A series from Wesleyan University Press

      Edited by Jeanine Basinger

      The new Wesleyan Film series takes a back-to-basics approach to the art of cinema. Books in the series will deal with the formal, the historical, and the cultural—putting a premium on visual analysis, close readings, and an understanding of the history of Hollywood and international cinema, both artistically and industrially. The volumes will be rigorous, critical, and accessible both to academics and to lay readers with a serious interest in film.

      Series editor Jeanine Basinger, Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan University and Founder/Curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, is the author of such landmark books as The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre, A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women, 1930–1960, Silent Stars, and The Star Machine.

       Anthony Mann

      by Jeanine Basinger

       The Films of Samuel Fuller

       If You Die, I’ll Kill You!

      by Lisa Dombrowski

       Physical Evidence

       Selected Film Criticism

      by Kent Jones

       Action Speaks Louder

       Violence, Spectacle, and the American Action Movie

      Revised and Expanded Edition

      by Eric Lichtenfeld

       Hollywood Ambitions

       Celebrity in the Movie Age

      by Marsha Orgeron

      The Films of

      SAMUEL

      FULLER

      If You Die, I’ll Kill You!

      Lisa Dombrowski

      WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS

      MIDDLETOWN, CONNECTICUT

      Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459

       www.wesleyan.edu/wespress

      © 2008 by Lisa Dombrowski

      All rights reserved

      Printed in the United States of America

      5 4 3 2 1

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Dombrowski, Lisa.

      The films of Samuel Fuller : if you die, I’ll kill you! / Lisa Dombrowski.

      p. cm.

      Includes bibliographical references and index.

      ISBN-13: 978–0–8195–6866–3 (cloth : alk. paper)

      ISBN-10: 0–8195–6866–X (cloth : alk. paper)

      1. Fuller, Samuel, 1912–1997—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title.

      PN1998.3.F85D66 2008

      791.4302′33092—dc22 2007037126

      Cover illustration: Samuel Fuller on location. Chrisam Films, Inc.

       For the kids in the screening room

      Contents