THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS: 3 DISC EXPLOSIVE EDITION [R]
review by Robert Newton
Anyone who is unclear on the definition of the word “fanboy” need only peep the interview that Pulp Fiction director does with Enzo G. Castellari, Italian director of the 1978 “macaroni combat” movie, The Inglorious Bastards: 3 Disc Explosive Edition on the new DVD. Tarantino, who has been writing a remake of the World War II actioner since 2001, gushes even more than a giddy Seth MacFarlane did when he interviewed George Lucas on the DVD of the Star Wars episode of “Family Guy,” Blue Harvest.
The movie itself is not top-notch. It’s a none-too-subtle Frankensteining of movies like The Dirty Dozen, Kelly’s Heroes and Von Ryan’s Express (to name just a few). Bo Svenson plays a convicted American G.I. who escapes from a prison convoy during a German attack, and leads his motley crew to redemption by blowing up a German train carrying a deadly new rocket design. Fred “The Hammer” Williamson co-stars, and was actually featured prominently in G.I. Bro, one of the many re-cut versions of the film (Deadly Mission being the most familiar to American audiences). There is plenty of action, hijinks and some naked broads thrown in for good measure, and it’s not an entirely unlikable affair, despite it occasionally suffering from ambitions that outstrip its budget and its creators’ skill sets.
The loving presentation is what makes this set shine. The lengthy Tarantino interview gives some great insight into both directors’ love of moviemaking, even if it is a bit too much of a QT-heavy love-fest. It gives some perspective regarding Tarantino’s version, which, until it starts shooting, remains legendary vaporware. The prospect of shooting it as two films as QT suggests should be a red flag, as such a failure in narrative resulted in the run-on sentence that was the self-indulgent pair of Kill Bill movies. But if he can get the wishlisted Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio to star in it, that won’t matter much.
The brand new 75-minute making-of feature is pretty meaty, and features Svenson doing some serious self-examination, plus the chronically cool Williamson shining some light on how to become powerful and loved outside the Hollywood studio system. There are some great lessons in resourcefulness for filmmakers, too, as the effects crew tells of some unfortunate restrictions passed by an overly cautious, Red-fearing government that led to having to make fake guns that had to be shot and edited in such a way that didn’t reveal that each could only fire one shot. A featurette visits some of the key locations in the film, and Francesco De Masi’s score on CD is the cherry on top, making this a must-have for fans of the exploitation genre (and Big Macho Things).•••
Robert Newton is the editor of WorcesterMovies.
