Inglourious Basterds

This article is about the 2009 film. For the 1978 film, see The Inglorious Bastards.

Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds theatrical poster
Directed by	Quentin Tarantino
Written by	Quentin Tarantino
Produced by	Lawrence Bender
Starring	Brad Pitt Mélanie Laurent Christoph Waltz Diane Kruger Michael Fassbender Eli Roth Daniel Brühl Til Schweiger
Cinematography	Robert Richardson
Edited by	Sally Menke
Production companies	A Band Apart Zehnte Babelsberg
Distributed by	United States: The Weinstein Company International: Universal Pictures
Release dates	May 20, 2009 (Cannes) United Kingdom: August 19, 2009 Australia: August 20, 2009 United States: August 21, 2009
Running time	148 min. (Cannes) 149 min. (U.S.)
Country	Template:FilmUS
Languages	French English German Italian
Budget	$70 million

Inglourious Basterds is a war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in August 2009 by The Weinstein Company and Universal Pictures. It was filmed in several locations, among them Germany and France, beginning in October 2008. The title of the film was inspired by Italian director Enzo Castellari's 1978 movie The Inglorious Bastards, but it is not a remake, being set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II, and depicting a plan to assassinate the Nazi leadership.

Tarantino has repeatedly stressed that despite its being a war film, the movie is his "spaghetti western but with World War II iconography". In addition to spaghetti westerns, the film also pays homage to the World War II "macaroni combat" sub-genre (itself heavily influenced by spaghetti-westerns), as well as French New Wave cinema.

Inglourious Basterds was accepted into the main selection at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in competition for the prestigious Palme d'Or and had its world premiere there in May. It was the only U.S. film to win an award at Cannes that year, earning a Best Actor award for Christoph Waltz.

Plot

Premise

The film is set in an alternate history of the Second World War in which the entire top leadership of Nazi Germany, namely Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Bormann attend a film premiere in Paris celebrating the exploits of a German sniper who had managed to kill 250 American soldiers in Italy. The timeframe of the film is set in early June 1944, after the D-Day landings but before the liberation of Paris.

The film tracks the separate attempts to kill Hitler by two disparate forces, one being the "Basterds", a motley crew of Jewish American soldiers out for revenge against the Nazis. The Basterds have a modus operandi whereby each soldier must cut off the scalp of a dead Nazi soldier. The Basterds allow one German soldier to survive in order to spread the news of the terror of their attacks. However, the Basterds carve a swastika into the forehead of that German. The other force concerns Shosanna, the only Jewish survivor of an attack led by the "Jew Hunter" that had killed all her family. The Basterds and Shosanna remain unaware of each other throughout the film.

Chapter One: Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied France

The film opens up on a farm in France one year into the German occupation. A farmer is cutting wood for his family when a group of Nazis under the command of Colonel Hans “The Jew Hunter” Landa (Christoph Waltz) arrive on the premises. The farmer invites Landa in and gives him milk to drink and the two get down to business. Landa is there to cut a deal with the farmer in order to uncover the whereabouts of a missing Jewish Family that escaped Landa’s initial purge. After promising the farmer that he and his family will not be harmed, Landa speaks to the Farmer in English in order to throw off anyone listening. Landa confirms his suspicions that the missing Jewish family are lying down under the floorboards. He announces in French that he is leaving the room, only to herald in his troops and fire into the floorboards, killing most of the Jewish family instantly. One girl survives and makes a desperate escape to the woods outside the farmhouse. This girl – Shosanna Dreyfus – escapes and Landa says “Until We Meet Again.” His troops question whether it is wise to let the girl escape, but Landa shrugs her off saying that she will probably freeze to death. What can one girl do against the Third Reich?

Chapter Two: Inglourious Basterds

Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) is addressing a group of soldiers standing in a line. He is recruiting guerrillas to infiltrate France to accomplish one goal – kill Nazis. He is looking for 8 Jewish American men to bring with him under his command in order to make the Nazis suffer. He makes it clear that he has no intention of teaching the Nazis humanity. He tells the men that each person chosen to join the Basterds personally owes him 100 Nazi scalps, which they will deliver or die trying.

A few weeks later, Hitler is in his private residence in Barvia, the Burstich Garden, talking to two generals about the Basterds. They have been hard at work killing Nazis and instilling fear into the heart of the Third Reich. One member of the Basterds has already attained renown among the Nazis through his nickname – The Bear Jew. Hitler yells at his generals for allowing his men to be reduced to a bunch of wimps. One of his generals tells him that his men are spreading the rumour that the Bear Jew is a golem, made by a rabbi sent to beat Nazis to death with a baseball bat. Hitler is outraged and bans the term “Bear Jew” and gives his generals the order to hunt down and exterminate the Basterds. The generals send in Private Butz (Soenke Möhring), the only survivor of the Basterds’ latest massacre.

