Inglourious Basterds Review "That's a bingo!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, as I've been busy lately with other stuff, I thought I would get one post in for this month before its over. So, here I will do a revisit of one of my oldest posts on this blog, which is my review of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which was inspired by the Italian film of the similarly named, The Inglorious Bastards. So, I will do my usual expansion of the sections given this post is pretty old, it will take quite a bit of overhauling! ;-)

So, with that said, let's take another look at this Tarantino flick and see how it fairs 15 years later...

And the usual warning is coming up...

PLOT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

STORY  

So, the film begins during the Second World War in 1941, in a German occupied France, where an SS officer, Colonel Hans Landa (Christophe Waltz) visits a local dairy farmer Perrier Lapidite (Denis Menochet) to enquire about a local jewish family who are missing in the area.  While Landa initially puts Lapitide at ease, he toys with him and gets him to admit that he is in fact hiding the Jewish family underneath his floorboards, after which Landa has his soldiers kill the family, but one of them escapes, a teenage girl Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), which Landa decides to let go.  

Three years later, an American Lieutenant, Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) recruits 8 Jewish American soldiers to go on a mission into Germany to hunt down the Nazis.  Aldo being part Indian, has the nickname Aldo the Apache, and demands that each Nazi soldier his men kill, that they take their scalps for him, and the team become known as the Basterds.  As the Basterds become more notorious within Germany, the fuhrer, Adolf Hitler (Martin Wuttke) interviews a German soldier, who was a sole survivor of one of the basterds attacks, and he reveals that he has had a swastika sign carved into his forehead, which Aldo did himself, to send a message to the Nazis.

Meanwhile Shosanna, in the summer of 1944, by now has re-established herself in Paris, where show now runs a Cinema left by her aunt and uncle.  Shosanna now goes under the psuedonum of Emanuelle Mimieux to conceal her real identity, and she is soon approached by a German soldier, Frederick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) who tries to charm her with his exploits as a sniper, who successfully defended his position in a belltower over three days, and has become a national hero as a result.  Shosanna however is far from impressed with Zoller and leaves. 

The next day however, Zoller sends a soldier escort to pick her up and take her to a meeting at a hotel with none other than Joseph Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) who has made a Nazi propaganda film, starring Zoller in his exploits at the belltower.  Zoller suggests to Goebbels that his film "Nations Pride", be permiered at Shosanna's cinema, Goebbels is however initially reluctant to accept, but agrees.  However at the meeting Shosanna meets Landa (who fully realises who she is), who is handling the security for the event, who proceeds to toy with her and interrogate her in a playful way before letting her go.  Shosanna soon plans to get revenge for her family, by using her stock of high flammable nitrate film prints to burn the cinema down at the night of the premiere.

While this is going on, another subplot sees a British soldier, Lieutenant Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) who is recruited for a top secret mission named "Operation Kino", in which he is set to rendevous with two of the Basterds team, and the famous German film star Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) at a tavern on the French border.  However the tavern has a group of drunken German soldiers there, as well as a Gestapo officer, Major Hellstrom (August Diehl) and suspicion is aroused when a drunken German soldier enquires why Bridget is there, and Hicox chastises the soldier for interrupting, and his indistinct German accent raises the suspicions of Hellstrom.  

And soon enough Hicox gives himself away (by signalling the British for three with his hands, and not the German way) which leads to a gunfight, with everyone being killed except the drunk soldier, Wilhelm, who tries to negotiate with Aldo who is up top with the rest of his men, and Bridget who then kills the soldier, in order to keep her involvement a secret.  Bridget than reveals to Aldo that while the meeting was botched, that Hitler will attend the premiere.  Aldo then decides to attend the premiere as Bridget's escort, along with two of his team, Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) and Omar (Omar Doom), posing as Italians.  However in the meantime, at the scene of the tavern, Landa finds a napkin autographed by Bridget and one of her shoes, which placed her there, and there at the prermiere he confronts her, and Aldo and his men, which soon leads into the film's chaotic climax...

THOUGHTS  

While I wouldn't say that Inglourious Basterds isn't Tarantimo's finest film, its still a thoroughly entertaining one, which has a lot going for it.  I really also like Tarantino's decision to film the French and German actors, speaking their dialogue in their native languages, as it helps to lend a bit more authenticity to the proceedings.  And while the film is far from a history lesson, which he would go on to prove again with his film, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood that he isn't one for historical accuracy, this is still a very solid entry from Tarantimo, as the film has plenty of great performances, dialogue and tense setpieces that build up suspense very well. 

