Sam Fuller at the Freer

If you're tired of Academy Awards hype, seek out something decidedly off the Oscars path. The Freer Gallery is screening the final two films in the Sam Fuller's Asia series - "The Steel Helmet" and "Fixed Bayonets," at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday, respectively.

Fuller was one of American cinema's true originals and has been cited as a major influence by directors such as Jean Luc-Godard, Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese. His best-known works include the 1953 film-noir classic "Pickup on South Street" and the 1980 World War II epic "The Big Red One."

"The Steel Helmet" and "Fixed Bayonets" were two of his earliest films, both coming out in 1951 and both set during the Korean War. Fuller was an infantryman during World War II and his war movies lack the romanticism of other war films of the time. These screenings offer a great chance not just to see some of Fuller's work on the big screen, but to see it at all. While a handful of his movies are widely available, these two certainly are not ones that you can just drop in your Netflix queue.

-- David

By washingtonpost.com |  February 23, 2005; 4:09 PM ET Movies
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