Inglorious Bastards, The (3 Disc Explosive Edition)

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4/5The Film

Also known under the alternate titles of Hell's Heroes, The Deadly Mission, and G. I. Bro (a personal favorite), Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards is to The Dirty Dozen what his earlier Street Law was to Death Wish - a fast paced and fun knock off that has a few tricks of its own up its sleeve.

A gang of allied soldiers are being put into a truck and shipped off to prison camp when a German squadron attacks them en route. Many of the men are killed but five make it out alive - slimey racist Tony (Peter Hooten of Orca), cigar chomping Fred (Fred ‘The Hammer' Williamson of The New Barbarians), crafty and mustachioed Nick (Michael Pergolani), cowardly Berle (Jackie Basehart) and their leader, Sgt. Yeager (Bo Svenson of the Walking Tall TV series). Together they decide to make their way to the Swiss border as the country is neutral and they'll be safe there from both the allied forces who want to see them put in prison and the German soldiers who are trained to shoot men like them on site.

After a few skirmishes the men end up capturing a German soldier who they nickname Adolf (Raimund Harmstorf of A Genius, Two Partners And A Dupe). He opts to lead them through the woods to the border safely in exchange for his life and the fact that he speaks English means that he'll come in handy should they run into any Nazi troops along the way which is exactly what happens. Soon, after an encounter with some naked German girls who spray the boys with machine gun fire after Fred blows their cover (surprisingly they're able to ascertain that he isn't German!), they end up killing a group of American Special Forces operatives who they mistook for Nazi's. This puts them in a tough spot as they have to cooperate with some French underground resistance fighters and the cranky Colonel Buckner (Ian Bannen of Amicus' Tales From Beyond The Grave) who eventually decides to use them in place of his men on a mission to take down a German train carrying a super bomb.

Realism is not a strong point of this film. Those looking for a gritty portrayal of the horrors of war a la Cross Of Iron should keep moving as this one, aside from some slow motion carnage, has nothing in common with that or other serious films about the Second World War. With that being said, The Inglorious Bastards is a whole lot of goofy, action packed fun, realism or historical accuracy be damned. Highlights include Fred Williamson mowing down Nazi after with a machine gun while smoking a cigar and never once losing his cool. Bo Svenson gets to talk tough and punch a lot of people in the head. Oodles of Nazi's blow up and fly head over heels through the air while mother-loads of reasonably well made miniature buildings exploding into great balls of fire! You get all that in more in this one, and it's fun from start to finish.

Castellari knows how to pace a film and he knows how to direct action and with this film he's really able to cut loose even more so than in his polizia films or his post nuke films. He's working on a bigger scale with a bigger cast and as such is able to kill more people and make more explosions than any other film in his career and he definitely makes the most of the opportunity. It all builds up very nicely to an expertly directed and predictably explosive finale that is surprisingly dark considering the earlier parts of the film which at times are quite playful. It's an action packed movie with some great performances from Svenson and Williamson, that makes for completely entertaining viewing.

4/5Video

3.5/5Audio

The disc comes with a Dolby Digital Mono track available in English only. There aren't any problems to report with the mix, everything sounds pretty decent here. Dialogue stays clean and clear from start to finish, the score is nice and punchy, and the levels are all properly balanced.

5/5Extras

The first disc contains an audio commentary with director Enzo G. Castellari and moderator/Severin main man David Gregory. This is a pretty interesting discussion that includes the film's various alternate titles (the best being G.I. Bro!) and about the history of the film. Speaking in English, Castellari struggles at times to express himself but generally does a very good job of discussing the making of the film. He notes many of the compositions and points out that this picture contains the first use of a steadi-cam in Italian film. He also covers some of the effects and the location shooting in a fair bit of detail and shares some amusing anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of making this picture. Castellari talks about working with his effects technician on the film, noting that he was always ready to 'blow up everything' and of course, he talks about the famous nude ladies with machine guns scene, at which point Gregory mentions he hard more people were on set that day than any other day so that they could watch! Overall, this is a fun discussion despite a couple of moments of silence and it's completely enjoyable to listen to Castellari talk about his experiences making this film.

Also on the first disc is A Conversation With Quentin Tarantino And Enzo G. Castellari (38:21, anamorphic widescreen). Tarantino's been talking about remaking this film for years now and he's obviously a big fan of the picture and Castellari's work in general, which becomes apparent early on from the genuine excitement he shows while talking to Castellari here. The pair discuss the comic relief in the film as well as how it mixes blaxploitation with a more traditional war film. Tarantino gets Castellari to talk a bit about the influence of Peckinpah's Cross Of Iron, and the use of slow motion in the film's action scenes. The pair discuss the use of a steadi-cam in a couple of different spots, and Castellari notes that this was one of the 'biggest' films he ever made in terms of scope and in terms of the size of the cast and crew he was in charge of. Taratino and Castellari both talk about their own experiences with Fred Williamson, and Tarantino tells a fun story about meeting him at a gas station long before he cast him in From Dusk Til Dawn. This featurette does cover some of the same ground as the commentary but it also covers enough new ground that it's very much worth checking out.

Rounding out the first disc is the film's original theatrical trailer (1:24, fullframe), some animated menus and chapter selection.

On the second disc is a documentary entitled Train-Kept-A-Rollin (1:15:38, anamorphic widescreen) that features interviews with Svenson, Williamson, Massimo Vanni, Castellari, screenwriter Laura Troscano, producer Robert Sbarigia, and Filipo De Massi (the son of the film's composer Francesco De Massi). This insanely comprehensive feature length look back at the making of the movie makes for excellent viewing as it gives us a look at the film from a few different perspectives, from in front of and from behind the camera. Alongside the interviews, anecdotes, trivia and stories covering every facet of the production, there's a wealth of clips, behind the scenes photographs, storyboards and promotional artwork.

Also worth checking out is Back To The War Zone (13:00, anamorphic widescreen), a featurette that allows Castellari to take us on a trip to the locations that were used in the film. Clips and stills from the film are contrasted against footage that shows what the locations look like today and how they've changed (or in some cases, not changed) over the years.

Rounding out the extras is a third disc in the form of an audio CD that contains the only original surviving music from the film (four tracks in total).

4/5Overall

Film Rating		DVD Rating
Director:	Enzo G. Castellari	Film:
Writer:	Sandro Continenza, Sergio Greico	Video:
Released:	1977	Audio:
Cast:	Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Peter Hooten, Ian Bannen, Michael Pergolani, Michel Constantin, Debra Berger	Extras:
		Overall: