Samuel Fuller | |
|---|---|
 Fuller in Normandy, France, in 1987 | |
| Born | Samuel Michael Fuller (1912-08-12)August 12, 1912 Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | October 30, 1997(1997-10-30) (aged 85) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Sam Fuller |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1936–1994 |
| Spouses | |
Samuel MichaelFuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997)[1] was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and actor. He was known for directing low-budgetgenre movies with controversial themes, often made outside the conventional studio system.
After working as a reporter and apulp novelist, Fuller wrote his first screenplay forHats Off in 1936, and made his directorial debut with the WesternI Shot Jesse James (1949). He continued to direct several other Westerns and war films throughout the 1950s. He shifted genres in the 1960s with his low-budget thrillerShock Corridor in 1963, followed by theneo-noirThe Naked Kiss (1964).
Fuller was inactive in filmmaking for most of the 1970s, before writing and directing the semi-autobiographical war epicThe Big Red One (1980), and the dramaWhite Dog (1982), whose screenplay he co-wrote withCurtis Hanson. Several of his films influencedFrench New Wave filmmakers, notablyJean-Luc Godard, who gave him a cameo appearance inPierrot le Fou (1965).[2][3] In the latter part of his career, he worked mainly in Europe and lived inParis.
Samuel Michael Fuller was born inWorcester, Massachusetts, of Jewish parents, Rebecca (née Baum) and Benjamin Fuller.[4] His father died in 1923 when Samuel was 11. After immigrating to the United States, the family's surname was changed from Rabinovitch to Fuller, a name possibly inspired bySamuel Fuller (Pilgrim), a doctor who arrived in America on theMayflower.[5] In his autobiography,A Third Face (2002), he says that he did not speak until he was almost five. His first word was "Hammer!"[6][7]
After his father's death, the family moved to New York City, where at the age of 12, he began working as a newspaper copyboy. He became a crime reporter in New York City at age 17, working for theNew York Evening Graphic. He broke the story of actressJeanne Eagels' death.[8] He wrotepulp novels, includingThe Dark Page (1944; reissued in 2007 with an introduction byWim Wenders),[9] which was later adapted into the 1952 movieScandal Sheet.
Late in life he said, "If only a reporter could get a thousand dollars an hour the way a director does, I'd be in it today".[10]
DuringWorld War II, Fuller joined theUnited States Army. He was assigned as an infantryman to the16th Infantry Regiment,1st Infantry Division, and saw heavy fighting. He was involved in landings inAfrica,Sicily, andNormandy, and also saw action in Belgium and Czechoslovakia. In 1945, he was present at the liberation of a German concentration camp inFalkenau. He shot 16-mm footage, known asV-E +1, that was later integrated into the French documentaryFalkenau: The Impossible (1988). In 2014, the footage was selected for the United StatesNational Film Registry.[11] For his military service, Fuller was awarded theSilver Star,Bronze Star,Purple Heart, andCombat Infantryman Badge. He reached the rank of corporal.[12]
Fuller used his wartime experiences as material in his films, especially inThe Big Red One (1980), the nickname for the U.S.1st Infantry Division. After the war, Fuller co-authored a regimental history of the 16th Infantry.[13]
Hats Off (1936) marked Fuller's first credit as a screenwriter. He wrote many screenplays throughout his career, such asGangs of the Waterfront in 1945. He was unimpressed withDouglas Sirk's direction of hisShockproof screenplay, and made the jump to writer/director after being asked to write three films by independent producerRobert Lippert. Fuller agreed to write them if he would be allowed to direct them, as well, with no extra fee. Lippert agreed. Fuller's first film under this arrangement wasI Shot Jesse James (1949), followed byThe Baron of Arizona withVincent Price.[14]
Fuller's third film,The Steel Helmet, established him as a major force. The first film about theKorean War, made just six months into that conflict,[15] he wrote it based largely on his own World War II experiences and tales coming out of Korea. The film was attacked by reporterVictor Riesel for being "pro-Communist" and "anti-American." Critic Westford Pedravy alleged Fuller was secretly financed by "the Reds."[16] Fuller had a major argument with the U.S. Army, which providedstock footage for the film. When army officials objected to Fuller's American characters executing aprisoner of war, Fuller replied he had seen it done during his own military service. A compromise was reached when the lieutenant threatens thesergeant with acourt martial. The film marked the first collaboration between Fuller and actorGene Evans. The studio wanted a more prominent star such asJohn Wayne, but Fuller was adamant that Evans be used because he was impressed by his fellow veteran's authentic portrayal of a soldier.[17]
After the success ofThe Steel Helmet, Fuller was sought out by themajor studios. All gave him advice ontax shelters, except forDarryl F. Zanuck of20th Century-Fox, who replied, "We make better movies," the answer Fuller was seeking. Zanuck signed Fuller for a contract for seven films, the first being another Korean War film,Fixed Bayonets!, to head off other studio competition copyingThe Steel Helmet. The U.S. Army assignedMedal of Honor recipientRaymond Harvey as Fuller'stechnical advisor; the two struck up a long friendship during filming, and Harvey later returned to advise him onVerboten!.
