The Steel Helmet (1951)

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller (written by)

Release Date:

2 February 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Tagline:

It's the REAL Korean Story!

Plot:

A ragtag group of American stragglers battles against superior Communist troops in an abandoned Buddhist temple during the Korean War.

Plot Keywords:

Buddhist Temple | Boy | Sergeant | Korean War | Korean Boy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Gene Evans	...	Sgt. Zack
Robert Hutton	...	Pvt. Bronte
Steve Brodie	...	Lt. Driscoll
James Edwards	...	Cpl. Thompson
Richard Loo	...	Sgt. Tanaka
Sid Melton	...	Joe
Richard Monahan	...	Pvt. Baldy
William Chun	...	Short Round
Harold Fong	...	The Red
Neyle Morrow	...	First GI
Lynn Stalmaster	...	Second Lieutenant

Directed by
Samuel Fuller

Writing credits
Samuel Fuller		(written by)

Produced by
William Berke	....	associate producer
Samuel Fuller	....	producer
Robert L. Lippert	....	executive producer (as Robert Lippert)
Murray Lerner	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Paul Dunlap

Cinematography by
Ernest Miller

Film Editing by
Philip Cahn

Art Direction by
Theobold Holsopple

Set Decoration by
Clarence Steensen		(as Clarence Steenson)

Costume Design by
Alfred Berke

Makeup Department
George Bruce	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
John Francis Murphy	....	assistant director (as John F. Murphy)

Sound Department
William H. Lynch	....	sound (as William Lynch)

Special Effects by
Ben Southland	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Ray Mercer	....	optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Noble Craig	....	grip (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Robert L. Lippert Jr.	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Paul Dunlap	....	musical director

Other crew
Stanley Price	....	dialogue coach

Production Companies

• Deputy Corporation

Distributors

• Lippert Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical)
• Weiss Global Enterprises (1979) (USA) (all media)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD) (as Eclipse from the Criterion Collection)
• Burbank Video (????-????) (video)
• Kit Parker Films (2004) (worldwide) (all media)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #14901)

Filming Locations:

Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Deputy Corporation

Trivia:

Director's trademark (Samuel Fuller): [Lemchek]: A recurring character name in Fuller's films.

Goofs:

Continuity: The stock archival footage showing the positions of the Communist troops that are being shelled alternate between flat farmland and mountainous country.

Quotes:

[while the squad searches Korean civilians]
Pvt. Bronte:They all look alike to me.
Sgt. Zack:Don't you know how to tell the difference, Fat Paul?
Pvt. Bronte:No.
Sgt. Zack:He's South Korean when he's running with you. He's North Korean when he's running AFTER you.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (2002) (TV)

Gritty To Say the Least

I grew up with this movie, which was shown regularly on local television stations at a time when post-1949 films were scarce as hen's teeth on the tube. The film that put writer-director Samuel Fuller on the map, to the extent that he was ever there, it looks less impressive now, but I have a soft spot for it. It is the story of a group of infantrymen, many of them social misfits, during the Korean War, and their heroic efforts in defense of a Buddhist temple during a Communist-led attack. The major character in the film is Sgt. Zack, played to the hilt by a cigar-chewing Gene Evans, who never became a star but whose performance here is powerful and charismatic, flawless in every detail. I've never seen him in anything else where he's half as good as he is here. Evans carries the film like a super-star, and in Steel Helmet, for a short time, he is one. The others are good, too. Steve Brodie is less of a jerk than usual; James Edwards is very sharp, more assertive than in the previous year's Home Of the Brave, which he made with Brodie. As to the film itself, its qualities come from being a sort of tabloid journalist's work of art. It is weakest when preachy about race relations, strongest when men are arguing, shouting and competing with one another as if they had just stepped out of the pages one of those 'adult' comic books they used to have in barbershops. The movie's cheapness gives it a documentary look, and for once GI's in a film look dirty and unshaven. The scenes with the giant Buddha that dominates he temple's interior have an otherworldliness about them that seems serendipitous, not planned, and give the quieter scenes a background of serenity without which the picture might be intolerably violent and bitter.