The Beautiful Blowhard
I wrote an essay recommending Samuel Fuller’s work. A portion of what I said:
“A Fuller film careers between drama and melodrama; it stars scene-chewing actors; is low budget, and has the subtlety of a machete. A Fuller film can start out being about one thing (such as in one of my favorites, Crimson Kimono , where it begins in a Noirish vein, with two cops investigating a crime in 1950s L.A.) only to veer off somewhere else (racism against Asians). Watching a Fuller film is seeing the unpredictable. It breaks the rules of “good” writing—and just goes for the jugular.
If these factors don’t make his films an appetizing prospect then perhaps know this: he was a major influence on Godard, and is worshiped by Wim Wenders (who even put him in one of his movies). Fuller has been praised repeatedly by Tarantino. He is a major figure in cinema, an essential.”
