The Cinephile's Guide to Inglourious Basterds
Cinematic References in Quentin Tarantino's War Film
Sep 10, 2009
Quentin Tarantino’s bizarre war movie Inglourious Basterds re-imagines cinema as a weapon against the Third Reich. Tarantino fills the film with references to film history. Here’s a list to help impress, or alternatively bore, your friends in the pub.
The Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich 1967)
Any WWII men on a mission movie owes something to The Dirty Dozen. Real-life combat veteran Lee Marvin leads his men, including Charles Bronson, Ernest Borgnine, Telly Savalas and Donald Sutherland, on a suicide mission behind enemy lines. See also The Guns of Navarone (J. Lee Thompson 1961).
The Inglorious Bastards (Enzo G. Castellari 1978)
Tarantino borrows the title, but little else from this Italian B-movie take on the films mentioned above. Bo Svenson and Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson star. As with the Spaghetti Western, these war films earned their own pasta-related nickname, ‘Macaroni Combat.’
The Fairytale
Inglourious Basterds opens with the caption ‘Once Upon a Time,’ the traditional first line for the fairytale. Hitler is seen railing against the nicknames the Germans troops have given the Basterds in the stories they tell each other about them, ‘The Bear Jew,’ ‘Aldo the Apache,’ as if they were monsters in the forest waiting for unsuspecting passers-by.
Sergio Leone
‘Once Upon a Time’ also brings us to Sergio Leone. The opening sequence owes much to Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West in which a family in a remote area are menaced by the arrival of murderous outsiders. Leone often contrasted absolute innocence with absolute evil, although he rarely used so much dialogue. Tarantino also uses wise-angled lenses and plenty of close-ups during the opening act.
Music Taken from other Films
Tarantino tends to borrow music from other films rather than using original material. So in Inglourious Basterds there are excerpts from Ennio Morricone, Lalo Schifrin and Charles Bernstein.
Character Names in Inglourious Basterds
Brad Pitt’s character Aldo Raine is a homage to the American actor Aldo Ray. Hugo Stiglitz (played by Til Schweiger) is the name of a Mexican-German actor who appeared in 70’s movies with titles like Blood Feast and The Fantastic Balloon Voyage (1972 and 1975, both directed by Rene Cardona Jr).
The Golem
In Inglourious Basterds, Hitler also reacts angrily to hearing his troops have made comparisons between Aldo Raine and The Golem, a Jewish folk tale about a statue made from clay which is brought to life. Some versions of this story have the Golem avenging attacks on Jews by killing their persecutors. The Golem (Paul Wegener/Henrik Galeen 1915) however is a love story, with the creature turning violent after he is rejected by a woman.
Max Linder
Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) and Private Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) discuss Max Linder and Charlie Chaplin outside her cinema. Linder was a German actor who pioneered silent film comedy by playing the same character in a series of films. Linder committed suicide in 1925 at the age of 41. Chaplin dedicated one of his films to the man he referred to as a ‘master.’
G.W. Pabst
Shosanna and Zoller also discuss G.W. Pabst, who is best remembered amongst cineastes for directing Pandora’s Box (1928), the film famous for turning Louise Brooks into an icon. Before he was a soldier, Archie Hickox (Michael Fassbender) tells his superiors he worked as a film critic and wrote a book about Pabst
Sergeant York
Zoller is referred to as being the Nazi Sergeant York. This is a reference to Howard Hawks movie about Alvin York, the most decorated American soldier in WW1.
Leni Riefensthal
Documentary filmmaker best known for her film Triumph of the Will (1934) covering the Nuremberg Rally. Despite being recognised as an influential figure in film history, her propaganda work for the Nazi’s and her links to Hitler meant she remains an often reviled figure. Archie Hickox claims to have appeared in her film The White Hell of Pitz Palu (1929).
L’ Assassin Habité au 21 (1942)
Thriller directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot (Les Diaboliques 1956). The poster is clearly seen on a number of occasions in Shannon’s cinema.
UFA
The acronym for Universum-Film A.G. UFA was a German film company commandeered by the Nazi for propaganda purposes under the leadership of Josef Goebbels, who apparently fancied himself as studio boss in the mould of Louis B. Mayer and David O Selznick, although he despised them for their Jewishness.
There are no doubt more influences or film references in Inglourious Basterds than this writer was able to see on a single viewing. Please feel free to add your own below. Any info on the clip from the British film where a woman carrying film cans is told to get off the bus would be most welcome.
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