Technically, there's no need for this review. This is fairly rare Sam Fuller, nobody would dig this deep into the catalog without a notion of what things are like. A brief summary: tough-as-nails infantryman "Iron" Mike Zack drags an inexperienced unit to create and defend an observation post, led by a young victim of the war nicknamed "Short Round".
The best thing about this movie is how wonderfully Gene Evans lives Sam Fuller's character, not an invincible Sgt Rock, but a tough, pragmatic soldier. Sam's writing in this movie is top quality pulp, with it's larger than life characters living through a war that piles difficulty on absurdity on tragedy.
As a trivia note, Fuller made this and two other movies (Baron Of Arizona and I Shot Jesse James) for infamous cheapie executive Robert Lippert. Lippert promised no interference if he money came in, and lived up to his promise. In my opinion, The Steel Helmet is the best of the three.
The bad: Oh my goodness does Griffith Park look nothing like Korea. The set for the Buddhist Temple that forms the centerpiece of the movie was obviously constructed by looking up "Buddhism" in an encyclopedia, as it looks nothing like Korean Buddhist temples. Further, "Short Round"'s attempt at an Asian accent in English is almost as bad as his English accent in Korean. The writing is excellent and sympathetic to Koreans, but budget meant authenticity had to be sacrificed.
All in all, this is one of the best war movies of its time and worth seeing by anyone who watches movies frequently.
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