Quentin Tarantino first began working on the script for Inglourious Basterds way back in 1998, but struggled with both the length and coming up with a worthy ending. He briefly considered making it into a TV miniseries before scrapping the idea altogether for the time being to work on his magnum opus Kill Bill.
After Grindhouse tanked at the box office, he decided to resurrect the script, thinking it might be just the thing to put him back on top, considering it the best thing he'd ever written, ending problems notwithstanding. With his entry of Grindhouse, Death Proof, he had set out to create a more intelligent breed of slasher movie, and it had backfired big-time. Audiences mostly ignored it, and this time, unlike his previous film to underperform at the box office, Jackie Brown, even the critics didn't much care for it.
Though, to be fair, the film had its supporters, fans and critics alike, and would later become a solid seller and rental on home video. Since then, Death Proof and Grindhouse as a whole have been reevaluated, mostly favorably, with most of the criticism directed towards the notion that mainstream audiences would be willing to sit through over three hours of movies, which is valid. Some of us love such things, but across the board? Not so much.
QT would later say that he was "proud of my flop" and that "if that's the worst I ever get, I'm good," but it was sort of a humbling experience at the time, that saw Tarantino getting offered a lot of blockbuster-type movie scripts for the polar opposite reason he'd been offered them in the past. Before, Hollywood had offered them because he was a hot commodity- now, they were offering them because they thought he'd want a "boost," now that his career was faltering. Tarantino didn't see it that way, and was more determined than ever to stick to his own material.
Having completed three full drafts of the Basterds script in the past but being unhappy with all of them, he decided to get back to basics. Using the length of the Pulp Fiction script as a guide, he managed to wrangle his script down to a more manageable length, but was still struggling with the ending. Then, inspiration struck. Before, he'd been too tethered to the past, which is to say, to the reality of what had happened in World War II. But what if he wasn't?
With that in mind, he finally came up with an ending to his movie by ignoring the reality of the situation and writing a completely fictionalized version of the end of Hitler's reign, in which Hitler came to a different end altogether, one that was more visceral and in your face. Sources of inspiration included the films Hitler- Dead or Alive, in which a group of bounty hunters are hired to capture and/or kill Hitler; and Man Hunt, in which an actual hunter seeks to shoot Hitler, with the aid of sympathetic young woman.
Because so many of the films he watched for inspiration were of the era, Tarantino began to insert lots of references to the cinema of the time, in part to ground it more in reality, but also as a sort of lark, as some of the references were not of the era at hand, which reinforced the more fictional aspects of the script.
Indeed, he briefly considered calling the movie Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France, as a way of evoking the sort of fairy tale nature of the movie, insofar as it was kind of a fantasy version of reality, rather than an attempt to be as realistic as possible, but instead settled for making that the title of the opening "chapter." It was also, of course, intended to invoke one of his favorite directors, Sergio Leone, and his classic film, Once Upon a Time in the West.
He would later go through with the idea for the similar-minded Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a likewise fictionalized version of certain real events (the Manson murders), also grounded in reality, but with clever twists on actual events. That film has more in common with this film than one might think- but more on that in a later review.
In addition to the more overt references, such as the movie posters and marquee listings at Shosanna's theatre, or the conversation she has with Goebbels and others at the restaurant about cinema, there are also some more subtle nods to film scattered throughout.
Fun fact: The actress, Lilian Harvey, that Francesca mentions as her favorite and Goebbels objects to in the restaurant conversation, is very much real, and in reality had to flee the country herself after it was discovered that she was helping Jewish people and others persecuted by Nazis escape the country- she was even questioned by the Gestapo- hence his objections.
Other examples include two of the names the Basterds use to sneak into the film premiere: Aldo Raine becomes Enzo Gorlomi, aka the real name of the director of the "original" Inglorious Bastards, Enzo G. Castellari (who also filmed a cameo in the film, but his scene was cut); Donny Donowitz becomes Antonio Margheriti, the real-life director of such films as The Long Hair of Death, Killer Fish and Yor, the Hunter from the Future; and the third man, Omar Ulmer, is named in part after German Expressionist filmmaker Edgar G. Ulmer.
In addition, the character of Hugo Stiglitz is named after the Mexican B-movie actor of the same name, of Nightmare City and Under the Volcano semi-fame; Aldo Raine is a double homage to actor Aldo Ray (an actual WWII vet himself and the ex-husband of casting director Johanna Ray) and William Devane's character, Charles Raine, in the movie Rolling Thunder, one of QT's favorite films, which he also named his film distribution company after (it used to put out old B-movie favorites of QT's before going out of business in 1998, due to poor sales); and General Ed Fenech was named after giallo star Edwige Fenech (Five Dolls for an August Moon, Strip Nude for Your Killer) who also had a small role in Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II.
