Cheap China Gate (Video) (Samuel Fuller) Price

Director Sam Fuller's 1951 The Steel Helmet was probably the first movie to deal with the Korean War; undoubtedly China Gate was one of the first to discuss Vietnam. In the early days of the Vietnam War, a motley crew of mercenaries and French Legionnaires set out to destroy a Communist ammunition dump and hobble the war effort of the Vietcong. An element of melodrama is added when the tough sergeant Brock is confronted by his ex-wife (Angie Dickinson--as a Eurasian?); he doesn't want anything to do with their son simply because the boy is of Asian descent. What would be a fairly routine war film is livened by its setting and the familiar fixations that Sam Fuller often addresses in his movies. Antihero Brock refuses to face his son and by doing so refuses to admit his own racism. As in The Steel Helmet, one of the supporting roles is held down by a black actor--Nat "King" Cole, in this case. The interplay and conflicts between characters lives up to Fuller's quote of "film is like a battlefield," with emotions running the show and setting the entire tone of the movie. It may not be one of Sam Fuller's greatest movies, but it's certainly interesting, if for no other reason than its early look at the dynamics of the Vietnam War. --Jerry Renshaw

CATEGORY:	Video
DIRECTOR:	Samuel Fuller
THEATRICAL RELEASE DATE:	01 January, 1957
MANUFACTURER:	Republic Studios
MPAA RATING:	NR (Not Rated)
FEATURES:	Black & White, NTSC
TYPE:	Feature Film-action/Adventure
MEDIA:	VHS Tape
# OF MEDIA:	1
UPC:	017153064803