PERFORMANCES & NOTABLE SCENES (Warning: this section contains spoilers and strong language)

The film also has some excellent performances in it, starting with Brad Pitt as the Aldo, he plays his part with an almost macho quality, and as a man who takes pride in his work, he also get's some of the best dialogue in the film.  

And Brad has plenty of notable scenes but for time, I will only mention a few such as his opening one where Aldo addresses his men and tells them how they are to embark on a mission to kill Nazis. So, in the scene, Aldo tells his men "Now, I don't know about you but I didn't come off the smokey mountains to fly half way across Sicily and jump out of a fuckin airplane to teach Nazis lessons in humanity! Nazis aint got any humanity, they are the foot soldiers of a jew-hating mass murdering maniac and they need to be destroyed!". Aldo then goes to say to his men "But I got a warning for all you would-be warriors, when you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps! All ya'll will get me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis! Or, you will die tryin!". 

Then there is the scene where Aldo talks to a captive Nazi solider, Sgt Rachtman and tries to get him to co-operate and point out German defenses on a map but the soldier refuses. So in the scene Aldo warns the soldier that one of his men, Donny, nicknamed the Bear Jew, will beat him to death with a baseball if he doesn't comply. 

So, Aldo says to Rachatman "You heat that?" as we hear a smacking noise offscreen "That's Sgt Donny Donowitz". You might know him better by his nickname the "bear jew". Now, if you've heard of me, you've got to have heard of the Bear Jew" and Rachtman says "I've heard of him" and Aldo asks "What did you hear?" and Rachtman says "He beats German soldiers with a club". Aldo then corrects him and says "He bashes their brains in with a baseball bat is what he does. Now I'm gonna ask you one last time, and if you still refuse, I'm gonna have to call the Bear Jew over". So, Racthman after a pause defiantly says "Fuck you, and your jew dogs!" and Aldo laughs "Actually, Werner, we're all tickled to hear you say that. Quite frankly watching Donny beat Nazis to death is the closest we get to going to the movies". Aldo then calls out to Donny "Donny!" and we hear Donny offscreen "Yeah?!" and Aldo tells him "We got a German here who wants to die for his country! Oblige him!".

Then there is the scene where Bridget Von Hammersmark is interrogated by Aldo after "Operation Kino" goes awry resulting in the deaths of two members of the basterds and Lt Hicock. So, in the scene Bridget tells Aldo "I can see since you didn't see what happened in there, that those Germans being there looked odd" and Aldo warily says "Yeah, we've got a word for that kind of odd in English. Its called suspicious". So, as Aldo sticks his finger inside Bridget's bullet wound to get her to tell the truth, he soon relents as Bridget explains what went wrong. 

So, in the scene Bridget tells Aldo "There are two interesting developments in Operation Kino, one is the film has been moved from the Ritz to a much smaller venue". Aldo however is not so interested "Enormous changes at the last minute? That doesn't sound very germatic. Why the hell is Goebbels doin stuff so damn peculiar anyway?". Bridget then sats "That has probably got something to do with the second development" and Aldo asks "Which is?" and Bridget says " The Fuhrer is attending the premiere". 

So, Aldo then changes his tune and says he wants Bridget to get them into the premiere and pose as Bridget's escort and film crew. So, Bridget then asks "Do any of you Americans speak any other language other than English?" and Donny says "We both speak a little Italian" and Bridget sighs "With an atrocious accent no doubt!". Aldo then says to Bridget "Well, I speak the most Italian, so I'll be your escort. Donowitz speaks the second most, so he'll be your Italian cameraman. Omar speaks third most, so he'll be Donny's assistant". Omar however puzzled says "I don't speak Italian" and Aldo annoyed says "Like I said, third most, just keep your fuckin mouth shout, in fact why don't you start practicing right now!".

And last of all is the final scene of the film where (SPOILER!!!) Landa has made a deal with the Americans to end the war and receive immunity from prosecution and they go out into the woods where Landa surrenders himself. So, Aldo shoots Landa's German radioman, Herrman, much to Landa's horror who shouts "I made a deal with you to save that man's life!!!". Aldo however says "Yeah but they don't give a fuck about him, they need you" and Landa shouts "YOU WILL BE SHOT FOR THIS!" and Aldo says "Nah, I'l just get chewed out, I've been chewed out before". 

