The finest film ever produced by Lippert Studios, The Steel Helmet is also among the best-ever Hollywood war pictures. Set during the Korean War, the film stars Gene Evans as a hardened infantry sergeant. When his entire company is wiped out by the enemy, Evans is taken prisoner. The film's now-legendary first close up is not of Evans but of his helmet, as he lies in a ditch, hiding from a North Korean sniper. Rescued by South Korean orphan Short Round (William Chun), the cynical Evans is bribed into leading a ragtag group of American soldiers, who have likewise been cut off from their units. Commandeering an abandoned Buddhist temple, Evans sets up an observation post and awaits the enemy's next move. Because he never lets sentiment or compassion interfere with his judgment, Evans survives the inevitable showdown. Outside of the brilliant, definitive portrayal by Gene Evans, the film's best performance is delivered by African-American actor James Edwards, playing a pragmatic, chain-smoking surgeon. The scene in which Edwards defends his segregated homeland to a taunting North Korean prisoner is an unheralded classic. This was producer/director/writer Sam Fuller's first war film; it would most assuredly not be his last.

Steel Helmet was the first war movie of many for American auteur Sam Fuller, and his first picture to gain any degree of critical attention. Independently made, the film was also a surprise success, garnering the writer-director the attention of many Hollywood studios. One of the first feature films to tackle the subject of the Korean War, Helmet featured Fuller's trademark blend of cynicism and humanism. A former soldier himself, the director captured the grim vagaries of its heroes with a no-holds-barred style. Not as energetic as his later war classic, 1980's The Big Red One, the film relies on its performances: Gene Evans, a regular in Fuller's pictures, has a powerful turn as the hard-boiled veteran; and James Edwards has a memorable turn as a wartime surgeon.

During the Korean War, strong but worn and cantankerous Sergeant Zack is aided by a young, orphaned Korean boy. Together they encounter and join a small group of American soldiers. The group stumbles upon a Buddhist temple where they decide to hold up, believing it to be empty...

This is a movie my brother and I used to watch together religiously as children. We found it to be very moving and watched it whenever it was on. So I recently bought a copy and was somewhat disappointed. Then I realized it was probably because I am now an adult, and it could not possibly have equaled my childhood memories of it. I will probably give it to my cousin's husband, a Vietnam War vet, who probably has never seen it. The movie does effectively portray the madness of war, seen through the eyes of a gnarly old soldier. The real problem is I really prefer other subject matter, and the only war film I really like is "From Here To Eternity." I still gave it a "9," because it's well done.