Also, Brad Pitt's character was given a back-story that includes his being a former bootlegger who now scalps Nazis for the military, which was his character's back-story in the movie Legends of the Fall. If one expands the type of references to include literary characters, Hans Landa was somewhat inspired by legendary detective Sherlock Holmes (note the pipe he smokes in the opening scene, and his quote later on that he is "A damn good detective. Finding people is my specialty.") and the name of character Dieter Hellstrom was inspired by the Marvel Comics character Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan (aka Hellstorm).
Also, Donnie Donowitz is the father of Lee Donowitz, the movie producer character in the QT-scripted True Romance- Lee references his father being a war vet in that film and based two movies on his exploits there- and QT has confirmed that Aldo Raine is the grandfather of the notorious Floyd, also from that film, and also played by star Brad Pitt, in hilariously deadbeat fashion.
As per usual with Tarantino films, the gestation period for the film was so long that any number of actors were attached to the project along the way. At various points, Leonardo DiCaprio was seriously considered for Hans Landa before QT wisely decided a German actor should be cast in the role; Simon Pegg was supposed to be Archie Hicox, but had to drop out because of scheduling conflicts- ditto Tim Roth in the same role; Jean Reno (Leon- The Professional) turned down the role of Perrier LaPadite, the man interrogated by Landa in the opening scene; Adam Sandler was supposed to be "The Bear Jew" (!), but had to turn it down because of scheduling conflicts; and an early version had Sly Stallone as Aldo Raine, Bruce Willis as Donny Donowitz and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Hugo Stiglitz, which certainly would have been interesting!
Isabelle Huppert and Eddie Murphy were also approached about playing roles in the film, respectively, as Madame Mimieux- aka Shosanna's "aunt"- Maggie Cheung was eventually cast, only to be cut out of the film- and as Marcel, the projectionist and Shosanna's love interest. Given that neither of these parts amounted to that much, it's probably just as well that such high-profile actors were not cast- can you imagine telling Huppert she'd been cut out of the film altogether and telling Murphy that he'd been reduced to mere minutes of screen time? (QT had to do just that with the legendary Cloris Leachman, whose scenes were cut out as well.)
Fortunately, the cast QT ended up with was nothing short of fantastic. I think we all know who Brad Pitt is, so we'll skip him- ditto Austin Powers and SNL legend Mike Myers- and we've already discussed Eli Roth and Julie Dreyfus in previous QT reviews, so we'll skip them. Likewise, though lesser-known at the time, Michael Fassbender has gone on to become a huge star, thanks to movies like the ones in the Alien and X-Men series, so we'll bypass him as well.
We'll instead start with the ladies. Probably the best-known of the pack is Diane Kruger, a German actress that got her big break in another film starring Brad Pitt, Troy, in which she played the legendary Helen of Troy, but of course. The same year, she had another big hit in National Treasure, a DaVinci Code-esque action/adventure flick starring Nicolas Cage- she was also in the sequel.
Indeed, she had such a convincing American accent that QT hesitated in casting her as a German, before she reassured him by instantly reverting back to her native German accent. She also speaks fluent French- in the movie she speaks all three. In addition, Tarantino finally found an actually valid reason to prominently feature an actress' foot in the Cinderella-inspired scene in which Landa has her try on a high-heeled shoe he found at the bar where the shoot-out occurred to prove that it was hers.
Those are also QT's hands choking Kruger, who let him choke her out to unconsciousness in the scene so that it would look "real"! Talk about going the extra mile for a role. Yikes. QT has a dubious reputation for such somewhat tawdry things- that was also him spitting on Uma Thurman in Kill Bill- and he reportedly did it over and over until he got it "just right." Um, gross. 😱 God bless these ladies for putting up with all this weird shit.
Despite her early, high-profile successes, Kruger has actually developed into a solid character actress, veering more into indie films than to blockbusters in recent years. Some of her better credits include: The Target (aka The Piano Player), Wicker Park (very underrated), Joyeux Noël (also with Daniel Brühl), The Tiger Brigades, Copying Beethoven, Days of Darkness, The Hunting Party, Anything for Her, Mr. Nobody, Inhale, Unknown, Farewell My Queen, The Host, The Better Angels, Fathers and Daughters, Disorder, Sky, The Infiltrator, In the Fade, JT LeRoy, Welcome to Marwen and the excellent FX TV series The Bridge.
