History Film / TheSteelHelmet

''The Steel Helmet'' is a 1951 film directed by Creator/SamuelFuller.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Subverted. [[spoiler:The black corporal and Japanese sergeant make up half the survivors of a band of a dozen by the end.]]

** It specifically mocks the sentimentality associated with BandOfBrothers. Your squad is filled with a bunch of people who all want to survive and while they may cohere in a group that doesn't mean that they are going to be friends or eternal pals. Indulging in that sentimentality, such as going back to recover dogtags of fallen comrades is not only foolish, but given that enemies can use them as booby-traps, self-destructive.
** Likewise, to the ordinary soldier, the ideology of a conflict is meaningless. All they want is to survive and go home, and their enemies are merely people on the other side who also want to survive and go home.
** It also attacks the Cold War propaganda. It points out that America is not a bastion of democracy but filled with racism and hypocrisy, and that some of their bravest soldiers are minorities whose service to the country doesn't quite come from unblemished uncomplicated patriotism.
* DirtyCommunists: "Red" is still a Hollywood Communist caricature but unlike other movies of the time, Fuller makes him more complicated by giving him a lot of [[EvilIsCool cool]][[invoked]] lines and [[VillainHasAPoint having him exploit and criticize the real ideological failings of American society]] rather than the generic anti-American evil other films made at the time. Where Fuller criticizes him for is his lack of compassion, his general callousness, his indifference and hypocrisy, to [[spoiler:Short Round's death, when he is ostensibly the same peasant child a Communist should be defending, since he got killed by a North Korean sniper]].

* InTheBack: The North Korean officer springs out of concealment and knifes poor Joe to death In The Back. In the most disturbing scene in the movie, Joe becomes SuddenlySpeaking, gasping "Oh no, please, oh no," as the North Korean stabs him several times.

** The squad agree that Zack is obnoxious and irritating but they do agree he is right about how harsh and dangerous a war zone is, how foolish and dangerous sentiments can be, and how you have to stay sharp and accept reality.
** The North Korean Communist is plainly annoying and callous [[spoiler:about the death of a child who he sees as a moron who got a reality check]] but his arguments about American racism and how little Thompson and Tanaka will be rewarded by the government and society they are fighting and risking their lives for, is pretty much on point. When "Red" notes that Thompson's people are consigned to sit at the back of the bus, Thompson cynically admits that the best he can hope for is maybe move to the middle or a few seats ahead before telling him to shut up.

* TheNicknamer: Zack gives names to his squadmates. Conscie to the religious soldier who was initially a conscientous objector and most famously Short Round. The North Korean officer, for his part, gets named "Red".
* OldSoldier: Zack, a crusty old sergeant who has been in the army at least as far back as Kasserine Pass in North Africa, and also landed in Normandy on D-Day. He contrasts with the other troopers who are mostly newer recruits. Thompson was likewise in WWII, serving in Africa to Czechoslovakia, first as a truck driver in the Red Ball Express before getting the chance to volunteer as a rifleman in the same unit as Zack. Tanaka served in Europe with the Japanese-American 442nd Regiment.

* PoliticallyIncorrectHero: Zack is a boorish American who mocks and insults other people's beliefs, and their sentimental patriotism and despite being friends with Short Round, calls him "Gook".

* ScarredEquipment: The eponymous helmet with its 'lucky' bullethole.

* StockFootage: Some stock footage of combat artillery used to fill out the final scene.

* WarCrimeSubvertsHeroism: Near the end [[spoiler:Zack shoots "red" the communist]]. This is a violation of the Geneva Convention and is treated as a major OhCrap moment within the film by his squadmates and Zack gets so upset that he yells to Red:

* AntiHero: Zack is a Type IV. He's a jerk who mocks and insults his comrades, insults his fellow squadmates, talks smack to his commanding officer and has a condescending relationship with Short Round who he initially calls "Gook". But he's also shown to be in the right.

It is set in the early months of UsefulNotes/TheKoreanWar. It opens with Sgt. Zack (Gene Evans), who is climbing his way out of a ditch. Sgt. Zack is the only survivor after his squad surrendered to the North Koreans and was promptly executed; the bullet meant for his head wound up spinning around his steel helmet and coming out the front. Sgt. Zack still has his hands bound behind him, but he is soon freed by a pre-teen South Korean boy (William Chun). The boy, whom Zack nicknames "Short Round", is a war orphan, who promptly attaches himself to Zack as a companion.

* TranslatedCoverVersion: Subverted. One of the men plays "Auld Lang Syne" on an organ. Short Round then trots up and belts out the song in Korean. When the astonished men ask him how he knows that song, he laughs--it's the South Korean national anthem. (TruthInTelevision, as the "Aegukga" anthem [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegukga#History really was]] sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne".)

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Near the end [[spoiler:Zack shoots "red" the communist]]. This is a violation of the Geneva Convention and is treated as a major OhCrap moment within the film by his squadmates and Zack gets so upset that he yells to Red:
--> '''Zack''': [[SaveTheVillain If you die, I'll kill you!]]
** This scene was so controversial that Fuller was invited to the Pentagon to explain himself. Fuller insisted that this scene was meant to be a realistic depiction of what soldiers do in wartime and that Zack was hardly an inspiring soldier, and that it was by no means an endorsement. Fuller, a former US Infantryman, also pointed out that this happened all the time during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and his own commanding officer testified in his defense. The Pentagon were not amused but they let it slide.
** The film starts with Zack and Thompson's units being captured and executed by the North Koreans, a clear violation of the Geneva Convention, with Zack surviving by fluke and Thompson being spared because he's a medic.

* InfantImmortality: Poor little Short Round is shot and killed by a North Korean sniper.

* SaveTheVillain: Zack tries to to atone for [[spoiler: fatally wounding the North Korean major, but to no avail]].

--> '''Zack''': If you die, I'll kill you!

* DirtyCommunists: "Red" is still a Hollywood Communist caricature but unlike other movies of the time, Fuller makes him more complicated by giving him a lot of cool lines and having him exploit and criticize the real ideological failings of American society rather than the generic anti-American evil other films made at the time. Where Fuller criticizes him for is his lack of compassion, his general callousness, his indifference and hypocrisy, to [[spoiler:Short Round's death, when he is ostensibly the same peasant child a Communist should be defending, since he got killed by a North Korean sniper]].