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Many people will associate Samuel Fuller less for any of his films than for his “guest appearance” in Godard’s Pierrot le fou in 1965. ... First because Fuller was a warrior. Fuller had fought World War II as a private in the US Army, in a division known as The Big Red One, in Algeria, Sicily, Omaha Beach, the battle of the Bulge, and the Falkenau death camp. Second because Fuller was famous for talking in headlines. ... Third because no one better than Fuller epitomized the sort of unsung filmmaker that critics like Godard and Truffaut had been championing in the 1950s, at the moment that the “heresies” of the politique des auteurs and Hollywood-as-art were making their biggest impact. Fuller’s films were cheap. ... But Fuller’s success gave him independence. ... Fuller was thus in many ways an inspiration behind the first films of the Nouvelle Vague. Fourth, because Fuller’s public persona, with his gigantic cigar and in-your-face style, seemed deliberately provocative. ... Instead Fuller has been famously denounced for crudity and illiteracy, and even advocates like Andrew Sarris retreated to trying to defend him as an “American primitive.” Samuel Fuller (1912-97) was born Samuel Rabinovitch, in Worcester, Massachusetts. ... Fuller’s work as a crime reporter introduced him to the underworld, prisons and executions. ... The films cost practically nothing as well, and The Steel Helmet, a war film shot in two weeks for $100,000 grossed $6,000,000, and Fuller was swamped with offers from all the big studios.
Approximate Word count = 1138
Approximate Pages = 4.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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