Inglorious Bastards

Inglorious Bastards (Quel maledetto treno blindato) (1978)

Runtime: 99 minutes

Directed by: Enzo G. Castellari

Starring: Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Peter Hooten, Michael Pergolani

From: Films Concorde/Capitol International

Yes, it’s Inglorious Bastards, not Inglorious Basterds. This is the original film that Tarantino took the title from, the barebones plot, and little else for his Basterds, coming out this Friday. Before I talk about the original, let me mention that I’m not sure how Basterds will turn out. I know that many people seem to slobber over everything that Quentin does and say that all of his movies are all-time classics, but I sure as shit don’t feel the same way. While I know there are probably some people who dislike all of his work, I’ll say that I really enjoyed Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, and I enjoyed Death Proof (I was able to tolerate those harpy women characters and their nonstop yakking; the car chase and ending does a lot for the flick), but his other stuff, no way. Jackie Brown bored me and I really disliked both Kill Bill movies. Sorry, but I disliked *all* of the characters in that movie, so it’s kind of hard to like a movie when you feel that way. What people see in that movie, I’m not quite sure.

What I’ve seen of Basterds (the trailer and that’s really it) and I’m not sure if this is going to be any good or if it’s something that will make me angry. I’m not blown away by the footage like most people apparently are, let me put it that way. Still, I’ll likely see it on the big screen; I saw a screening of Pulp Fiction earlier in the year when it was shown specially at Universal Studio Citywalk’s movie theatre, but that’ll be the first first-run movie from QT for me.

As for this 1978 Italian war drama/action flick, it’s about a band of soldiers who are about to be court-martialed for various crimes, but after an attack they escape and they you’ll see their escapades. I managed to find this DVD at a Movie Gallery, of all places. They had a 1 DVD version of the 3 DVD set that was released last year. The movie isn’t all that great (oddly enough, I also have to complain about the characters here. They weren’t that bad, come to think of it, but not really all that likeable either) but it’s helped out by its pace and how a lot of stuff happens. To give you an idea as to what to expect here, there’s a scene where they stumble upon a bevy of naked beauties and of course, the scene ends with a gunfight between the squad and the naked beauties! Stuff happens and the action sequences are pretty entertaining, so I’ll say that while this isn’t a must-see European cinema classic or anything like that, if you at least want to see the original Bastards, then you’ll want to check it out.

I do have to give praise, though, to the people that did the score throughout the movie and the opening credits, both of which can be experienced here. In a few days I'll probably post something new here.