The Steel Helmet
Director: Samuel Fuller
Year Released: 1951
Rating: 3.5
Frank depiction of the Korean War by WWII vet Fuller, as Gene Evans and the his rag-tag crew (including a young Korean boy) struggle to find shelter. Amidst the oddball details (the bald kid and his hair tonic, the soldier who keeps a dead priest's portable organ) and fits of machismo (Evans' character is at once cartoonish and real - a tactless big mouth and a fearless soldier) is a deep story about the bonds formed between men in battle and, frankly, what it means to be American (if I may take it that far): putting aside race problems and personal differences and fighting together. It goes perfectly well with Fuller's semi-autobiographical The Big Red One as a portrait of war by a veteran (so few filmmakers today even served, making Oliver Stone a rarity) and is definitely one of the best American films of the 1950's.