As Butz tells his story, we are shown the encounter via a flashback. Dead Nazis are slowly and graphically being scalped at the hands of the Basterds. Private Butz and another survivor, Sgt. Rachtman (Richael Sammel), are on their knees with their hands on their heads as they watch the Basterds go through the bodies of the dead for valuables, and their identification papers. They are horrified when the Basterds take off the boots of the dead soldiers and throw them away since they see this as a loss of dignity. PFC Hirschberg (Samm Levine), a Basterd, forces Sgt. Rachtman to talk to Aldo and the other Basterds, who are sitting Indian style in a circle. A Narrator (Samuel L. Jackson) explains that Rachtman thought that only a weakling would surrender information in an interrogation and that he made a vow that should he be tested he would die for his country. This is his test. Aldo and Rachtman salute each other during their introduction. Rachtman sits down and Aldo asks him how his English is. He introduces Rachtman to several of the Basterds:

Cpl. Wilhelm Wicki (Gedeon Burkhard) -An Austrian Jew who escaped the Nazis in Salzburg and returned as an American soldier to give the Nazis hell.

Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) - A Rogue Nazi who killed 13 members of the Gestapo and earned the Basterds’ respect. The Nazis sent him to Berlin for execution and the Basterds attacked his convoy for a jailbreak. Aldo asked Stiglitz “wanted to go pro” with his Nazi killing technique.

Sgt. Donny Donowitz (Eli Roth) – A Jewish barber from Boston who decided that he wanted to go to Germany to kill every Nazi he could find. The night before he shipped out, he went to a sports store and bought a heavy baseball bat. He then walked around the Jewish neighbourhood he lived in and got everyone with relatives in Europe to sign the bat. He now uses the bat to beat Nazis to death.

Aldo gives Rachtman a deal: If Rachtman gives Aldo and the Basterds the location of a hidden German convoy they’ll spare his life. If he doesn’t tell them, Donny will beat Rachtman to death with his baseball bat. Rachtman refuses to cooperate, so Donny beats him to death with his bat. Butz is called over by Aldo and immediately rats out the Germans hidden in the woods. We cut to Hitler asking how Butz escaped the ordeal, to which Butz replies that the Basterds let him go. Hitler then asks if he was “marked like the others.” Aldo asks what Butz will do once he leaves. Butz says he will hug his mother like never before and burn his Nazi uniform. Aldo doesn’t like the fact that he wants to hide that he was a Nazi and grabs a Bowie knife. Aldo carves a Swastika into Private Butz forehead. Donny comments on how good Aldo is getting at that. Aldo replies “You know how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.”

Chapter Three: German Night in Paris

It’s late at night and a movie is coming to an end in a theatre. Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) is in the theatre watching the movie. As everyone leaves, Shosanna remains in her seat. She is dressed as a nurse and waiting for the manager of the theatre to see her sitting there. The owner, Madam Mimieux, appears on a balcony above her and asks what Shosanna wants since the theatre is obviously closed. Shosanna asks for a place to stay and begins to tell her story when Mimieux cuts her off and tells Shosanna that she doesn’t want to hear Shosanna’s sad story. Shosanna offers to work for Mimieux since it is only Mimieux and her Black helper, Marcel, who run the theatre. Mimieux agrees to keep her on as an assistant if she is “truly exceptional”

Cut to 1944. Shosanna is manning the projector. She is showing a German film to the audience and changes the film reel. After the movie finishes, she leaves the theatre to change the marquee on the outside. The Narrator states that to run a theatre in German occupied France; you could either show Nazi propaganda or old German films. As Shosanna changes the marquee, a young Nazi soldier approaches her. He introduces himself as Frederich Zoller (Daniel Bruhl). He expresses his interest in her by talking about their mutual love of music. Zoller asks how Shosanna she came to own the theatre, and Shosanna tells him that her aunt left it to her when she died. When he persists with their discussion, she bids him adieu. She shows him her identification papers with the alias Emmanuelle Mimieux and the two part ways. She goes on the roof and smokes a cigarette. She remembers the time Mimieux caught her smoking in the theatre and threatened to kill her and turn her over the Nazis if she caught her doing that again. She makes it explicitly clear that if Shosanna smokes next to the film in the theatre, the theatre will burn down. Marcel arrives and Shosanna tells him that she misses Madame Mimieux and smokes so she can remember her.

