TheIngloriousBastards

The Inglorious Bastards (1978)

The year is 1944 and the war in Europe is beginning to wind down. When a German aircraft attacks a group of American soldiers on their way to being court-martialed the prisoners defend themselves, from both the Germans and the MPs that are gunning them down. But now they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If they head back to their own lines they are liable to be shot as deserters, but if they head towards the Germans they will be shot as the enemy. So they do the only sensible thing and head towards the Swiss border and the safety of a neutral country. But they can’t seem to catch a break as they keep stumbling onto German troops and even worse manage to screw up an important mission for the Allies! Before you know it they are attempting the suicidal hijacking of a heavily defended German train so they can steal a part from the V2 rocket in the hopes of getting pardoned for their other crimes.

If you are a fan of realistic war movies that accurately show the historic battles of WWII then you need to stay the hell away from the Inglorious Bastards! This movie is nothing more than a series of set pieces where the characters can mow down the enemy, snap off clever dialogue, and pose for the camera. In other words I loved this movie for the cheesy action flick that it is. And while the movie might be a bit light on character development and story, it more than makes it up with the over the top action and manic pace. Plus if that weren’t enough there is an entire unit of female German soldiers who attack in the nude with machine guns! Does it need to make sense when it is this cool? Speaking of cool the movie has a couple of 70s drive-in exploitation legends in the lead roles. First you have Bo Svenson (Walking Tall II) as the man in charge Lt. Robert Yeager. Top that off with Fred “the Hammer” Williamson and the movie automatically has some serious credibility. The script really doesn’t ask the cast to do anything other than pose a lot and look cool, which both of these guys were made to do.

There are some budget issues here. The battle scenes are small and obviously staged. Even a novice like myself can tell the uniforms aren’t all up to scratch and some of the stunts are kind of lame. Also it is obvious the same 30 guys get killed over and over again. Sometimes in German uniforms, sometimes in American uniforms, and sometimes dressed as French Partisans. While these are obvious issues and flaws they didn’t get in the way of me enjoying the movie. See I get that this is a rip off of the Dirty Dozen (they admit as much in their tag line, ‘Whatever the Dirty Dozen did they do it dirtier!’) and that it isn’t’ meant to be taken seriously. This is a fun action movie with a likeable cast playing an even more likeable group of rogues.

The Inglorious Bastards is a fun movie and a perfect way to kill a couple of hours. I really liked it and I think you will to. For more information on the DVD and where you can pick it up check out the Severin website at http://www.severin-films.com/

3 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer