The Steel Helmet

The Steel Helmet is a 1951 American war film directed, written, and produced by Samuel Fuller during the Korean War. The cast stars Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie, James Edwards, and Richard Loo. It was the first American film about the war and the first of several war films by Fuller. Plot The opening credits roll on a U.S. Army  steel helmet. There is a bullet hole on the left side. At last, it moves. The wearer peers out, then starts to inch his way up the steep grassy hill, past the bodies of other soldiers, holes in all their helmets. He moves on his side because his hands are tied behind him. He freezes at the approach of a barefoot boy with a gun, who listens to his heart, flips him over, cuts his bonds and pulls him to a sitting position. The sergeant rapidly takes salt and water and uses sulfa on the wound to his left knee. The boy gets more sulfa from one of the dead men. The boy compliments him on his hard head, Removing the helmet and revealing a  gouge on his scalp, Zack explains that the bullet went around the inside of his helmet and came out. He is the only survivor of his unit, which was massacred in cold blood after surrendering to the enemy. Zack repays the South Korean youth by calling him a gook. An orphan, the child insists on following him, explaining: Buddha says that he who saves a man's life holds his heart in his hands. Zack tells him to get lost, but soon  relents, dubbing him "Short Round", and telling him to get a helmet, a gun and a pair of boots from the dead.