The Typewriter, the Rifle & the Movie Camera (1996)
Director: Adam Simon
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
This documentary covers all the main facets of Sam Fuller's life and career: his years as a copyboy and crime reporter for the Hearst press; his experiences during World War II; his first time behind a camera, at a concentration camp liberated by the US army; and the two decades as a bona fide Hollywood auteur. The format is fun: Tim Robbins interviewing the inimitably brash old codger in Paris; Robbins and Tarantino gleefully checking out the memorabilia in Sam's LA garage; Jim Jarmusch commenting on how Fuller films were preoccupied with the 'American Lie' and how the man himself is not exactly rational; Scorsese on his camera style, the films' emotional authenticity and the ferocious primal force of Fuller's characters; Sam babbling on about Balzac and the art of storytelling, and finally revealing the identity of 'Griff', a moniker that turns up in just about every movie he ever made. Mouth-watering clips.Author: GA
Cast & crew
Director: Adam Simon
Producer: Colin MacCabe, Paula Jalfon, Tim Robbins
Cast: Sam Fuller, Tim Robbins, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese full cast
Genre(s): Documentaries
Duration: 55 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Ang Lee talks 'Taking Woodstock'
Ang Lee talks to Tom Huddleston about his tale of the men behind history’s greatest music festival
Hippies who work for The Man
To celebrate George Clooney comedy 'The Men who Stare at Goats', we look back at six memorable onscreen hippies who fought the system from within
Roland Emmerich's guide to disaster movies
Ahead of the release of '2012', Roland Emmerich offers his ten tips on creating the perfect global catastrophe
Grant Heslov: interview
Grant Heslov, director of 'The Men who Stare at Goats' talks about his old pal George Clooney, his interest in the paranormal, and his fond memories of working on 'Happy Days'
The Coen brothers discuss 'A Serious Man'
Masters of contrary comedy, Joel and Ethan Coen have struck gold again with their latest, ‘A Serious Man’
Ten inspirations behind 'Avatar'?
Time Out ponders the influences behind James Cameron's anticipated space-opera on the basis of the trailer
Michael Haneke: The man behind the menace
From Cannes to Munich to London, Dave Calhoun tours Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner, 'The White Ribbon'
How Jane Campion brought John Keats back to life
Time Out gets Romantic with the ‘difficult’ New Zealander about her new film, 'Bright Star'
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations











What do you think?
Post your review now