The Steel Helmet (1951)

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

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller

Stars:

Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

During the Korean War, strong but worn and cantankerous Sergeant Zack is aided by a young, orphaned Korean boy. Together they encounter and join a small group of American soldiers. The group stumbles upon a Buddhist temple where they decide to hold up, believing it to be empty...

---

Plot Keywords:

buddhist temple | korean war | korea | u.s. army | cigar smoking | 

---

Taglines:

It's the REAL Korean Story!

---

Genres:

Action | Drama | War

---

Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Korean

Release Date:

2 February 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

38ste breedtegraad

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$103,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$2,000,000, 31 December 1951

Company Credits

Production Co:

Deputy Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One scene in the picture shows an American officer killing an unarmed prisoner, and another has a Japanese-American soldier talking about how his parents were separated and sent to different "relocation" camps during World War II because they were Japanese. These two incidents, coming at the height of the McCarthy-led "Red hysteria" that was sweeping the country at the time, led to calls for writer/director Samuel Fuller to be arrested for treason and for writing anti-American/pro-Communist "propaganda" for giving "the Reds" ammunition to attack the US, and he later learned that he was in fact investigated by the FBI because of that film.

---

Goofs

During the sniper fight in the forest, Sgt. Zack dislodges a piece of fake shrubbery, revealing the wood planks that anchor the shrubbery.

---

Quotes

Lt. Driscoll: Well, Sergeant, I told you it was a waste of time.
Sgt. Zack: If I was right all the time I'd be an officer, Lieutenant.

---

Crazy Credits

and introducing Gene Evans as Zack

---

Connections

Featured in The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)

User Reviews

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.