As the fierce Jewish woman, Shosanna, that manages to escape Landa's clutches early on in the film- albeit by his choosing- there's French actress Mélanie Laurent, who is, in fact, Jewish. Interestingly, her maternal grandparents were film poster editors, with her grandfather having been deported from Poland during the Nazi occupation, which was perhaps a bit of foreshadowing for the role she played in this film.
Like Kruger, Laurent gravitates mostly towards independent films, most of which are French, but, as one might guess, she was flooded with offers to appear in many American films after this one. In addition to acting, she's also a playwright, a singer and a writer/director in her own right, notably making the films The Adopted, Respire (aka Breathe) and Galveston, the latter of which marks her English-language film debut.
Other acting credits include: The Bridge (her film debut), Summer Things, Dikkenek, Don't Worry I'm Fine, The Round-Up (also set in WWII-era France), Beginners, The Day I Saw Your Heart, Night Train to Lisbon, Requiem for a Killer, Now You See Me, Enemy, Aloft, By the Sea (also with Pitt), Eternity, Return of the Hero and Operation Finale.
Also worth a mention is French actress Léa Seydoux, who has a bit part as one of Perrier LaPadite's lovely daughters, the one given the most attention by Landa. Though obviously a bit part here, Seydoux would not only go onto international acclaim in the indie hit Blue is the Warmest Color, for which she won the coveted Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but she would become a "Bond Girl" in Spectre, which reunited her with Christoph Waltz. She will reprise the role in the next Bond film, as yet untitled as of this writing.
Other notable credits include: Girlfriends (her film debut), The Last Mistress, On War, Robin Hood, Mysteries of Lisbon, Midnight in Paris, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, My Wife's Romance, Farewell My Queen (also with Kruger), Sister, Grand Central, Beauty & The Beast (not the Disney one), The Grand Budapest Hotel, Saint Laurent, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Lobster, It's Only the End of the World, Zoe and Kursk.
Fassbender notwithstanding, the film's two biggest finds were undoubtedly Christoph Waltz and Daniel Brühl. Waltz was an German-Austrian actor that made his motion picture debut in the aptly-titled film Breakthrough, which was an unofficial sequel to Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron, both of which also take place in the WWII era and deal with Nazis, so I'm sure Tarantino was familiar with both, being a noted Peckinpah fan and having done lots of cinematic research for this film.
Indeed, by the time Waltz came to his attention, Tarantino had almost given up on casting the Landa role, which he was beginning to think was undoable. Had Waltz not knocked it out of the park so thoroughly with his audition, QT might have abandoned the project altogether, so in a way, we have Waltz to thank for the film in general. Tarantino certainly paid it forward, casting Waltz in the one of the leads for his next film, Django Unchained. Waltz was not only Oscar-nominated for both roles, but he won them both, which is pretty remarkable.
Waltz' other notable roles include: Fire and Sword (his first leading role in a film, aka Tristan and Isolde and based on the story of the same name), Angst, Gun-Shy, Pact with the Devil (based on The Picture of Dorian Gray), The Green Hornet, Water for Elephants (see my review here), The Three Musketeers, Carnage, The Zero Theorem (weird one, from director Terry Gilliam), Horrible Bosses 2, Big Eyes, Spectre, The Legend of Tarzan, Tulip Fever, Downsizing, Alita: Battle Angel (from director Robert Rodriguez) and Georgetown, which he also directed.
Meanwhile, Brühl is a German-Spanish actor, born in Spain but primarily growing up in Germany. His big breakthrough came in the international hit Goodbye Lenin!, but it was the film Joyeux Noël, also starring Kruger, that really got Tarantino's attention. Based on true events, the film took place during World War I, and involved the truce that took place during Christmas-time between German, French and Scottish soldiers, and featured a prominent turn from Brühl.
Other notable credits include: Deeply, No Regrets, The White Sound, Vaya con Dios, Elephant Heart, Love in Thoughts (also with August Diehl), The Edukators, Cargo, Salvador, 2 Days in Paris, The Bourne Ultimatum, In Transit, The Countess, Eva, 2 Days in New York, All Together, Intruders, 7 Days in Havana, Rush, The Fifth Estate, A Most Wanted Man, The Face of an Angel, Woman in Gold, The Colony, Burnt, Captain America: Civil War, The Zookeeper's Wife, The Cloverfield Paradox and the acclaimed TV miniseries The Alienist, based on the popular novel of the same name.