The next afternoon, Shosanna is eating at a Bistro. Zoller arrives and asks to join her. She tells him that she doesn’t want to associate with a Nazi. Random Germans keep approaching Zoller and asking for autographs, which makes Shosanna curious. Zoller tells her that he is famous for having killed over 300 Russians in battle in a two day period and was asked to star in a Nazi movie about his life. He tells her that the reason he wants to keep talking to her is because Shosanna reminds him of the sister who raised him in Germany when his dad left and his mother died. Shosanna tells him that her theatre hasn’t been able to fill their capacity since the German instituted curfew. Zoller tells her that he is good friends with Joseph Goebbels, the head of Nazi propaganda, and that he is in France for publicity for the movie they made called “Nation’s Pride”. Shosanna wishes him luck and leaves.

The next day, as Marcel and Shosanna are fixing the marquee, a black Nazi van pulls up and the Nazis ask Shosanna to come with them. She worries as to whether or not she has been found out. The Nazis take her to an upscale Paris café. She is greeted by Joseph Goebbels, his mistress Francesca Mondino, and Private Zoller. Zoller attempts to convince Goebbels that they should host the premiere of “Nation’s Pride” by making it a more exclusive event tailored solely for high class Nazi officers and the German aristocracy. Goebbels agrees to consider it, provided that a test screening of “Lucky Kids” goes well at the theatre. Immediately after this, Colonel Hans Landa joins the group at their table. As Goebbels and Francesca depart, Landa sends Zoller away so that he can chat with Shosanna. He orders her milk and a strudel and questions her about her theatre. After questioning her family history, he confesses that he forgot the main reason he kept her behind and bids her farewell.

That night, the Germans are watching “Lucky Kids” and enjoying themselves. The Narrator informs the audience that as Shosanna watches the screen she thought of what would happen if the theatre burned down. She laughs at the idea. At the end of the film, Goebbels agrees to have the premiere of “Nation’s Pride” but makes changes to the theatre including adding a chandelier from Versailles and Greek statues from the museum in order to make the theatre classier. Shosanna tells Marcel her idea to burn down the cinema with the Nazis inside of it. The two fool around a little as they kiss and flesh out the plan. Shosanna wants to use Mimieux’s nitrate print film collection to burn down the theatre. Shosanna asks Marcel to get his film equipment to make a special film for the Nazis.

Chapter Four: Operation Kino

In an English country estate, Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) meets with General Ed Fenech (Mike Myers) and Winston Churchill (Rod Taylor). Fenech and Hicox discuss Hicox’s undercover operations in Germany and Hicox’s fluent German and how it makes him a prime candidate for “Operation Kino.” Churchill asks Hicox about his life prior to the war and quizzes him about film when he learns that Hicox was a film critic. Afterwards, Fenech briefs Hicox on his mission: In three days, the premiere of “Nation’s Pride” will be held in a theatre. All of the Nazi High Command will be present and the goal of the operation is to blow up the theatre with the Nazis in it. Hicox will rendezvous with the Basterds, go to a village called “Nadine” and meet a German double agent who will get Hicox into the premiere along with the two German speaking members of the Basterds. The double agent is famous German movie star Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).

On top of Shosanna’s movie theatre, Marcel is recording Shosanna standing on boxes and talking into a microphone. Before we can hear her message, the scene cuts to Marcel and Shosanna talking about how to develop the film. They realize that no one would be willing to develop the film because of the subject matter. They decide to threaten an old developer named Gasper. They go to his development lab and threaten to bury a hatchet in his head and kill his family if Gasper does not develop the film. The scene changes to Marcel and Shosanna editing the 4th reel of “Nation’s Pride” and splicing their footage into it.

That night in the village of Nadine, Hicox and Aldo are scouting out the rendezvous point: the basement of a local tavern. Aldo is pissed that they are at a disadvantage since they don’t want to fight their way out of a basement. Wicki, Hirschberg, Stiglitz, Donowitz and Utivich (BJ Novak) are the only remaining Basterds. Stiglitz is sharpening his knife which makes Hicox a little uneasy but they get through it. The group share their mistrust of the rendezvous point and wonder why Bridget chose to meet here. As Hicox suggests that it’s a place without Nazis and isolated, a Nazi comes out of the tavern to piss.

