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1
00:00:10,890 --> 00:00:12,558
Who was Sam Fuller?
2
00:00:13,726 --> 00:00:16,062
He was a teenage crime reporter.
3
00:00:16,145 --> 00:00:18,940
Then a hotshot Hollywood screenwriter
4
00:00:19,023 --> 00:00:23,778
who gave up a life of ease
to join the United States Infantry.
5
00:00:24,779 --> 00:00:29,075
He was the only soldier to have ever
stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day
6
00:00:29,158 --> 00:00:32,119
who went on to re-create the battle on film.
7
00:00:33,204 --> 00:00:36,749
He was a prolific filmmaker
with a bold style,
8
00:00:36,832 --> 00:00:41,420
a magnet for controversy,
a poet of the American idiom.
9
00:00:42,296 --> 00:00:44,924
Sam Fuller was my father.
10
00:00:45,967 --> 00:00:48,928
Before he died at the age of 85,
11
00:00:49,011 --> 00:00:53,182
he wrote about his life
in a memoir titled A Third Face.
12
00:00:54,267 --> 00:00:57,311
In this film you'll see friends
and admirers of Sam
13
00:00:57,395 --> 00:00:59,188
reading from his memoir.
14
00:00:59,272 --> 00:01:01,190
You'll see clips from his movies.
15
00:01:01,274 --> 00:01:02,817
But not only that.
16
00:01:02,900 --> 00:01:07,280
Last summer I found over 100
16-millimeter reels of film
17
00:01:07,363 --> 00:01:09,949
under the desk in this office --
18
00:01:10,032 --> 00:01:14,745
home movies and footage he shot
on the front lines during World War ll.
19
00:01:15,580 --> 00:01:18,916
Many of these films
have never been seen before.
20
00:01:19,792 --> 00:01:24,547
Every word spoken in this film
was written by Sam Fuller,
21
00:01:24,630 --> 00:01:26,215
my dad.
22
00:01:36,017 --> 00:01:38,894
- [whistle blows]
- [Fuller] Quiet!
23
00:01:38,978 --> 00:01:40,646
All right, roll it.
24
00:01:42,064 --> 00:01:43,566
- Speed!
- [clapper board claps]
25
00:01:46,152 --> 00:01:47,945
[gunshot]
26
00:01:48,029 --> 00:01:49,280
Action!
27
00:01:52,199 --> 00:01:54,452
[man] Well, you started in as a copyboy, I see.
28
00:01:54,535 --> 00:01:56,537
[Fuller] Yeah, when I was 14.
29
00:01:57,496 --> 00:02:00,583
[man 2] Freedom of the press
means freedom to tell the truth.
30
00:02:00,666 --> 00:02:05,379
[man 3] The Liberty pedestal fund!
Extree! Read all about it! Extree!
31
00:02:05,463 --> 00:02:07,840
[man 4] if you ask me, it's news.
32
00:02:09,425 --> 00:02:11,469
[man 5] Everyman wants to get
to the top of his profession.
33
00:02:11,552 --> 00:02:13,471
Mine is winning the Pulitzer Prize!
34
00:02:13,554 --> 00:02:15,890
If this story doesn't do it,
nothing ever will.
35
00:02:15,973 --> 00:02:19,477
- [man 6] He's a newspaperman.
- [man 7] And the best!
36
00:02:32,198 --> 00:02:35,451
[man 8] What about you, Griff? You gonna be
a cartoonist for a big newspaper or somethin'?
37
00:02:35,534 --> 00:02:36,911
[Griff] Mm-hmm.
38
00:02:38,829 --> 00:02:42,041
[man 9] That's my book.
I wrote it, baby face.
39
00:02:44,585 --> 00:02:47,922
[man 10] It's the Big Red One.
40
00:02:49,590 --> 00:02:52,218
[man 11 ] Aw, be smart.
There's nothing like the infantry.
41
00:02:53,511 --> 00:02:57,390
[man 12] You're lucky you never got hurt
where it doesn't show.
42
00:02:57,473 --> 00:02:59,558
[man 13] All of us got hurt
where it doesn't show.
43
00:03:01,268 --> 00:03:03,521
- [man 14] It was legal.
- [woman] It was murder.
44
00:03:03,604 --> 00:03:05,606
[man 14] Don't look at it that way.
45
00:03:07,191 --> 00:03:09,360
[man 15] Nobody knows where we are
except the enemy.
46
00:03:09,443 --> 00:03:11,696
[man 16] He was a GI retread
from World War ll.
47
00:03:11,779 --> 00:03:17,326
Fought through North Africa and Sicily
and all through Europe up to Czechoslovakia.
48
00:03:17,410 --> 00:03:19,370
[man 17] There are two kinds of men
on this beach --
49
00:03:19,453 --> 00:03:22,665
those who are dead
and those who are about to die.
50
00:03:22,748 --> 00:03:25,000
[man 18] When you lead,
you have to hurt people --
51
00:03:25,084 --> 00:03:26,961
the enemy, and sometimes your own.
52
00:03:27,044 --> 00:03:28,629
[man 19] if you die, I'll kill you!
53
00:03:28,713 --> 00:03:32,675
[man 20] All right, everybody, on your feet.
If you can breathe, you can fight.
54
00:03:32,758 --> 00:03:34,719
[man 21 ] War's been over for four hours.
55
00:03:37,930 --> 00:03:41,600
[Buck Henry as Fuller] By the end of the ' 40s,
I decided that I could direct my yarns
56
00:03:41,684 --> 00:03:44,145
as well as anybody else,
maybe even better.
57
00:03:44,228 --> 00:03:46,814
[man 22] I got a great part for you
in my next picture.
58
00:03:46,897 --> 00:03:49,984
- [boy] Bullet in head, yes?
- [man 23] Bullet in head, no.
59
00:04:01,370 --> 00:04:05,958
[man 24] It's tragic to remain a living legend.
People only respect the dead.
60
00:04:06,792 --> 00:04:12,256
Often I feel guilty
for taking such a long time to die.
61
00:04:12,965 --> 00:04:16,552
[man 25] Every girl is beautiful,
until they kill somebody.
62
00:04:16,635 --> 00:04:20,431
[man 26] I'll say one thing
- - he sure knew how to die.
63
00:04:20,514 --> 00:04:24,018
- [man 27] That's a white dog!
- [man 28] Julie, you got a four-legged time bomb!
64
00:04:24,101 --> 00:04:27,271
[man 29] They tried to brainwash me,
but I was a bad subject.
65
00:04:27,980 --> 00:04:29,982
[man 30] Give the man a cigar.
66
00:04:33,736 --> 00:04:36,489
- [woman 2] So long, tiger.
- [man 31 ] Good luck, muffin.
67
00:04:52,254 --> 00:04:54,632
[footsteps]
68
00:05:17,530 --> 00:05:19,448
[Franco]
"New York City in the early '20s
69
00:05:19,532 --> 00:05:23,160
seemed like a human beehive
to my 11-year-old eyes,
70
00:05:23,244 --> 00:05:27,122
with hustling, bustling people everywhere
urging you forward,
71
00:05:27,206 --> 00:05:32,044
vendors shouting, taxis,
double-decker buses, trucks,
72
00:05:32,127 --> 00:05:35,089
and horse-drawn carts
jockeying for position
73
00:05:35,172 --> 00:05:37,174
on cobblestone streets.
74
00:05:37,258 --> 00:05:42,012
Subways roaring underground,
elevated trains overhead.
75
00:05:42,096 --> 00:05:45,599
New York made me dizzy with expectations.
76
00:05:45,683 --> 00:05:47,935
We settled in an apartment
my mother found for us
77
00:05:48,018 --> 00:05:50,771
in a modest neighborhood
on the Upper West Side
78
00:05:50,855 --> 00:05:52,481
not far from the Hudson.
79
00:05:53,148 --> 00:05:56,443
We all found jobs to pull our weight
and support the family.
80
00:05:56,527 --> 00:06:01,198
In those days, kids of all ages
sold newspapers on busy corners.
81
00:06:01,282 --> 00:06:05,703
I asked a boy on the street where I could
find out about becoming a vendor
82
00:06:05,786 --> 00:06:10,040
and getting one of those
official wooden buttons that said 'newsboy. '
83
00:06:10,708 --> 00:06:12,376
'Park Row, ' said the kid.
84
00:06:13,586 --> 00:06:17,798
I made it down to Park Row, the heart
of the newspaper business in Manhattan
85
00:06:17,882 --> 00:06:20,175
not far from the Brooklyn Bridge.
86
00:06:20,259 --> 00:06:23,345
Kids were everywhere,
getting their allotments of evening newspapers
87
00:06:23,429 --> 00:06:25,973
to take out into the streets to sell.
88
00:06:26,056 --> 00:06:27,808
I felt right at home.
89
00:06:27,892 --> 00:06:30,769
For a penny apiece
I bought copies of five dailies
90
00:06:30,853 --> 00:06:32,980
with the change I had in my pocket.
91
00:06:33,063 --> 00:06:36,901
I got back on the subway
and found a street corner near Grand Central.
92
00:06:36,984 --> 00:06:42,031
At two cents each, the newspapers sold out
before I knew what had happened.
93
00:06:42,114 --> 00:06:44,658
From then on, as soon as school
let out every afternoon,
94
00:06:44,742 --> 00:06:46,577
I'd hurry downtown to Park Row
95
00:06:46,660 --> 00:06:49,914
and get all the dailies I could carry
in my shoulder pouch.
96
00:06:49,997 --> 00:06:53,876
Any street corner would be good enough
to hawk my papers.
97
00:06:53,959 --> 00:06:57,880
When I sold out, I'd rush home
to give the profits to my mother,
98
00:06:57,963 --> 00:07:02,760
have dinner, and collapse
into the bed I shared with my brothers.
99
00:07:03,344 --> 00:07:06,430
Still shy of my 13th birthday,
100
00:07:06,513 --> 00:07:10,768
I shoehorned my way
into the heart of the newspaper world.
101
00:07:10,851 --> 00:07:15,606
On Park Row, surrounded by adults
in the high-energy pursuit of news,
102
00:07:15,689 --> 00:07:20,110
I was growin' up fast, mostly learning
about the darker side of humanity.
103
00:07:21,028 --> 00:07:23,572
I was burning inside to be a crime reporter,
104
00:07:23,656 --> 00:07:27,368
only going through the motions of school
to please my mother.
105
00:07:27,451 --> 00:07:31,080
One day I pleaded with my illustrious boss
to put me on the street
106
00:07:31,163 --> 00:07:33,415
and let me cover crime stories
for the Journal.
107
00:07:34,208 --> 00:07:37,294
'You're much too young, my boy, '
said Brisbane.
108
00:07:37,378 --> 00:07:39,838
'You have to be at least 21
for that kind of job.
109
00:07:39,922 --> 00:07:44,635
It would be irresponsible for me
to let you hang around precinct stations
110
00:07:44,718 --> 00:07:47,554
or go to prisons to interview criminals.
111
00:07:47,638 --> 00:07:49,890
Crime reporting is tough work.
112
00:07:49,974 --> 00:07:52,059
You're far too young for it.'
113
00:07:54,895 --> 00:07:57,314
'But I've tagged along with reporters.
114
00:07:57,398 --> 00:08:00,067
I've been to murder scenes.
I've been to the morgue.
115
00:08:00,150 --> 00:08:03,988
I've watched how they talk to the police,
to witnesses, how they get their stories.
116
00:08:04,697 --> 00:08:06,991
You know how fast I am, Mr. Brisbane.
117
00:08:07,074 --> 00:08:10,619
Just give me a chance. I can learn. Please."'
118
00:08:13,831 --> 00:08:17,668
John, you've got to be crazy to want to be
committed to an insane asylum to solve a murder.
119
00:08:17,751 --> 00:08:19,670
Even if I don't crack this case, honey,
120
00:08:19,753 --> 00:08:23,090
my experiences alone will make a book,
a play, or even a movie sale.
121
00:08:23,173 --> 00:08:25,592
Every man wants to get
to the top of his profession.
122
00:08:25,676 --> 00:08:29,555
Mine is winning the Pulitzer Prize.
If this story doesn't do it, nothing ever will.
123
00:08:30,305 --> 00:08:33,142
The last reporter I had on this floor
was Ben Franklin.
124
00:08:33,225 --> 00:08:35,686
- That egghead gave me more trouble than --
- Come on, Mr. Barrett.
125
00:08:35,769 --> 00:08:37,730
Born phonies, all you newspapermen.
126
00:08:37,813 --> 00:08:39,732
You came at the "make friends" hour.
127
00:08:47,740 --> 00:08:51,493
"A hell of a lot of time as a crime reporter
is spent with cops,
128
00:08:51,577 --> 00:08:52,828
either at the crime scene
129
00:08:52,911 --> 00:08:54,663
or at the station house.
130
00:08:54,747 --> 00:08:57,082
The police were essential sources
of information,
131
00:08:57,166 --> 00:09:01,503
though sometimes unwilling to give reporters
a lead on a breaking story.
132
00:09:02,171 --> 00:09:04,339
I used to walk from one precinct to another,
133
00:09:04,423 --> 00:09:06,967
slipping sticks of chewing gum
to the desk sergeants
134
00:09:07,051 --> 00:09:09,553
in exchange for something newsworthy.
135
00:09:09,636 --> 00:09:13,307
After I started smoking cigars,
I'd give out cigars.
136
00:09:13,974 --> 00:09:15,809
That worked much better.
137
00:09:15,893 --> 00:09:18,854
When I first met him
Gene Fowler was in his late 30s,
138
00:09:18,937 --> 00:09:21,815
one of the most well-known journalists
on Park Row.
139
00:09:22,733 --> 00:09:25,944
I was 16, still a copyboy,
140
00:09:26,028 --> 00:09:28,030
and he took me under his wing.
141
00:09:28,113 --> 00:09:29,907
Hell if I know why.
142
00:09:29,990 --> 00:09:34,078
Maybe because he saw in me his own
early passion for the newspaper business."
143
00:09:34,661 --> 00:09:36,371
Any chance of a replay?
144
00:09:36,455 --> 00:09:38,457
Any chance of a bonus?
145
00:09:38,540 --> 00:09:41,168
Any of these make the cover,
you'll get a cigar.
146
00:09:43,295 --> 00:09:46,006
"Fowler was there for me
when I made reporter.
147
00:09:46,090 --> 00:09:48,467
I desperately needed a father figure.
148
00:09:48,550 --> 00:09:50,219
Home had become hell.
149
00:09:50,302 --> 00:09:55,224
My mother and I were in constant conflict
about my lifestyle and career choice.
150
00:09:55,307 --> 00:09:59,770
My coming home night after night
looking less and less like a reporter
151
00:09:59,853 --> 00:10:02,940
and more and more like one of
the criminals I'd been covering
152
00:10:03,023 --> 00:10:07,569
was a continual source of anxiety
and disappointment for the poor woman."
