Samuel Fuller is a true Hollywood maverick known for his controversial "B" movies that pummel audiences with graphic violence, unlovable characters, and contradictory political views vacillating between rabid right-wing patriotism to an almost liberal sympathy for the world's underdogs. He directs, writes his own screenplays and produces most of his films, which are often based on his early experiences as a crime reporter, a drifter, and a soldier. At 17, he became a crime reporter for the San Diego Sun. When the Great Depression hit, Fuller hit the road, hopping trains, and doing what he could to get by. In 1935, he published the first of several pulp-fiction novels, Burn Baby Burn. By the following year, he was writing screenplays. He did this until World War II broke out then joined the First Infantry Division, where he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, and a Purple Heart. By 1949, he had returned to Hollywood to direct his first film I Shot Jesse James. He continued making westerns until 1951, when he made his first war film The Steel Helmet. Fuller's best film is Pickup on South Street (1953), an artful blend of brutality, sentimentality. and anti-communist propaganda. Fuller, dubbed "an authentic American primitive" by critic Andrew Sarris, has been a driving force in American cinema. He is also admired in Europe, particularly in France, where a devoted cult of followers considers him one of the most influential directors of postwar times.