Inside the tavern, five Nazis are playing a guessing game with Bridget Von Hammersmark. Hicox, Wicki and Stiglitz enter and sit off to the side. Hammersmark says she’ll join them in a minute and then the four begin to talk about Operation Kino. As they’re sorting out the details, a drunken German officer celebrating the birth of his son comes to ask Hammersmark for her autograph. He begins to wear out his welcome when he asks about the unusual German accent Hicox uses. Hicox tries to pull rank on the soldier, but a Gestapo Major arrives and questions Hicox about his accent. Hicox plays it off but the Major sits down and insists on having a drink with Ms. Hammersmark. The five are soon playing the same guessing game as the soldiers across the bar. After the Major wins the first round, he has Hicox order 3 drinks. This unintentionally blows the Basterds’ cover. The Major points a gun at Hicox’s balls under the table. Hicox reveals that all three Basterds have had their guns pointed at the Major since he sat down. Hicox drains his glass and Basterds start firing. The Major kills Hicox as Stiglitz jumps the table to stab him. Hammersmark is shot in the leg. A shootout occurs and the only people left alive are the drunken Nazi father and Bridget Van Hammersmark.

Aldo arrives and calls down to see who is still alive. He’s pissed his men are dead, but wants to make a deal to get Hammersmark. He comes down unarmed with Hirschberg and the two promise that they will let the man walk away to go back to his son. They come to get Hammersmark but as they are about to carry her out, Hammersmark grabs a pistol and shoots the Sgt. Several times in the chest. Aldo gets pissed at her for making him a liar, but recognizes that if he lived Operation Kino would fail. Hirschberg carries Hammersmark to her sedan and the Basterds drive to find a doctor. They find a vet but he only speaks French. Donowitz yells at him to fix Hammersmark’s leg. When he doesn’t get it, Donny pantomimes a gunshot the leg. Once it’s clear the old man doesn’t get it, Donny starts shooting several of the vet’s caged dogs until the old man gives Bridget morphine.

Back at the Tavern, Colonel Landa is looking over the corpses. He identifies Stiglitz and Wicki. He notices a pair of high heeled shoes lying on the ground: one soaked in blood, one clean. This perplexes him. A soldier calls out to Landa telling him that the Sgt. Bridget shot was still alive.

Aldo asks Bridget why his men are dead. Bridget responds that it was just unfortunate circumstance. Aldo accepts this and Bridget explains how when Hicox order glasses the fingers he used to indicate the number was not the way Germans indicate the number on their hands. She tells them that she can still get them into the premiere, showing Aldo three tickets. Aldo is then informed that the theatre venue was changed and that Hitler would be in attendance that night. Aldo and Donny realize that Hitler’s presence is a game changer. They now have the opportunity to end World War II by blowing up the theatre. Aldo tells Bridget that she will get Hirschberg, himself and Donny into the premiere by pretending that they are part of an Italian film crew. Aldo speaks the most Italian, Donny the second most, and Hirschberg none at all. Utivich, who can’t drive, will be the limo driver. Donny agrees to style Hammersmark’s hair, while Aldo and Hirschberg teach Utivich to drive.

Chapter Five: Revenge of the Giant Face

Shosanna is dressed for the night in a beautiful dress. She looks down at the spectators outside of the theatre. She spits down at them and it hits an SS General. Marcel is prepping the reels for the premiere. Shosanna enters and Marcel takes in her beauty before kissing her. They go over the plan one more time. Shosanna enters the lobby and sees Colonel Landa smoking his pipe. A cut scene shows Landa talking to the Sgt. from the Tavern Massacre. Colonel Landa greets Bridget Von Hammersmark as she walks in with the three Basterds. He asks about her cast, to which she tells him she hurt her leg mountain climbing. Landa asks where there are mountains to climb in France, and then laughs off the hole in the story in order to question the Basterds. They exhibit their Italian to comedic effect before Bridget sends Hirschberg and Donny into the auditorium to get seats. The Basterds are introduced to Shosanna as the group share a toast. Shosanna shows Donny and Hirschberg to their seats while Landa pulls Bridget into Shosanna’s office. Aldo is left standing in the lobby with a bunch of Nazi soldiers.

Landa makes Bridget sit in Shosanna’s chair and asks to see her foot. She does so and he removes her shoe in order to place the one from the tavern on her foot. It’s a perfect match. He asks if she admits to treason, but she says she admits only to resisting the Nazi “sons-a-bitches” till her last breath. Landa grabs Bridget’s throat and crushes it as he chokes her. He bangs her head against the floor for good measure and then takes a drink from his flask. The Nazi soldiers in the lobby capture Aldo and force a black bag over his head. They put him up against the wall and Landa asks his name. They put Also in the back of a truck with an also captured Utivich and drive out of Paris. Utivich and Aldo use each other for emotional support until they arrive at a country tavern. Their hoods are yanked off and Colonel Landa asks them what they were thinking pretending to be Italian. In private, he tells them that Bridget is dead and that one phone call will end Operation Kino. However, if they are willing to get him in touch with Allied Brass that can cut a deal, he will help them end the war tonight. They radio Allied command and cut a deal for Landa and the German radio operator which includes a pension, US Citizenship, commendations, a house in Nantucket and immunity for all war crimes committed against the Jews. The Allied leaders approved. Operation Kino is still a go.