The proposed seventh film,Tigrero, based on a book bySasha Siemel, is the subject of a 1994 documentary byMika Kaurismäki.Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made featured Fuller andJim Jarmusch visiting the proposed Amazon locations of the film. Film Fuller shot on location at the time was featured in hisShock Corridor.
Fuller's favorite film wasPark Row, a story of American journalism.[18] Zanuck had wanted to adapt it into a musical, but Fuller refused.[19] Instead, he started his own production company with his profits to make the film on his own.Park Row was a labor of love and served as a tribute to the journalists he knew as a newsboy. His flourishes of style on a very low budget led critics such as Bill Krohn to compare the film toCitizen Kane. Fuller followed this withPickup on South Street (1953), afilm noir starringRichard Widmark, which became one of his best-known films.[20] Other films Fuller directed in the 1950s includeHouse of Bamboo,Forty Guns, andChina Gate, which led to protests from the French government and a friendship with writerRomain Gary. After leaving Fox, Fuller started his Globe Productions that madeRun of the Arrow,Verboten!, andThe Crimson Kimono, and produced, wrote, and directed a television pilot about World War II soldiers to be titledDogface, which was not picked up.[21]
In 1961, Warner Bros. offered to financeThe Big Red One in return for his makingMerrill's Marauders. When Fuller had problems with Warner Bros.' editing of his film, theBig Red One fell through.[22]
Fuller's films throughout the 1950s and early 1960s generally were lower-budget genre movies exploring controversial subjects.Shock Corridor (1963) is set in apsychiatric hospital, whileThe Naked Kiss (1964) featured a prostitute attempting to change her life by working in apediatric ward.[23] Both films were released byAllied Artists.
Between 1967 and 1980, Fuller directed only one film, the Mexican-producedShark! (1969). Fuller unsuccessfully asked the Directors Guild to remove his name from the credits ofShark.[24] He returned in 1980 with the epicThe Big Red One, the semiautobiographical story of a platoon of soldiers and their harrowing experiences during World War II. The film won critical praise, but failed at the box office.
"Shelve the film without letting anyone see it? I was dumbfounded. It's difficult to express the hurt of having a finished film locked away in a vault, never to be screened for an audience. It's like someone putting your newborn baby in a goddamned maximum-security prison forever ... Moving to France for a while would alleviate some of the pain and doubt that I had to live with because of White Dog."
In 1981, he was selected to direct the filmWhite Dog, based on a novel byRomain Gary.[26] The controversial film depicts the struggle of a black dog trainer trying to de-program a "white dog," a stray that was programmed to attack any black person viciously. He readily agreed to work on the film, having focused much of his career on racial issues.[27] Already familiar with the novel and with the concept of "white dogs," he was tasked with "reconceptualizing" the film to have the conflict depicted in the book occur within the dog rather than the people.[25] He used the film as a platform to deliver an anti-racist message through the film's examination of the question of whether racism is a treatable problem or an incurable disease.[26][28]
During filming,Paramount Pictures grew increasingly concerned the film would offend African-American viewers, and brought in two consultants to review the work and offer their approval on the way Black characters were depicted.[25][27][29] One felt the film had no racist connotations, while the other, Willis Edwards, vice president of the HollywoodNAACP chapter, felt the film was inflammatory and should never have been made.[27] The two men provided a write-up of their views for the studio executives, which were passed to producerJon Davison along with warnings that the studio was afraid the film would be boycotted. Fuller was not told of these discussions, nor given the notes until two weeks before filming was slated to conclude. Known for being a staunchintegrationist and for regularly giving Black actors nonstereotypical roles, Fuller was furious, finding the studio's actions insulting. He reportedly had both representatives banned from the set afterwards, though he did integrate some of the suggested changes into the film.[27][29] After the film's completion, Paramount refused to release it, declaring it did not have enough earnings potential to go against the threatened NAACP boycotts and possible bad publicity.[25][26][27][30]
AfterWhite Dog was shelved by Paramount Pictures, Fuller moved to France in 1982 and never directed another American film.[25][26] He directed two theatrical French films,Les Voleurs de la nuit in 1984 andStreet of No Return in 1989.Les Voleurs de la nuit was entered into the34th Berlin International Film Festival.[31] He directed his last film,The Madonna and the Dragon, in 1990, and he wrote his last screenplay,Girls in Prison, in 1994.