Well, if you're willing to barbecue the whole high command, I 'spose that's worth certain considerations. But I do have one question. When you get to your little place on Nantucket Island, I 'magine you're gonna take off that handsome-looki n' S.S. uniform of yours, ain'tcha?..." and for once, Landa has no words and gives a nervous little nods. So, Aldo says "That's what I thought. Now that I can't abide" so he goes up to Landa and says "If I had my way, you'd wear that goddamn uniform for the rest of your pecker-suckin life! Aware that ain't practical, I know at some point you need to take it off" and then he produces his knife and says "So, I'm gonna you a little something you can't take off" and he pushes Landa's hat and procedes to carve a Swastika into Landa's head, who screams out in agony. So, at the very end, Aldo looks down at his work and says to Utivich "You know something, Utivich? This just might be my masterpiece!". 

Christophe Waltz next up gives the performance of a lifetime here as the cunning, charming yet sinister SS officer, Hans Landa, nicknamed the "jew hunter". 

And Waltz has so many great moments in his peformance but I will try and limit it to just a few scenes again for time. Starting with his first lengthy and brilliant scene where Landa visits a French farm and speaks to the owner, Lapatite. So, he tells Lapadite in a lengthy monologue "However, the reason the Führer has brought me off my Alps in Austria and placed me in French cow country today is because it does occur to me. Because I'm aware what tremendous feats human beings are capable of once they abandon dignity". 

He then tells Lapadite that he will ensure the German army will leave his family alone if he tells them where Lapadite is hiding a French jewish family. So, Landa says "You are sheltering enemies of the state, are you not" and Lapadite finally breaks down "Yes" and Landa asks "You are hiding them under your floorboards, aren't you?" and Lapadite tearfully says "Yes". Landa then asks "Point out the areas to me where they are hiding" and Lapadite reluctantly does so and Landa then says "I assume even they can hear us, they don't speak English" and Lapadite says they don't. So, Landa then tells Lapadite to play along with his masquerade as he returns to speaking French out loud, while letting his soldiers in, who shoot the family underneath the floorboards. However one of the family, Shoshanna escapes and flees across the fields as Landa aims his gun at her but let's her go and calls out "Au revoir, Shoshanna!".  

Then there is the scene where Landa at the premiere of "Nation's Pride" meets Bridget von Hammersmark and sees her cast and he teases her asking what happened as he knows that she was involved in the shootout at the French bar. So, in the scene Landa asks "Seriously what happened though?" and Bridget awkardly tells him with a nervous laugh "Well, I foolishly tried to attempt hill climbing" and Landa pauses for a moment and suddenly bursts into hysterical laughter making Bridget uncomfortable. Landa then regains his composure and says "Forgive me but I don't mean to laugh at your misfortune, but what made you want to climb a mountain?" and Bridget says "Well, I won't be trying it again that's for sure". So, looking at Bridget's cast, Landa asks "This cast looks good as new, when did you climb?" and Bridget says "Yesterday morning" and Landa teases her "And where is this mountain exactly in Paris?" leaving Bridget speechless but he laughs and lets her away with it and says "I'm just teasing you, you know I like to tease rough". 

Another good scene is when Landa has Aldo and Yutivich captured and taken to a private location away from the "Nation's Pride" premiere where he proposes a deal to end the war and let the Basterds carry out Operation Kino to kill Hitler and the Nazi high command. 

So, in the scene Landa says to Aldo and Yutivich "Gentlemen, I have no intention of killing Hitler and killing Goebbels and killing Göring and killing Bormann, not to mention winning the war single-handedly for the Allies, only later to find myself standing before a Jewish tribunal. If you want to win the war, tonight..." and he chops his hands down on the table "...we have to make a deal". Aldo then asks "What kind of deal?" and Landa says "The kind you wouldn't have the authority to make. However, I'm sure this mission of yours has a commanding officer. A general. I'm betting for... OSS would be my guess" and both men look surprised, much to Landa's delight who says excitedly "That's a bingo!".  Landa then asks Aldo "Is that how you say it? That's a bingo" and Aldo corrects him "You just say bingo" and Landa smiles and says "Bingo! What fun!".