As the movie is showing, Hirschberg and Donny try to communicate in faux-Italian to hilarious effect. Hirschberg will detonate his ankle bomb in the auditorium while Donny sets one off in the bathroom beneath the auditorium. Donny leaves the auditorium as Marcel locks all the doors so that the Nazis cannot escape. Donny walks past a group of Nazis playing cards in front of the bathroom and goes and arms the bomb in the stall. Before he walks out, a Nazi walks out of the stall and removes his cap as he washes himself. He has a Swastika carved on his forehead. As Donny walks out, the man recognizes him and a firefight starts which ends in the two killing each other.

Upstairs, Zoller pays Shosanna a visit in the projection booth. He playfully hits on her but Shosanna won’t have any of it. She yells at him to leave, but Zoller pushes himself into the booth and locks the door. He makes it clear that he will not take her shit any longer. They hear the gunshots from Donny’s shoot out below. Shosanna shoots Zoller in the back three times. She turns him over, only for him to shoot her several times before he dies. The bell rings for her to change the reel. She does so before she collapses. Suddenly, the real changes from Zoller’s performance a blown up Shosanna on the screen. She tells them that they are all going to die and that she wants them to know the Jew who will do it. A bomb Landa placed underneath Hitler’s opera box explodes. Marcel ignites the nitrate film behind the projector and Donny and Hirschberg’s bombs go off, killing all the Nazis. Everyone in the theatre, including Hitler and Goebbels are dead.

Landa, the German operator, Aldo and Utivich arrive at the American lines in order to make the trade off and fulfil the agreement Landa made with the Allies. They uncuff Aldo and Utivich and surrender to them. Aldo shoots the operator and Landa freaks out. Aldo and Utivich are able to accept that Landa will be pardoned and commended and receive many perks for helping end the war. However, they cannot allow a Nazi to hide his true colours. Aldo takes Landa’s SS knife and carves a Swastika into Landa’s forehead. Aldo looks over to Utivich and says “this might just be my masterpiece.”

Development history

Quentin Tarantino spent more than a decade writing the script because, as he told Charlie Rose in an interview, he became "too precious about the page," meaning the story kept growing and expanding. Tarantino viewed the script as his ultimate masterpiece in the making, so he felt it had to become the best thing he'd ever written. Entering the 21st century, the director had been writing several scripts, including one for the World War II adventure film that would eventually become Inglourious Basterds. His other projects, (post-Jackie Brown) were originally meant as lightweight movies that would help him to prepare for this film. Tarantino described the premise in October 2001, "[It's] my bunch-of-guys-on-a-mission film. [It's] my Dirty Dozen or Where Eagles Dare or Guns of Navarone kind of thing." The premise had begun as a Western and evolved into a World War II version of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly set in Nazi-occupied France. The story changed to be about two maverick units from the United States Army that had "a habit of scalping Germans" before changing again.

Actor Michael Madsen, who appeared in Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, was originally reported to star in the movie, then spelled Inglorious Bastards, which had been scheduled for release in 2004. By 2002, Tarantino found Inglorious Bastards to be a bigger film than planned and saw that other directors were working on World War II films. Tarantino had produced three nearly finished scripts, saying, "[It was] some of the best writing I've ever done. But I couldn't come up with an ending." The director then held off his planned film and moved on to direct the two-part movie Kill Bill (2003-2004) with Uma Thurman in the lead role. After the completion of Kill Bill, Tarantino trimmed the length of the script, which was reportedly three films long, to 222 pages. The director eventually planned to begin production of Inglorious Bastards late in 2005. The revised premise focused on a group of soldiers who escape from their executions and embark on a mission to help the Allies. He described the men as "not your normal hero types that are thrown into a big deal in the Second World War".

Tarantino also sought to present the film as a spaghetti-western set in Nazi-occupied France. He explained his intent, "I'm going to find a place that actually resembles, in one way or another, the Spanish locales they had in spaghetti westerns — a no man's land. With American soldiers and French peasants and the French resistance and Nazi occupiers, it was kind of a no man's land. That will really be my spaghetti Western but with World War II iconography. But the thing is, I won't be period specific about the movie. I'm not just gonna play a lot of Édith Piaf and Andrews Sisters. I can have rap, and I can do whatever I want. It's about filling in the viscera." The director described the scale of the project, "It'll be epic and have my take of the sociological battlefield at that time with the racism and barbarism on all sides — the Nazi side, the American side, the black and Jewish soldiers and the French, because it all takes place in France." Tarantino planned to set the film around the time of D-Day (June 6, 1944) and afterward.

