The Films of Samuel Fuller: If You Die, I'll Kill You

Wesleyan Film

by Lisa Dombrowski

First comprehensive study of this American original

A cigar-chomping storyteller who signaled "Action!" by shooting a gun, Samuel Fuller has been lionized as one of the most distinctive writer/directors ever to emerge from Hollywood. In such films as The Steel Helmet, Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor, and The Big Red One, Fuller gleefully challenged classical and generic norms―and often standards of good taste―in an effort to shock and arouse audiences. Tackling war, crime, race, and sexuality with a candor rare for any period, Fuller's maverick vision was tested by Hollywood's transition from the studio system to independent filmmaking. Now, in the first full account of all of the director's audaciously original work, author Lisa Dombrowski brings his career into new relief. The Films of Samuel Fuller features close analysis of Fuller's pictures and draws on previously untapped production and regulatory files, script notes, and interviews to explore how artistic, economic, and industrial factors impacted Fuller's career choices and shaped the expression of his personal aesthetic. Fans of Fuller and American cinema will welcome this in-depth study of a provocative director who embodied both the unique opportunities and challenges of postwar filmmaking.

Genres: Film

264 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2008

Reviews

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a survey of Samuel Fuller's entire career as a filmmaker. It is mostly useful for the director’s beginnings and the economics of Hollywood studios in the mid 20th-century and the B-movie format. There is also information about some of Fuller’s projects that never got off the ground – those who know Fuller’s cameo in Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le fou might have assumed that the movie he was directing in Paris ("Flowers of Evil") was a mere fictional contrivance for Godard’s plot, but in fact Fuller had written a bizarre script by this title and was set to film it before funding fell through.

On the other hand, Dombrowski gives only a cursory treatment of Fuller's last years, namely the films The Big Red One, White Dog and Tigrero. These go by in a flaw and the reader can find more information freely available online.

[Roy Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As described, it focuses almost exclusively on the great man's films; more specifically those he directed. The business side is well researched. And it is very academic, as is befitting an academic publishing house. It seems to be the author's only monograph. I wouldn't be surprised if it were a rewrite of her dissertation. I hope it got her tenure at Wesleyan.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good introduction to Fuller's career and to the types of films that he made during his periods as both a major Hollywood studio director and his days working as a B picture director. The book is overly formalistic in its analysis of the films but overall serves as the beginnings of what I hope will be more scholarly attention to his films and his career.