I love Samuel Fuller’s work. And it occurred to me that, in terms of cinematic technique, he’s very similar to Alfred Hitchcock. And it’s interesting that he doesn’t get more attention. It seems that every master’s student in film studies wants to write a thesis about Hitchcock. But not so much Fuller.
That’s not to say that Fuller isn’t also a darling of critics. But there is much less of that sort of thing. And what’s really weird is that Fuller has a far stronger case to being an auteur. After all, he wrote most of his own films. He had a clear vision — both artistically and philosophically. The man had things to say!
Hitchcock? He really didn’t have anything to say. Of course, that does work to his advantage. I don’t re-watch Fuller’s films nearly as much as I do Hitchcock’s. Frankly, Fuller asks so much more of me as a viewer! The Big Red One is a great film. But it ain’t easy!
The Look of a Fuller Film
But look at the films of the two men! They look very much the same. And why not? The truth is that most directors create films with a fairly general look. When people think of Stanley Kubrick, they mostly think of his later films — after he had made something of a fetish of a couple of techniques.
There really isn’t much of that in the films of Alfred Hitchcock and Samuel Fuller. They were both just trying to tell stories in an effective way. And they were both very successful at it! But really: critics should be embracing Fuller and leaving Hitchcock to me! Because Hitchcock wasn’t an auteur. And Fuller was.
Just the same, Fuller’s work is so raw! I always care about what’s going on. I care about the characters. There’s something very base about the stories he tells. But I find myself consistently outraged by the injustices that he presents.
A great example of what I’m talking about is Fuller’s 1969 film, Shark! It’s a wonderful bit of genre filmmaking. But Fuller just can’t help himself and not make it about something. Hitchcock is purer. But I can’t think of a time when he matched Fuller’s heart. So if you’re not feeling up to emotion but you want a fun film, watch Family Plot. But if you want that with some emotional depth and moral clarity, watch anything from Fuller. Today, let it be Shark!
But before you do, notice that the plot setup is as clear as anything you will find in Hitchcock.
Afterword: Burt Reynolds stars in this film. He really is great. He doesn’t get enough respect as an actor. And I say that as someone who doesn’t especially like the films he’s best known for. But everybody’s got to pay the bills. It speaks well of a man who doesn’t just sleep in the rest of the time.
Samuel Fuller by Roland Godefroy under CC BY 2.5.
I’ll get to this one eventually, but there’s other Fuller I want to see first. You’re right about his movies not being easy re-watches. I think it’s because of how intensely he cares about them being stuck in tough situations. For Hitchcock, caring about the characters was something he manipulated the audience into doing. You never got the sense he cared about the characters themselves.
Reynolds could act, at least until he started wearing a wig.
So, here’s a Movie Factoid for you… Sally Field was with Burt Reynolds for a few years, after she divorced her first husband.
One of Field’s kids with her first husband spent a lot of time visiting his dad, who lived in the backcountry Oregon woods. He was “an educated redneck,” the son said, who loved reading philosophy, and taught the son some backcountry things like how to operate a bulldozer and chainsaw. Although one time, his dad accidentally chainsawed into a bees’ nest…
…just like in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. That kid, Eli Craig, wrote the chainsaw scene into Tucker & Dale.
I had no idea about his family background! Wow! Just the other day, I saw a guy removing bees from a bunch of dry rot on a building. He seemed very worried about me! Maybe he thought I was going to do something stupid. But I just kept walking — although craning my head to see!
Reynolds did a lot of great work on the far side of his career. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend Breaking In. Bill Forsyth directing a John Sayles script! How can you go wrong?!