In November 2004, the director decided to hold off production of Inglourious Bastards and instead film a kung fu movie entirely in Mandarin. Tarantino ultimately directed a part of the 2007 Grindhouse instead, returning to work on what was now renamed into Inglourious Basterds after finishing promotion for Grindhouse. He teamed with The Weinstein Company to prepare what he planned to be his epic masterpiece for production. In September 2007, The Irish Times reported the film's scheduled release for 2008, writing, "Inglorious Bastards, a war movie that may eventually resemble The Dirty Dozen merged with Cross of Iron, has been predicted more often than the second coming of the Lord."

Of the finished film, Tarantino said he thinks that it is the closest thing to Pulp Fiction he has ever done.

After the final draft of the script was finished, it got leaked on the web. Several Tarantino fan sites began posting reviews and excerpts from the script. Principal photography started mid-October 2008 on location in Germany. Although the leaked script was confirmed to be the final draft of the script, several things (set visits, interview snippets etc.) hinted that the director has done some rewriting: changed some details, as well as added new characters and expanded the ending of the film, possibly to surprise those who have read the leaked script prematurely.

The first trailer for the film, a teaser, premiered on Entertainment Tonight on February 10, 2009, and was shown in American theaters the following week attached to Friday the 13th. The trailer features excerpts of Lt. Aldo Raine talking to the rest of 'the basterds', informing them of the plan to kill, torture, and scalp Nazis, intercut with various other scenes from the movie. It also features the spaghetti-westernesque kickers Once Upon A Time In Nazi Occupied France (originally considered as a subtitle for the film) and A Basterd's Work is Never Done, a line spoken in the film.

The film will be released on August 19 in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland, two days earlier than the US release. Some cinemas however showed previews starting on August 15.

Production

In July 2008, Tarantino and the Weinsteins set up an accelerated production schedule to be completed for release at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. The Weinstein Company plans to co-finance the film and distribute it in the United States. The company signed a deal with Universal Pictures to finance the rest of the film and distribute it internationally. Germany and France were scheduled as filming locations. Filming was scheduled to begin on October 13, 2008, and shooting started that week. Special Effects were handled by K.N.B. EFX Group with Greg Nicotero. Much of the film was shot and edited in the famous Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam, Germany, the oldest large-scale film studio in the world.

Following the film's screening at Cannes, Tarantino stated that he would be re-editing the film in June before its ultimate theatrical release, allowing him time to finish assembling several scenes that weren't completed in time for the hurried Cannes premiere.

Cast

The Allies

The Basterds (The Americans)

• Brad Pitt as 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine aka "Aldo the Apache": A fast-talking, thickly accented, vengeance-driven hillbilly from the mountains of Tennessee, who puts together a team of eight Jewish American soldiers. He bears a rope burn on his neck, which will never be mentioned in the film (the script hints that once upon a time, he might have survived a lynching somewhere). One of the film's main protagonists: the character has been described as "a voluble, freewheeling outlaw" similar to Jules Winnfield from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. His first appearance in the film is a subtle homage to George Carlin's The Indian Sergeant routine. The character's name is a tribute to the character actor Aldo Ray, who appeared as a tough soldier in many WWII films such as Battle Cry and What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?.
• Eli Roth as Staff Sergeant Donny Donowitz aka "The Bear Jew": A huge and obnoxious "baseball bat-swinging Nazi hunter" from Boston who is known as "The Bear Jew" among Nazis. Some of them seem to fear that Donowitz is in fact, a vengeful golem, summoned by an angry rabbi. The role was originally conceived for Adam Sandler, who was in talks with Tarantino before declining due to schedule conflicts with the film Funny People. Roth also directed the film-within-a-film, entitled "Nation's Pride" (Stolz der Nation) which is a homage to Leni Riefenstahl's wartime propaganda flicks.
• Til Schweiger as Hugo Stiglitz: A strange and quiet German-born psychopath, former Feldwebel in the Wehrmacht who is recruited by Aldo to kill other Nazis. The character's name is a tribute to the famous 70s B-movie mexploitation actor Hugo Stiglitz.
• Gedeon Burkhard as Wilhelm Wicki: An Austro-German Jew who "became American".
• B. J. Novak as Smithson Utivich aka "The Little Man" - In an interview with Esquire Magazine, Novak theorizes that PFC. Utivich came from a family that named their son Smithson in an attempt to intergrate themselves into the WASP-y mainstream and that signing up to fight the Nazis is his attempt to reclaim his Jewish heritage.
• Omar Doom as Omar Ulmer
• Samm Levine as Gerold Hirschberg
• Paul Rust as Andy Kagan: A character Tarantino added in after meeting Rust.
• Michael Bacall as Michael Zimmerman.
• Carlos Fidel as Simon Sakowitz.

