Since I was eleven years old I have been reading--actually devouring--books on filmmakers. The first one I remember reading was called James Dean: The Mutant King; I didn't know what that meant then, and I don't know what it means now.
I think I have just finished one of the finest filmmaker autobiographies ever written (although my favourite remains An Open Book by John Huston), A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking--the memoirs of Samuel Fuller. Fuller died in 1995 and his wife of over thirty years compiled and completed this lengthy, delicious manuscript.
Fuller has had an enormous influence on the likes of everyone from Martin Scorsese (who penned the introduction) to Quentin Tarantino to even guys like Troma's Lloyd Kaufman. (Troma bought the rights to distribute Fuller's bizarre film Shark starring Burt Reynolds, a kind of lowercase Jaws meets Raiders of the Lost Ark set in and shot in the Sudan.) Fuller's book is full of passion and optimism in the face of some of the great tragedies of the last century: the great Depression, the Second World War, Hollywood... And Fuller believed that he needed to live a life before he portrayed life, be it on the page or on the big screen.
The book is rich with stories from his days in New York as a crime reporter to his time in North Africa fighting Rommel, continuing through his days as writer-director of some of the most hard-hitting films of the fifties and early sixties. Check out his films Shock Corridor, Pick-Up on South Street, The Naked Kiss--or his later film with Lee Marvin based on his own war experiences, the incredibly underrated The Big Red One--and you will see noir filmmaking, in particular, at its most uncompromising.
What seeps through A Third Face is that Sam Fuller was all about chasing the dream. Decide what you want to do and go after it and keep after it no matter how long it takes or how many obstacles need to be faced. To the film lover and even the lover of great men of adventure, A Third Face: My Tale of Writing, Fighting, and Filmmaking will be of interest--this is an inspiring set of reminiscences from a guy who did it the way he wanted to without looking back and without any regrets.-Christopher Heard, special to Film Freak Central
Christopher Heard is the former co-host of television's "Reel to Real" and the author of James Cameron (Dreaming Aloud; Doubleday Canada), John Woo (Ten Thousand Bullets; Doubleday Canada), and Johnny Depp (Depp; ECW Press) biographies. He will return to television with "Admit One", which debuts early next year.
© Film Freak Central; filmfreakcentral.net. This review may not be reprinted, in whole or in part, without the express consent of its author.
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