Diane Kruger is also great as Bridget Von Hammersmark, the German film star and under cover agent for the British army.  

And I will mention just her one scene with Brad Pitt as Aldo interrogates Bridget after the botched operation kino fails as the British officer Hicock, posing as an SS officer, blew his cover.

So, in the scene, Aldo sticks his finger in Bridget's bullet wound (having been shot in the leg during the bar shootout), as she cries out in pain, she tells him " Don't let your imagination get the better of you, Lieutenant. You met the sergeant, Willi. He had a baby tonight. His commanding officer gave him and his friends the night off to celebrate. The Germans being there was set up by me or just a tragic coincidence. It can't be both!". So, Aldo removes his finger from her leg and asks "How did the shooting start?" and Bridget tells him "The english man gave himself away" and Aldo asks "How did he do that?" and she holds up three fingers in the British manner "He ordered three glasses" and she then holds up her three fingers in the German way "We order, three glasses. The other is odd, Germans would and did notice it". 

Bridget then goes on to tell Aldo about new developments regarding Operation Kino, so she tells Aldo "
There have been two recent developments regarding Operation Kino. One, the venue has been changed from the Ritz to a much smaller venue". Aldo says to her "Enormous changes at the last minute? That's not very Germatic. Why the hell is Goebbels doin' stuff so damn peculiar?" and Bridget says "That is probably to do with the second development and Aldo asks "Which is?" and Bridget says with a smile "The Fuhrer is attending the premiere". Donny then stands up and shouts "FUCK A DUCK!".

So, Aldo then tells Bridget that she has to try and get them into the premiere but she angrily says "I'm going to probably end up losing this leg, bye bye acting career, fun while it lasted. How do you expect me to walk up a red carpet?!". Aldo tells her, the doctor they have will remove that bullet and bandage her leg up in a cast and pretend that she broke her leg in a mountain climb, so he says "You all like climbin mountains, don't cha?" and Bridget offended tells him "I don't! I like drinking, smoking and ordering in restaurants but I see your point".     

Michael Fassbender is also excellent in his career making role as Lt Hicox, the British soldier, who is also a film critic in his civiliian life, and is brought into the secret British operation "Operation Kino" to kill the German high command. 

And Michael has some good scenes of his own, such as his first where Hicox is invited into speak to a British General, Ed Fenech (Mike Meyers) and Winston Churchill (Rod Taylor).

So, in the scene, Hicox explains his background to the General and Churchill and how successful Goebbels has become in Germany at getting audiences to the cinemas. So, Churchill asks "You say he wants to take on the Jews at their own game? Compared to say Louis B.Mayer...how's he doing?". So, Hicox replies "Quite well, actually. Since Goebbels has taken over, film attendance has steadily risen in Germany over the last eight years. But Louis B.Mayer wouldn't be Goebbels proper opposite number. I believe Goebbels see's himself closer to David O.Selznick".

Then there is the scene where Hicox arrives at the rendevouz in France where they will meet Bridget von Hammersmark, which happens to be a bar in a basement, much to Aldo's annoyance, who doesn't like the idea of fighting in a basement. 

So, in the Hicox also sees Hugo Stiglitz, one of the Basterds team, sharpening his knife and he approaches Hugo and asks "Stiglitz?" and Hugo says "That's right, sir". So, Hicox says to Hugo "I hear you are pretty good with that" and Hugo doesn't answer. So, Hicox says to Hugo "You know, we're not looking for trouble, right now. We're simply making contact with our agent. Should be uneventful. However, on the off chance I'm wrong, and things prove eventful. I need to know, we can
all remain calm". Hugo finally stops sharpening his knife and looks up at Hicox and says to him quietly "Dont, I look calm to you?" and Hicox smiles and says "Well now you put it like that, I guess you do".

Last of all is the lengthy scene in the French basement inn where Hicox and two of the Basterds along with Bridget try and have their meeting (as the men pose as German officers) which is interrupted by a drunken German officer and then later interrupted by an SS officer, who joins them for a drink after challenging Hicox's German accent. However, in the end Hicox blows his cover by giving the British hand sign for three instead of German, which the SS officer, Hellstrom notices as they order a bottle of whiskey.