The British

• Michael Fassbender as Lt. Archie Hicox: A "snappy and handsome British lieutenant" and movie buff. He is described in the script as a "young George Sanders type". One of the film's main protagonists, albeit introduced later in the movie.
• Mike Myers as Gen. Ed Fenech: A "legendary British military mastermind" who provides a plot to kill Nazi leadership. Based on the older George Sanders.
• Rod Taylor as Winston Churchill: The then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The Jews

• Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus: A young French-Jewish girl on the run. One of the film's main protagonists, Tarantino states that Shosanna was "always a main character".
• Cloris Leachman as Mrs. Himmelstein: An elderly Jewish woman living in Boston. Although filmed, the scenes featuring Mrs. Himmelstein drinking tea with Donny Donowitz (and signing his trademark baseball bat afterwards) were cut from the final film. Tarantino says that he might use the footage in the prequel instead.

The Axis Powers

The Nazis

• Christoph Waltz as Standartenführer Hans Landa aka "The Jew Hunter": A romantic, yet utterly sinister pipe-smoking Nazi Waffen-SS-turned-SD officer so nicknamed in reference to his keen ability to locate Jews hiding throughout France. Tarantino claims that if he had not found a perfect actor for the role, he "might have pulled the plug on the whole movie". Tarantino also remarked that this might be the greatest character he's ever written. A linguistic genius and a charming detective, Colonel Hans Landa is the primary antagonist of the film. For his performance, Christoph Waltz won the Best Actor Award in the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
• Daniel Brühl as Gefreiter Fredrick Zoller: A young arrogant German Wehrmacht war hero starring in Joseph Goebbels' newest propaganda film entitled "Stolz der Nation" (which is actually directed by Eli Roth who is Jewish).
• August Diehl as Sturmbannführer Dieter Hellstrom: A uniformed Gestapo officer.
• Sönke Möhring as Gefreiter Butz.
• Richard Sammel as Feldwebel Werner Rachtman.
• Sylvester Groth as Joseph Goebbels.
• Martin Wuttke as Adolf Hitler.

Other roles

• Samuel L. Jackson as The Raconteur.
• Diane Kruger as Bridget von Hammersmark: A popular film star in Nazi Germany and a spy for the Allies.
• Julie Dreyfus as Francesca Mondino: Joseph Goebbel's mistress, French interpreter and favourite actress to appear in his films.
• Ludger Pistor as Wolfgang: A role Tarantino added specifically for him.
• Christian Berkel as Eric: The Barkeeper.
• Maggie Cheung as Madame Ada Mimeux: Although her scenes were cut from the Cannes cut for length reasons, Cheung played Madame Mimieux, a beautiful French woman who owned the cinema marquee in Paris where most of the movie is set.
• Denis Menochet as Perrier LaPadite.
• Jacky Ido as Marcel: Shosanna's beloved and a projectionist at Mimeux's cinema. A man of quiet dignity.
• Jana Pallaske (rumored) as an unconfirmed character.
• Enzo G. Castellari as Obergruppenführer: A nameless Nazi General, although strangely credited as "himself" in the film. Castellari had done a Nazi cameo in his own Inglorious Bastards and reprised the role in this movie as well, but under a different rank and SS organization.

Tarantino originally talked to Simon Pegg about portraying Lt. Archie Hicox, but the actor was forced to drop out due to scheduling difficulties having already agreed to appear in Spielberg's Tintin adaptation. However, Pegg did make Tarantino promise to cast him in his next film. Also, Tarantino originally sought for Leonardo DiCaprio to be cast as Hans Landa, a poetic Nazi colonel targeted by the resistance. The director then decided to instead have the character played by a German actor. The role ultimately went to Christoph Waltz, an Austrian actor who, according to Tarantino, "gave me my movie back."

Reception

Reviews have been positive. On the film review website Rotten Tomatoes, it currently holds a 76% rating.

At the Cannes Film Festival, the movie received a mixed reaction.

