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Mania Grade: A-
DVD: Inglorious Bastards
Rating: Unrated
Starring: Bo Svenson, Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson, Jackie Basehart, Michel Constantin, Debra Berger, Raimund Harmstorf, Ian Bannen, Michael Pergolani
Written By: Sandro Continenza, Sergio Grieco
Directed By: Enzo G. Castellari
Distributor: Severin Films
Original Year of Release: 1981 (USA), DVD 2008
Extras: Documentaries, Audio Commentary, U.S., Italian and German Theatrical Trailers, CD containing the previously unreleased score.
Buy it now!
DVD: Inglorious Bastards
Rating: Unrated
Starring: Bo Svenson, Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson, Jackie Basehart, Michel Constantin, Debra Berger, Raimund Harmstorf, Ian Bannen, Michael Pergolani
Written By: Sandro Continenza, Sergio Grieco
Directed By: Enzo G. Castellari
Distributor: Severin Films
Original Year of Release: 1981 (USA), DVD 2008
Extras: Documentaries, Audio Commentary, U.S., Italian and German Theatrical Trailers, CD containing the previously unreleased score.
Buy it now!
DVD Review of The Inglorious Bastards (3-Disc Special Edition)
By: Robert T. TrateReview Date: Monday, August 11, 2008
The Inglorious Bastards (1978), known internationally as Quel maledetto treno blindato or in some circles as G.I. BRO, has been given a Criterion Collection quality release by Severin Films. A three disc DVD packed with multiple documentaries, a soundtrack and interviews are available for the first time. Most notably there is a forty minute interview of The Inglorious Bastards’s director Enzo G. Castellari by Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is now helming a re-imagined version of this forgotten Seventies World War 2 film.
In the vein of Robert Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen, the The Inglorious Bastards follows a group ofconvicted military personal as they wreak havoc across France trying to get to Switzerland. On their way to stand trial and face a firing squad, the convicts escape the Military Police and decide to make a run for it. Lt. Robert Yeager (Bo Svenson) takes command and gives the men his word that if they work together he’ll get them to Switzerland where they can wait out the war. This less than dirty dozen has your typical genre band of misfits. Nick (Michael Pergolani), the master thief, Tony (Peter Hooten), the mob criminal who might have a softer side, Pvt. Fred Canfield (Fred Williamson), a good solider caught in bad a circumstance and Berle (Jackie Basehart), the coward.
The film starts out as simple action and escape scenes which give insight into the characters. These scenes allow us to see that these men aren’t all bad, they are just in a situation that they have had no control of until now. Lt. Robert Yeager forces them to get back in the war by helping a squad of American Soldiers who are fighting the Germans. Here the film takes an interesting turn and they decide to not only dress as Germans but take a German deserter (Raimund Harmstorf) under their wing. They quickly realize that he, like them, has had it with war.
Without ruining a great twist and surprise in the story the convicts later find themselves helping out the French Resistance and aiding an American Colonel (Ian Bannen) in destroying a mobile laboratory for a V2 rocket. This actually works in the story and falls perfectly into this anti hero film. This is the kind of machismo that guys who love this kind of movie live for. The film is a lot of fun and lacks any eye rolling moments, supplying great action and quick laughs.
There is only one sub plot that lingers badly in this near perfect guy’s movie. There is love story that develops for one character and then quickly changes to another. It seems as if the characters changed places and broke from what had been established earlier in the film. Fear not there is no sappy love story in The Inglorious Bastards. The love story is really nothing more than a small piece for the ladies.
The violence of the film is quick, sleek and, at times, ingenious (the happenstance of that scene is revealed in Tarantino’s interview). Fans of the Grindhouse genre will love this film. It even fills out an essential Grindhouse prerequisite with its gratuitous T and A moment.
Should the film be remade? In his interview Quentin Tarantino with Enzo G. Castellari he talks about how originally he was going to remake the film but has since departed from the original work. The film does have hard core action and humor which Tarantino is a master at. If he can apply the same stoke of genius to the The Inglorious Bastards as he did with Kill Bill then Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Bastards (2009)will be a ride worth taking.
Special Features Include:
Quentin Tarantino and Enzo Castellari in Conversation- An all-new featurette with the two legendary directors.
Train-Kept-A-Rollin'- Documentary with Director Enzo Castellari, Stars Fred Williamson, Bo Svenson and Massimo Vanni, Special Effects Artist Gino de Rossi, Producer Roberto Sbarigia, Screenwriter Laura Toscano and Filippo De Masi.
Back to the War Zone- Locations featurette with Director Enzo Castellari and Special Effects Artist Gino de Rossi.
U.S., Italian and German Theatrical Trailers.
Audio Commentary with Director Enzo Castellari.
Bonus Soundtrack CD containing the previously unreleased score of Inglorious Bastards.
If the three disc version is two much of risk to take on this film there is a single disc version available as well, distinguishable by its blue cover.
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