Re: RARA-AVIS: Sam Fuller

From: JT Lindroos ( juha@oivas.com)
Date: 04 Nov 2002


> I've been on a Sam Fuller kick lately, kicked off by seeing Tim Robbins
> documentary on the novelist/screenwriter/director. Rewatched "The Steel
> Helmet" and "Pickup on South Street" with great enjoyment as well as "The
> Virginan" he made with Lee Marvin. I was surprised to read a review of
his
> just released autobiography A THIRD FACE in the New York Times, as Fuller
> died five years ago. It lists Fuller's wife and a friend as co-writers
and
> as Fuller had had a stroke prior to completing the book, I suppose he
needed
> their help.

That's excellent news -- I'd sorta given up on it ever being released. Christa Lang Fuller mentioned it in an interview some years ago, and then nothing for a long time. But I really think they should've kept the original title, A FULLER LIFE.

> Reading it, I can hear Fuller's voice often but it is not the full
throttle
> Fuller. Still, I am glad I bought it yesterday. Of interest here, one
of
> Fuller's last projects was a remake of "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes"
based
> on the Woolrich novel. Commissioned by Universal, Fuller wrote "The
book
> had all the elements for a good picture. There'd be a million ways to make
a
> 'Fuller' film out of it, first writing a 'grab 'em by the balls' scripts,
> then getting a powerful cast, inventing exciting shots and setups. 'Hell
> yes, let's do it!' I said ot Pollock (Tom), and I got down to banging out
yet
> another script."
>
> Too bad Fuller's death kept this project from completion.

Even if his later films were a bit shoddy, I always thought he could pull off one more tough little picture. His short tv film (that was I believe the last piece of directing he did), DAY OF RECKONING was quite an improvement over STREET OF NO RETURN which was a big disappointment (despite what Lee Server says in his book on Fuller) -- nothing great but solid and quirky. And I thought the script to GIRLS IN PRISON that John McNaughton did was a terrific pulp success!

Now if only I could find some of his early novels....

--Juha.

JT Lindroos Graphic Designer / www.oivas.com

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