153
00:10:09,947 --> 00:10:11,698
How 'bout a ride
to the morgue, Pete?
154
00:10:11,782 --> 00:10:16,286
"I'd been hanging around the morgue so much
that my clothes stank of formaldehyde,
155
00:10:16,370 --> 00:10:19,581
the fragrance of death
clinging to my threadbare suit.
156
00:10:20,415 --> 00:10:24,628
'Why can't you get a job with a more respectable
paper with normal working hours?'
157
00:10:24,711 --> 00:10:26,255
my mother asked.
158
00:10:26,338 --> 00:10:29,675
'Why do you have to be out all night,
chasing around after criminals,
159
00:10:29,758 --> 00:10:32,594
following the police,
hanging around the morgue?'
160
00:10:33,428 --> 00:10:36,932
'Because this is my work, Mother, '
I said curtly.
161
00:10:37,015 --> 00:10:39,351
'You're like a vulture. '
162
00:10:39,434 --> 00:10:44,356
'I like being a vulture, ' I said,
slamming the door on my way out.
163
00:10:45,190 --> 00:10:49,528
To her, I was wasting my life
at a sordid job.
164
00:10:49,611 --> 00:10:53,699
To me, I was fortunate enough
to spend my days and nights
165
00:10:53,782 --> 00:10:58,328
at the most scintillating profession
on earth and get paid for it.
166
00:10:59,037 --> 00:11:04,126
Gene was not only giving me firsthand lessons
in his incorrigible zest for life.
167
00:11:04,209 --> 00:11:07,963
He was giving me valuable pointers
on being a good reporter.
168
00:11:08,630 --> 00:11:10,966
'Writing is easy, ' he used to say.
169
00:11:11,049 --> 00:11:14,219
'All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper
170
00:11:14,303 --> 00:11:17,389
until drops of blood form on your forehead.
171
00:11:18,056 --> 00:11:21,602
You're on the right track now, my lad, '
Fowler said.
172
00:11:21,685 --> 00:11:26,148
'But when you cover a murder case,
give your articles more spice.
173
00:11:26,231 --> 00:11:29,484
Spend time alone with the criminal.
Get some personal stuff.
174
00:11:29,568 --> 00:11:33,947
A story from his childhood,
anything that connects the reader.
175
00:11:34,031 --> 00:11:35,657
No matter how violent the crime,
176
00:11:35,741 --> 00:11:39,411
if the bastard has a pet canary
or sends love poems to his mother --
177
00:11:39,494 --> 00:11:41,622
some human interest angle.
178
00:11:41,705 --> 00:11:43,373
Then follow the trial step by step,
179
00:11:43,457 --> 00:11:46,543
never letting up on the heart-tugging details.
180
00:11:46,627 --> 00:11:49,129
If the guy ends up frying in the chair
at Sing Sing,
181
00:11:49,213 --> 00:11:53,217
then write it so strong that the reader
can smell his flesh burning,
182
00:11:54,009 --> 00:11:55,886
even if the criminal is a woman.'
183
00:11:56,887 --> 00:12:00,766
To watch a gruesome spectacle
turns all your insides upside down.
184
00:12:01,642 --> 00:12:05,646
The first execution was followed
by one after another,
185
00:12:05,729 --> 00:12:11,693
until after half a dozen more
of those revolting, state-approved killings
186
00:12:11,777 --> 00:12:13,779
I couldn't take it anymore.
187
00:12:14,488 --> 00:12:17,741
I begged my editor
to send somebody else to Sing Sing.
188
00:12:18,617 --> 00:12:21,453
'You wanted to be a crime reporter,
didn't you?' he said.
189
00:12:21,536 --> 00:12:25,249
'This is how society makes murderers
pay for their crimes.
190
00:12:25,332 --> 00:12:27,167
You've got to cover them, Sammy. '
191
00:12:28,252 --> 00:12:31,296
'Give me anything else, even a hanging, '
I pleaded.
192
00:12:32,464 --> 00:12:34,675
'Get a job in another state.
193
00:12:34,758 --> 00:12:36,969
Here the bastards get the chair."'
194
00:12:39,304 --> 00:12:43,392
"I knew plenty about big-city crime
and state executions...
195
00:12:44,434 --> 00:12:49,982
at Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco,
and everywhere in between.
196
00:12:50,941 --> 00:12:53,193
Just names on a map to me.
197
00:12:53,277 --> 00:12:58,407
I figured I could hit the road and work my way
across the country as a freelance reporter.
198
00:12:58,490 --> 00:13:01,076
One of my heroes, Mark Twain,
had made his business
199
00:13:01,159 --> 00:13:05,956
to know about the people and places
that made this country great
200
00:13:06,039 --> 00:13:07,791
by sailing the Mississippi.
201
00:13:07,874 --> 00:13:09,334
[steamboat whistle blowing]
202
00:13:09,418 --> 00:13:14,089
It was time for me to get a little
firsthand American experience too.
203
00:13:15,173 --> 00:13:18,343
I started by hitchhiking rides
on a truck or a freight train.
204
00:13:18,427 --> 00:13:23,849
I was going my way, my typewriter
tied to my backpack with a cord.
205
00:13:23,932 --> 00:13:28,186
I ended up spending most of my time
with people who had no real home.
206
00:13:28,270 --> 00:13:33,233
Everywhere I traveled, the poor were
trying to make the best of a nasty situation.
207
00:13:33,317 --> 00:13:36,903
Even those with homes and steady jobs
lived in miserable conditions,
208
00:13:36,987 --> 00:13:38,530
almost impossible to understand
209
00:13:38,613 --> 00:13:42,743
with the level of affluence
we have in America nowadays.
210
00:13:42,826 --> 00:13:45,245
This was the low point of the Depression,
211
00:13:45,329 --> 00:13:48,540
before anyone had heard
of rural electrification,
212
00:13:48,623 --> 00:13:52,252
agricultural relief, or Social Security.
[scoffs]
213
00:13:52,961 --> 00:13:57,758
I wrote articles and drew cartoons
about so many different Americans --
214
00:13:57,841 --> 00:14:01,511
coalminers in West Virginia,
cowboys in Oklahoma,
215
00:14:01,595 --> 00:14:04,222
crab fishermen in Louisiana,
cotton pickers in Georgia,
216
00:14:04,306 --> 00:14:08,143
milk farmers in Illinois,
railroad workers in Florida.
217
00:14:09,478 --> 00:14:12,522
My stuff was published regularly.
218
00:14:12,606 --> 00:14:18,612
A decent check would be waiting for me
at the local newspaper office in the next city,
219
00:14:18,695 --> 00:14:20,405
along with my itinerary.
220
00:14:20,489 --> 00:14:22,908
'To Samuel Fuller.
221
00:14:24,117 --> 00:14:25,827
Freelance.'
222
00:14:25,911 --> 00:14:29,373
I was connected to my country
like never before.
223
00:14:30,499 --> 00:14:32,542
Young people,
224
00:14:32,626 --> 00:14:34,920
if you want to understand America,
225
00:14:35,003 --> 00:14:39,424
get off your asses
and go see it for yourselves.
226
00:14:40,384 --> 00:14:43,970
It's a big, breathtaking place.
227
00:14:44,930 --> 00:14:48,350
My travels took me across the country
to the West Coast,
228
00:14:48,433 --> 00:14:50,560
ending up in San Francisco.
229
00:14:50,644 --> 00:14:54,106
There I found a temporary job
as a crime reporter at the Chronicle
230
00:14:54,189 --> 00:14:56,274
and stayed for a while.
231
00:14:56,358 --> 00:15:00,278
I was in Frisco in 1934
when the general strike was called.
232
00:15:00,362 --> 00:15:02,572
It grew out of a labor dispute on the docks
233
00:15:02,656 --> 00:15:05,617
and spread like wildfire
as the strike date approached.
234
00:15:05,700 --> 00:15:08,245
Food supplies
trickled into the city,
235
00:15:08,328 --> 00:15:11,248
then ceased
being delivered altogether
236
00:15:11,331 --> 00:15:14,042
when trucks, trains, and ships
stopped running.
237
00:15:14,835 --> 00:15:17,212
Hospitals closed their doors to the sick.
238
00:15:17,295 --> 00:15:20,048
Garbage piled up on the street corners.
239
00:15:20,132 --> 00:15:23,301
Public transportation
ground to a complete halt.
240
00:15:23,385 --> 00:15:27,347
Public order
had totally broken down.
241
00:15:27,431 --> 00:15:30,725
As a reporter in New York
I'd seen a race riot in Harlem
242
00:15:30,809 --> 00:15:32,727
with people looting stores for food,
243
00:15:32,811 --> 00:15:38,567
but that was nothing next to
the panic and desperation
244
00:15:38,650 --> 00:15:44,448
of the 1934 strike in San Francisco.
245
00:15:45,157 --> 00:15:47,325
I saw corpses in the streets
246
00:15:47,409 --> 00:15:51,913
that weren't even picked up
by the city morgue.
247
00:15:52,956 --> 00:15:55,876
My articles for the Chronicle
described the hunger,
248
00:15:55,959 --> 00:15:59,963
the violence and anarchy I saw firsthand.
249
00:16:00,046 --> 00:16:02,507
There were many angry reactions.
250
00:16:02,591 --> 00:16:05,927
People thought the scenes
like those I described
251
00:16:06,011 --> 00:16:10,515
just couldn't take place in America,
but they did.
252
00:16:10,599 --> 00:16:14,227
It was the first time I realized
253
00:16:14,311 --> 00:16:17,647
how much human behavior was controlled
254
00:16:17,731 --> 00:16:20,567
by the belly, not the brain.
255
00:16:21,234 --> 00:16:26,490
When people hear the growling
of their empty stomachs in their own homes,
256
00:16:26,573 --> 00:16:31,328
it will soon turn into screams
heard in their own cities
257
00:16:31,411 --> 00:16:34,414
and, finally, a roar
throughout their country.
258
00:16:34,498 --> 00:16:40,045
At the root of a social upheaval
was poverty and hunger,
259
00:16:40,128 --> 00:16:43,215
breeding discontent and hatred.
260
00:16:46,134 --> 00:16:47,761
Hatred...
261
00:16:49,971 --> 00:16:51,973
was also born of fear.
262
00:16:55,393 --> 00:16:57,604
For a real eye-opener...
263
00:16:59,231 --> 00:17:01,149
there was nothing that could surpass
264
00:17:01,233 --> 00:17:03,985
the Ku Klux...
265
00:17:05,237 --> 00:17:09,282
Klan meetings I covered in Little Rock."
266
00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:12,536
What's that?
267
00:17:12,619 --> 00:17:15,288
A sign of the invisible empire.
268
00:17:16,373 --> 00:17:20,210
That's a cyclos, from the Greek word kýklos.
269
00:17:20,293 --> 00:17:21,962
Means "circle."
270
00:17:23,296 --> 00:17:26,424
This baptizes a new organization --
271
00:17:26,508 --> 00:17:27,926
the Ku Klux.
272
00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:30,971
- Sounds good.
- No.
273
00:17:33,557 --> 00:17:36,601
Ku Klux Klan.
274
00:17:36,685 --> 00:17:39,646
Sounds more mysterious,
more menacing, more alliterative.
275
00:17:39,729 --> 00:17:42,107
Ku Klux Klan. Say it.
276
00:17:42,190 --> 00:17:43,191
"Ku Klux Klan."
277
00:17:43,275 --> 00:17:44,192
- KKK.
- KKK.
278
00:17:44,276 --> 00:17:45,777
It'll catch on quick.
279
00:17:46,778 --> 00:17:51,533
"My editor at American Weekly
had sent me to the cradle of the Klan
280
00:17:51,616 --> 00:17:57,080
to write a firsthand report
about their strange rituals.
281
00:17:57,581 --> 00:18:02,377
I got to Little Rock and was tipped off
where the Klan held their secret meetings.
282
00:18:02,460 --> 00:18:06,715
One night I found myself surrounded
by 30 KKK members
283
00:18:06,798 --> 00:18:10,468
wearing white sheets
and parading around a burning cross.
284
00:18:10,844 --> 00:18:14,723
It was an overwhelming spectacle
that left me depressed
285
00:18:14,806 --> 00:18:17,017
and disillusioned that...
286
00:18:17,100 --> 00:18:20,103
this could happen in America.
287
00:18:20,770 --> 00:18:24,482
In my article about the KKK
I wrote about their hate-filled speeches,
288
00:18:24,566 --> 00:18:26,943
contrasting their rancorous words
289
00:18:27,027 --> 00:18:30,530
with the spectacle of a woman
in a Klan costume
290
00:18:30,614 --> 00:18:32,907
nursing her newborn baby.
291
00:18:32,991 --> 00:18:36,953
The woman's face was hidden
under that ridiculous pillowcase
292
00:18:37,037 --> 00:18:41,499
with holes cut out for a nose and eyes.
293
00:18:41,583 --> 00:18:44,878
She slowly opened the robe
294
00:18:44,961 --> 00:18:48,715
to put her breast
into the mouth of the little baby,
295
00:18:49,341 --> 00:18:52,344
the Ku Klux Klan members
screaming radical rubbish
296
00:18:52,427 --> 00:18:56,598
while the mother gave sweet sustenance
to the infant.
297
00:18:58,767 --> 00:19:03,980
My editor at the American Weekly
cut that part of the woman's nursing her baby
298
00:19:04,064 --> 00:19:06,483
because it sounded so farfetched.
299
00:19:07,651 --> 00:19:10,445
When I saw
the published version of my article,
300
00:19:10,528 --> 00:19:14,741
I was so upset that I --
I called him to complain,
301
00:19:14,824 --> 00:19:18,411
making sure the operator
reversed the charges.
302
00:19:18,495 --> 00:19:24,250
'The way I wrote it
was just the way it was, ' I said.
303
00:19:26,086 --> 00:19:29,923
'Should've taken photos of the woman
with the baby, ' said the editor.
304
00:19:30,715 --> 00:19:32,676
'I'm a newspaperman, goddamn it,
305
00:19:32,759 --> 00:19:35,512
not a goddamn photographer!'
306
00:19:41,226 --> 00:19:43,061
My editor was right, though.
307
00:19:45,230 --> 00:19:46,314
A picture...
308
00:19:47,107 --> 00:19:48,733
would have made my words believable.
309
00:19:48,817 --> 00:19:52,028
In fact, a photo of the Klan woman
nursing a baby
310
00:19:52,112 --> 00:19:54,948
would have been more powerful
than all my words."
311
00:19:55,615 --> 00:19:57,575
[chuckles]
312
00:19:57,659 --> 00:19:59,327
Free, white, and Christian, huh?
