29 JULY, 2008: Quentin Tarantino conducts an in-depth interview Enzo G. Castellari, covering his career in European Genre filmmaking on the upcoming Severin DVD presentation of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.

Today is Enzo G. Castellari's 70th birthday, and he will be celebrating it in high style in LA with a launch party for the 3 Disc SE of his 1978 Eurowar film THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS. According to the Severin Films website "The joint celebration of the launch of the DVD and director Enzo G. Castellari's 70th birthday takes place tonight at The Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles." Check out www.severin-films.com for more information on this event.



My short review is: This is one of the best, and most lovingly assembled, DVD presentations a "Eurocult" film has ever had on R1 DVD. It's definitive, exhaustive, fascinating and exhilirating. And for once the trainload of bonus materials are as entertaining as the feature itself.

Quel maledetto treno blindato (1978)
... aka Counterfeit Commandos (USA: reissue title)
... aka Deadly Mission (USA: video title)
... aka G.I. Bro (USA: reissue title)
... aka Hell's Heroes (USA: video title)
... aka Inglorious Bastards (USA)
... aka The Dirty Bastard (Philippines: English title)


THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS [onscreen title] is, if not a great movie, in the great Italian tradition of low-budget exploitations of successful Hollywood blockbusters, in this cast Robert Aldrich's THE DIRTY DOZEN (1966).

In 1944 Nazi occupied France a busted Lieutenant (Bo Svenson) leads a group of convicts toward the Swiss border after their military escort is wiped out during a German air raid. After mistakenly killing an elite American unit on a secret mission to destroy a German missile system they suddenly find themselves with the job of taking over the dangerous assignment under the skeptical leadership of an American officer (Ian Bannen) who has been parachuted into the area. They succeed, but at great cost to the rogue team and the enemy.

To say that this was a way scaled down Italian imitation of a Hollywood hit is beside the point considering that one is never aware of the monumental production difficulties the team had to overcome to finish it. Those are detailed on the impressive array on bonus extras. A flavorful cast blends Hollywoodland expatriates (the towering Swedish born ex-Marine Svenson and the fit, always ready for action blaxploitation legend Fred "The Hammer" Williamson make a fine hot [Williamson]-cool [Svenson, direct from the WALKING TALL films] complimentary team, adept at both action and grace under fire) and European professionals such as British actor Ian Bannen, French gangster icon Michel Constantin, Irish character actor Donal O'Brien, and numerous Italian performers whom you will recognize from other mid 1970's genre films made by Castellari and others.

The film looks stylish and competent and will seem moreso after one examines the two bonus documentaries. Federico Caddeo's TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN' brings together Castellari, Svenson, Williamson, FX expert Gino De Rossi, Italian actor Massimo Vanni and scriptwriter Laura Toscano to tell the story of the making of the film, which is in some ways more fascinating than the story the film tells. The filming was interrupted halfway through when Italian police came onto the set, confiscating the prop weapons as part of an effort to keep arms from falling into the hands of the then very active terrorist group, the Red Brigade. Producer Robert Sbarigia faced financial disaster which he was saved from by the ingenuity of Castellari and "Bombardino" De Rossi, the latter a master at creating impressive pyrotechnics with whatever materials were at hand. How do you make a war movie without weapons and proper logistical support? Working with a two or three jeeps, several trucks and a few wooden guns Castellari faced the challenge of his career and immediately began to improvise. He didn't have enough authentic WW II weaponry so he used his imagination by having the cons pick up medieval weapons on the set to use against the Nazi's during a confrontation at an occupied castle. He also adjusted the "loop" by carefully framing the shots so that endlessly reused military vehicles would appear only to get destroyed again and again. Other vehicles and the "bloody train" of the unfortunate (according to the director) Italian title were created by combining detailed scale models and "maquetas" executed by a Spanish expert. It all works mainly because of judicious compositions (Castellari explains in the commentary track that he was trained as an architect and it really came in handy here), razor sharp editing, and the sparing, but very effective use of Sam Peckinpah style slow motion shooting of portions of action scenes. The son of maestro Francesco De Masi is also interviewed and displays some pages of his father's bombastic score, which gives the action a real boost. This feature length documentary will leave no one unsatisfied and is filled with information, nostalgia and some surprisingly moving reflections by all the parties.

BACK TO THE WAR ZONE is a short journey back to the original shooting locations bouyantly guided by Enzo G. Castellari. There's an excellent use of film clips in both documentaries to illustrate just how the technical and financial limitations were overcome by Castellari and his creative team.

The third disc is a CD of the surviving original soundtrack music.

Disc one presents the feature and a 40 minute documentary A CONVERSATION WITH QUENTIN TARANTINO AND ENZO G. CASTELLARI, a virtual love-in between two genre directors separated by more than one generation whom nevertheless have formed a unique mutual admiration club. Tarantino's frenetic "interviewing" style is more amusing than informative but the sedate maestro Castellari seems just as lost in admiration for his young counterpart. It will be interesting to see just what QT does with his planned updating of THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS, which reportedly will start filming this October, probably without the enormous budgetary and logistical restrictions Enzo and co. faced some thirty years ago.

The crystal clear 1.85:1/16:9 transfer of clean, colorful elements (Castellari says he wanted a Spaghetti Western feel so he hired Luigi FISTFUL OF DOLLARS Lardini to design the rotoscoped opening credits, which are rendered in splashy blues and luminous oranges) is presented with its original Mono English soundtrack.

(C) Robert Monell, 2008