I'm a big fan of 'The Naked Kiss' but have not had a chance to see any more of this guy's films. Anyone else have some recommendations on where to go next or whether he is worth pursuing?

You knew it would be me, right, klt? Besides "The Naked Kiss", I've seen "I Shot Jesse James", "The Baron of Arizona", "The Steel Helmet" (1951-the earliest-made film where I ever heard, or at least read the lips of, the "F-word"!), "Fixed Bayonets" ,"Pickup on South Street", "House of Bamboo", "China Gate", "Forty Guns", "The Crimson Kimono", "Underworld U.S.A.", "Merrill's Marauders", "Shock Corridor", "Shark!", "White Dog", and his undoubted-masterpiece, "The Big Red One" with Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill.

Fuller cranked out very personal, low-budget films for so long, developing a cult along the way. I'd seek out "The Big Red One" first, which is his autobiographical depiction of WW II with his biggest budget and best cast ever. Otherwise, I'd zone in on "The Steel Helmet", "Pickup on South Street" (although I find it TOO corny, it's his biggest cult film along with "The Naked Kiss"), "Forty Guns", "Merrill's Marauders" and "Shock Corridor" (I like that last one better than "The Naked Kiss"!)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

Thanks for the info. Naked Kiss struck me as a great movie on its ownn, but I was especially surprised watching it that it seemed like it had influenced a lot of 70s films, especially Mean Streets (although I can't think of any particular scene I would point to.) I thought the opening scene in which Constance Towers gets her wig torn off was surprisingly raw, even for the film noir genre.

I'll definately be checking out some of those other suggestions. Sounds like a director I might like quite a bit.

I like Sam Fuller, but I've gotta disagree that THE BIG RED ONE is Fuller's masterpiece. I saw the restored version at the New York Film Festival when it screened there a couple of fest ago and felt this film was hackneyed and cliched. I know it has a big reputation because the film was shortened on original release, but I just found this one to be a run-of-the-mill WW II movie.

Many of Fuller's early films, particulary THE NAKED KISS and SHOCK CORRIDOR, are terrific and well worth seeing.

Fuller was an ex-pat for many years and there are two films of his that were released in France that are hard to see, STREET OF NO RETURN and THIEVES AFTER DARK. Anyone see those?