313
00:20:02,372 --> 00:20:06,209
Burning crosses and hiding under pillowcases
and terrorizing families.
314
00:20:06,292 --> 00:20:07,961
Free, white, and Christian?
315
00:20:08,044 --> 00:20:10,046
I don't know anything about that, sir.
316
00:20:11,214 --> 00:20:13,258
Oh, yeah. It's always the other fella.
317
00:20:13,341 --> 00:20:15,552
"Then and there I found...
318
00:20:15,635 --> 00:20:17,554
a cheap camera -- [chuckles]
319
00:20:19,514 --> 00:20:23,059
in a pawnshop and began taking pictures
to accompany my stories,
320
00:20:23,143 --> 00:20:28,690
and I -- I was beginning to realize
that I could better convey emotions...
321
00:20:28,773 --> 00:20:31,151
with words and images.
322
00:20:31,234 --> 00:20:33,737
And not just any image,
323
00:20:33,820 --> 00:20:36,030
but the precise image
324
00:20:36,114 --> 00:20:39,492
that captured a multitude of emotions
325
00:20:39,576 --> 00:20:41,995
in a frozen instant."
326
00:20:51,254 --> 00:20:53,214
"What I really wanted to do
327
00:20:53,298 --> 00:20:55,091
was turn out a book.
328
00:20:55,175 --> 00:20:58,511
I'd started writing fiction
while I was on the road.
329
00:20:58,595 --> 00:21:04,058
I was about 22 when I finished
my first novel, burn, Baby, burn!
330
00:21:05,477 --> 00:21:08,772
As Clare Booth Luce once said
about the '30s,
331
00:21:08,855 --> 00:21:13,318
'Anyone who isn't thoroughly confused
isn't thinking clearly.'
332
00:21:14,235 --> 00:21:17,781
It was a time of chaos and bewilderment
333
00:21:17,864 --> 00:21:22,827
that helped me discover in myself
a profound and unwavering commitment
334
00:21:22,911 --> 00:21:25,163
to democratic principles.
335
00:21:25,246 --> 00:21:28,792
Smack in the middle
of the period's upheavals,
336
00:21:28,875 --> 00:21:30,543
Hollywood came calling.
337
00:21:30,627 --> 00:21:33,004
I had plenty of yarns up my sleeve,
338
00:21:33,087 --> 00:21:36,174
so I decided to take a trip
out to the West Coast
339
00:21:36,257 --> 00:21:42,055
and finally take a serious dip
in Hollywood's seductive waters.
340
00:21:42,138 --> 00:21:47,393
A few days after my arrival I had an invitation
to have lunch with Gene Fowler,
341
00:21:47,477 --> 00:21:49,646
who was now at RKO.
342
00:21:49,729 --> 00:21:53,316
'You oughta do fine around here, Sammy, '
he told me.
343
00:21:53,399 --> 00:21:56,236
See, by 1941 I was doing
pretty well in Hollywood,
344
00:21:56,319 --> 00:21:59,739
selling stories and scripts
one after the other.
345
00:21:59,823 --> 00:22:03,493
Yet I considered my stay in Hollywood
as temporary.
346
00:22:03,576 --> 00:22:07,497
Deep down in my heart I always dreamed
of being an editor-in-chief"
347
00:22:08,581 --> 00:22:11,793
- Know what I'd do if I had a paper?
- Ah, here we go again.
348
00:22:11,876 --> 00:22:16,673
"It always seemed that I had one foot in
and one foot out of the movie business.
349
00:22:16,756 --> 00:22:20,426
The way they rewrote my scripts
made me increasingly dissatisfied
350
00:22:20,510 --> 00:22:22,595
with just being a screenwriter.
351
00:22:22,679 --> 00:22:24,597
I no longer could watch a film
352
00:22:24,681 --> 00:22:27,851
without questioning
the director's judgment."
353
00:22:30,687 --> 00:22:33,982
Hey, cut down that wind.
I didn't ask for a hurricane.
354
00:22:34,065 --> 00:22:37,569
"Figuring out how a particular shot
could have been improved.
355
00:22:37,652 --> 00:22:41,030
Wondering why the hell
the director didn't yell 'Cut!"'
356
00:22:41,114 --> 00:22:43,658
- Cut!
- [men shouting]
357
00:22:43,741 --> 00:22:45,827
"Early Sunday morning,
358
00:22:45,910 --> 00:22:49,289
December 7, 1941,
359
00:22:49,372 --> 00:22:53,167
I was driving my car in Los Angeles
listening to the radio.
360
00:22:53,251 --> 00:22:57,130
That's how I heard the news
about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
361
00:22:57,839 --> 00:23:00,884
My novel, the scripts
I was doing in Hollywood,
362
00:23:00,967 --> 00:23:02,969
my plans to try directing,
363
00:23:03,052 --> 00:23:05,388
all of it suddenly seemed unimportant.
364
00:23:05,471 --> 00:23:08,391
I went down to the US Army draft office
365
00:23:08,474 --> 00:23:11,311
and got in line with all the young men
waiting there.
366
00:23:11,394 --> 00:23:16,733
At 29 years old I was much older
than the average guy who decided to enlist.
367
00:23:16,816 --> 00:23:18,985
Luckily they needed plenty of soldiers,
368
00:23:19,068 --> 00:23:23,072
so there was no bias
against old volunteers like me.
369
00:23:24,073 --> 00:23:26,576
There was a required interview
with a recruiting officer.
370
00:23:26,659 --> 00:23:30,747
I requested a few weeks
before being sent off to boot camp
371
00:23:30,830 --> 00:23:33,249
in order to finish up a draft of my novel.
372
00:23:33,333 --> 00:23:35,627
The officer gave me extra time.
373
00:23:35,710 --> 00:23:38,379
Then he asked me
why I wanted to go to war.
374
00:23:38,463 --> 00:23:42,759
Hell, I certainly wasn't enlisting
with the idea of becoming a hero.
375
00:23:42,842 --> 00:23:45,219
I asked if I could level with him
and he said, 'Yes, '
376
00:23:45,303 --> 00:23:50,892
so I told him that sure, I was inspired by
Roosevelt's call to arms against the aggressors.
377
00:23:50,975 --> 00:23:53,937
However, the prospects of military life --
378
00:23:54,020 --> 00:23:57,190
being in uniform, marching,
carrying a rifle, fighting --
379
00:23:57,273 --> 00:23:59,275
didn't really give me a hard-on.
380
00:24:00,068 --> 00:24:02,320
What kept going through my brain
381
00:24:02,403 --> 00:24:04,906
was that I had a hell of an opportunity
382
00:24:04,989 --> 00:24:08,409
to cover the biggest crime story
of the century,
383
00:24:08,493 --> 00:24:12,830
and nothing was gonna stop me
from being an eyewitness."
384
00:24:24,133 --> 00:24:27,971
"I heard my mother shudder
when I told her I was going to be a soldier.
385
00:24:29,222 --> 00:24:32,100
'My country needed me for a while, '
I reassured her,
386
00:24:32,183 --> 00:24:34,227
'and everything was going to be all right. '
387
00:24:35,979 --> 00:24:38,815
The army sent me to Fort MacArthur,
near San Diego.
388
00:24:39,899 --> 00:24:44,570
Like every other draftee, I had to take
a battery of standardized tests
389
00:24:44,654 --> 00:24:47,615
and answer a hell of a lot of stupid questions.
390
00:24:48,783 --> 00:24:51,828
When I told them about
my background in journalism,
391
00:24:51,911 --> 00:24:54,080
they sent me over
to the communications department.
392
00:24:55,164 --> 00:24:57,834
An officer there offered me
an assignment on the staff
393
00:24:57,917 --> 00:24:59,961
of the Armed Forces newspaper.
394
00:25:00,628 --> 00:25:02,672
I turned it down fiat.
395
00:25:03,423 --> 00:25:06,592
I'd joined the army to be
in the thick of the action,
396
00:25:06,676 --> 00:25:09,429
not behind some goddamn desk.
397
00:25:10,763 --> 00:25:13,474
They marched all the draftees
to a railroad station.
398
00:25:14,559 --> 00:25:19,147
Never had I seen so many men
in one place, at one time.
399
00:25:19,981 --> 00:25:24,944
A train was about to pull out of the station,
packed to the gills with soldiers.
400
00:25:25,945 --> 00:25:27,989
Ignorant and impatient,
401
00:25:28,072 --> 00:25:29,782
I walked up to the captain.
402
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,870
'Where are these men on the train going?'
I asked.
403
00:25:33,953 --> 00:25:36,706
'Infantry!' shouted the captain.
404
00:25:36,789 --> 00:25:38,958
'I want to go with them, ' I said.
405
00:25:39,042 --> 00:25:42,754
'Get your ass on the train!' he yelled,
glad to be rid of me.
406
00:25:44,047 --> 00:25:46,007
In my naïveté,
407
00:25:46,090 --> 00:25:50,928
how could I guess the horror that lay
ahead of me and my fellow passengers?
408
00:25:51,679 --> 00:25:54,557
My precipitous leap
into the infantry train
409
00:25:54,640 --> 00:25:58,144
was one of the most decisive steps
of my entire life.
410
00:25:59,145 --> 00:26:00,855
For Christ sakes.
411
00:26:01,939 --> 00:26:03,524
The infantry.
412
00:26:03,608 --> 00:26:06,194
Guys who joined the infantry,
I discovered,
413
00:26:06,778 --> 00:26:09,489
came back from the war
in one of three ways --
414
00:26:10,448 --> 00:26:11,532
dead...
415
00:26:12,450 --> 00:26:13,618
wounded...
416
00:26:14,285 --> 00:26:15,661
or crazy."
417
00:26:17,663 --> 00:26:19,582
"Since we were all treated like shit,
418
00:26:19,665 --> 00:26:22,585
a healthy camaraderie developed
among the recruits,
419
00:26:22,668 --> 00:26:26,714
an affinity that went beyond
social and educational barriers.
420
00:26:26,798 --> 00:26:29,175
You name the ethnic background,
we had it --
421
00:26:29,258 --> 00:26:34,013
Irish, Jewish, Italian,
Latino, Armenian, except black.
422
00:26:34,097 --> 00:26:37,892
At that time
blacks got sent to their own regiment.
423
00:26:37,975 --> 00:26:42,772
We were all equal, military speaking --
the lowest of the low, a real melting pot.
424
00:26:42,855 --> 00:26:45,983
When we weren't crawling on our bellies,
marching or shooting,
425
00:26:46,067 --> 00:26:50,446
we got bombarded
with patriotic propaganda, slogans, music.
426
00:26:51,531 --> 00:26:53,908
Everywhere were those 'We Want You' posters,
427
00:26:53,991 --> 00:26:56,119
Uncle Sam's fierce eyes staring at us,
428
00:26:56,202 --> 00:26:58,496
reminding us that we were
sweating our balls off
429
00:26:58,579 --> 00:27:00,957
for the home of the free and the brave.
430
00:27:02,542 --> 00:27:07,547
We were put on a long train and shipped
to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.
431
00:27:07,630 --> 00:27:11,717
It was about midnight when we arrived there,
the middle of nowhere, cold as hell,
432
00:27:11,801 --> 00:27:13,427
a moonless night.
433
00:27:14,053 --> 00:27:16,806
A sergeant on the platform
started yelling commands at us
434
00:27:16,889 --> 00:27:18,599
as we got off the train.
435
00:27:18,683 --> 00:27:24,772
'Listen up! You are now members of
the First United States Infantry Division.
436
00:27:24,856 --> 00:27:28,484
It's the Big Red One!'
437
00:27:28,568 --> 00:27:31,028
He was wearing a dark steel helmet.
438
00:27:31,112 --> 00:27:33,281
Thanks to a solitary light in the train yard,
439
00:27:33,364 --> 00:27:36,742
I saw a red '1 '
reflected off the sergeant's helmet.
440
00:27:36,826 --> 00:27:38,995
Soon we'd all be issued helmets like his,
441
00:27:39,078 --> 00:27:41,164
wearing them like another part of our skull,
442
00:27:41,247 --> 00:27:43,958
sleeping in them, fighting in them,
443
00:27:44,041 --> 00:27:45,626
dying in them."
444
00:27:45,710 --> 00:27:47,128
[book closes]
445
00:27:49,881 --> 00:27:54,385
"One day a jeep with two soldiers
from the 16th Command Post
446
00:27:54,468 --> 00:27:56,804
drove up to our camp looking for me.
447
00:27:57,471 --> 00:27:59,390
The sergeant sitting next to the driver
448
00:27:59,473 --> 00:28:01,684
had orders from Colonel George A. Taylor
449
00:28:01,767 --> 00:28:04,395
to bring me to his headquarters.
450
00:28:05,188 --> 00:28:07,565
What could the commander of the 16th Regiment
want with me,
451
00:28:07,648 --> 00:28:09,984
a recently promoted corporal in the 26th?
452
00:28:10,067 --> 00:28:14,697
'Corporal Fuller reporting as requested!'
I barked it out.
453
00:28:15,865 --> 00:28:18,618
'What kind of cigars do you smoke?'
asked Colonel Taylor.
454
00:28:18,701 --> 00:28:22,788
'Optimos, ' I said. 'Only thing
I can get a hold of over here. '
455
00:28:22,872 --> 00:28:26,042
'Everything else is in your file, '
said the colonel.
456
00:28:26,125 --> 00:28:29,670
'I've been reading about you.
Impressive stuff.
457
00:28:29,754 --> 00:28:33,049
Reporter, novelist, movies.'
458
00:28:33,132 --> 00:28:34,634
'Yes, sir. '
459
00:28:34,717 --> 00:28:36,719
'Now you're gonna write for us. '
460
00:28:37,511 --> 00:28:38,971
'Write what, sir?'
461
00:28:40,431 --> 00:28:43,309
'A full report after every battle.
462
00:28:43,392 --> 00:28:47,730
I want you to record exactly
what you've seen in your own words.
463
00:28:47,813 --> 00:28:50,816
I want a detailed description
of this regiment's actions --
464
00:28:50,900 --> 00:28:54,904
every combat, every movement,
every victory, every error.
465
00:28:54,987 --> 00:28:57,406
Complete honesty. '
466
00:28:57,490 --> 00:29:00,826
'I don't want that responsibility, Colonel, '
I said.
467
00:29:00,910 --> 00:29:02,995
'Hell if I care what you want, '
he replied.
468
00:29:03,079 --> 00:29:05,206
'I'm giving you a great opportunity, Fuller.
469
00:29:05,915 --> 00:29:08,501
You get to observe the entire operation.
470
00:29:08,584 --> 00:29:11,504
No damn corporal
has ever had the opportunity
471
00:29:11,587 --> 00:29:16,133
to see a combat plan, participate in it,
then report on its execution. '
472
00:29:20,721 --> 00:29:22,890
'You asked me for honesty, Colonel.
