor
Pick Up on South Street is my favorite Fuller. . A lot seem to choose Shock Corridor-I always found it a bit silly -closer to Reefer Madness than a serious look at mental illness.
fuller’s technique doesnt owe much to “serious”. he’s into exaggeration. if you’re looking for a film about mental illness that’s “serious” from fuller, you must not know anything about his work. in fact, form equals content here. guarantee for success.
Bobby-I wasn’t expecting a Fredereick Wiseman film-I just find everything too over the top in Shock Corridor-I realize sublety isn’t Fullers strong point. Some of this might be due to the use of second rate actors like James Best and Peter Breck. I saw this with several other people and there was a lot of laughter when there shouldn’t have been.
ok, i hear you. but still and all, you have to know that over the top is what fuller does best. and you have to know that he’s a classic b-filmmaker, so most all of his stars are second rate actors. and also, you have to know that fuller has plenty of films where there’s uncomfortable laughter, either from the dramaturgy or the aesthetics.
i think “shock corridor” is a highly effective film. its got that certain magic. something you cant quite put your finger on. the tone and mood is just right to me, and there are some great cinematic moments. the surreal striptease sequence. the nightmarish descent into the nympho ward. the emotionally powerful and eerie kkk speech and subsequent attack from a black man. “shock corridor” is one of his most vivid, visceral, and emotional films. all the things that make cinema, and fuller’s films, great.
Bobby, I agree wholeheartedly. Shock Corridor employs one of the most original frameworks ever to critique society. William Carlos Williams wrote, “The pure products of American go crazy.” The idea that the inmates have succumbed to larger rifts and tensions within society is brilliance, as far as I’m concerned.
Pickup On South Street
The Crimson Kimono
White Dog
SHOCK CORRIDOR for me too. Not a movie about mental illness so much as a madhouse allegorical depiction of the contemporary American Zeitgeist using mental illness not seriously but metaphorically. AND exploitatively and entertainingly.
@Steve, I hear what you’re saying, but also think there are plenty of moments in SHOCK CORRIDOR that are laughably-as-in-wonderfully over-the-top or just shocking. Again, the movie is incredibly entertaining, Fuller’s often looking just to a get a rise out of his viewers, whatever form or sound that release takes in an audience-member. Granted, you’re the one who knows which moments you’re referring to, and you’re the one who heard the tone of the laughter, and very well may be right…I’ve certainly been in a screening of NAKED KISS during which people were cackling and clucking along with dialogue that I didn’t find to be that funny and it totally pissed me off.
@VALLAEM…I have some, uh, bad news for you…RUN OF THE ARROW isn’t nearly as good as it should be. Then again, I might not have watched it with full attention. Anyone else agree?
STEEL HELMET (1951), FIXED BAYONETS! (1951), PARK ROW (1952), PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953)…what a run!
Also love FORTY GUNS, CRIMSON KIMONO, MERRIL’S MARAUDERS also good.
Oh God…everything? I haven’t seen anything that I did not absolutely LOVE. Sorry.
My favorite is House of Bamboo. I like Verboten! too, which I don’t think anyone else has mentioned. I guess it’s the post-WWII conflict of cultures element of both films that appeals to me.
One of the things I tent to like most about Fuller’s films is that he does tend to exaggerate for the purpose of psychological impact and to hammer whatever message his trying to send to the viewer over their heads – the essence of his pulp filmmaking style. I also like the fact he doesn’t take long to cut to the chase with his well crafted and taut scripts – a mark of his experience as a newspaper reporter (and likely one of the reasons he sensationalizes his stories).
I think the Big Red One deconstruction was his magna opus, but I recently saw White Dog and that one blew my mind. Great film! My other favorites are Pickup on South Street and The Steel Helmet. I’m ashamed to say I have not see Shock Corridor, but plan on doing so ASAP.
Yeah, his films are blunt instruments.
Pickup on South Street
House of Bamboo
The Naked Kiss
The Big Red One (The Reconstruction) and The Naked Kiss. I also like really like White Dog.
What’s a good intro to Fuller’s work?
‘What’s a good intro to Fuller’s work?’
The First Three Films By Samuel Fuller Criterion/Eclipse box set
Thanks Francisco. :)
Shock Corridor, the Naked Kiss, Underworld USA and Pickup on South Street are four films I truly love. I would rec. these four to begin with.
BTW, if anyone’s interested there’s a pretty good documentary on Fuller called ‘The Typewriter, the Rifle, & the Movie Camera’ that you can find on YouTube.
I recently saw Shock Corridor and was unimpressed. Honestly, I am baffled why this film seems to overshadow much better Fuller works like “Pickup on South Street,” “Big Red One,” “The Steel Helmet” and even “White Dog.” My favorites are Pickup on South Street and The Steel Helmet.
House of Bamboo….a ballsy Third Man set in post-war Tokyo.
Shock Corridor is sensationalism at its finest. The bizarre close-ups of the black guy shouting racist epithets, the color interludes, the extreme harshness of the lighting which bleaches out everything and creates these really thick dark shadows up the walls — to me it’s a visual and artistic masterpiece. I don’t see how you can love Fuller without loving this gutsy, experimental, pop art masterpiece.
White Dog – My affection for it might stem from my first experience with it. I guess it was two summers ago that it came to my local revival theater, The Music Box. I decided to go because it’s a Fuller film, but I knew absolutely nothing about it otherwise. Boy was I in for it. The very concept of this film is so audacious, but beyond that Fully imbues this newspaper clipping type tale with a sense of the totally outrageous. It’s funny, wild, and politically charged. I wonder how a film like this would play to an audience today.
What about Underworld USA? It’s within the orbit of Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss and Pickup on South Street. U.— USA seems to always get left out of all these Sam Fuller threads. These four are my favorites, but the rest are very close behind except Hell and High Water which is really kind of weak compared to his other films.
cuernoverde
Now that almost everything is out on DVD (when will someone release Park Row?), I would love to know which Sam Fuller film is most favored and why.