Product Details

• Actors: Cliff Robertson, Dolores Dorn, Beatrice Kay, Paul Dubov, Robert Emhardt
• Directors: Samuel Fuller
• Writers: Samuel Fuller, Joseph Dineen
• Producers: Samuel Fuller
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 19, 1999
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302806372
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,899 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As a teenager, Tolly Devlin sees several hoodlums beat his father to death in an alley. Some 20 years later, the killers have risen to the top of the underworld rackets, and Devlin, bent on revenge, sets out to kill each one of them. What could be a fairly routine crime/revenge drama is given the full Sam Fuller treatment. As Tolly, Cliff Robertson is one of Fuller's most shabby antiheroes, a cold, brutal automaton consumed with a single-minded hatred. He stops at nothing to get his pound of flesh, even strong-arming a man on his deathbed. He cooperates up to a point with a government agent, but only to see his own ends. Tolly rescues Cuddles (Dolores Dorn) from being roughed up and earns her gratitude, but he's too emotionally damaged for her to help him in the long run. The conflicts and strategies in Underworld U.S.A. play out like one of Fuller's war movies, with a protagonist declaring war on an entire organization while finding himself outside the legal means to defeat them. The movie is littered with ruined people and unsavory situations, with the syndicate heavily involved in the heroin trade. It may not have the narrative economy of some of Fuller's other movies, but Underworld, U.S.A. is still a prime example of his tabloid sensibilities and in-your-face storytelling. --Jerry Renshaw

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Seven very different and interesting films in this collection, June 11, 2009

By 

calvinnme - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Samuel Fuller Film Collection (It Happened in Hollywood / Adventure in Sahara / Power of the Press / The Crimson Kimono / Shockproof / Scandal Sheet / Underworld U.S.A.) (DVD)

We now finally have the details on the seven films that will be in this collection:

It Happened in Hollywood (1937) - Fuller's second film. Richard Dix stars as a silent Western star who is put out of work by the coming of talking pictures, since in the early days the technology can't be taken outdoors. He loses his career, his ranch, everything. After his fall he encounters a small boy who still adores him.

Adventure in Sahara (1938)-Much like Mutiny on the Bounty except it is set in the desert.

Power of the Press (1943) - From 1925-1935 Hollywood had made many anti-war films. This is one of those films that tried to reverse that trend with a tale about the dangers of isolationism.

Shockproof (1949, directed by Douglas Sirk) - About a parole officer in love with a parolee. This is against the rules of his profession, so the parole officer fixes it so the parolee can work in his home tending to his mother. However,the parolee just may be using him and may still be in love with her gangster ex-boyfriend. Don't blame Sam for the ending. The studio rewrote it.

Scandal Sheet (1952)- Newspaper reporters investigate the death of a woman and determine not only that it was murder but who the murderer is, which turns out to be quite interesting.

The Crimson Kimono (1959) - A stripper is shot in the streets of L.A. and it's up to Glenn Corbett and James Shigeta as two cops to determine the killer. The whole investigation enables a tale that only Fuller could tell about interracial love along with the cast of strange people that often fill Fuller's stories.

Underworld U.S.A. (1961) - A teenager sees her father killed by four gangsters. Twenty years later the crime remains unsolved by the police and the gangsters have risen to the top of the underworld. The daughter, now a grown woman, sets out for revenge. Both written and directed by Fuller.

There is yet no word on extra features.

This is an interesting collection that really shows Fuller on a journey during his career. The early films really don't resemble the work of Fuller as we know it from about 1950 forward, but the first two films were made when Fuller had less creative control over his work, so you have to appreciate what he does with material he is handed in his early years. There is an outstanding documentary - "The Men Who Made the Movies - Sam Fuller" - that really shows what made the director tick in his own words , but I don't believe that Sony has the rights to that one so I doubt it will be available here. If you get a chance, though, watch that first before you get into these films.

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Difficult packaging, October 27, 2009

By 

John Black (REDMOND, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Samuel Fuller Film Collection (It Happened in Hollywood / Adventure in Sahara / Power of the Press / The Crimson Kimono / Shockproof / Scandal Sheet / Underworld U.S.A.) (DVD)

I'm not here to discuss film content, which is probably excellent. I am here to discuss the difficult packaging which plagues this set. Not only are the DVDs stacked on top of each other in twos, but the lower discs have edges that are positioned BELOW the spindles!

I had major difficulty sliding the four lower DVDs out without breaking them (I did crack the outer packaging twice). I should have pushed down on the lower release button BEFORE attempting to slide the discs from underneath the spindles. I'm neither adroit nor mechanically minded, so the packaging was a challenge to me. Others will probably have less trouble than I experienced, as long as they are careful.

I still hate this packaging, and would rather have slim cases in a wraparound. That would avoid the potential for breakage that I described above.

The film transfers look quite good for the most part.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set!, October 29, 2009

By 

jrc "jrcasey" (Jonesboro, AR USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Samuel Fuller Film Collection (It Happened in Hollywood / Adventure in Sahara / Power of the Press / The Crimson Kimono / Shockproof / Scandal Sheet / Underworld U.S.A.) (DVD)

The content has been provided by another reviewer. As to the packaging, I found no great problem. Six of the discs are arranged in the overlapping format seen with many box-set digipaks these days. The discs in my set were easily removed, although I really hate to have to remove the top disc to get at the bottom one on the panels.

Unlike the recent William Castle "box set," this one is actually more of what I would consider a box set. It's twice as thick as the Castle "box," and each movie gets its own disc (unlike the two-per-disc format in the Castle "box."