473
00:29:23,975 --> 00:29:25,893
I'm giving it to you straight.
474
00:29:25,977 --> 00:29:29,438
After a battle, all I wanna do
is laugh with the other guys,
475
00:29:29,522 --> 00:29:33,484
get a little drunk and celebrate,
if I'm still alive. '
476
00:29:33,567 --> 00:29:36,696
I felt free to refuse Colonel Taylor's offer
477
00:29:36,779 --> 00:29:39,824
because I was about the lowest grade
in the army.
478
00:29:39,907 --> 00:29:44,370
If they demoted me, there wasn't
a long way to go before hitting the bottom.
479
00:29:44,453 --> 00:29:49,208
'Look, young man, ' said Taylor, 'from now on
you're part of my regiment, the 16th. '
480
00:29:49,292 --> 00:29:52,169
'But, sir --' I began.
'But nothing!' said Taylor.
481
00:29:52,253 --> 00:29:55,881
'You were transferred to the 16th the minute
you got into that jeep that brought you here.
482
00:29:55,965 --> 00:29:58,884
Maybe you'll change your mind
about writing for me.
483
00:29:58,968 --> 00:30:01,679
Meanwhile, I want you here
at all times, Fuller."'
484
00:30:04,223 --> 00:30:07,059
"On November 8, 1942,
485
00:30:07,143 --> 00:30:11,147
our outfit boarded the landing craft
that took us into Arzew Beach.
486
00:30:11,230 --> 00:30:14,859
We were part of General Eisenhower's
campaign to invade Africa.
487
00:30:14,942 --> 00:30:16,861
Code name: Torch.
488
00:30:17,570 --> 00:30:20,072
This would be the first
Allied assault of the war,
489
00:30:20,156 --> 00:30:23,784
attempting to force the enemy
off land it had usurped.
490
00:30:25,077 --> 00:30:28,789
I found myself eyeball to eyeball
with my first vision
491
00:30:28,873 --> 00:30:31,334
of the horror of war.
492
00:30:31,417 --> 00:30:33,502
One of our guys
was hit by a mortar charge
493
00:30:33,586 --> 00:30:35,212
and was blown apart,
494
00:30:35,296 --> 00:30:37,340
his head severed from his body.
495
00:30:37,423 --> 00:30:38,966
It landed near me.
496
00:30:40,509 --> 00:30:43,471
I had a close-up view of his shocked face,
497
00:30:43,554 --> 00:30:46,849
his bulging eyes
filled with fear and surprise.
498
00:30:47,975 --> 00:30:50,811
I'd seen a lot of corpses in city morgues,
499
00:30:50,895 --> 00:30:52,938
so I didn't turn away.
500
00:30:53,022 --> 00:30:56,650
I stared almost hypnotized
by the soldier's head,
501
00:30:56,734 --> 00:30:58,235
forgetting where I was.
502
00:30:59,528 --> 00:31:01,238
The shell bursts snapped me out of it.
503
00:31:01,322 --> 00:31:05,242
To this day that first face of death
is imprinted on my mind
504
00:31:05,326 --> 00:31:06,994
like a leaf in a fossil,
505
00:31:07,078 --> 00:31:08,954
never to fade away.
506
00:31:09,038 --> 00:31:13,000
The Big Red One continued to move
towards the Tunisian border--
507
00:31:13,084 --> 00:31:15,169
Ousseltia Valley.
508
00:31:15,252 --> 00:31:19,340
We'd become much tougher,
thanks to the battle experience.
509
00:31:20,549 --> 00:31:24,762
War itself is organized insanity.
510
00:31:25,471 --> 00:31:29,642
Both sides are trained to kill,
and everyone is a potential enemy.
511
00:31:30,518 --> 00:31:35,272
We were given rules of conduct, but --
[chuckles] the rules were hypocritical as hell.
512
00:31:35,356 --> 00:31:39,360
When you see an enemy pissing, it's still
your choice whether to shoot him or not.
513
00:31:41,821 --> 00:31:45,074
Civilized wars just don't exist.
514
00:31:46,867 --> 00:31:48,786
I began a journal in North Africa.
515
00:31:48,869 --> 00:31:52,957
If I survived, I was gonna write
about my war experience someday.
516
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:55,793
Ah, the journal wasn't much more
than a small calendar book
517
00:31:55,876 --> 00:31:59,380
full of quickly scribbled notes,
drawings, random thoughts,
518
00:31:59,463 --> 00:32:02,091
and ideas for characters and stories.
519
00:32:03,300 --> 00:32:05,636
I jotted down the names of dogfaces.
520
00:32:06,804 --> 00:32:10,266
Many died before I could
find out much about them.
521
00:32:10,349 --> 00:32:13,936
As often as I could, I wrote my mother
a letter on V-Mail stationery
522
00:32:14,019 --> 00:32:16,564
or any piece of paper that was handy.
523
00:32:16,647 --> 00:32:18,315
Mostly I sent her cartoons
524
00:32:18,399 --> 00:32:21,986
and wrote quips
about the lighter side of infantry life.
525
00:32:22,611 --> 00:32:26,073
I avoided talking about
anything violent or sad.
526
00:32:26,157 --> 00:32:30,494
Telling her where we were or describing
our actions too precisely was impossible.
527
00:32:31,787 --> 00:32:36,292
Survival was the one thought
that held dominion over everything else
528
00:32:36,375 --> 00:32:38,335
in a doggie's universe.
529
00:32:38,419 --> 00:32:42,173
In that vein, we worried
about simple, but basic things --
530
00:32:42,256 --> 00:32:44,967
dry socks, edible chow, fresh water,
531
00:32:45,050 --> 00:32:47,052
the runs.
532
00:32:47,136 --> 00:32:49,346
I never saw anyone praying to God,
533
00:32:49,430 --> 00:32:51,974
except in some Hollywood movies
after the war was over,
534
00:32:52,057 --> 00:32:56,020
imagined by screenwriters
who'd never been near a battlefield.
535
00:32:57,104 --> 00:33:00,357
See, there's no way
you can portray war realistically,
536
00:33:00,441 --> 00:33:02,776
not in a movie or a book.
537
00:33:02,860 --> 00:33:06,989
You can only capture
a very, very small aspect of it.
538
00:33:07,072 --> 00:33:09,617
If you really want to make
readers understand a battle --
539
00:33:09,700 --> 00:33:11,035
[chuckles]
540
00:33:11,118 --> 00:33:14,163
A few pages of your book
would have to be booby-trapped.
541
00:33:14,830 --> 00:33:17,708
For moviegoers
to get the idea of real combat,
542
00:33:17,791 --> 00:33:21,170
you'd have to shoot at them every so often
from either side of the screen.
543
00:33:21,253 --> 00:33:25,174
Casualties in the theater would be...
bad for business.
544
00:33:26,884 --> 00:33:29,178
I had to kill a man for the first time.
545
00:33:29,261 --> 00:33:32,181
The act begets the most basic revulsion.
546
00:33:33,599 --> 00:33:36,143
I couldn't believe it was me
pulling the trigger.
547
00:33:37,269 --> 00:33:39,730
Left me feeling hollow inside.
548
00:33:41,106 --> 00:33:43,776
But a soldier must overcome that disgust
549
00:33:43,859 --> 00:33:45,694
if he is to survive.
550
00:33:46,237 --> 00:33:48,781
- Afterward, when you kill --
- [gunshot]
551
00:33:48,864 --> 00:33:52,993
you're shooting the same man
over and over and over again.
552
00:33:55,329 --> 00:33:57,373
Your will to survive surprises you,
553
00:33:57,456 --> 00:34:01,502
eventually kicking abstract thoughts
like remorse or mercy out of your brain.
554
00:34:02,002 --> 00:34:03,587
The reality is,
555
00:34:03,671 --> 00:34:07,841
you're glad the other guy is dead
and you're still alive.
556
00:34:09,426 --> 00:34:10,761
You become...
557
00:34:11,637 --> 00:34:13,639
a killing machine."
558
00:34:23,399 --> 00:34:27,361
"In July of 1943 the entire First Division
was put out to sea.
559
00:34:27,444 --> 00:34:29,863
That's when we found out
our target was Sicily.
560
00:34:31,907 --> 00:34:35,869
The North African landing had been kindergarten
next to the invasion of Sicily.
561
00:34:35,953 --> 00:34:37,162
We were in Europe now.
562
00:34:37,246 --> 00:34:40,457
This was home turf to the Duce,
backed by Hitler.
563
00:34:40,541 --> 00:34:44,461
There were 300,000 Italian and German soldiers
occupying Sicily.
564
00:34:45,671 --> 00:34:48,549
Each battle was going to be fought
tooth and nail.
565
00:34:48,632 --> 00:34:50,801
We'd faced the enemy, but never this many.
566
00:34:50,884 --> 00:34:53,887
For cryin' out loud,
we were in their goddamn backyard.
567
00:34:56,599 --> 00:34:59,602
Psychology is an essential weapon
in wartime.
568
00:34:59,685 --> 00:35:02,313
That's why we had trouble
fighting against Italians.
569
00:35:02,396 --> 00:35:05,899
We didn't have the same venom for them
as we did for the Nazis.
570
00:35:06,567 --> 00:35:09,528
In every outfit there were Americans
of Italian descent.
571
00:35:09,612 --> 00:35:11,530
A few could even speak the language.
572
00:35:12,114 --> 00:35:14,033
We had one dogface from San Francisco
573
00:35:14,116 --> 00:35:17,161
who was intent on locating
his Sicilian grandmother
574
00:35:17,244 --> 00:35:19,371
near Caltanisetta.
575
00:35:19,455 --> 00:35:21,206
And for Christ sakes, he did.
576
00:35:30,049 --> 00:35:32,009
The Sicilians usually welcomed us.
577
00:35:32,092 --> 00:35:35,554
After an assault, when all the enemy soldiers
had been killed or driven away,
578
00:35:35,638 --> 00:35:38,432
the villagers --
mostly women, children and old men --
579
00:35:38,515 --> 00:35:41,685
would bring out the wine,
pasta, fruit, flowers.
580
00:35:42,269 --> 00:35:44,647
All the young men had been called
to fight for the fascists.
581
00:35:44,730 --> 00:35:46,190
Many were never coming back.
582
00:35:46,273 --> 00:35:48,484
It was hard to feel contempt for civilians,
583
00:35:48,609 --> 00:35:51,987
even though we knew they'd been saluting Mussolini
just a few days before our invasion.
584
00:35:52,071 --> 00:35:54,073
It was a question of survival.
585
00:35:59,119 --> 00:36:01,914
One day we passed a little farm
behind a stone wall.
586
00:36:01,997 --> 00:36:04,625
The entire family was outside the place --
587
00:36:04,708 --> 00:36:07,795
mama, grandma, grandpa, bambinos --
588
00:36:07,878 --> 00:36:11,590
chanting, 'Mussolini no good!
Mussolini no good!'
589
00:36:12,466 --> 00:36:15,594
We were paranoid,
suspicious of everyone and everything.
590
00:36:15,678 --> 00:36:18,597
So we stopped to check out the farm,
searching the house for weapons.
591
00:36:18,681 --> 00:36:20,307
There was nothing irregular.
592
00:36:20,391 --> 00:36:23,352
However, when we went through the barn
behind the farmhouse,
593
00:36:23,435 --> 00:36:26,939
we found a young woman, about 18,
hiding in one of the donkey stalls.
594
00:36:27,815 --> 00:36:31,777
She was small and shapely,
with a pretty face, dark eyes, and black hair.
595
00:36:31,860 --> 00:36:34,571
We dragged her outside,
kicking and screaming.
596
00:36:34,655 --> 00:36:38,325
One of our Italian-American dogfaces
told her she had nothing to fear.
597
00:36:38,409 --> 00:36:40,994
She started yelling profanities at him.
598
00:36:41,078 --> 00:36:43,247
'What's her problem?' I asked.
599
00:36:43,330 --> 00:36:46,917
The dogface explained that she wanted us
to kill every fascist in Sicily
600
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:48,794
and burn Mussolini alive.
601
00:36:49,545 --> 00:36:52,756
'I think it's all bullshit, '
said our bilingual doggie.
602
00:36:53,590 --> 00:36:57,386
The girl understood his drift
and exploded with more epithets of hate.
603
00:36:57,469 --> 00:37:00,013
Suddenly she stopped
and opened her blouse.
604
00:37:00,097 --> 00:37:04,017
Instead of a bra, she had soiled
medical bandages covering her breasts.
605
00:37:05,227 --> 00:37:08,439
'Was she hit in the chest?'
asked our sergeant.
606
00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:13,569
'No. She said a fascist raped her
and bit off her nipples. '
607
00:37:14,862 --> 00:37:17,322
All of us froze, sickened at her plight.
608
00:37:19,074 --> 00:37:21,452
'She's lying, 'said our translator.
609
00:37:21,535 --> 00:37:23,912
'Why don't you buy her story?'
610
00:37:24,621 --> 00:37:26,457
'I know about these ass-kissers.
611
00:37:26,540 --> 00:37:29,543
When Mussolini was riding high
they were crazy about the bastard.
612
00:37:29,626 --> 00:37:32,588
Now they figure he's licked,
everybody hates him.
613
00:37:32,671 --> 00:37:35,758
We're supposed to believe
that fascism never caught on in Sicily.
614
00:37:35,841 --> 00:37:37,551
The hell it didn't. '
615
00:37:38,427 --> 00:37:40,971
He ripped off one of her bandages.
The girl screamed.
616
00:37:41,054 --> 00:37:44,308
We stared at the teeth marks
on her mutilated breasts.
617
00:37:44,391 --> 00:37:47,561
In place of a nipple,
there was an ugly black-and-blue wound.
618
00:37:49,188 --> 00:37:51,190
We paled and stepped back from her.
619
00:37:51,899 --> 00:37:54,276
Our sergeant gently took the girl
back to her family
620
00:37:54,359 --> 00:37:56,862
and gave her fresh bandages
and antiseptics.
621
00:37:56,945 --> 00:37:58,614
We stood speechless.
622
00:37:59,615 --> 00:38:02,659
'Okay, ' growled the disbelieving,
shocked soldier.
623
00:38:02,743 --> 00:38:04,453
'So I was wrong. '
624
00:38:05,329 --> 00:38:08,332
Ashamed of himself,
he walked up to the girl in front of her family.
625
00:38:09,458 --> 00:38:13,754
'Signor, per favore, sono molto desolato.
626
00:38:13,837 --> 00:38:15,964
Molto, molto. "'
627
00:38:24,097 --> 00:38:27,351
"Our outfit boarded a British troop ship
one night in mid October
628
00:38:27,434 --> 00:38:29,269
and shipped out of Sicily.
629
00:38:30,270 --> 00:38:31,939
No one would tell us where we were going.
