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Released by: Severin Films
Released on: July 28, 2009.
Director: Enzo G. Castellari
Cast: Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Peter Hooten, Ian Bannen, Michael Pergolani, Michel Constantin, Debra Berger
Year: 1977
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The Movie:
Also known under the alternate titles of Hell's Heroes, The Deadly Mission, and G. I. Bro (a personal favorite), Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards is to The Dirty Dozen what his earlier Street Law was to Death Wish - a fast paced and fun knock off that has a few tricks of its own up its sleave.
A gang of allied soldiers are being put into a truck and shipped off to prison camp when a German squadron attacks them en route. Many of the men are killed but five make it out alive - slimey racist Tony (Peter Hooten of Orca), cigar chomping Fred (Fred 'The Hammer' Williamson of The New Barbarians), crafty and moustachioed Nick (Michael Pergolani), cowardly Berle (Jackie Basehart) and their leader, Sgt. Yeager (Bo Svenson of the Walking Tall TV series). Together they decide to make their way to the Swiss border as the country is neutral and they'll be safe there from both the allied forces who want to see them put in prison and the German soliders who are trained to shoot men like them on site.
After a few skirmishes the men end up capturing a German soldier who they nickname Adolf (Raimund Harmstorf of A Genius, Two Partners And A Dupe). He opts to lead them through the woods to the border safely in exchange for his life and the fact that he speaks English means that he'll come in handy should they run into any Nazi troops along the way which is exactly what happens. Soon, after an encounter with some naked German girls who spray the boys with machine gun fire after Fred blows their cover (surprisingly they're able to ascertain that he isn't German!), they end up killing a group of American Special Forces operatives who they mistook for Nazi's. This puts them in a tough spot as they have to cooperate with some French underground resistance fighters and the cranky Colonel Buckner (Ian Bannen of Amicus' Tales From Beyond The Grave) who eventually decides to use them in place of his men on a mission to take down a German train carrying a super bomb.
Realism is not a strong point of this film. Those looking for a gritty portrayal of the horrors of war a la Cross Of Iron should keep moving as this one, aside from some slow motion carnage, has nothing in common with that or other serious films about the Second World War. With that being said, The Inglorious Bastards is a whole lot of goofy, action packed fun, realism or historical accuracy be damned. Highlights include Fred Williamson mowing down Nazi after with a machine gun while smoking a cigar and never once losing his cool. Bo Svenson gets to talk tough and punch a lot of people in the head. Oodles of Nazi's blow up and fly head over heels through the air while motherloads of reasonably well made miniature buildings exploding into great balls of fire! You get all that in more in this one, and it's fun from start to finish.
Castellari knows how to pace a film and he knows how to direct action and with this film he's really able to cut loose even more so than in his polizia films or his post nuke films. He's working on a bigger scale with a bigger cast and as such is able to kill more people and make more explosions than any other film in his career and he definitely makes the most of the opportunity. It all builds up very nicely to an expertly directed and predictably explosive finale that is surprisingly dark considering the earlier parts of the film which at times are quite playful. It's an action packed movie with some great performances from Svenson and Williamson, that makes for completely entertaining viewing.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Severin's 1080p AVC encoded 1.85.1 anamorphic widescreen transfer presents the film in its original aspect ratio and is a noticeable improvement over the standard definition release in terms of detail and clarity. While there are some scenes that don't look quite as razor sharp as the best HD transfers of more modern material can look, overall this is a pretty strong effort from Severin. Color reproduction is nice and natural looking, with the greens in particular looking quite strong. Black levels are good though never as super inky dark as you might want them to be, though skin tones look lifelike and natural, never pink or over processed. There doesn't appear to be much in the way of mpeg compression or edge enhancement to note nor is there any heavy print damage despite the presence of some natural looking film grain. Those familiar with the film and its previous home video incarnations should be pretty happy with the upgrade here.
Severin has given The Inglorious Bastards a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track for this release, but unfortunately, it's nothing to write home about and in certain spots it sounds quite hollow and a little bit forced. Thankfully the disc also comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono track available in English only. There aren't any problems to report with the mix, everything sounds pretty decent here. Dialogue stays clean and clear from start to finish, the score is nice and punchy, and the levels are all properly balanced. It would have been nice to see a lossless track included here, but that didn't happen.