With his wife,Christa Lang, and Jerry Rudes, Fuller wrote an autobiographyA Third Face (published in 2002). This was the culmination of a long career as an author. Among his books are the novels "Burn, Baby, Burn" (1935),Test Tube Baby (1936),Make Up and Kiss (1938), andThe Dark Page (1944).Novelizations of his films includeThe Naked Kiss (1964),The Big Red One (1980; reissued 2005),144 Piccadilly (1971), andQuint's World (1988). A book-length interview of Fuller by Jean Narboni and Noel Simsolo,Il etait une fois ... Samuel Fuller (with a preface byMartin Scorsese) appeared in 1986.
Fuller made acameo appearance inJean-Luc Godard'sPierrot le Fou (1965), where he famously intones: "Film is like a battleground ... Love, hate, action, violence, death. In one word, emotion!"[32] He also made a cameo appearance at an outdoor cafe inLuc Moullet'sBrigitte et Brigitte (1966) along withFrench New Wave directorsClaude Chabrol,Eric Rohmer, andAndré Téchiné. He plays a film director inDennis Hopper's ill-fatedThe Last Movie (1971);[33] an Army colonel inSteven Spielberg's1941 (1979); a war correspondent in his filmThe Big Red One (scene deleted in the original release, restored in the reconstructed version),[34] a talent agent in his filmWhite Dog (1981), and a cameraman inWim Wenders'The State of Things (1982). He portrays an American gangster in two films set in Germany:The American Friend by Wenders andHelsinki Napoli All Night Long byMika Kaurismäki. He also appeared inLarry Cohen'sA Return to Salem's Lot (1987), and played a businessman inLa Vie de Bohème (1992) byAki Kaurismäki. His last work in film was as an actor inThe End of Violence (1997). A photo of Fuller also appears on one of the mirrors of a stripper in hisShock Corridor.
Fuller's work has been described as primitive byLuc Moullet and by the influential American criticsManny Farber andAndrew Sarris.[35] Grant Tracey has used the term "narrative tabloid" to refer to Fuller's style of filmmaking.[36] This was the result of his often lower budgets, but also reflected Fuller's pulp-inspired writing.
Fuller was known for using intense close-ups, off-center framings, and shock editing in many of his films, which were often about men facing death in combat. These scenes were both violent and tragic.[30]Fuller often featuredmarginalized characters in his films. Theprotagonist ofPickup on South Street is apickpocket who lives on a floating shack in theEast River.Shock Corridor concerns the patients of amental hospital.Underworld U.S.A. (1961) focuses on anorphaned victim of mobsters. The lead female characters ofPickup on South Street,China Gate, andThe Naked Kiss are prostitutes or gun molls. These characters sometimes find retribution for the injustices against them.White Dog andThe Crimson Kimono (1959) have definiteantiracist elements.The Steel Helmet, set during the Korean War, features a racially mixed cast and contains dialogue about the internment ofJapanese-Americans and the segregation of the American military in World War II.
Several Fuller's films, includingThe Naked Kiss,The Baron of Arizona,Shockproof,House of Bamboo,Forty Guns, andThe Big Red One, feature a leading character with the same name, Griff.
In the early 1990s, Samuel Fuller, along with his wife, Christa, and their daughterSamantha, settled into a small apartment at 61 rue de Reuilly in the 12th arrondissement of Paris,[37] but after he suffered a stroke in 1994, they returned to the States the following year.[38] They resided in Los Angeles, where Fuller lived until he died at home of natural causes.
In November 1997, the Directors Guild held a three-hour memorial in his honor, hosted byCurtis Hanson, his longtime friend and co-writer onWhite Dog. He was survived by his wife and daughter.[39]
Although Fuller's films were not considered great cinema in their time, they gained critical respect in the late 1960s. Fuller welcomed the newfound esteem, appearing in films of other directors and associating himself with younger filmmakers. TheFrench New Wave claimed Fuller as a major stylistic influence,[40] especiallyLuc Moullet.[41] His visual style and rhythm were seen as distinctly American, and praised for their energetic simplicity. Martin Scorsese praised Fuller's ability to capture action through camera movement.[42] In the 1996 Adam Simon-directed documentaryThe Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera,Quentin Tarantino andJim Jarmusch credited Fuller as influential upon their works.[43] Most recently, his wife Christa Lang produced a documentary directed by their daughterSamantha about him.A Fuller Life uses footage he captured himself with celebrities such asJames Franco reading from his autobiography.[44]
In the mid-1980s, Fuller was the first international director to be a guest at theMidnight Sun Film Festival.[45] The festival's hometown,Sodankylä, Finland, named a street "Samuel Fullerin katu" ("Samuel Fuller's street").
