Left bound and injured as the sole survivor of his surrendered unit, Zack struggles to get up a steep hill and freezes at the approach of a Buddhist boy with a gun, who decides to free him and helps treat his wounds with sulfa powder.

When the boy refuses to leave, Zack relents, dubs him "Short Round", and directs him to gather clothing and equipment from his dead comrades to join him as he tries to find friendly lines.

They encounter a patrol led by inexperienced Officer Candidate Lieutenant Driscoll, whose men say that Thompson is a "straggler" who intentionally separated himself from his platoon and that the North Koreans only kept him alive to treat their wounded.

In October 1950, Fuller made his film in ten days with twenty-five extras who were UCLA students and a plywood tank, in a studio using mist, and exteriors shot in Griffith Park[4] for $104,000.

The Steel Helmet confronts American racism when a North Korean Communist prisoner baits a black soldier over the inequalities he suffers both in the service and on the home front.

Fuller replied that in his World War II service it frequently happened, and had his former commanding officer, Brigadier General George A. Taylor, telephone the Pentagon to confirm it.

[7] Fuller cast Gene Evans, refusing a major studio's interest in filming The Steel Helmet with John Wayne as Sergeant Zack.

"[9] A reviewer for Variety magazine wrote of the film, "The Steel Helmet pinpoints the Korean fighting in a grim, hardhitting tale that is excellently told", and went on to say that it also "serves to introduce Gene Evans as the sergeant, a vet of World War II, a tough man who is interested in staying alive, and hardened to the impact of warfare.

Robert Hutton, conscientious objector in the last war but now willing to fight against communism; Steve Brodie, the lieutenant who used pull to stay out of combat previously; James Edwards, the Negro medic, and Richard Loo, a heroic Nisei, are the other principals who add to the rugged realism.

[15] The critics of Time Out magazine said in a review accessed in 2014 the film is "A characteristically hard-hitting war movie from Fuller, charting the fortunes of Gene Evans' Sergeant Zack, sole survivor of a POW massacre in Korea.

Saved by a Korean orphan and joining up with other GIs cut off from their units, Evans' cynical veteran embodies the writer-director's abiding thesis that, to survive the madness of war, a ruthless individualism is necessary.