Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds"

Its still sight unseen by me and will remain that way. Ive always said that you cant make an Eagle out of a Turkey, this so-called movie, is a great case in point.

 

The DVD will be going to the Charity Shop.

I was, actually, quite looking forward to watching it ( it's a Tarantino movie, after all...). But I just found it plain silly. 'Way down there with 'Wheels Of Terror'.

I remember reading an interview years ago with Tarantino where he expressed his admiration for 'Where Eagles Dare' and wanted to do something similar.

Well, IMPO he missed the mark by a mile.

 

Hi Martin, your in luck today as TCM is having a Sir John Mills marathon. You can wash IB out of your memory with his movies. Got to watch: Dunkirk and was quite pleased to find out that Lionel Jeffries was in it as Btir Colonel. Also, got to see part of The Way To the Stars before leaving the house.

 

Do you ever wonder if decades from now we will judge some of these "bad" war movies differently?

For example, most of the Pacific rogues here hate the movie "Midway". Nevertheless, if I see it on I will not change the channel because it has a great cast.

I wonder if some day, this will happen for U-571 or such like it (Horrible movie, but I like Harvey Keitel)?

 

On this one, only if the people of tomorrow are THAT stupid? ;-)

 

I can't help wondering if the end sequence with the heroine chanting "this is the face of Jewish revenge, this is the face of Jewish revenge" wasn't referring to the movie itself and its effect on the collective recollection of the Jewish resistance and the Nazis during the war.
After all, the Germans, or rather the Nazi command were depicted as complete sniveling dopey idiots ala "Hogan's Heros" and the Jewish heros were depicted as smart, savvy and elusive demigod warriors slipping in and out of sight, instilling terror and infuriating Hitler et al and finally executing them all in a fiery bloodbath.
I was asked at work after this movie came out by someone in their mid thirties if that was how Hitler really died, someone else in their mid twenties chimed in "no it isn't, is it?"
It reminds me of that old propaganda film that depicted Hitler as a sniveling coward afraid to shoot himself. It didn't really matter weather it was true or not, it had an effect on peoples perception at that time as this movie does now.

 

I finally and reluctantly saw it, and geez , it's possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my entire life.....

As if a commando could just hang out in occupied France like that and hunt the entire German army..... They systematically call every single Germans "Nazis" and do not make any diffence between those who are and those who are not. The commando kills and tortures pows which makes them war criminals, not to mention the unarmed soldier who celebrated the birth of his son.... I know it's second degree, but I'd rahter watch the Monty Python then...

Some grave mistakes which do not make it realistic.

1)The SS let's deliberately run the Jewish girl away after having waited a long time and finally realize he has no amno... 2)The Jewish girl dates an black guy righ tin the middle of occupied Paris and inherited this from her family despite Vichy laws which for a start would hav emade this impossible. The black guy used modern slang .
3)Goebbels and Hitler + 350 Nazis enter a theater almost unguarded and have no guards near the doors.
4)No security inquiry is made about the black man and he can just pile up hundreds of films unguarded.
5°The French barman speaks fluently German , they have alcohol quantities as if the war never took place.
6°the Basterds speak Italian .....and despite their ignorance ar enot spotted by one single German.
7) Hitler welcomes a German survivor who betrayed his comrades and does not freak out and kill him
8)The sniper is good enough to kill 300 Americans but he gets killed by an untrained civilian girl
9) Goebbels hangs out in Paris with some French chick and acts as if he were single
10) There is no curfew in Paris with neon lights at the cinemas. The Raf would have loved such a target, especially with Hitler inside....

I watched it as a joke, but on the whole I just found it sick and insulting both for the victims of the Nazis (you'd wonder why they didn't do all this themselves, considering it seemed so "easy") and the Germans (you'd wonder how they even made it to Sedan, considering they cannot fight) .When I think of that idiot killing pows with a baseball bat.... The Germans would have killed 50 civilian hostages the first day and a 100 more the next and the commando would not be roaming around more than a few days, especially not as hunters wearing tuxedos the next day and having explosives at will.