630
00:38:32,022 --> 00:38:34,149
The ship was taking us back to Britain,
631
00:38:34,233 --> 00:38:36,735
where we were to spend many months
in secret preparation
632
00:38:36,819 --> 00:38:38,862
for another amphibious assault.
633
00:38:39,571 --> 00:38:43,325
We didn't know it yet, but we had
an appointment on the beaches of Normandy
634
00:38:43,408 --> 00:38:46,537
on Tuesday, June 6, 1944.
635
00:38:48,205 --> 00:38:50,916
Real ammunition was being used
in the training sessions.
636
00:38:50,999 --> 00:38:53,085
That was another good reason to concentrate.
637
00:38:53,168 --> 00:38:56,088
Plenty of dogfaces
were wounded or killed in training.
638
00:38:56,171 --> 00:38:58,090
I always wondered
about their families back home.
639
00:38:58,173 --> 00:39:02,261
How would you react if they found out that
the killed-in-action telegram they received
640
00:39:02,344 --> 00:39:04,513
was only half true,
641
00:39:04,596 --> 00:39:07,140
that the bullet shrapnel was friendly fire?
642
00:39:07,724 --> 00:39:11,228
'You've been rehearsing hard
for this operation, 'said Colonel Taylor.
643
00:39:11,311 --> 00:39:12,604
'You know your jobs by heart.
644
00:39:12,688 --> 00:39:14,940
Intelligence tells us
that the people of Normandy
645
00:39:15,023 --> 00:39:17,359
have fraternized with the enemy.
646
00:39:17,442 --> 00:39:21,029
They did what anyone else would do
to survive four years of occupation.
647
00:39:21,113 --> 00:39:23,031
Now we will be the invaders.
648
00:39:23,115 --> 00:39:25,784
What they call liberation
is good for newspaper stories.
649
00:39:25,868 --> 00:39:28,203
We aren't liberating anything.
650
00:39:28,287 --> 00:39:29,913
We're turning things upside down.
651
00:39:29,997 --> 00:39:34,376
What you've gotta tell yourselves
is that Omaha is not just a beach.
652
00:39:34,459 --> 00:39:38,630
If you threw a light on it, that light
would shine all the way into Germany.
653
00:39:38,714 --> 00:39:40,799
It's our doorway to the enemy.
654
00:39:40,883 --> 00:39:43,802
The Nazis have had it their way
for a long time.
655
00:39:43,886 --> 00:39:46,597
You have to kill them
like they've never been killed before. '
656
00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:51,643
We'd fantasized that the first or second
attack waves would be the most dangerous.
657
00:39:51,727 --> 00:39:53,270
We'd even joked about it.
658
00:39:53,353 --> 00:39:54,897
But the joke was on us.
659
00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:59,568
The first and second waves had hit the beach
with at least an element of surprise on their side.
660
00:39:59,651 --> 00:40:02,696
By the time we were coming in,
the Germans were alerted to the invasion
661
00:40:02,779 --> 00:40:04,781
and had time to adjust their artillery.
662
00:40:13,790 --> 00:40:17,836
I swallowed a ton of saltwater
mixed with American blood
663
00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:19,963
and struggled like crazy not to drown
664
00:40:20,047 --> 00:40:22,257
while making our way
through those metal death traps
665
00:40:22,341 --> 00:40:24,509
and around all those floating bodies.
666
00:40:24,593 --> 00:40:26,720
Mortar shells started to fall like hail.
667
00:40:26,803 --> 00:40:31,016
It was 200 yards from the landing craft
to Omaha Beach,
668
00:40:31,099 --> 00:40:33,352
the longest distance I'd ever traveled.
669
00:40:33,435 --> 00:40:37,022
Being vertical on Omaha
was an invitation to death.
670
00:40:37,105 --> 00:40:38,482
God, how I ran.
671
00:40:39,274 --> 00:40:42,235
In all my years as a copyboy,
my legs never moved that fast.
672
00:40:42,319 --> 00:40:44,905
The dead and the wounded lay everywhere,
673
00:40:44,988 --> 00:40:47,074
body parts strewn across the sand.
674
00:40:47,157 --> 00:40:49,576
I saw a man's mouth --
675
00:40:49,660 --> 00:40:51,787
just the mouth, for Christ's sakes --
676
00:40:51,870 --> 00:40:53,580
floating in the water.
677
00:40:54,247 --> 00:40:57,834
I got hit by a bullet in my chest
as we fought our way towards Saint-Lô.
678
00:40:59,086 --> 00:41:00,712
Everyone got hurt one way or another.
679
00:41:00,796 --> 00:41:05,217
You pretended that your wound was
nothing more than a little hole in your body.
680
00:41:05,300 --> 00:41:10,222
If you were as lucky as I was,
the bullet missed the vital organs,
681
00:41:10,305 --> 00:41:11,807
and you survived.
682
00:41:12,724 --> 00:41:16,186
Advancing towards Mons,
we moved cautiously into Belgium
683
00:41:16,269 --> 00:41:19,272
through the countryside on September 3.
684
00:41:19,356 --> 00:41:22,234
I really didn't know about
the Belgian border crossing until that night
685
00:41:22,317 --> 00:41:24,903
because there were no markers
in the forest.
686
00:41:24,987 --> 00:41:28,365
In Mons we mopped up
small enclaves of enemy troops
687
00:41:28,448 --> 00:41:30,242
and continued moving east.
688
00:41:30,867 --> 00:41:34,413
On one of the supply trucks from France
was a care package from my mother
689
00:41:34,496 --> 00:41:36,790
with a fresh supply of cigars --
690
00:41:36,873 --> 00:41:39,751
manna from heaven
in that inhospitable place.
691
00:41:39,835 --> 00:41:43,171
She wrote me that The Dark Page
had won some award
692
00:41:43,255 --> 00:41:46,800
as the best psychological novel of 1943.
693
00:41:46,883 --> 00:41:49,928
She included a letter from my agent,
Charlie Feldman,
694
00:41:50,012 --> 00:41:53,515
who was talking with Howard Hawks
about buying the book's movie rights.
695
00:41:54,266 --> 00:41:56,268
Looking around our camp,
I couldn't help smiling.
696
00:41:56,351 --> 00:42:00,313
It didn't seem possible that Hollywood
could be on the same planet,
697
00:42:00,397 --> 00:42:05,652
much less in the same goddamn galaxy
as that rain-soaked Belgian forest.
698
00:42:06,695 --> 00:42:09,656
The news from the West Coast
made me feel lucky.
699
00:42:10,657 --> 00:42:13,618
I'd been through three amphibious assaults
700
00:42:13,702 --> 00:42:15,620
and somehow survived.
701
00:42:15,704 --> 00:42:17,664
The war had to end someday.
702
00:42:17,748 --> 00:42:21,710
Maybe my luck would continue
and I'd survive to write more books.
703
00:42:22,461 --> 00:42:27,215
Especially one from the point of view
of a lowly infantryman."
704
00:42:29,676 --> 00:42:33,055
Ah, be smart.
There's nothing like the infantry.
705
00:42:33,138 --> 00:42:35,307
You're in a plane, and you get hit.
706
00:42:35,390 --> 00:42:37,893
What happens? You still gotta fall.
707
00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:40,645
Two strikes against you.
708
00:42:40,729 --> 00:42:44,524
You're in a ship, you get hit,
you can still -- you can still drown.
709
00:42:45,734 --> 00:42:48,820
In a tank, you can fry like an egg.
710
00:42:48,904 --> 00:42:50,989
But in the infantry,
you get hit and that's it.
711
00:42:51,073 --> 00:42:53,075
One thing or the other --
you're dead or alive.
712
00:42:53,158 --> 00:42:55,285
But you're on the ground.
713
00:42:55,368 --> 00:42:58,955
Get wise. Nothing like the infantry.
714
00:43:00,707 --> 00:43:04,169
"Pushing through the breach
in the Siegfried Line,
715
00:43:04,252 --> 00:43:07,756
the stage was set
for the final assault on Aachen,
716
00:43:07,839 --> 00:43:09,841
the first German city we'd attack.
717
00:43:10,967 --> 00:43:13,261
Aachen was in a rich valley,
718
00:43:13,345 --> 00:43:16,807
surrounded by wood-covered ridges
that bristled with enemy mortars,
719
00:43:16,890 --> 00:43:19,518
artillery, snipers, and machine guns.
720
00:43:21,186 --> 00:43:24,940
The plan was to surround the city
in preparation for a coordinated invasion.
721
00:43:25,899 --> 00:43:28,693
So the nearby towns had to be taken.
722
00:43:30,070 --> 00:43:32,656
One by one, they fell.
723
00:43:32,739 --> 00:43:36,243
But in each one,
we ran into heavy resistance.
724
00:43:36,326 --> 00:43:39,496
Our next objective
was the Ruhr River crossing
725
00:43:39,579 --> 00:43:41,581
east of Aachen.
726
00:43:41,665 --> 00:43:44,167
We began a nonstop marathon
that was not to end
727
00:43:44,251 --> 00:43:46,461
until the Rhine had been reached.
728
00:43:48,839 --> 00:43:50,841
Miraculously,
729
00:43:50,924 --> 00:43:53,635
our outfit was invited
one cold and rainy night
730
00:43:53,718 --> 00:43:56,763
for a USO show that was in the area.
731
00:43:57,889 --> 00:44:02,310
Exhausted, dark faces suddenly forgot
all about weather and weariness
732
00:44:02,394 --> 00:44:06,314
because the mistress of ceremony
that night
733
00:44:06,398 --> 00:44:08,984
was the one-and-only Marlene Dietrich.
734
00:44:09,067 --> 00:44:12,904
When the show was over,
I ran around to the stage door entrance.
735
00:44:12,988 --> 00:44:14,781
An MP stopped me.
736
00:44:14,865 --> 00:44:16,950
Backstage was off-limits.
737
00:44:17,033 --> 00:44:21,329
I told him I had to speak with Miss Dietrich
about a professional matter.
738
00:44:22,455 --> 00:44:25,917
'Forget it, ' the MP snarled.
'Get back to your outfit.'
739
00:44:27,460 --> 00:44:29,713
He wasn't getting rid of me so easily.
740
00:44:29,796 --> 00:44:33,008
I rushed over and stuck my head
in the half-open door.
741
00:44:33,091 --> 00:44:35,677
'It'll only take a minute, Miss Dietrich.'
742
00:44:35,760 --> 00:44:37,262
[chuckles]
743
00:44:38,513 --> 00:44:40,724
Surprised but cordial,
744
00:44:40,807 --> 00:44:44,352
she invited me
into a cold, damp dressing room.
745
00:44:45,312 --> 00:44:49,107
The only light came from a bare lightbulb
dangling from the high ceiling.
746
00:44:50,817 --> 00:44:53,153
I apologized about my appearance.
747
00:44:53,904 --> 00:44:54,905
I looked like hell.
748
00:44:54,988 --> 00:44:56,740
I was unshaven.
749
00:44:56,823 --> 00:45:00,160
My uniform was filthy.
My boots were muddy.
750
00:45:00,243 --> 00:45:01,953
I must have stunk too.
751
00:45:02,037 --> 00:45:04,539
But Dietrich didn't seem to mind at all.
752
00:45:04,623 --> 00:45:07,792
She'd probably seen worse
on her tour of frontline troops.
753
00:45:08,585 --> 00:45:10,921
'Miss Dietrich, ' I told her,
754
00:45:11,004 --> 00:45:14,507
'I'd like you to take a message from me
back home.'
755
00:45:14,591 --> 00:45:16,218
'Impossible, ' she said.
756
00:45:17,344 --> 00:45:20,722
She explained that she'd met many soldiers
who wanted her to phone their mothers
757
00:45:20,805 --> 00:45:22,474
and their girlfriends.
758
00:45:22,557 --> 00:45:25,727
But she just couldn't do it,
and she told everyone the same thing.
759
00:45:25,810 --> 00:45:27,646
It was really impossible.
760
00:45:28,396 --> 00:45:31,024
I said I didn't want her to phone my mother.
761
00:45:31,107 --> 00:45:36,738
I wanted her to deliver a one-word message
to Charlie Feldman in Hollywood.
762
00:45:36,821 --> 00:45:41,660
'Charles K. Feldman?'
she asked, suddenly intrigued.
763
00:45:41,743 --> 00:45:43,578
'My agent? You know him?'
764
00:45:46,081 --> 00:45:48,667
'Yes, Miss Dietrich, ' I said.
765
00:45:48,750 --> 00:45:51,169
'He's my agent too.'
766
00:45:51,253 --> 00:45:53,338
She stopped dead and gazed at me.
767
00:45:53,421 --> 00:45:55,507
'He's your agent too?'
768
00:45:55,590 --> 00:45:57,092
'Yeah, he is.
769
00:45:57,175 --> 00:46:00,262
He sold my book to Howard Hawks.
770
00:46:00,345 --> 00:46:02,555
A novel called The Dark Page.
771
00:46:02,639 --> 00:46:04,933
The message for Charlie is easy,
Miss Dietrich.
772
00:46:05,016 --> 00:46:07,435
One word -- cigars.
773
00:46:08,895 --> 00:46:13,108
Just say cigars to Charlie
when you get back to Hollywood, okay?'
774
00:46:13,984 --> 00:46:17,529
She laughed
and poured us both a good brandy.
775
00:46:18,321 --> 00:46:20,323
'What's your name, soldier?'
776
00:46:21,157 --> 00:46:23,702
'Fuller. Samuel Fuller.'
777
00:46:24,828 --> 00:46:27,289
She asked me to write it down.
I refused.
778
00:46:27,372 --> 00:46:29,666
'My name's not necessary, ' I told her.
779
00:46:29,749 --> 00:46:32,502
'Just say cigars to Charlie.
780
00:46:32,585 --> 00:46:35,171
He'll know what it is. '
781
00:46:35,255 --> 00:46:38,341
'Okay, soldier, ' she said,
clinking glasses with me.
782
00:46:39,259 --> 00:46:44,431
A box of good cigars arrived by APO
from Charlie Feldman that spring.
783
00:46:45,348 --> 00:46:48,560
Dietrich had damn sure
delivered my message.
784
00:46:55,859 --> 00:47:00,113
In '53, I'd run into Marlene Dietrich
once again
785
00:47:00,196 --> 00:47:02,032
under very different conditions.
786
00:47:02,115 --> 00:47:04,993
I was in New York at a nightclub.
787
00:47:05,076 --> 00:47:09,456
At a table across the big room
was the legendary producer Sam Spiegel.
788
00:47:09,539 --> 00:47:11,041
He waved at me.
789
00:47:11,124 --> 00:47:12,959
I went over to say hello.
790
00:47:13,043 --> 00:47:15,462
Sitting next to Spiegel was Dietrich.