Most of the extras from the standard definition release have been carried over, starting with the audio commentary with director Enzo G. Castellari and moderator/Severin main man David Gregory. This is a pretty interesting discussion that includes the film's various alternate titles (the best being G.I. Bro!) and about the history of the film. Speaking in English, Castellari struggles at times to express himself but generally does a very good job of discussing the making of the film. He notes many of the compositions and points out that this picture contains the first use of a steadi-cam in Italian film. He also covers some of the effects and the location shooting in a fair bit of detail and shares some amusing anecdotes about the trials and tribulations of making this picture. Castellari talks about working with his effects technician on the film, noting that he was always ready to 'blow up everything' and of course, he talks about the famous nude ladies with machine guns scene, at which point Gregory mentions he heard more people were on set that day than any other day so that they could watch! Overall, this is a fun discussion despite a couple of moments of silence and it's completely enjoyable to listen to Castellari talk about his experiences making this film.
Also included is A Conversation With Quentin Tarantino And Enzo G. Castellari (38:21, anamorphic widescreen). Tarantino's been talking about remaking this film for years now and he's obviously a big fan of the picture and Castellari's work in general, which becomes apparent early on from the genuine excitement he shows while talking to Castellari here. The pair discusses the comic relief in the film as well as how it mixes blaxploitation with a more traditional war film. Tarantino gets Castellari to talk a bit about the influence of Peckinpah's Cross Of Iron, and the use of slow motion in the film's action scenes. The pair discusses the use of a steadi-cam in a couple of different spots, and Castellari notes that this was one of the 'biggest' films he ever made in terms of scope and in terms of the size of the cast and crew he was in charge of. Taratino and Castellari both talk about their own experiences with Fred Williamson, and Tarantino tells a fun story about meeting him at a gas station long before he cast him in From Dusk Til Dawn. This featurette does cover some of the same ground as the commentary but it also covers enough new ground that it's very much worth checking out.
Up next is a documentary entitled Train-Kept-A-Rollin (1:15:38, anamorphic widescreen) that features interviews with Svenson, Williamson, Massimo Vanni, Castellari, screenwriter Laura Troscano, producer Robert Sbarigia, and Filipo De Massi (the son of the film's composer Francesco De Massi). This insanely comprehensive feature length look back at the making of the movie makes for excellent viewing as it gives us a look at the film from a few different perspectives, from in front of and from behind the camera. Alongside the interviews, anecdotes, trivia and stories covering every facet of the production, there's a wealth of clips, behind the scenes photographs, storyboards and promotional artwork.
Also worth checking out is Back To The War Zone (13:00, anamorphic widescreen), a featurette that allows Castellari to take us on a trip to the locations that were used in the film. Clips and stills from the film are contrasted against footage that shows what the locations look like today and how they've changed (or in some cases, not changed) over the years.
Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are two new featurettes, the first of which is Inglorious Reunion At The New Beverly (11:24). This eleven minute segment is a filmed question and answer session in which Castellari, Williamson, Svneson and David Gregory take questions from the crowd in attendance at a theatrical screening of the film held in Los Angeles. The second exclusive featurette is Enzo's 70th Birthday Celebration In L.A. (7:15), which is basically a seven minute clip highlighting the party that was held in honor of the lauded director to celebrate his birthday.
Rounding out the extras are North American and Italian theatrical trailers for the feature film as well as a trailer for Castellari's Eagles Over London (which is encoded wrong and plays only in the top half of the screen for some reason). Missing from this Blu-ray release and exclusive to the three-disc standard definition release is an audio CD that contains the only original surviving music from the film (four tracks in total). All of the extras on this release are presented in HD, which was a nice surprise.
The Final Word:
Severin's first foray into Blu-ray isn't perfect but it's a strong effort with a decent transfer and a nice selection of extras. The Inglorious Bastards is still a whole lot of fun and it's great to see this title arrive on the format.