So, in the scene, Hellstrom takes out his gun and points it under the table and says to Hicox in German "I grow tired of these monkeyshines! You hear that? That's the sound of my Walther pointed at your testicles!" and Hicox asks "Why?" and Hellstrom says "Because you just gave yourself away, Captain, you are no more German than that Scotch!". So, as Hicox realises he has been rumbled, he takes out a cigarette and resignedly says in his English accent "Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind if I go out speaking the King's" and Hellstrom says in English "By all means, Captain". Hicox then looks at his glass of whiskey and says "There's a special rung in hell reserved people who waste good whiskey. Seems I might be rapping on the door momentarliy. I have to say, damn good stuff, sir!". Hicox haivng drunk up then drags on his cigarette "As for this pickle we are in, it seems there is only one thing left for you to do" and Hellstrom asks in English "And what would that be?" and Hicox looks to Hugo and says "Stiglitz.." and Hugo says "Say Auf Weidersen to your Nazi balls!" and a big shootout ensues. 

Melanie Laurent is also very good too as Shosanna, and she appears somewhat cool headed on the surface but deep down you know she is still distraught at the death of her family at the hands of the Landa's men, and she is hellbent on revenge as the Nazis intend to use her cinema for Goebbels premiere of "Nation's Pride".

And Melanie's scenes are largely all subtitled in French, but I will cover just a couple, starting with the one where after Goebbels and some German officers inspect Shosanna's cinema, she tells her Afro-French boyfriend, Marcel about her to plan to burn the cinema down on the premiere night.

So, in the scene, Shosanna tells Marcel "I am going to burn down the cinema on Nazi night. And if I'm going to burn down the cinema, which I am, we both know you're not going to let me do it by myself. Because you love me. And I love you. And you're the only person on this earth I can trust. But that's not all we're going to do. Does the filmmaking equipment in the attic still work? I know the film camera does. How about the sound recorder?". So, Marcel says "Quite well, actually. I recorded a new guitarist I met in a cafe last week. It works superb. Why do we need filmmaking equipment?" and Shosanna tells him "Because, Marcel, my sweet, we're going to make a film. Just for the Nazis".

And last of all is the scene where Shosanna is pestered by Frederick Zoller, a famed German sniper, in the projector room during the premiere of "Nation's Pride" which is about him (and stars him).

So, in the scene Shosanna tries to get rid of Zoller by saying "This is your premiere, you should be out there with them" but Zoller tells her "But at this point, the film is about me killing those men and this is a part I don't like". Shosanna then tries to get rid of him politely and says "Look, Frederick..." and Zoller grins "So, I thought I would what I do best, come up here and annoy you" and Shosanna, desperate to get rid of him says "I have to change the reel, its coming up". So, as Zoller tries to persuade to let him in, she finally has enough and snaps at him "Are you so use to the Nazi's kissing your ass, you've forgotten what the word,"No" means? No Fredrick, you  can't come in here, now go away!". So, as she tries to shut the door, Zoller suddenly violently pushes it open, knocking Shosanna back, who grasps her hand and says "Frederick, you hurt me" and Zoller gloatingly says "Well, at least you can feel something even if it is pain! I'm not a man you can say "go away" to! There are 300 dead bodies in Russia, that could testify to that, if they could!". 

Shosanna then out of the blue says "Lock the door" and Zoller taken aback asks "Why?" and Shosanna says "We don't have much time" and Zoller asks "Time for what?" and Shosanna sighs and says "Forget it" and starts to walk away and Zoller says "No, no, no. You want me to lock the door?" and Shosanna says "For the fifty seventh time, yes". So, Zoller goes off to do so and suddenly Shosanna goes to her purse and grabs a gun and shoots Zoller in the back three times, who falls down on the ground. However, as she approaches his seemingly dead body, he turns around and fires his Luger at Shosanna twice, who falls down in agony and Zoller fires once more and she dies as does he from his wounds.   

Nicholas Hoult is also very good in his role as Fredreick Zoller, a famed German sniper, who Goebbels has made a film about after him named "Nation's Pride" which Zoller himself stars in. And Zoller himseld becomes infatuated with Shosanna, as he meets her walking past her cinema as she changes film titles outside one night. 

And Hoult has quite a few good scenes but I will mention just a couple such as the one where Zoller meets Shosanna again in a cafe, who is trying to read a book and clearly cannot be bothered with him. So, instead he manages to intrigue her a little when he is stopped by several Germans, who compliment him on his war efforts. 

