The Inglorious Bastards

This article is about the 1978 film. For the 2009 film, see Inglourious Basterds.

The Inglorious Bastards
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Enzo G. Castellari
Screenplay by	Sandro Continenza Sergio Grieco Romano Migliorini Laura Toscano Franco Marotta
Story by	Sandro Continenza Sergio Grieco Romano Migliorini Laura Toscano Franco Marotta
Starring	Bo Svenson Fred Williamson Peter Hooten
Music by	Francesco De Masi
Cinematography	Giovanni Bergamini
Editing by	Gianfranco Amicucci
Studio	Film Concorde S.R.L.
Distributed by	Capitol International
Release date(s)	February 8, 1978 (1978-02-08) (Italy)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	Italy
Language	Italian German French English

The Inglorious Bastards Quel maledetto treno blindato (literally That damned armored train) is a 1978 Italian "macaroni combat" comedy-drama war film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, written by Sandro Continenza, Sergio Grieco, Franco Marotta, Romano Migliorini, and Laura Toscano, and starring Bo Svenson, Peter Hooten, Fred Williamson, Michael Pergolani, and Jackie Basehart. The film score was written by Francesco De Masi.

Plot

Set in France during World War II, a group of American soldiers are in the process of being shipped off to military prison for a variety of infractions, ranging from desertion to murder. While they are being transported, a German air attack hits the convoy, killing most of the prisoners, but allowing the five surviving prisoners to fight off the escorting MPs and escape.

The group decides to make their escape to neutral Switzerland, but on the way they end up volunteering for a commando mission to steal the new prototype gyroscope for the Nazi V2 with help of the French résistance (partisans). Somehow the team must sneak onto the most heavily guarded train in German territory, steal the Nazis' most precious military hardware, and bring it back to the Allies without getting arrested again by their own side.

Cast

• Bo Svenson as Lt. Robert Yeager
• Fred Williamson as Private Fred Canfield
• Peter Hooten as Tony
• Michael Pergolani as Nick
• Jackie Basehart as Berle
• Ian Bannen as Col. Charles Thomas Buckner
• Michel Constantin as Veronique
• Debra Berger as Nicole

Releases

The original working title was Bastardi senza gloria (literally: "Bastards Without Glory"). The first attempt to make this movie took place in 1976 in the United States and involved an approach by Bo Richards to film maker Ted V. Mikels. Mikels rejected it on the grounds that a movie pitched as a Dirty Dozen follow-up was a decade late, and that any insistence on preserving a title containing the word "bastard" would spell box office failure in the 1970s.^[1] The film was released in the United States as The Inglorious Bastards, and also issued as Hell's Heroes and as Deadly Mission on home video.

The American success of the blaxploitation genre led distributors to reedit this film and distribute it as G.I. Bro—in this version, scenes have been cut as to make Fred Williamson the lead character. The tagline on this version was "If you're a kraut, he'll take you out!"

The reissue title for this film was Counterfeit Commandos. Severin Films released a three-disc set that features a newly remastered transfer of the film, an interview with Quentin Tarantino (the director of the similarly titled but unrelated film Inglourious Basterds) and director Enzo G. Castellari, trailers, a tour of shooting locations, a documentary on the making of the film with interviews with Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Enzo G. Castellari and a CD with the soundtrack. Both spellings appear on the DVDs: one says the full word "Bastards" and the other "Basterds".

See also

• Euro War
• War film

References

1. ^ "Inglourious Basterds Has Inglorious Beginnings". FlickDirect. http://www.flickdirect.com/news/movie-news-detail.aspx?id=2333. 

External links

• Quel maledetto treno blindato (The Inglorious Bastards) at the Internet Movie Database
• Quel maledetto treno blindato (The Inglorious Bastards) at AllRovi
• ' at Rotten Tomatoes
• Quel maledetto treno blindato at the Grindhouse Cinema Database