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Author Topic: Samuel Fuller  (Read 4163 times)

skjerva

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Samuel Fuller
« on: July 29, 2007, 02:18:15 PM »
Howdy, I've just convinced myself I'm gonna watch some Fuller films

(a) anyone want to join in?
(b) anyone have any suggestions?

I just watched Pickup on South Street and would happily watch it again.  For sure I am going to watch Shock Corridor, White Dog, and The Big Red One.

I really know nothing about Fuller so will likely read up from the obvious places, if anyone has any suggestions for reading on Fuller, feel free to toss them out as well. 

If no one expresses interest in watching along, I'll likely start in a couple days, but I have no problem pausing a bit if people need to access films.

But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

sdedalus

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #1 on: July 29, 2007, 02:35:28 PM »
Let's see.  Did you watch Pickup on the Criterion disc?  If so and you still have it, you should watch some of the special feature interviews with Fuller.  I may like him more than I like his films, and I've liked all of the films I've seen.  Fuller talking about film as is good as it gets.  His speech in Godard's Pierrot le fou sums up his style perfectly.  There was an hourlong BFI documentary about him that used to play on IFC called The Typewriter, The Rifle and The Movie Camera that was really good, but I don't know if it's available anywhere on DVD.

The Big Red One is an essential WW2 movie, the film based on his own experiences in the war that he'd been trying to make for years and years.  Lee Marvin is great, and Mark Hamill is bearable.

Shock Corridor is really twisted and a lot of fun, as is The Naked Kiss, about a prostitute who runs away to the suburbs to start a new life, only to find more perversion and corruption there than there ever was in the big city.

Forty Guns is a western wit Barbara Stanwyck as a cattle baron (the theme song: "A High-ridin' Woman With A Whip") who's brother gets tracked down by a bounty hunter for a series of crimes.  Stanwyck and the bounty hunter fall in love, but lots of people get killed anyway.

There's an Eclipse box set coming out in two weeks that has three of his early films, I'll be getting that.
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chesterfilms

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #2 on: July 29, 2007, 02:58:18 PM »
Shock Corridor & The Naked Kiss are by far my favorite of his. I also love Pickup on South St. I have never been a big fan of The Big Red One. It's a good film, but I don't get the hype. I am definitely picking up the Eclipse set. I cant wait to see Fuller doing Westerns!

If you want to see something awesome/terrible than check out a little film he did called Shark! Here's what you need to know about it. Sharks, Auteur Samuel Fuller, a pre-mustached Burt Reynolds, and a stuntman who was eaten by a shark during the filming of the movie. You decide
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sdedalus

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #3 on: July 29, 2007, 03:02:04 PM »
Sam and Adam watched two Fuller films (Shock Corridor and The Big Red One) as part of they're "Overlooked Auteurs" marathon a couple years ago, episodes #74 and #76.
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clownation

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #4 on: July 29, 2007, 03:03:21 PM »
(a) I'd like that.

(b) For reference here's what Netflix shows currently for Sam Fuller (minus his actor only listings)

Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street (1973) (this is 'save' rather than 'add')
Fixed Bayonets! (1951)
Forty Guns (1957)
Hell and High Water (1954)
House of Bamboo (1955)
I Shot Jesse James (1949)
Man Eater (1968)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Shark (1969)
Shock Corridor (1963)
Street of No Return (1989)
The Baron of Arizona (1950)
The Big Red One: Special Edition (1980)
The Naked Kiss (1964)
The Steel Helmet (1951)
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (1994)

The heads. You're looking at the heads. Sometimes he goes too far. He's the first one to admit it.

skjerva

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2007, 11:27:28 PM »
Cool, thanks for all the info.

Sean, thanks, I do have the Criterion and meant to get it back today but didn't, so I get to watch it in the morn.

Clownation, when do you want to start, any ordering preference?  (I reckon we can stall a couple days to get stuff in and see if anyone else want to join in).
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

clownation

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2007, 05:19:25 AM »
Let's pick 5 or 6 and put them in chronological order.  Go from there.  I'll list my suggestions when I get home from work tonight.  Okay?
The heads. You're looking at the heads. Sometimes he goes too far. He's the first one to admit it.

skjerva

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #7 on: July 30, 2007, 12:05:02 PM »
Sounds good.  Since it seems to be just you and me.  I'll probably still watch White Dog, I suspect my local video store has it.  After some more looking at The Big Red One (1980), it turns out Fuller didn't like what the studio did to it by cutting it up and adding a voice-over, so my interest in watching that is low, aside from watching it against The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (2004), which is what was recently released after some work done on it by Richard Schickel. Unfortunately, it seems Netflix doesn't carry that one either, again, I reckon my local video store does.  That said, The Steel Helmet seems to get the most props for his best war film, so that might be worth a look.  Then, there is Shock Corridor, which I will have to watch.

So, SC is the only one that I really want to watch that Netflix has.  Clownation, looking forward to your suggestions.
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

skjerva

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #8 on: July 30, 2007, 12:40:36 PM »
Let's see.  Did you watch Pickup on the Criterion disc?  If so and you still have it, you should watch some of the special feature interviews with Fuller.
So I watched Sam Fuller on Pickup on South Street and he's a great storyteller and therein lie the strengths and weaknesses I observed watching the film.  While I appreciated his treatment of the down-and-out types, it seems to me he sells them out by the time the film ends (though I suppose this could be argued).  It seems his admiration for this type of character comes from his life experience (great, of course), but that is also the problem.  He is seemingly so wrapped up in getting this type on the screen (and perhaps that was a big enough deal in itself for 1953) that he doesn't seem to follow through with the story/politics to maintain the humanity of his characters.  This is more about Fuller being the big man who knows all this good stuff and is going to show-off by letting everyone see what he knows.  Again, there may be merit enough in that as a film for 1953, I have no idea, but watching the film now has me read it in this less generous way.

I'll check into some other extras soon.  (OK, I'm just starting the french documentary and it is fantastic listening to him talk...)
But I wish the public could, in the midst of its pleasures, see how blatantly it is being spoon-fed, and ask for slightly better dreams. 
                        - Iris Barry from "The Public's Pleasure" (1926)

sdedalus

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Re: Samuel Fuller
« Reply #9 on: July 30, 2007, 12:53:53 PM »
I'm pretty sure the only copy Netflix has of The Big Red One is the reconstruction.  I don't believe the theatrical cut is on DVD.  The version of the reconstruction I saw was from Netflix, at least.
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