At first this seems like its going to be just another uber-manly war movie, but gradually it does indeed seem like vintage Fuller. An ethnically diverse platoon, including an African American doctor and a Japanese-American soldier, try to survive the Korean War. I imagine Oliver Stone studied this film, as much of it reminded me of the battle scenes in Platoon. Shot in just a few days on a tiny budget in Griffith Park, Fuller manages to create a singularly grim and brutal atmosphere very unlike Hollywood war movies of the era.
The soldiers' conversations about life back home lead to discussions of race relations in the US that are far more blunt than one is used to hearing in most Hollywood movies of any era, much less a film from 1951. The still-recent Japanese internment camps are mentioned, and not in an apologetic tone.
As one expects from a Fuller movie, its fervently anti-communist, but not nearly as hysterically so as Pickup On South Street. Indeed, the only North Korean character is an intelligent, committed warrior who asks questions that a communist would, indeed, pose to their American captors. When the North Korean asks the Black and Japanese characters why they fight for a country that oppresses them, they basically respond with "Cuz I'm an American!" Intentionally or not, the film makes the commie seem like the most inquiring mind.
The soldiers' conversations about life back home lead to discussions of race relations in the US that are far more blunt than one is used to hearing in most Hollywood movies of any era, much less a film from 1951. The still-recent Japanese internment camps are mentioned, and not in an apologetic tone.
As one expects from a Fuller movie, its fervently anti-communist, but not nearly as hysterically so as Pickup On South Street. Indeed, the only North Korean character is an intelligent, committed warrior who asks questions that a communist would, indeed, pose to their American captors. When the North Korean asks the Black and Japanese characters why they fight for a country that oppresses them, they basically respond with "Cuz I'm an American!" Intentionally or not, the film makes the commie seem like the most inquiring mind.