 

Have to agree with you wholeheartedly, Skipper - time has not softened my opinion on this one.

 

I fully agree it is not a great war movie in the classic sense.

But..(you knew a but was coming)

A Tarentino film is in itself not about the overall backstory (in this case WWII), but rather a character study of people in extreme situations, how they interact, and how random chance sends events into unexpected directions. His films also are homages to past and sometimes obscure films and filmaker's as well as actors that have dropped off the mainstream 'A' list.

In this case Tarentino is using the title of an Italian made rip-off of The Dirty Dozen. I have never seen the 'original' but from what they had to see on the bonus disk for IB, we're not missing anything. It was however indicative of many of the 'Dozen rip-off's that followed this film.

Cameo's were by Bo Svenson who appeared as the American officer in the Propaganda film (He starred in the original Italian film and the 'cult Walking Tall movies), Rod Tayor as Winston Churchill ( a classic leading man of the 50's and 60's, but largely out of film lately), Mike Meyers as a British Briefing officer (In his Austin Powers films Michal York portayed 'Basil Exposition' who basically tell's the audience the backstory, His job in this film) and the Italian Director of the original Inglorious Bastards ( he portay's an Italian General in the movie audience.

Tarentino is big on details , but not the ones we who study WWII hold sacrosanct. German's speak German, French speak French. The German Actress (Diane Kruger) references actual German film's of the '30's and the poster reproduction's grace the movie theater. The group of 'Basterd's are undone in the French bar because the British commando orders three drinks in the way a Englishman/American would rather than how a German of the era would.

Inglorious Bastards is not a great, or even good, war film. Nor would I [SIZE=3]recommend[/SIZE] it to anyone as such. Its not [I]Shindler's List[/I], but it never was intended as such. Christof Waltz [SIZE=3]portrayal[/SIZE] of of the SS officer is way over the top and in no way 'accurate'[SIZE=3],[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]s[/SIZE]till while on screen he is riveting to watch and richly deserved the Academy award for Supporting actor. Christian Bale[SIZE=3]'s Batman is absurd if you think about it, none the less great fun to watch.[/SIZE]

We sometimes forget that a film is simply meant to entertain, not accu[SIZE=3]rately reflect history. Frustrating to us here on this forum, but we are not Ta[SIZE=3]r[/SIZE]entino's target audience.

Skipper, Martin your opinions are certainly valid and at least in part I share them, but [I]I do [/I]like film[SIZE=3]'s in general and can respect what Tarentino tries to do here even if he peg's my BS meter in a lot of ways. [/SIZE][/SIZE]

 

I understand and tried to see it as something else , like entertaining, humoristic or fiction, but even with a second degree in mind (I venture to say there is no third) I could only see grave historic errors, cheap blood (sells good) and an autistic scenario . belasar if you buy the Dirty Dozen film DVD, you'll love it and are up for a great treat , it simply does not compare.



http://themovieproject-moviefan.blogspot.fr/2011/11/dirty-dozen.html

 

Never watched it the second time...

 

Belasar is of course right, it's only a movie and as such it's all down to personal taste. The problem I find with IB is that ( unlike say Where Eagles Dare which Tarantino cited as one of his all-time favourites ) I just don't find it entertaining at all - just rather irritating. I had quite high hopes of the combination of Tarantino ( and believe it or not, I'm a fan...) and WWII. To me, the movie is somehow a wasted opportunity.......

Anyhow, it went to the Charity Shop. Which can't be said of my Where Eagles Dare DVD.....

 

ah ah! So you actually spent money on it! I waited to see it for free on public TV

 

Skipper you are absolutely correct, Dirty Dozen is both the better 'War' movie and the better film overall between them. The point I was trying to get across is that a Tarentino film is of a type. Over the top violence, performance's and subject's Go to a Tim Burton, Mike Meyer's or Mel Brook's film and you know what you are in for before the film begins to roll. Tarentino is like that as well.