We finally saw the original “Inglorious Bastards” last night as it just came out on DVD and man, we should’ve guessed: only Quentin Tarantino, the patron saint of forgotten and unwanted cinematic step children, could love this thing.
Directed by Enzo Castellari in 1977, the Italian WWII movie is probably what you’d expect: a sub par B-movie, replete with terrible dubbing, stilted acting that was basically a cheap “The Dirty Dozen” knock-off in hopes of scoring some easy dough.
Starring the wooden Bo Svensson (a cheaper, even more leaden version of Steve McQueen) Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson and Michael Pergolani, the international cast with marquee names from different countries was picked so they could easily re-dub the film and promote it in several countries and take note again: the dubbing is awful and distracting. It’s not as poorly put together as the grindhouse and blaxploitation films that Tarantino adores – many of which are totally unwatchable unless you’re a masochist – but it’s certainly no undiscovered treasure worth excavating and examining either.
The good news for those reading this and greatly awaiting Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (sic), is the films bare few resemblances to one another aside from a group of ragtag American soldiers on a mission in Germany during WWII. As Tarantino has already stated, the film is not a remake and it’s true; the movies couldn’t be more different (at least comparing QT’s script to Castellari’s film; we obviously won’t know how Tarantino’s tone and feel will turn out yet) and he’s just appropriating the title. Basically you can look at is as a vague jumping off point for something much more involved, intertwined and written with a thousand times more flare and tautness (say what you will about QT he knows the arcs and beats of setting up a dramatic screenplay).
We’re sure some people will find value in this film (QT devotees no doubt), but anyone looking closely enough at a blank wall for hours will probably start to hallucinate and see something interesting too. If you must and you’re super curious, put this thing on with low expectations, but we would’ve rather had an extra hour and a half of sleep last night frankly.
On Elvis Mitchell’s “Under The Influence” TCM show, Tarantino recently defended B-movies and said if you can look past the faults, you’ll eventually start to care and get engrossed. “It’s easy for a normal audience to see any kind of B-movie from any era with the many cheesy elements and put themselves above a movie. When in this crazy, weird, sleazy little exploitation movie did you start caring? The fact that now you care and are invested: that’s one of my favorite things that can happen in cinema.”
It’s a nice thought to be sure, but certainly not applicable here. The new 3-disc DVD of ‘Bastards’ comes with Francesco Di Masi’s original score which is an overwrought curiosity at best.
Download: Francesco Di Masi- “Inglorious Bastards Theme”
Trailer: Inglorious Bastards” (hey, the title sequence was cool, we did like that)