The moving image collection of Samuel Fuller is housed at theAcademy Film Archive.[46] The archive has preserved several of Samuel Fuller's films, includingThe Crimson Kimono,Underworld U.S.A., andPickup on South Street.[47] Additionally, the archive has preserved several of Fuller's home movies, including those shot during his war service.[48]
Acting roles
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955 | House of Bamboo | Policeman | Uncredited |
| 1965 | Pierrot le Fou | Himself | |
| 1966 | Brigitte et Brigitte | ||
| 1971 | The Last Movie | Sam | |
| 1973 | The Young Nurses | Doc Haskell | |
| 1977 | Scott Joplin | Impersario | |
| The American Friend | The American | ||
| 1979 | 1941 | Interceptor Commander | |
| 1980 | The Big Red One | War Correspondent | |
| 1982 | Hammett | Man in Pool Hall | |
| White Dog | Charles Felton | ||
| The State of Things | Joe | ||
| Slapstick of Another Kind | Col. Sharp | ||
| 1984 | Thieves After Dark | Zoltan | Uncredited |
| 1987 | A Return to Salem's Lot | Dr. Van Meer | |
| 1989 | Street of No Return | Police Commissioner | |
| Sons | Father | ||
| 1992 | La Vie de bohème | Gassot | |
| Golem, the Spirit of the Exile | Elimelek | ||
| 1994 | Golem, le jardin pétrifié | Sam | |
| Somebody to Love | Sam Silverman | ||
| 1996 | Metamorphosis of a Melody | Flavius Josephus (voice) | |
| 1997 | The End of Violence | Louis Bering |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Dog Face | Yes | No | Television film |
| 1962 | The Dick Powell Show | Yes | No | Episode: "330 Independence S.W." |
| The Virginian | Yes | No | Episode: "It Tolls for Thee" | |
| 1966-67 | Iron Horse | Yes | No | 6 episodes |
| 1972 | Tatort | Yes | Yes | Episode: "Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street" |
| 1990 | Chiller | Yes | No | Episode: "The Day of Reckoning" |
| The Madonna and the Dragon | Yes | Yes | Television film |
Producer
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1950-54 | The Colgate Comedy Hour | Executive/supervising producer(19 episodes) Production manager (15 episodes) |
| 1952-53 | Four Star Revue | Executive producer (4 episodes) |
Acting roles
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Tatort | Senator | Episode "Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street" |
| 1984 | The Blood of Others | Old Man in Cafe | Television film |
| 1988 | Médecins des hommes | American Captain | Episode: "Mer de Chine: Le pays pour mémoire" |
| 1989 | David Lansky | Capodagli / John Fraser | Episode "L'enfant americain" |
| 1990 | The Madonna and the Dragon | Newsweek Editor | Television film |
| 1994 | Le cascadeur | William Davidson | Episode "Le saut de la mort" |
| Year | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | Burn, Baby, Burn | Phoenix Press |
| 1936 | Test Tube Baby | William Godwin |
| 1938 | Make Up and Kiss | William Godwin |
| 1944 | The Dark Page | Duell, Sloan, and Pearce |
| 1966 | Crown of India | Award |
| 1971 | 144 Piccadilly | Baron |
| 1974 | Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street | Pyramid |
| 1980 | The Big Red One | Bantam Books |
| 1984 | Quint's World | Don Mills |
| 1986 | Pecos Bill and the Soho Kid | Les Editions Bayard |
| 1993 | Brainquake | Hard Case Crime |
| 2002 | A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Institution | Year | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berlin International Film Festival | 1984 | Golden Bear | Thieves After Dark | Nominated |
| Cahiers du Cinéma | 1965 | Annual Top 10 Lists | Shock Corridor | 7th place |
| 1982 | White Dog | 4th place | ||
| Cannes Film Festival | 1980 | Palme d'Or | The Big Red One | Nominated |
| Deauville American Film Festival | 1991 | Lucien Barriere Award | N/a | Won |
| Directors Guild of America Awards | 1955 | Outstanding Directing – Feature Film | Hell and High Water | Won |
| Independent Spirit Awards | 1996 | Special Distinction Award | N/a | Won |
| Locarno Film Festival | 1993 | Leopard of Honor | N/a | Won |
| Los Angeles Film Critics Association | 1987 | Career Achievement Award | N/a | Won |
| Valladolid International Film Festival | 1966 | Golden Spike | Shock Corridor | Won |
| CEC Award | Won | |||
| Venice Film Festival | 1953 | Golden Lion | Pickup on South Street | Nominated |
| Bronze Lion | Won | |||
| Writers Guild of America Awards | 1952 | Best Written American Drama (Low-Budget) | The Steel Helmet | Won |
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