The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Discussion of programming on TCM.
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ChiO
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The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by ChiO »

If you die, I'll kill yuh!

My favorite combat movie, THE STEEL HELMET, by my favorite combat movie director, Samuel Fuller, is on TCM tomorrow at 11:00pm (EST). No glorification of war. No romanticizing camaraderie. No hero worship. Subtlety be damned! Just the only way to live is to avoid death...by any means. If PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is the only Fuller film one has seen, this is a marvelous introduction to further exploration.

At 8:00pm (EST) tomorrow on TCM is MEN IN WAR, the Anthony Mann movie that I have most anxiously awaited seeing. That that Robert Ryan guy is in it doesn't hurt.
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
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knitwit45
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by knitwit45 »

ChiO,
I resisted Pickup for years, then finally watched it and LOVED it...I'll try this one, too. I have seen Park Row, loved it too.

Maybe it's that redheaded Gene I loved...h'mmm :lol:
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ChiO
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by ChiO »

Gene Evans...My Friend Gene (sic) Flicka...isn't that how some of us were introduced to him? After watching him here, it still baffles me why he didn't get utilized more. One of my favorite performances by anyone in any movie.

As one who finds great virtues in every Fuller film (except HELL AND HIGH WATER -- does anyone?), even SHARK!, I must admit that PARK ROW, even though it's the project most dear to Fuller (along with THE BIG RED ONE), is not among my favorites. It almost seems to me to be too (here's a word seldom associated with Fuller) sentimental. I need to pull it out and try again. SHOCK CORRIDOR, I believe, is coming up soon on TCM. Watch and like that and you will have joined the Fulleristas, baby (can THE NAKED KISS and WHITE DOG be far behind?).
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
Mr. Arkadin
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

I too am anxiously awaiting Men at War. There's also a slew of other great stuff playing:

This Is Korea (1951)
Archival footage documents the North Korean aggression that started the Korean War.
Cast: John Ireland, Irving Pichel, Allan Dwan, Ward Bond Dir: John Ford. C-50 mins, TV-PG

Men Of The Fighting Lady (1954)
Men on a U.S. aircraft carrier fight to survive the Korean War.
Cast: Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern, Dewey Martin Dir: Andrew Marton C-80 mins, TV-PG

Tank Battalion (1958)
Four soldiers pilot their tank behind enemy lines during the Korean War.
Cast: Don Kelly, Frank Gorshin, Marjorie Hellen, Regina Gleason Dir: Sherman A. Rose BW-80 mins, TV-PG

Battle Taxi (1955)
A hotshot jet pilot joins a helicopter rescue team during the Korean War.
Cast: Sterling Hayden, Arthur Franz, Marshall Thompson, Leo Needham Dir: Herbert L. Strock BW-80 mins, TV-PG

The Bamboo Prison (1955)
An undercover agent investigates atrocities at a Koran P.O.W. camp.
Cast: Robert Francis, Dianne Foster, Brian Keith, Jerome Courtland Dir: Lewis Seiler BW-80 mins, TV-14

All the Young Men (1960)
A black sergeant is forced to take command when his lieutenant is killed during the Korean War.
Cast: Charles Quinlivan, Alan Ladd, Ingemar Johansson, Sidney Poitier Dir: Hall Bartlett BW-86 mins, TV-PG

Time Limit (1957)
An officer is court-martialed under suspicion of collaborating with the North Koreans.
Cast: Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart Dir: Karl Malden BW-97 mins, TV-PG

The Rack (1956)
A Korean War veteran is accused of cracking under enemy torture.
Cast: Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon, Edmund O'Brien Dir: Arnold Laven BW-100 mins, TV-14
Mr. Arkadin
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

ChiO wrote: SHOCK CORRIDOR, I believe, is coming up soon on TCM. Watch and like that and you will have joined the Fulleristas, baby (can THE NAKED KISS and WHITE DOG be far behind?).
Yes indeed! While Fuller is often underestimated, true enlightenment comes with the realization that the man used cliches and corniness as a weapon against the mundane and broke all kinds of ground with taboo subjects, whether it be child abuse , interracial romance, or the horror of war during wartime.
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knitwit45
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by knitwit45 »

My uncle was a jet pilot in the Korean war, and was shot down over North Korea in August of (I believe) 1951 or 52. He was on his 99th mission, one to go and home. No one saw his jet crash, another pilot only saw a ball of fire out of the corner of his eye, not sure if it was Uncle Art or an enemy plane. An Airbase in Grandview, MO was named after him, it has of course since closed. Even tho I was a very little girl, the Korean War holds a lot of sad memories for me, and war movies have never been a favorite of mine. I may have to wait for another Fuller movie to come along....but I'd love to join "youse guys" as a Fullerista.
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MissGoddess
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by MissGoddess »

I'm definitnely not war movie fan, but I do want to see what Men in War is like. The cast and director are the bait.