791
00:47:16,379 --> 00:47:18,131
He introduced us.
792
00:47:18,214 --> 00:47:20,508
I told her we'd already met.
793
00:47:20,592 --> 00:47:23,178
She was very polite,
but she shook her head,
794
00:47:23,261 --> 00:47:26,681
not remembering me
or where we'd run into each other.
795
00:47:27,599 --> 00:47:29,976
'Too bad, ' I said. 'That's life.'
796
00:47:32,354 --> 00:47:35,482
I turned and started back to my table.
797
00:47:35,565 --> 00:47:40,195
All of a sudden,
Marlene Dietrich was right behind me.
798
00:47:41,029 --> 00:47:45,033
'Hey, soldier, ' she said,
her eyes twinkling.
799
00:47:45,116 --> 00:47:47,410
I turned and grinned at her.
800
00:47:47,494 --> 00:47:49,871
She put her arms around me.
801
00:47:49,954 --> 00:47:52,874
Tears were running down her cheeks.
802
00:47:52,957 --> 00:47:57,629
She'd heard so many stories
about all the men killed in our outfit,
803
00:47:57,712 --> 00:48:01,049
yet here I was, alive.
804
00:48:02,509 --> 00:48:04,928
She was genuinely pleased to see me again.
805
00:48:05,011 --> 00:48:07,430
- [men cheering]
- Hello, boys.
806
00:48:07,514 --> 00:48:10,934
She'd given over 500 shows
for GI's during the war,
807
00:48:11,017 --> 00:48:14,145
but there was only one little corporal
808
00:48:14,229 --> 00:48:18,108
trying to squeeze some cigars
out of Charlie Feldman
809
00:48:18,191 --> 00:48:19,818
back in Hollywood."
810
00:48:22,028 --> 00:48:23,530
[chuckles]
811
00:48:26,116 --> 00:48:29,411
"By the end of April, 1945,
812
00:48:29,494 --> 00:48:33,790
we'd advanced all the way into
the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
813
00:48:33,873 --> 00:48:36,501
Six years earlier, in 1939,
814
00:48:36,584 --> 00:48:42,549
Hitler had first shown his true colors
as an empire-building, nation-crushing tyrant.
815
00:48:42,632 --> 00:48:45,427
Nobody discouraged Nazi aggression
at the time.
816
00:48:45,510 --> 00:48:48,263
Now the war to stop Hitler
had come full circle,
817
00:48:48,346 --> 00:48:49,931
back to its birthplace.
818
00:48:50,014 --> 00:48:53,518
The cease-fire of May 7 was universal.
819
00:48:53,601 --> 00:48:55,854
We moved into Falkenau that night
820
00:48:55,937 --> 00:48:58,481
and were slapped in the face,
first by hordes of Germans
821
00:48:58,565 --> 00:49:00,525
streaming into town from Karlsbad,
822
00:49:00,608 --> 00:49:03,945
fleeing the Russians
in order to surrender to the Americans.
823
00:49:04,028 --> 00:49:08,575
More than 45,000 POWs moved
through Falkenau in the next three days,
824
00:49:08,658 --> 00:49:12,537
creating the monumental job
of handling all those people.
825
00:49:12,620 --> 00:49:14,914
The most profound shock awaited us
826
00:49:14,998 --> 00:49:19,836
as we entered the front gate
of the Falkenau concentration camp
827
00:49:19,919 --> 00:49:22,547
only a few thousand yards from the town.
828
00:49:22,630 --> 00:49:27,051
There were a few die-hard SS at the camp
who didn't know the war was over.
829
00:49:27,135 --> 00:49:30,972
They fired at us and tried to make
a break for it in the command car.
830
00:49:31,055 --> 00:49:33,433
One of our doggies hit the car
with a bazooka,
831
00:49:33,516 --> 00:49:37,604
ending their escape
in a flaming mushroom of fire and smoke.
832
00:49:37,687 --> 00:49:41,274
We ran down the remaining Nazis
and disarmed them.
833
00:49:41,357 --> 00:49:44,652
What had been happening
in that concentration camp
834
00:49:44,736 --> 00:49:46,321
was beyond belief,
835
00:49:46,404 --> 00:49:48,656
beyond our darkest nightmares.
836
00:49:48,740 --> 00:49:52,577
We were overwhelmed to come face-to-face
with all the carnage.
837
00:49:52,660 --> 00:49:58,124
I still tremble to remember those images.
of the living hunkered down with the dead.
838
00:49:58,208 --> 00:50:01,544
The stench of rotting bodies
welled up in your face
839
00:50:01,628 --> 00:50:03,755
and made you want to stop breathing.
840
00:50:08,092 --> 00:50:10,970
One final vision of horror awaited us.
841
00:50:11,054 --> 00:50:13,223
The crematorium.
842
00:50:13,306 --> 00:50:15,016
When we burst into that building,
843
00:50:15,099 --> 00:50:17,810
smoke from the grenades
we'd thrown through the windows
844
00:50:17,894 --> 00:50:19,771
filled the room.
845
00:50:19,854 --> 00:50:21,606
Silent now,
846
00:50:21,689 --> 00:50:24,776
the row of steel doors to the ovens
stretched in front of us.
847
00:50:25,527 --> 00:50:28,655
I stared at the ovens
and then looked into the first one.
848
00:50:28,738 --> 00:50:31,658
When I saw the remains
of the cremated bodies in there,
849
00:50:31,741 --> 00:50:34,244
I couldn't control my revulsion.
850
00:50:34,327 --> 00:50:37,539
I vomited and wanted out of there
at any cost.
851
00:50:37,622 --> 00:50:40,500
But I couldn't stop myself
from looking into the second oven,
852
00:50:40,583 --> 00:50:41,876
then the third,
853
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:44,420
mesmerized by the impossible.
854
00:50:44,504 --> 00:50:48,716
For Christ sakes, people had actually
been cooked in those ovens.
855
00:50:48,800 --> 00:50:53,137
The incontrovertible proof
lay right in front of my own eyes.
856
00:50:55,098 --> 00:50:58,059
Captain Richmond ordered
a delegation of townspeople
857
00:50:58,142 --> 00:51:01,104
to appear at the gates of the camp
the next morning
858
00:51:01,187 --> 00:51:03,439
to face a firing squad.
859
00:51:03,523 --> 00:51:06,609
Richmond was going to make sure
that these people found out
860
00:51:06,693 --> 00:51:09,654
what had been happening
only a few steps from their front doors.
861
00:51:10,530 --> 00:51:12,365
Richmond knew my mother had sent me
862
00:51:12,448 --> 00:51:15,952
a handheld Bell and Howell
16-millimeter movie camera.
863
00:51:16,035 --> 00:51:19,122
The captain wanted me
to position myself the next day
864
00:51:19,205 --> 00:51:22,375
on a wall overlooking
the concentration camp
865
00:51:22,458 --> 00:51:24,877
to film the gruesome spectacle.
866
00:51:24,961 --> 00:51:27,672
I was about to make my first movie.
867
00:51:53,865 --> 00:51:57,285
The ending of all hostilities
was a quiet shock.
868
00:51:57,368 --> 00:52:00,830
I couldn't believe I didn't have to sleep
with my hand on my rifle anymore,
869
00:52:00,913 --> 00:52:04,000
that every noise wasn't the start
of an enemy attack,
870
00:52:04,083 --> 00:52:06,085
that I could light a cigar at night
871
00:52:06,169 --> 00:52:10,089
without worrying about a sniper
putting a bullet through my brain.
872
00:52:10,173 --> 00:52:12,008
We'd be going home soon.
873
00:52:12,091 --> 00:52:15,011
Rejoining civilization
was all we'd ever been talking about,
874
00:52:15,094 --> 00:52:17,221
joking about, dreaming about.
875
00:52:17,305 --> 00:52:19,641
But reentry was scary too.
876
00:52:19,724 --> 00:52:23,269
How could we tell the world
about what we'd experienced,
877
00:52:23,353 --> 00:52:25,271
about what we'd witnessed?
878
00:52:25,355 --> 00:52:27,440
How could we live with ourselves?
879
00:53:11,442 --> 00:53:13,611
I have few regrets about my life,
880
00:53:13,695 --> 00:53:16,572
but one of them concerns
the Nuremberg Trials.
881
00:53:16,656 --> 00:53:20,660
Behind each Nazi prisoner at Nuremberg
was a guard.
882
00:53:20,743 --> 00:53:24,497
Those guards were soldiers
from my outfit, the Big Red One.
883
00:53:24,580 --> 00:53:27,291
The military was screening candidates
for that assignment,
884
00:53:27,375 --> 00:53:30,670
and I went off to Paris
to visit my brother Ray.
885
00:53:30,753 --> 00:53:33,548
I'd already promised him
that I'd meet him in Paris,
886
00:53:33,631 --> 00:53:36,175
and there was no way in hell
I'd let him down.
887
00:53:36,259 --> 00:53:38,469
But what a missed opportunity.
888
00:53:38,553 --> 00:53:42,765
I could have watched
the Nuremberg Trials in person."
889
00:53:55,153 --> 00:53:58,906
"Our troop ship finally sailed from Marseilles,
890
00:53:58,990 --> 00:54:02,785
docking in Boston in late September, 1945.
891
00:54:02,869 --> 00:54:07,957
I took a train to New York to see my mother
for the first time in four years.
892
00:54:08,040 --> 00:54:11,627
Though it was good beyond words
to put my arms around her again,
893
00:54:11,711 --> 00:54:14,130
it became quickly evident
that my homecoming
894
00:54:14,213 --> 00:54:17,925
was burdensome for me
and everyone around me.
895
00:54:18,009 --> 00:54:20,386
I spent a hell
of a lot of time in bed,
896
00:54:20,470 --> 00:54:22,597
but couldn't sleep
for long stretches.
897
00:54:22,680 --> 00:54:25,057
Horrible nightmares kept rattling my head.
898
00:54:25,141 --> 00:54:29,353
Everyday sounds made me jump
and shake uncontrollably.
899
00:54:29,437 --> 00:54:33,566
I was a textbook case of war hysteria."
900
00:54:33,649 --> 00:54:35,401
Right after the war,
I nearly fell apart
901
00:54:35,485 --> 00:54:37,570
every time I heard
a cup rattle a dish.
902
00:54:37,653 --> 00:54:40,698
"I needed to somehow
start earning a living again.
903
00:54:45,745 --> 00:54:50,583
By the end of the ' 40s, I decided that I
could direct my yarns as well as anybody else.
904
00:54:50,666 --> 00:54:52,043
Maybe even better.
905
00:54:52,126 --> 00:54:55,046
Sure, I was still happy
working behind a typewriter,
906
00:54:55,129 --> 00:54:57,548
but now I started looking
for an opportunity
907
00:54:57,632 --> 00:54:59,300
to direct a picture of my own,
908
00:55:00,092 --> 00:55:03,638
using a motion picture camera
to tell the tale.
909
00:55:04,722 --> 00:55:08,059
All I needed was a producer
who'd put his faith in me,
910
00:55:08,142 --> 00:55:09,769
and just when I needed him,
911
00:55:09,852 --> 00:55:12,897
Robert L. Lippert showed up in my life.
912
00:55:12,980 --> 00:55:17,693
In 1949, I made I Shot Jesse James for him.
913
00:55:17,777 --> 00:55:20,404
And we closed the deal on a handshake
914
00:55:20,488 --> 00:55:22,198
because he liked my yarn.
915
00:55:22,990 --> 00:55:25,868
When the movie unexpectedly
made some dough for Lippert,
916
00:55:25,952 --> 00:55:29,455
he shared the profits with me
exactly as we'd agreed.
917
00:55:29,539 --> 00:55:32,375
And we went on
to make several pictures together.
918
00:55:38,089 --> 00:55:41,092
Now the offers came streaming in
from the majors.
919
00:55:41,175 --> 00:55:43,553
I met with all the studio heads.
920
00:55:43,636 --> 00:55:47,723
When I first met Darryl Zanuck,
he was already a mogul.
921
00:55:47,807 --> 00:55:50,893
The only mogul who didn't talk about money.
922
00:55:50,977 --> 00:55:55,106
'What story you want to make next, Sammy?'
he asked me.
923
00:55:55,189 --> 00:55:58,526
Holy smokes, that was a question
I'd been waiting to hear.
924
00:55:58,609 --> 00:56:03,197
More than any other studio head,
Darryl loved stories.
925
00:56:03,281 --> 00:56:06,951
That made me love the guy
from the first moment I met him.
926
00:56:07,034 --> 00:56:08,953
Darryl would act out scenes with me.
927
00:56:09,036 --> 00:56:12,665
He'd even get on the floor
when there was a body in the script.
928
00:56:12,748 --> 00:56:14,959
If he said, 'Okay, let's do it, '
929
00:56:15,042 --> 00:56:17,211
your picture was in production.
930
00:56:17,295 --> 00:56:19,589
My deal with Darryl was for six pictures.
931
00:56:19,672 --> 00:56:21,674
Half a year, I'd work for Fox.
932
00:56:21,757 --> 00:56:24,343
The other half, I could do anything I wanted.
933
00:56:24,427 --> 00:56:28,848
A new period of creativity and accomplishment
was dawning.
934
00:56:34,312 --> 00:56:37,648
Throughout the '50s,
I got offers to direct big movies,
935
00:56:37,732 --> 00:56:41,235
adapted from best-selling books
with major stars attached.
936
00:56:41,319 --> 00:56:43,154
One after another I turned them down
937
00:56:43,237 --> 00:56:46,240
for a variety of personal
and professional reasons.
938
00:56:46,324 --> 00:56:49,577
In general, making less expensive movies
939
00:56:49,660 --> 00:56:52,538
meant maintaining my independence,
940
00:56:52,622 --> 00:56:55,166
avoiding the studios
tampering with my scripts,
941
00:56:55,249 --> 00:56:57,710
imposing their casting and editing choices."
942
00:57:06,302 --> 00:57:09,513
[announcer] Gene Evans
as America's great fighting editor
943
00:57:09,597 --> 00:57:12,767
in the first terrific struggle
for the most famous street in the world,
944
00:57:12,850 --> 00:57:14,477
Park Row.
945
00:57:21,525 --> 00:57:23,527
"Maybe it was a fatal career flaw,
946
00:57:23,611 --> 00:57:27,156
but small-budget independence
was more appealing to me
947
00:57:27,239 --> 00:57:30,368
than all the thunder of major productions.
948
00:57:30,451 --> 00:57:34,622
In Hollywood,
the artistic climate was appalling.
949
00:57:34,705 --> 00:57:37,667
Studios were factories
grinding out safe movies
950
00:57:37,750 --> 00:57:39,585
like bland sausages,
951
00:57:39,669 --> 00:57:42,713
anxious to please right-wing review boards,
952
00:57:42,797 --> 00:57:46,926
scrutinizing all material
for suspicious ideas."