While many of the critics praised the film, others thought that it was entertaining, but not quite a masterpiece. Anne Thompson of Variety wrote "Inglourious Basterds is great fun to watch, but the movie isn't entirely engaging. And it is definitely an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment ... Tarantino throws you out of the movie with titles, chapter headings, snatches of music. You don't jump into the world of the film in a participatory way; you watch it from a distance, appreciating the references and the masterful mise-en-scene. This is a film that will benefit from a second viewing. I can't wait to see it again". Roger Ebert, however, seems to give it a positive review but will give a full review on August 21st, saying: "My review will await the film's August 21 opening. I know, I wrote a lot about Antichrist, but with this one I'd like to hold out until opening day. No, that doesn't mean I disliked it. It means it inspired other kinds of thoughts--about Cannes, Tarantino, and the way the movie industry seems to be going these days."

The reaction of the French critics was mixed : the cultural review, Les Inrocks, considered it to be one of Tarantino's best, while Le Monde dismissed it proving a partial view of the period. Nevertheless, the movie received an 11 minute standing ovation after the first screening. Critics Ben Lyons and Ben Mankiewicz from the TV show At the Movies praised the film for Christopher Waltz performance and nominated him for an Academy Award.

Christoph Waltz received the Cannes award for Best Leading Actor, for his critically praised performance as the poetic SS colonel, Hans Landa.

Editing rumors

There have been rumors that, after the feedback at the Cannes Film Festival, Tarantino was forced by Harvey Weinstein to cut 40 minutes of the film. In response to the rumor, Harvey Weinstein said: "Those stories are all untrue. There's no f-ing way. Here, read my lips: That is nuts. Please don't even write that, it's insanity. There's not even a question of that. Whatever you're reading, it's like some insane blogger… There's no truth to any of this. He's not gonna cut. What he's doing is just reorganizing some scenes. I mean, the guy had six weeks to cut his movie [for Cannes]; most guys take six months. Most guys take a year." It was confirmed on July 8 that the film would in fact be one minute longer than the Cannes cut, and would include a scene in which Lt. Hicox meets the Basterds.

The German publicity site by Universal Pictures has been censored as the display of Nazi iconography is illegal in Germany. The title has the German Swastika removed and the Stahlhelm helmet has a bullet hole instead of the Nazi symbol. The download section of the German site has been revised to exclude wallpaper downloads that feature the Swastika openly. Also, for the German release, film posters and trailers had to be censored for the same reasons. In the title, the swastika was removed from the letter "O"; various other swastikas on the advertising posters were removed as well.

Soundtrack

On May 15, the Cannes website released a PDF file listing the complete soundtrack for Inglourious Basterds. The soundtrack will consist of:

No.	Track	Artist	Original film
1	"The Green Leaves of Summer"	Dimitri Tiomkin	The Alamo (1960)
2	"The Verdict"	Ennio Morricone	The Big Gundown
3	"L'incontro Con La Figlia"	Ennio Morricone	The Return of Ringo
4	"White Lightning"	Charles Bernstein	White Lightning (1973)
5	"Il Mercenario (Reprisa)"	Ennio Morricone	Il Mercenario
6	"Slaughter"	Billy Preston	Slaughter
7	"Algiers, November 1954"	Ennio Morricone & Gillo Pontecorvo	The Battle of Algiers
8	"The Surrender (La resa)"	Ennio Morricone	The Big Gundown
9	"One Silver Dollar (Un Dollaro Bucato)"	Gianni Ferrio	Blood for a Silver Dollar
10	"Bath Attack"	Charles Bernstein	The Entity
11	"Davon geht die Welt nicht unter"	Zarah Leander	Die große Liebe
12	"The Man With The Big Sombrero"	June Havoc	Hi Diddle Diddle
13	"Ich wollt ich wär ein Huhn"	Lilian Harvey & Willy Fritsch	Glückskinder
14	"Main Theme From Dark of the Sun"	Jacques Loussier	Dark of the Sun
15	"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)"	David Bowie	Cat People (1982)
16	"Mystic and Severe"	Ennio Morricone	Death Rides a Horse
17	"The Devil's Rumble"	Mike Curb/The Arrows	Devil's Angels
18	"Zulus"	Elmer Bernstein	Zulu Dawn
19	"Tiger Tank"	Lalo Schifrin	Kelly's Heroes
20	"Un Amico"	Ennio Morricone	Revolver (1973)
21	"Eastern Condors"	Sherman Chow Gam-Cheung	Eastern Condors (1987)
22	"Rabbia e Tarantella"	Ennio Morricone	Allonsanfàn

External links

• Official website
• Inglourious Basterds at Apple Trailers
• Inglourious Basterds at IMDb
• Inglourious Basterds at AllMovie
• Inglourious Basterds at Rotten Tomatoes
• Inglourious Basterds at Box Office Mojo
• Inglourious Basterds at Metacritic
• Inglourious Basterds Production Notes
• Picture Gallery from Inglourious Basterds from Sky Movies