I saw most of The Steel Helmet. I appreciate all its virtues, but it's too much for me. I also watched Shock Corridor
a couple of weeks ago for the first time. It was really good. I've seen parts of The Big Red One, but I think that one may
also be too much for me, but like Gene Evans in The Steel Helmet, Lee Marvin carries a lot on his shoulders and does it beautifully.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
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MissGoddess
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by MissGoddess »

Mr. Arkadin wrote: All the Young Men (1960)
A black sergeant is forced to take command when his lieutenant is killed during the Korean War.
Cast: Charles Quinlivan, Alan Ladd, Ingemar Johansson, Sidney Poitier Dir: Hall Bartlett BW-86 mins, TV-PG

Time Limit (1957)
An officer is court-martialed under suspicion of collaborating with the North Koreans.
Cast: Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels, June Lockhart Dir: Karl Malden BW-97 mins, TV-PG


These two intrigue me. The first, because of Alan Ladd, and the latter, because it's directed
by Karl Malden. :o

The Rack (1956)
A Korean War veteran is accused of cracking under enemy torture.
Cast: Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon, Edmund O'Brien Dir: Arnold Laven BW-100 mins, TV-14


I've seen this one, it's very good, very hard hitting. Walter Pidgeon is EXCELLENT. He brought me to tears.
"There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."
-- Will Rogers
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movieman1957
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by movieman1957 »

I caught "Steel Helmet" for the first time last year and what got my attention most was Gene Evan's performance. After watching him for years on television and not thinking much one way or the other his debut performance here was really good. Stark, moody and tense it was a nice find.

"Time Limit" is a good drama. I like WIdmark and it was a time when Rip Torn was young and pretty. Malden could have directed more stuff.
Chris

"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
Mr. Arkadin
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by Mr. Arkadin »

I don't know that I'm a big war film fan, but there are lots of things in the genre I like, probably most importantly a sense of realism--not to be confused with the many propaganda films out there designed to sell various campaigns to the public. While those movies had their purposes, there are few of them that I could call truly great films. Nevertheless, they were created by a generation who actually anticipated or lived through them, which makes them interesting to me. They are snapshots of retrospectives, propaganda, the fascism that led to WWII, and even the Cold War to come.

Although one should never take their history from the movies, I do think some films can give you a feel of the time in which they were made, which is an incidental historical view. Modern films that look at an older war often stress a personal theme (which is sometimes anti-war) and can provide a prospective that wartime movies cannot.

A short list of favorites:


Open City (1945)
Barbed Wire (1927)
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930)
What Price Glory (1926)
The Big Red One (1980)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Grand Illusion (1937)
Shoah (1985)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Wings (1927)
King Rat (1965)
Uprising (2001)
Paisan (1946)
Cross of Iron (1976)
Murphy's War (1971)
Pride of the Marines (1945)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Lifeboat (1943)
Paths of Glory (1957)
Westfront 1918 (1931)
Schindler's list (1993)
Three Comrades (1938)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
The Killing Fields (1984)
The Lost Patrol (1934)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
A Walk in the Sun (1946)
The Last Flight (1931)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
The Lost Patrol (1934)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1959),
Glory (1989)
The Story of GI Joe (1946)
Downfall (2004)
Battleground (1949)
Wooden Crosses (1930)
The Small Back Room (1948)
Blind Spot (2002)
Triumph of the Will (1933)
The Big Parade (1925)
Conspiracy (2001)
Shame (1968)
Mother Night (1996)
The Mortal Storm (1940)
Das Boot (1981)
Edge of Darkness (1943)
The Life and Death of Col Blimp (1943)
The 49th Parallel (1941)
Army of Shadows (1969)
A Man Escaped (1956)
Lacombe Lucien (1974)
Night and Fog (1955)
The Last Metro (1980)
Forbidden Games (1953)
Fires on the Plain (1959)
The Burmese Harp (1956)
The Marrige of Maria Braun (1979)
The Tin Drum (1985)
Kanal (1957)
Two Women (1961)
The Conformist (1970)
The Damned (1974)
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
The Shop on Main Street (1965)
Ballad of a Soldier (1959)
Kapo (1965)
Cranes are Flying (1957)
Come and See (1980)
Last edited by Mr. Arkadin on June 25th, 2010, 9:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MikeBSG
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Re: The Steel Helmet & Men in War

Post by MikeBSG »

It's been years since I've seen "Men in War," and that was on UHF TV, interrupted by commercials. I saw "The Steel Helmet" last year on DVD.

So it is probably unfair for me to compare the two, but I'd give the edge to "Steel Helmet."

In some ways, the two movies are similar (GIs lost behind enemy lines). "Men in War" is good, with good performances by Ryan, Aldo Ray and Robert (?) Keith, the guy who plays the catatonic officer. But I didn't think "Men" matched the strength of Anthony Mann's westerns with Jimmy Stewart (admittedly a very high standard.)

I was a little surprised that "The Manchurian Candidate" didn't make the Korean War list here.
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