So, in the scene, as Zoller sits with Shosanna in the cafe, she tells him "Look, Frederick, you look like a nice fellow, but I want you to stop pestering me". Zoller then says "I'm sorry, madameoiselle, I wasn't trying to be a best. I was simply being freindly" and Shosanna says "I don't want to be your friend" and Zoller asks "Why not?" and Shosanna says "You know why". Zoller then says "I am more than just a uniform" and Shosanna rejects him "Not to me, if you are so desperate for a French girlfriend, I suggest you try Vichy". 

Then all of a sudden, several German officers stop to congratulate him and take his picture and get his autograph. So, Shosanna a little intrigued asks "Who are you?" and Zoller says smugly "I thought I was just a uniform" and Shosanna asks "Are you someone's son?" and Zoller says "Most German soldiers are someone's son". So, Shosanna after seeing some more admiring fans of Zoller twigs, "So, you are a war hero" and then "What did you do?" and Zoller says "I was alone in a bell tower in a walled off city in Russia. It was myself and a thousand rounds of ammunition in a bird's net, against three hundred Russian soldiers". Shosanna asks "How many soldiers did you kill?" and Zoller tells her "68...the first day. 150, the second day...32 the third day. On the fourth day, they exited the city. Naturally my war story received a lot of attention in Germany. They called me German Sgt York". 

And last of all is the scene where Zoller attending the premiere of "Nation's Pride" becomes uncomfortable watching it and decides to pay Shosanna a visit in the projection room. So, he knocks on the door, much to Shosanna's annoyance, who opens the door and Zoller jokes to her "Are you the manager of this cinema? I want my money back! The actor in this stinks!". Shosanna however is in no mood for him and asks "What are you doing here?" and Zoller tells her "I came to see you" and Shosanna tells him "Frederick, you can't be here" and Zoller asks "Why not" and Shosanna "This is your premiere, you should be with them". Zoller however tells her "Normally you would be right, but this part that is on just now, I don't like to watch. So, I thought I would do what I do best, come upstairs and annoy you". 

Shosanna however at this point has had enough and sharply tells Zoller "Are you so used to Germans kissing your ass?! No means no! Now, go away!". Zoller however then pushes the door open, and Shosanna grasps her hand "Frederick, you hurt me" and Zoller angrily says "Well, its good to know you can feel something even if it is physical pain! I'm not a man you say, "Go away" to! There's over three hundred dead bodies in Russia, that if they could, would testify to that! After what I've done for you, you disrespect me at your peril!". Shosanna then tells Zoller to lock the door, as if to tempt him into thnking something could happen with them, so as does, Shosanna suddenly grabs a gun from her purse and shoots Zoller three times in the back but as she checks on his limp body, he suddenly springs up and shoots her with his Luger and he then succumbs to his wounds. 

And last of all is Eli Roth, who is pretty good in his role as Donny Donowitz aka "the Bear Jew" who is infamous for beating Nazi soldiers to death with a baseball bat. 

So, I will mention just one of Eli's scenes, which is the first one where we see Donny emerge from a tunnel to kill a Nazi officer with his bat. So, as he emerges, he walks up to the Nazi soldier, Rachtman and he taps Rachtman's badge and he asks "You get that for killing Jews?" and Rachtman defiantly says "Bravery". Donny nods and then takes his bat and places it against Racthman's head gently and then takes a swing and clubs Rachtman's head with and proceeds to beat him to death as the Basterds cheer him on. So, Donny after shouts out "Teddy fuckin' Williams knocks it out of the park! Fenway Park on its feet for Teddy fuckin' Ballgame! He went yardo on that one, out to fuckin' Lansdowne Street!" he then points at another Nazi soldier and shouts "YOU!" but the soldiers tries to run and one of the Basterds shoots him dead. So, Aldo tells Donny to bring the last suriving soldier over and Donny pushes "You're up! Batter up!" and the soldier willingly gives up the info Aldo wants. So, afterward, Aldo carves a Swastika into the soldier's forehead and Donny impressed looks down at the soldier and says to Aldo "You know, Lieutenant, you're getting pretty good at that" and Aldo tells him "You know how you get to Carnegie hall, don't cha? Practice!". 