953
00:57:47,677 --> 00:57:49,720
But you wouldn't
sell him to a Commie.
954
00:57:50,972 --> 00:57:53,641
What do you think I am, an informer?
955
00:57:53,724 --> 00:57:59,355
"In 1950, the McCarran Act
led straight to Hollywood's front door
956
00:57:59,438 --> 00:58:03,818
because the infamous Senator
Joseph Raymond McCarthy of Wisconsin
957
00:58:03,901 --> 00:58:06,696
exploited it to uncover
958
00:58:06,779 --> 00:58:09,657
Communist influence in the arts."
959
00:58:09,740 --> 00:58:11,909
What's the matter with you?
960
00:58:11,993 --> 00:58:14,245
Playing footsies with the Commies.
961
00:58:14,328 --> 00:58:16,956
[scoffs] You wavin' the flag too?
962
00:58:17,623 --> 00:58:21,002
"The FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover,
963
00:58:21,085 --> 00:58:24,547
was very perturbed
about Pickup on South Street
964
00:58:24,630 --> 00:58:26,799
and wanted to see Zanuck and me about it.
965
00:58:26,882 --> 00:58:29,969
A lunch meeting was set up at Romanoff's.
966
00:58:30,052 --> 00:58:34,682
The FBI chief told me he didn't care
for The Steel Helmet or Fixed Bayonets,
967
00:58:34,765 --> 00:58:38,686
but that Pickup on South Street
had gone much too far.
968
00:58:38,769 --> 00:58:41,939
First of all, he didn't like the hero
doing business
969
00:58:42,023 --> 00:58:44,608
with both Communists and Americans.
970
00:58:45,735 --> 00:58:50,489
'How could an American think only about money
at a time like this in our history?'
971
00:58:50,573 --> 00:58:52,116
Hoover asked.
972
00:58:52,199 --> 00:58:54,577
'He doesn't give a damn about history, '
I explained.
973
00:58:54,660 --> 00:58:58,956
'He's an outlaw.
The guy's only motivation is to score. '
974
00:58:59,040 --> 00:59:01,125
What Hoover hated the most was the scene
975
00:59:01,208 --> 00:59:05,463
when the FBI agent
asks the pickpocket to cooperate."
976
00:59:05,546 --> 00:59:07,631
If you refuse to cooperate,
you'll be as guilty
977
00:59:07,715 --> 00:59:10,009
as the traitors that gave Stalin
the A-bomb.
978
00:59:11,302 --> 00:59:12,678
Are you waving a flag at me?
979
00:59:12,762 --> 00:59:15,848
"Said Hoover, quoting from the script.
980
00:59:15,931 --> 00:59:18,851
'What kind of thing is that
for an American to say?'
981
00:59:18,934 --> 00:59:21,520
'That's his character, ' I replied.
982
00:59:21,604 --> 00:59:23,606
'If it were another character, ' I explained,
983
00:59:23,689 --> 00:59:27,234
'he might say, By God,
I'd do anything for my country.'
984
00:59:27,318 --> 00:59:31,322
Hoover was like some of the biased critics
I've run into over the years.
985
00:59:31,405 --> 00:59:34,950
They look at everything exclusively
from their own perspective.
986
00:59:35,034 --> 00:59:37,661
If a movie is in line with their position,
it's good.
987
00:59:37,745 --> 00:59:40,081
If it's out of line, it's bad.
988
00:59:40,164 --> 00:59:43,709
Hell, a writer has to write
from a character's viewpoint.
989
00:59:43,793 --> 00:59:49,799
I explained to Hoover that if I write
believable dialogue for an unpatriotic character,
990
00:59:49,882 --> 00:59:52,093
it doesn't make me un-American.
991
00:59:52,176 --> 00:59:55,096
It's not me talking. It's my character.
992
00:59:55,179 --> 00:59:58,599
The power that Hoover wielded back then
was incredible.
993
00:59:58,682 --> 01:00:03,604
The truth about the formidable FBI chief
wouldn't be known until many years later.
994
01:00:03,687 --> 01:00:07,525
And there he was,
questioning my integrity and honesty,
995
01:00:07,608 --> 01:00:11,821
while he was blackmailing people
to keep himself in power."
996
01:00:14,281 --> 01:00:17,910
[Constance Towers]
"My tale is full of human foible
997
01:00:17,993 --> 01:00:20,037
and confusion.
998
01:00:20,121 --> 01:00:22,039
With many pictures under my belt,
999
01:00:22,123 --> 01:00:25,835
now established
as a writer-director in Hollywood,
1000
01:00:25,918 --> 01:00:29,046
I should have been sleeping peacefully
under those silk sheets
1001
01:00:29,130 --> 01:00:31,423
in my big house in Beverly Hills.
1002
01:00:31,507 --> 01:00:34,343
Nothing could have been further
from the truth.
1003
01:00:34,426 --> 01:00:38,430
I tossed and turned all night long,
1004
01:00:38,514 --> 01:00:41,308
wracked by horrific nightmares.
1005
01:00:41,392 --> 01:00:44,395
Music was my immediate remedy.
1006
01:00:44,478 --> 01:00:47,940
I got up, went downstairs,
1007
01:00:48,023 --> 01:00:50,568
and immersed myself in Beethoven,
1008
01:00:50,651 --> 01:00:52,653
Bach, or Mozart.
1009
01:00:53,904 --> 01:00:58,492
See, music is an essential part
1010
01:00:58,576 --> 01:01:00,327
of every picture I make."
1011
01:01:00,911 --> 01:01:03,873
[Beethoven's Fifth Symphony playing]
1012
01:01:09,253 --> 01:01:11,714
"Before photographs and movies,
1013
01:01:11,797 --> 01:01:16,010
people were listening to music
and getting strong emotional messages.
1014
01:01:16,093 --> 01:01:18,345
When I write,
1015
01:01:18,429 --> 01:01:22,766
I visualize what I want to happen
on the screen
1016
01:01:22,850 --> 01:01:25,227
and imagine the accompanying music.
1017
01:01:26,187 --> 01:01:29,773
I can actually see the action
and dialogue better
1018
01:01:29,857 --> 01:01:31,859
by adding music early in the script."
1019
01:01:31,942 --> 01:01:35,613
[Beethoven's Fifth Symphony
continues playing]
1020
01:01:38,699 --> 01:01:40,534
[gunfire]
1021
01:01:51,670 --> 01:01:53,672
"There is no end in art.
1022
01:01:55,174 --> 01:01:58,135
Every accomplishment
1023
01:01:58,219 --> 01:02:00,930
is the dawn of the next challenge.
1024
01:02:07,728 --> 01:02:10,105
Seize your audience by the balls
1025
01:02:10,189 --> 01:02:12,483
as soon as the credits hit the screen
1026
01:02:12,566 --> 01:02:13,984
and hang onto them.
1027
01:02:14,068 --> 01:02:17,613
Smack people right in the face
with the passion of your story.
1028
01:02:17,696 --> 01:02:20,574
Make the public love your characters
or hate them,
1029
01:02:20,658 --> 01:02:23,410
but for God's sakes, never--
1030
01:02:23,494 --> 01:02:26,330
Never leave them indifferent.
1031
01:02:27,248 --> 01:02:30,251
Maybe you do a picture
to exorcise old demons.
1032
01:02:31,377 --> 01:02:34,964
Then your yarn makes you start
grinding your teeth all over again,
1033
01:02:35,047 --> 01:02:38,425
tormented by images that you've concocted.
1034
01:02:38,509 --> 01:02:40,010
I was lucky.
1035
01:02:40,094 --> 01:02:42,471
At critical moments in my life,
1036
01:02:42,554 --> 01:02:46,809
role models like Terry Allen and John Ford
1037
01:02:46,892 --> 01:02:50,312
took me under their wings
and kept me from derailing,
1038
01:02:50,396 --> 01:02:52,439
showing me how to be a mensch.
1039
01:02:53,148 --> 01:02:54,692
I was afflicted early on
1040
01:02:54,775 --> 01:02:57,569
by an irresistible longing to roam.
1041
01:02:57,653 --> 01:03:02,491
Even today, no matter how luxurious
or cozy the roof over my head,
1042
01:03:02,574 --> 01:03:05,828
I'd leave it behind in a flash
for the chance to travel
1043
01:03:05,911 --> 01:03:08,289
to some exotic locale,
1044
01:03:09,498 --> 01:03:11,333
especially to make a movie.
1045
01:03:31,770 --> 01:03:35,774
Hell, I guess I'm really
a goddamn tramp at heart.
1046
01:03:37,109 --> 01:03:41,196
Packing up my cigars and my Royal,
I was on my way.
1047
01:03:41,280 --> 01:03:44,116
It was late September, 1965,
1048
01:03:44,199 --> 01:03:46,577
when I arrived in Paris."
1049
01:03:46,660 --> 01:03:49,663
I'm an American film director.
My name is Samuel Fuller.
1050
01:03:49,747 --> 01:03:53,500
I'm here to make a picture in Paris
called Flowers of Evil.
1051
01:03:54,501 --> 01:03:58,297
"During the day I worked
on my Flowers of Evil script.
1052
01:03:58,380 --> 01:04:00,966
In the evening I met Christa.
1053
01:04:10,351 --> 01:04:12,936
She really knew her way around Paris."
1054
01:04:13,896 --> 01:04:16,315
Don't you wait for a man
to open the door for you?
1055
01:04:16,398 --> 01:04:21,278
The last time a man opened the door for me,
we were going 60 miles an hour.
1056
01:04:21,362 --> 01:04:24,323
[Towers] "I was getting invited
to all kinds of openings,
1057
01:04:24,406 --> 01:04:26,575
parties, and cultural events.
1058
01:04:26,658 --> 01:04:29,286
Christa was constantly at my side.
1059
01:04:30,037 --> 01:04:32,247
She enjoyed the socializing.
1060
01:04:32,331 --> 01:04:36,377
All the attention being showered on me
was flattering at first,
1061
01:04:36,460 --> 01:04:38,629
but it began to wear thin.
1062
01:04:40,047 --> 01:04:42,674
When I got back to Hollywood,
1063
01:04:42,758 --> 01:04:46,011
reality came hurtling down upon me.
1064
01:04:46,095 --> 01:04:50,391
People think Hollywood
is a heartless and a destructive place.
1065
01:04:50,474 --> 01:04:52,393
I don't believe that crap.
1066
01:04:52,476 --> 01:04:55,771
The studio boys could take a movie
away from me,
1067
01:04:55,854 --> 01:04:59,066
but they couldn't take away my optimism.
1068
01:04:59,149 --> 01:05:01,235
I was chock full of ideas,
1069
01:05:01,318 --> 01:05:05,864
determined to do whatever was needed
to support my young wife.
1070
01:05:05,948 --> 01:05:10,119
Blaming the motion picture business
was useless.
1071
01:05:10,202 --> 01:05:15,541
Jotting down ideas constantly in a little
notebook I kept with me day and night,
1072
01:05:15,624 --> 01:05:18,168
I continued writing new stories,
1073
01:05:18,252 --> 01:05:21,380
researching current events,
reading history books,
1074
01:05:21,463 --> 01:05:24,174
coming up with ideas almost everyday.
1075
01:05:25,384 --> 01:05:30,264
I had over 100 titles registered
with the Writers Guild,
1076
01:05:30,347 --> 01:05:33,684
some with entire scripts already written,
1077
01:05:33,767 --> 01:05:37,020
some based on stories or treatments,
1078
01:05:37,104 --> 01:05:40,232
and some... just titles
1079
01:05:40,315 --> 01:05:42,985
for future development.
1080
01:05:43,068 --> 01:05:47,489
Developing a piss-cutter of a movie
from scratch...
1081
01:05:49,283 --> 01:05:52,786
was what I loved doing most."
1082
01:05:55,622 --> 01:06:00,752
"By the mid-'60s, America's mood
changed drastically.
1083
01:06:00,836 --> 01:06:03,172
Our society was in upheaval.
1084
01:06:03,255 --> 01:06:06,258
For crying out loud,
it seemed like a perfect time
1085
01:06:06,341 --> 01:06:09,344
for me and my ballsy yarns.
1086
01:06:10,137 --> 01:06:13,849
Of course, life doesn't always work out
the way you think it will.
1087
01:06:13,932 --> 01:06:15,851
Rather than prolific,
1088
01:06:15,934 --> 01:06:18,437
the '60s turned out to be tough going.
1089
01:06:19,521 --> 01:06:21,857
I resorted to my tramping ways,
1090
01:06:21,940 --> 01:06:26,445
going wherever in the world a producer
would back one of my projects.
1091
01:06:26,528 --> 01:06:30,407
Even then, I didn't make
half the movies I wanted to.
1092
01:06:30,491 --> 01:06:32,576
One of the tricks I've learned
1093
01:06:32,659 --> 01:06:36,163
is to tap constantly
into my creative juices,
1094
01:06:36,246 --> 01:06:40,584
no matter if there's a producer
to finance a movie or not.
1095
01:06:41,210 --> 01:06:44,838
When you're least expecting it,
one will show up.
1096
01:06:45,714 --> 01:06:49,384
You damn well better be ready
to pull a script you really love
1097
01:06:49,468 --> 01:06:51,970
out of your desk drawer.
1098
01:06:52,054 --> 01:06:54,973
You see, I had to keep making movies.
1099
01:06:55,057 --> 01:06:58,143
It was in my blood, after all these years.
1100
01:07:01,980 --> 01:07:05,067
Now, I was a tough guy to be married to,
1101
01:07:05,150 --> 01:07:07,486
but somehow we made it work,
1102
01:07:07,569 --> 01:07:10,989
realizing right away
that it takes two to tango.
1103
01:07:12,366 --> 01:07:14,826
One day I ran into Lee Marvin.
1104
01:07:14,910 --> 01:07:17,204
'Sammy, 'said Lee,
1105
01:07:17,287 --> 01:07:20,332
'when are you gonna do The Big Red One?'
1106
01:07:20,415 --> 01:07:25,212
Marvin knew about the precious movie
that I'd been working on all those years.
1107
01:07:25,295 --> 01:07:27,339
I'd kept him in the loop.
1108
01:07:27,422 --> 01:07:32,052
'You'll be my sergeant, ' I said,
making a promise I'd never break.
1109
01:07:33,262 --> 01:07:37,349
There were just two projects
I wanted to focus on now--
1110
01:07:37,432 --> 01:07:40,352
The baby that Christa was about to have
1111
01:07:40,435 --> 01:07:42,646
and The Big Red One,
1112
01:07:42,729 --> 01:07:47,734
the movie that I had to find a way
to give birth to.
1113
01:07:49,152 --> 01:07:53,365
Christa's pregnancy went to term
without a glitch.
