The Steel Helmet

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Deborah S With a nearly excellent and historically well-informed story line giving an authentic feel to the Korean War (complete with era-appropriate racial slurs), this film can be described as eye-opening with respect to the cultural clashes of the times. The intensity and closeness of the violent combat action lends additional authenticity. The actor ensemble puts in a worthy performance. When the G.I.s capture a a North Korean officer, several slightly surreal scenes ensue as the prisoner (who speaks surprisingly fluent English) attempts to convince first the Black medic and then the Japanese infantryman that they are the victims of American racism and have no reason to fight for the U.S. Both soldiers vehemently defend their choices by taking the long view of their eventual opportunities in American society. The brief diversion from normal reality is thought-provoking, particularly the Black medics view stated in 1951 without the foresight of the Civil Rights movement. The film is patriotic but also has its eyes wide open. It is hard to imagine what America felt in going from the trauma of WW2 straight into the Korean War barely six years later. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 07/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Director Sam Fuller loses the war in this battle picture that takes place during the Korean conflict in the 1950s. Fuller's attempt to address America's racist ways is daring for a film of its time, but ultimately its minority characters accept their country's original and constant sin without a fight. Fuller, though, deserves a salute for how he portrays a hardened, war weary sergeant played well by Gene Evans. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Audience Member A gritty Korean War film from 1951 still holds up today as a surprisingly tough little film. Written and directed by WWII veteran Samuel Fuller ("Pickup on South Street" "The Big Red One" "Shock Corridor"), this film brings a level of realism missing from most jingoistic John Wayne "Sands of Iwo Jima" style war films of this era. Fuller refused to cast Wayne in the film and instead cast an unknown Gene Evens, who at his audition Fuller simply asked him about his World War II experience and threw him an M-1 across his desk and asked him to cock it. After the "interview" Evans got the part. Filmed only six months into the Korean War, "The Steel Helmet" is consistent with Fuller's characteristic ripped-from-the-headlines panache, following a group of soldiers separated from their units holding up in a Buddhist temple against superior numbers of attacking Communist North Korean troops. While the film does have some typical war film hokum (a young boy named "Short Round" who follows Evans everywhere, barking commanding officers, veterans versus newbies, and so on and so forth), the film also has a uncharacteristic amount of unheroic and non-jingoistic elements, such as a US officer shooting an unarmed prisoner or a Japanese American solider talking about interment camps, which gives the film a level of honesty missing from most war films. There's also an honesty to the battle scenes, which are not glamorous or especially heroic, but are more just soldiers simply trying to survive. Believe it or not, this led to calls for Fuller to be arrested for treason and hauled before Joseph McCarthy's House Un-American Activities Committee as a Communist sympathizer. Overall, "The Steel Helmet" is an unglamorous portrayal of men at war, much along the lines of "Saving Private Ryan" or "Paths of Glory," celebrating individual heroism while lamenting lasting impacts of war, long before it was acceptable to do so. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member The best thrilling movie ever made! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member This is the worst war movie that I have ever seen. The acting is really bad and it is obvious that most scenes were shot in a studio. The guns have no recoil. The script is incredibly racist, even for the time. The movie could be set in any war, since there is hardly any elaboration of the background, except that the enemies are communists. It is hard to find anything positive to say about this. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member A very gritty and raw war film that has more on its mind than just action. The acting is pretty solid, the setting is interesting and the questions it asks are important. While it's a little more old school and low budget than some of the best war films it still ranks as an essential film in the genre. Give this a watch if you like war films! Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews

The Steel Helmet

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