Other actors in the film worth a mention include: Rod Taylor (The Time Machine, The Birds) as Winston Churchill; Til Schweiger (The Replacement Killers, This Means War), as the gruff Hugo Stiglitz; Jacky Ido (Lockout, TV's The Catch) as Marcel, the film projectionist; B.J. Novak (The Office, The Mindy Project) as Smithson "The Little Man" Utivich, one of the Basterds; August Diehl (Salt, The Counterfeiters), as Dieter Hellstrom; Samm Levine (Freaks and Geeks) as Hirschberg; Denis Ménochet (Robin Hood, Assassin's Creed- also with Fassbender) as Perrier LaPadite, the man harboring Jews in the opening scene; and Richard Sammel (Casino Royale, TV's The Strain) as Werner Rachtman, the Nazi assaulted by the "Bear Jew" with a bat.
Interestingly, this was not actor Sylvester Groth's first rodeo playing Joseph Goebbels. Groth played Goebbels in the comedy My Führer – The Really Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler, while Martin Wuttke, who played Adolf Hitler, also played Goebbels in the movie Rosenstrasse. I'm guessing QT saw both, hence the casting.
You can also see Groth in the war films The Turning Point and Stalingrad, as well as the war-adjacent The Reader, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and the TV shows Fargo and the upcoming Dark; while Wuttke crops up in Hanna, Cloud Atlas and A Most Wanted Man, also with Brühl.
Finally, listen close for voice cameos from Tarantino himself in the film-within-a-film Nation's Pride- which was directed by Eli Roth and features a cameo from OG Inglorious Bastard Bo Svenson as the American Colonel- and narration from QT regular Samuel L. Jackson and another vocal cameo from Harvey Keitel as the OSS Commander that Landa and others talk to via radio near the end. Tarantino also plays one of the scalped Nazis in the scene where the "Bear Jew" beats a Nazi to death.
Inglourious Basterds was a major return-to-form for Tarantino and was nominated for many major awards, including eight Oscar nominations. (Only Waltz would win, for Best Supporting Actor.) It also became his highest-grossing film at the time, even surpassing Pulp Fiction at the box office, with a whopping $321 million worldwide gross on a $70 million budget, with $120 of that in the US alone. It was also a massive seller and popular home video rental on DVD and later, Blu-Ray.
Although some critics didn't like it at the time- one said that "Tarantino indulges his taste for vengeful violence by—well, by turning Jews into Nazis" and another likened watching it to "sitting in the dark having a great pot of warm piss emptied very slowly over your head," while another lamented that "Tarantino has become an embarrassment: his virtuosity as a maker of images has been overwhelmed by his inanity as an idiot de la cinémathèque"- it has since come to be regarded as one of his absolute best, if not his overall best, period, by other critics and fans.
For me, I'd have to say it was closer to the middle of his overall output, though I won't be doing my ultimate ranking until the end of this series, so we'll see. I enjoyed it quite a bit in theaters, certainly much more so than Death Proof at the time, even though the latter was much more in my wheelhouse, no pun intended. I'm not much for war films, to be honest- I like some of them, notably Apocalypse Now, Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket and Platoon- but I don't often get in the mood to watch them, so this was not one I've watched a lot since I first saw it.
That said, I really did enjoy it this time around, especially post-viewing Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, the film with which it has the most in common with in QT's oeuvre. I think I understood it on a more concrete level than I did the first time around, knowing a bit more about history now than I did at the time I first saw it, as well as a bit more about cinematic history, which also plays an important part here.
The casting is impeccable, and the acting is across-the-board great. As a direct result, even the smaller roles are pretty memorable, in a way that QT hasn't quite pulled off since Pulp Fiction, with respect where it's due to Jackie Brown and Death Proof, which have both improved greatly in that department (and all others, for that matter) since I first saw them. While I still don't see me watching it with as much regularity as QT's other films, I would say that I enjoyed it more than ever before this time around.
The opening scene in particular ranks amongst the best things Tarantino has ever done, I love the film-within-a-film Nation's Pride, and the climax is appropriately over-the-top. Truth be told, it really isn't a war film, but more war-adjacent. I mean, after all, we don't see any battles, and most of the action is quick and off-the-battlefield, notably the tense "basement" bar scene, which is over in a flash. The plot, grounded in reality though it may be, is possibly QT's most bonkers ever, and the ending will no doubt work as wish fulfillment for those who wished Hitler had come to a more violent end.
Only a few more films to go before we're done! Join me next time for Django Unchained, QT's post-modern, revisionist Western/Blaxploiation flick. I really loved seeing this one in theatres and had a great time with it, so it will be interesting seeing what I think of it in retrospect and in comparison to QT's other films. This will be, for the record, only the third time I've seen it, so like Basterds, it's not nearly as overplayed as the others in his canon for me. We shall see how it holds up... 😎
No comments:
Post a Comment