1114
01:07:53,448 --> 01:07:56,493
At the age of 63,
1115
01:07:56,577 --> 01:07:59,788
I'd become a father for the first time.
1116
01:08:00,706 --> 01:08:03,959
I'd never felt more ambitious or energetic.
1117
01:08:04,042 --> 01:08:07,504
Nothing and no one could ever get me down.
1118
01:08:07,588 --> 01:08:10,215
I wanted my little girl
1119
01:08:10,299 --> 01:08:12,718
to be proud of her daddy.
1120
01:08:12,801 --> 01:08:15,679
The Big Red One was an official entry
1121
01:08:15,762 --> 01:08:18,557
at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival.
1122
01:08:18,640 --> 01:08:22,019
Even in its drastically cut version,
1123
01:08:22,102 --> 01:08:25,897
critics called it
one of the best war movies ever made.
1124
01:08:26,815 --> 01:08:31,612
But my problem in Hollywood
was that power and money
1125
01:08:31,695 --> 01:08:33,864
never gave me a hard-on.
1126
01:08:33,947 --> 01:08:38,243
I'd put my life on the line
to stand up for democracy,
1127
01:08:38,327 --> 01:08:42,039
fighting fascism
because it was antagonistic
1128
01:08:42,122 --> 01:08:44,291
to the Jeffersonian principles
1129
01:08:44,374 --> 01:08:46,918
that all men are created equal.
1130
01:08:47,878 --> 01:08:50,505
I was one of the first directors in Hollywood
1131
01:08:50,589 --> 01:08:55,093
to use actors of color
in intelligent, complex roles.
1132
01:08:56,094 --> 01:08:57,929
The black medic in The Steel Helmet.
1133
01:08:58,013 --> 01:09:02,309
Nat King Cole's sensitive soldier
in China Gate.
1134
01:09:02,392 --> 01:09:07,356
Hari Rhodes' twisted college dropout
in Shock Corridor.
1135
01:09:07,439 --> 01:09:11,026
James Shigeta's detective,
who gets the gal
1136
01:09:11,109 --> 01:09:13,153
in The Crimson Kimono.
1137
01:09:13,236 --> 01:09:17,240
After depicting the little guy
and his right to be different
1138
01:09:17,324 --> 01:09:18,992
in movie after movie,
1139
01:09:19,076 --> 01:09:22,704
no matter what economic status or race,
1140
01:09:22,788 --> 01:09:26,625
I thought I'd made my position
on equality crystal clear."
1141
01:09:26,708 --> 01:09:30,629
I understand you're an "I-talian,"
Vinci.
1142
01:09:30,712 --> 01:09:33,382
How come they let a wop
in this man's army?
1143
01:09:34,341 --> 01:09:37,761
I don't think a wop's gonna fight a wop.
1144
01:09:37,844 --> 01:09:43,058
I think all you'll do is drink dago red
and sing "'O Sole Mio."
1145
01:09:43,141 --> 01:09:44,976
[laughs]
1146
01:09:46,687 --> 01:09:50,691
♪ 'O sole mio ♪
1147
01:09:50,774 --> 01:09:54,444
[men joining in] ♪ La-la, la-la ♪
1148
01:09:54,528 --> 01:09:58,031
"To my amazement and consternation,
1149
01:09:58,115 --> 01:10:00,283
rumors began to circulate
1150
01:10:00,367 --> 01:10:02,828
that my upcoming film, White Dog,
1151
01:10:02,911 --> 01:10:05,247
was a racist movie,
1152
01:10:05,330 --> 01:10:08,917
even before the picture
had been previewed in public.
1153
01:10:09,000 --> 01:10:12,337
Paramount hadn't set a release date yet.
1154
01:10:12,421 --> 01:10:14,172
A meeting was called.
1155
01:10:14,256 --> 01:10:17,551
As soon as I sat down
in their conference room,
1156
01:10:17,634 --> 01:10:19,136
they dropped the bomb.
1157
01:10:19,219 --> 01:10:21,763
They were gonna shelve my film.
1158
01:10:21,847 --> 01:10:23,473
I was deeply hurt.
1159
01:10:23,557 --> 01:10:26,184
The studio had used me as a scapegoat
1160
01:10:26,268 --> 01:10:29,980
for their lack of determination and courage.
1161
01:10:30,063 --> 01:10:33,483
Nightmares made sleeping hellish."
1162
01:10:33,567 --> 01:10:36,570
I have the nightmare all the time.
1163
01:10:36,653 --> 01:10:41,658
"In my bad dreams,
I became characters in my movies.
1164
01:10:41,742 --> 01:10:45,120
Sometimes the old Indian
in Run of the Arrow,
1165
01:10:45,203 --> 01:10:47,539
who is scorned by the young braves.
1166
01:10:47,622 --> 01:10:51,877
Sometimes the commanding general
in Merrill's Marauders,
1167
01:10:51,960 --> 01:10:54,504
trekking through the jungle
with his soldiers.
1168
01:10:54,588 --> 01:10:58,341
Sometimes Johnny Barrett,
trapped in an asylum
1169
01:10:58,425 --> 01:11:00,302
in Shock Corridor.
1170
01:11:00,385 --> 01:11:02,721
I woke up before dawn,
1171
01:11:02,804 --> 01:11:05,599
soaked from my own sweat,
1172
01:11:05,682 --> 01:11:10,896
as if I'd been running
from a vicious white dog.
1173
01:11:12,606 --> 01:11:15,567
[growling]
1174
01:11:18,528 --> 01:11:20,822
[gunshots]
1175
01:11:23,825 --> 01:11:26,703
I became like a foreigner
in my own country.
1176
01:11:27,579 --> 01:11:29,831
In France, by contrast,
1177
01:11:29,915 --> 01:11:32,292
I was always treated with esteem.
1178
01:11:39,674 --> 01:11:45,305
I loved strolling in Paris,
where every corner, square, and quarter
1179
01:11:45,388 --> 01:11:47,224
was steeped in history.
1180
01:11:48,225 --> 01:11:50,644
And what a violent history it was.
1181
01:11:54,022 --> 01:11:56,358
My long life had run parallel
1182
01:11:56,441 --> 01:11:58,944
with most of the 20th century,
1183
01:11:59,027 --> 01:12:02,572
intersecting with some
of the memorable characters
1184
01:12:02,656 --> 01:12:04,658
and momentous upheavals.
1185
01:12:07,202 --> 01:12:11,706
I'd seen my fellow Americans
at their best and at their worst.
1186
01:12:11,790 --> 01:12:14,668
Their enthusiasm, ingeniousness,
1187
01:12:14,751 --> 01:12:16,753
and sheer industry
1188
01:12:16,837 --> 01:12:18,839
are truly remarkable.
1189
01:12:18,922 --> 01:12:22,843
Yet into the fabric of my times
have been woven
1190
01:12:22,926 --> 01:12:25,178
devastating world wars,
1191
01:12:25,262 --> 01:12:27,138
poverty and ignorance,
1192
01:12:27,222 --> 01:12:30,892
social rifts based on race,
1193
01:12:30,976 --> 01:12:33,770
and wealthy, psychopathic hate groups
1194
01:12:33,854 --> 01:12:35,438
like the Ku Klux Klan."
1195
01:12:35,522 --> 01:12:38,233
- Keep our schools white!
- Keep 'em white! That's right!
1196
01:12:38,316 --> 01:12:40,902
- I'm against Catholics!
- Hallelujah, man! Hallelujah!
1197
01:12:40,986 --> 01:12:43,113
- Against Jews!
- Hallelujah!
1198
01:12:43,196 --> 01:12:45,740
- Against niggers!
- Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
1199
01:12:46,324 --> 01:12:47,784
There's one!
1200
01:12:48,827 --> 01:12:51,705
Let's get that black boy
before he marries my daughter!
1201
01:12:51,788 --> 01:12:53,957
- Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
- Hallelujah!
1202
01:12:54,040 --> 01:12:58,169
[shouting]
1203
01:12:58,253 --> 01:13:01,756
"For me, the hate-mongers
and reactionaries
1204
01:13:01,840 --> 01:13:06,303
are the most loathsome thorns
in the eye of a great democracy.
1205
01:13:07,512 --> 01:13:11,057
Every generation will have their own,
1206
01:13:11,141 --> 01:13:14,227
and they must be fought
1207
01:13:14,311 --> 01:13:15,604
and defeated.
1208
01:13:17,480 --> 01:13:20,525
I've never lost my ardor for history
1209
01:13:20,609 --> 01:13:22,903
and its illuminations.
1210
01:13:22,986 --> 01:13:25,614
Nor have I ever mislaid my optimism.
1211
01:13:26,698 --> 01:13:29,910
Living on the edge of Hollywood
for so many years,
1212
01:13:29,993 --> 01:13:32,829
physically and spiritually,
1213
01:13:32,913 --> 01:13:35,665
I remain, to this day,
1214
01:13:35,749 --> 01:13:37,751
an outsider.
1215
01:13:37,834 --> 01:13:42,589
As for life, I always plunged in headfirst,
1216
01:13:42,672 --> 01:13:44,799
without worrying about failure.
1217
01:13:44,883 --> 01:13:50,180
If there's one reason
to recount my personal history,
1218
01:13:50,263 --> 01:13:52,891
something inspirational
1219
01:13:52,974 --> 01:13:55,852
that I'd like my life experiences
1220
01:13:55,936 --> 01:13:57,687
to offer you,
1221
01:13:57,771 --> 01:14:01,399
be you young or young at heart,
1222
01:14:01,483 --> 01:14:06,863
then it would be to encourage you
to persist with all your heart and energy
1223
01:14:06,947 --> 01:14:09,366
in what you want to achieve,
1224
01:14:09,449 --> 01:14:14,371
no matter how crazy
your dreams seem to be to others.
1225
01:14:14,454 --> 01:14:19,584
Believe me, you'll prevail
over all the naysayers and bastards
1226
01:14:19,668 --> 01:14:23,296
who are telling you it just can't be done.
1227
01:14:25,632 --> 01:14:28,510
Okay, now, all you voices.
1228
01:14:28,593 --> 01:14:30,804
Let yourselves be heard."
1229
01:14:33,181 --> 01:14:35,475
[Fuller] Cut! Did you get it?
1230
01:14:39,396 --> 01:14:41,690
[inhales]
1231
01:14:44,192 --> 01:14:45,694
[door closes]
1232
01:15:27,944 --> 01:15:29,529
[no audible dialogue]
1233
01:15:32,866 --> 01:15:35,493
[no audible dialogue]
1234
01:15:40,707 --> 01:15:43,084
[no audible dialogue]
1235
01:15:47,839 --> 01:15:50,008
[no audible dialogue]
1236
01:15:54,721 --> 01:15:57,223
If I had to pick an adjective
to describe Sam Fuller,
1237
01:15:57,307 --> 01:15:59,225
it would be "exuberant."
1238
01:16:19,287 --> 01:16:21,289
Sam, Sam, Sam.
1239
01:16:40,558 --> 01:16:43,144
There wasn't a moment in any film I did with him
1240
01:16:43,228 --> 01:16:45,855
that I didn't feel him thinking with me,
1241
01:16:45,939 --> 01:16:47,440
talking to me,
1242
01:16:47,524 --> 01:16:50,944
being as much a part of the emotion
as I was.
1243
01:16:51,027 --> 01:16:53,196
You're still with us, Sam.
1244
01:16:53,279 --> 01:16:55,240
There is no keeping you down.
1245
01:16:55,323 --> 01:16:58,201
Not the naysayers, you know,
1246
01:16:58,284 --> 01:17:00,411
no matter who they may be.
1247
01:17:00,495 --> 01:17:03,498
You have helped
a lot of young people already
1248
01:17:03,581 --> 01:17:06,251
give voice to their dreams, Sam.
1249
01:17:06,334 --> 01:17:10,171
And with what you've written here,
there'll be many more, I'm sure.
1250
01:18:21,534 --> 01:18:24,370
[man] ♪ See, you've got three faces ♪
1251
01:18:24,454 --> 01:18:26,623
♪ The first you're born with ♪
1252
01:18:26,706 --> 01:18:31,085
♪ The one in the mirror
That feels Mama's kiss ♪
1253
01:18:31,169 --> 01:18:33,504
♪ Papa's ruby cheeks ♪
1254
01:18:33,588 --> 01:18:35,590
♪ Thin lips like me ♪
1255
01:18:35,673 --> 01:18:39,636
♪ A set of crooked chops
From your genealogy ♪
1256
01:18:41,346 --> 01:18:45,767
♪ The second is created by your ingenuity ♪
1257
01:18:45,850 --> 01:18:50,396
♪ The one that shows passion
And your sensitivity ♪
1258
01:18:50,480 --> 01:18:54,901
♪ Downcast when times are rough
Cold with confusion ♪
1259
01:18:54,984 --> 01:18:59,197
♪ Charming and sweet
When seduction is the treat ♪
1260
01:19:00,657 --> 01:19:03,743
♪ New York, San Francisco ♪
1261
01:19:05,203 --> 01:19:08,498
♪ Plenty good yarns he had in store ♪
1262
01:19:08,581 --> 01:19:10,959
♪ That's what he lived for ♪
1263
01:19:12,919 --> 01:19:15,338
♪ That's what he lived for ♪
1264
01:19:16,381 --> 01:19:18,466
♪ Then there's the third face ♪
1265
01:19:18,549 --> 01:19:20,760
♪ No one can see ♪
1266
01:19:20,843 --> 01:19:25,139
♪ Not in the mirror
Not lovers, just me ♪
1267
01:19:25,223 --> 01:19:29,435
♪ Privy to your deepest fears
Hopes and dreams ♪
1268
01:19:29,519 --> 01:19:33,564
♪ Guarding secrets for all eternity ♪
1269
01:19:35,275 --> 01:19:39,696
♪ The third remains hidden
From your dearest loved one ♪
1270
01:19:39,779 --> 01:19:44,200
♪ A mystery of life I'll ponder till I'm done ♪
1271
01:19:44,284 --> 01:19:46,577
♪ That's how we survive ♪
1272
01:19:46,661 --> 01:19:48,830
♪ Glory and pain ♪
1273
01:19:48,913 --> 01:19:53,084
♪ A piece of yourself always to remain ♪
1274
01:19:54,585 --> 01:19:57,755
♪ New York, San Francisco ♪
1275
01:19:59,007 --> 01:20:02,218
♪ Plenty good yarns he had in store ♪
1276
01:20:02,302 --> 01:20:04,721
♪ That's what he lived for ♪
1277
01:20:06,723 --> 01:20:08,808
♪ That's what he lived for ♪
1278
01:20:11,185 --> 01:20:13,396
♪ That's what he lived for ♪
1279
01:20:14,147 --> 01:20:16,524
[song ends]
113680
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