Inglourious Basterds

I am jumping out of order with the third Quentin Tarantino film I am covering here is not QT’s third film, Jackie Brown, but instead for his 2009 alternate take on World War II, Inglourious Basterds (trailer). Click or press here for my article on Reservoir Dogs, and click or press here for my entry on Pulp Fiction. I have owned the BluRay since it first released well over a decade ago, and it is a shame yet another QT gem has sat in my backlog for so long.

This takes place in occupied France with a riveting opening scene where German Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) conducts an interview with a local dairy farmer which eventually leads to questioning about missing Jews. This being a QT film, the dialog is intentionally drawn out, with Hans pausing the interview for a refreshing glass of milk, and digressing on other tangents before eventually getting to the burning question. Once again, QT absolutely nails the art of conversation like very few of his peers can. Every subtle body language flinch and pivot throughout their verbal exchange is not wasted, and it ultimately pays off with a unforgettable impact to close the scene. If it was almost any other filmmaker, my tolerance would have surely been tested, but there is something to QT’s scripts that without fail have me 100% invested in their surplus of verbiage as much as a climactic action scene in the latest summer blockbuster.

Be prepared for some vintage-QT dialog-heavy scenes...I wouldn't want it any other way from him!

This being a WWII film, one would think it would be safe to presume there is a fair amount of military combat scenes. While there is a significant body count by the end of the film, the firefights are not of the typical Hollywood WWII fare, so do not expect any all-out tanks, war planes, and massive artillery skirmishes. Most of the action that transpires here involves a team of Jewish American soldiers headed up by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). After the absurd fallout from their latest mission in a basement tavern, they receive intel from undercover operative Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) that Nazi leadership including Hitler (Martin Wuttke) himself will be at the grand opening of the latest military propaganda film, Nation’s Pride.

The theater owner where Nation’s Pride will be premiering, Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent), has an intriguing arc on how she is roped into debuting the film at her cinema which is caused by the relentless intimate pursuit of German soldier, Frederick Zoller (Daniel Brühl). Without giving too much away, Shosanna has her own agenda too, and everything builds up splendidly to the big premiere night of Nation’s Pride. I vividly remember going into the theater not clued into the ending which I will not spoil here, and I was instantly stunned at the direction QT went for the final act.

There is nearly an hour and a half of bonus material on the BluRay. The standout bonus is a half hour interview with Brad Pitt and QT, conducted by Elvis Mitchell with some highlights of their conversation being how energetic the overall shoot was, and what it was like premiering the film in Germany. Other extra features worth checking out is the full six minute cut of Nation’s Pride, a quick look back with interviews of the cast and crew from the original 1978 Inglorious Bastards, and a pair of interviews with Rod Taylor who has some fun behind-the-scenes stories with QT on how the two have the utmost respect for each other.

Inglourious Basterds did not disappoint with a highly entertaining second viewing where nearly the entire ensemble cast excelled in their performances! For a film that is two and a half hours long, it proved to be a swift viewing after being so engrossed with all the aforementioned dialog-dense scenes. I cannot fairly rank this among QT’s movies as I nearly love them all equally, but it goes without saying if you have made it this far then you know I am giving this the highest of recommendations!

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs

3
12 Angry Men (1957)
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
21 Jump Street
The Accountant
Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie
Atari: Game Over
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
The Avengers: Endgame
The Avengers: Infinity War
Batman: The Dark Knight Rises
Batman: The Killing Joke
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Bounty Hunters
Cabin in the Woods
Captain America: Civil War
Captain America: The First Avenger
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Christmas Eve
The Clapper
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special
The Condemned 2
Countdown
Creed I & II
Deck the Halls
Detroit Rock City
Die Hard
Dredd
The Eliminators
The Equalizer
Dirty Work
Faster
Fast and Furious I-VIII
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
The Fighter
For Love of the Game
Good Will Hunting
Gravity
Grunt: The Wrestling Movie
Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
Hell Comes to Frogtown
Hercules: Reborn
Hitman
I Like to Hurt People
Indiana Jones 1-4
Ink
The Interrogation
Interstellar
Jay and Silent Bob Reboot
Jobs
Joy Ride 1-3
Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut)
Last Action Hero
Major League
Man of Steel
Man on the Moon
Man vs Snake
Marine 3-6
Merry Friggin Christmas
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Mortal Kombat
Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge
National Treasure
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Nintendo Quest
Not for Resale
Payback (Director’s Cut)
Pulp Fiction
The Punisher (1989)
The Ref
The Replacements
Reservoir Dogs
Rocky I-VIII
Running Films Part 1
Running Films Part 2
San Andreas
ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Shoot em Up
Slacker
Skyscraper
Small Town Santa
Steve Jobs
Source Code
Star Trek I-XIII
Sully
Take Me Home Tonight
TMNT
Trauma Center
The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2
UHF
Veronica Mars
Vision Quest
The War
Wild
The Wizard
Wonder Woman
The Wrestler (2008)
X-Men: Apocalypse
X-Men: Days of Future Past