DIRECTOR 

Finally moving onto the director, Quentin Tarantino does a fine job here once again in the director's chair and paces the film's lengthy running time pretty well and again provides some great dialogue and get's fine performances from the cast. Tarantino also expertly builds the tension in the longer scenes such as the intro scene with Landa at the French dairy farm as well as the Basterds meeting with Bridget von Hammersmark that goes badly wrong. He also again provides a fine visual sense with his compositions of shots, such as the overhead shot of Shosanna leaving a room in the cinema and heading downstairs as well the pan shot at the dairy farm underneath the floorboads revealing the Jewish family hiding. So, overall, this is definitely one of Tarantino's most solid entries in his career.

MUSIC 

As, for the music, Tarantino initially wanted to work with Ennio Morricone, who at the time wasn't available, so there was no dedicated composer working on the film, however he still used some of Morricone's tracks from his Spaghetti western days but most notably the track that appears at the end of the film "Rabbia e Tarantella" is the most memorable. Tarantino also choose other tracks that were well used such as "The Green Leaves of Summer" by Dimitri Tomkin, which plays at the start of the film as well as David Bowie's "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)".

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws, yes there are some worth a mention in the film. 

For staters, there are one or two moments in the film that probably leave a slightly bad taste in your mouth, which can sometimes be the case in Tarantino's films. Such an example is when Hammersmark kills the young German soldier, Wilhelm in the tarven, who had become a new father.  Hammersmark pleads with Wilhelm to put the gun down and think of his son, only to then gun him down afterwards.  You can see why she did it, as she wanted her identity as a spy to be kept secret, so the best way was to kill him, either that or she took offence at being called a "fucking traitor" by Wilhelm, but the scene does leave a nasty after impression.  

You could also argue at times that Tarantino makes one or two hasty decisions in presenting how the Nazis are portrayed, especially in the lack of security on the foyer of Shosanna's cinema, as there appears a lack of security when surely security would be the most important things in this case.  And wouldn't they think to check every inch of the cinema, so that they know it is safe for the Fuhrer to attend, yet they let its owner leave a big pile of flammable film prints behind the screen! 

There are also the odd moment that doesn't make immediate sense such as Stiglitz eyeing the Gestapo soldiers in the French tavern and we cut to a flashback of him being whipped. This (not so) clearly indicates how he was tortured by the SS and how much he wants to kill this officer, which was made clearer in the script book available for the film but at first viewing, its a bit vague. 

Another issue I had was to do with Landa killing Bridget von Hammersmark for her insubordination and working with the Basterds yet what he does afterward is far worse! I mean Bridget collaborated with the British and the Basterds but he actually betrays the entire Third Reich by letting the Basterds carry out their plan to kill Hitler & Goebbels and blow up the cinema they are in! I think that is far worse and its a bizarre change up from his loyalties to his party by strangling Bridget to betraying them the next.

You could also argue that Tarantino is being a bit irresponsible here with the historical inaccuracies on display here with Hitler and his high command being massacred by the Basterds in Shosanna's cinema. I mean it has to be said that Tarantino is not one for historical accuracy, which again he would show in his film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood regarding the depiction of the Manson murders. 

And last of all is an inconsistency in the dates of the film where we see it start in 1941 at Lapadite's dairy farm where Landa has his men shoot Shosanna's family before she herself manages to escape the scene. However, the film moves forward to 1944 where we see Shosanna outside her cinema and we get a card that says "Shosanna Dreyfus, four years after the massacre of her family" but that was only 3 years ago! So, its a bizarre oversight in the film that Tarantinto would be one year out and suggests he has a problem with math! ;-) 

So, that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up Inglourious Basterds is an excellent Tarantino film, which showcases once again his skills as a director and manages to create a highly entertaining film with plenty of humour but also great moments of suspense. The film's performances are also top notch with Brad Pitt and Christophe Waltz being the standouts but the film's supporting cast are also very good, particularly Melanie Laurent and the German actors such as Nicholas Hoult as Frederick Zoller and Michael Fassbender jump started his career here very well as the British soldier, Lt Hicox. 

So, overall, Inglourious Basterds is very solid Tarantino film and easily one that warrants repeated viewing. 

So, I will rate Inglourious Basterds:

9 out of 10

And that's it for now guys and I will be back soon next month with another review.

Until then, its bye for now!