Inglorious Basterds was Tarantino’s first movie that featured an altered reality beyond brand names like his special cigarettes. Like a Roger Corman movie, there was no historian on duty to keep things as accurate as a History Channel special. This would be the first of his “historic films” that gave viewers an alternate outcome to a major event. While there are people frustrated at this, I can’t hold it against the writer-director. I’m responsible for putting Tarantino into an alternate reality thanks to a prank phone call. While attending film school, someone in my class found the office phone number for Tarantino’s assistant. This was around the time that we discovered that the public phone in the school’s lobby could be used for “free” long distance calls. Late one night when a few of us were bored, I called that number and got the assistant’s answering machine. Instead of being a gushing fanboy, I impersonated Mickey Rourke on a rant. “Mickey” was not happy hearing that Tarantino was talking about bringing him back like he did for John Travolta. “I put myself here for a reason. Don’t you dare think you can bring me back!” To make it sound authentic, I’d occasionally talk to a tiny dog like Mickey would do on talkshows. At the end, Mickey told Tarantino he should focus on reviving the career of Eric Roberts because he could use the help. I hung up and we all had a good laugh. Years later, word gets back to me that Tarantino spoke about the strange phone call he got from Mickey Rourke. Like Inglorious Basterds, Tarantino’s history of my phone call varied from reality, but it made for a bizarre story.
There are two stories being told in his film. The first belongs to Shosanna Dreyfus (Now You See Me‘s Mélanie Laurent). Her family is hiding in a farmhouse when Standartenführer Hans Landa of the SS (Django Unchained‘s Christopher Waltz) arrives on the scene. He can tell the dairy farmer is covering up something during their long talk over fresh milk. Shosanna flees the building as the bullets fly. She keeps running until she ends up in Paris running a movie theater. She changed her name to Emmanuelle Mimieux to fit in. Runnign the cinema is not exactly the most low profile of gigs. One of her patrons turns out to be current German war hero Fredrick Zoller (The Bourne Ultimatum‘s Daniel Bruhl). He is so famous that Joseph Goebbels has produced a movie about his bell tower snipper exploits. Zoller is a cinephile and quickly has a crush on the movie theater operator. This is not good for her. The other half of the narrative is about an elite group of U.S. Army troops causing chaos against the German troops in occupied France. They are led by the blood thirsty Lt. Aldo Raine (Once Upon A Time In Hollywood‘s Brad Pitt). The eight initial recruits are all Jewish (including the actors Eli Roth, B.J. Novak, Samm Levine and Omar Doom). Part of how they strike terror is that they scalp the soldiers they kill. They have become a menace to the German army. If you’re wondering why they are called the Inglorious Basterds and not Bastards, it seems Aldo craved the typo on his rifle butt. The theater owner and the Basterds cross paths when Fredrick Zoller gets his major motion picture to debut at her theater. It’s slated to be a night when all of Berlin shows up in Paris.
Inglorious Basterds is a fun film to watch as long as nobody thinks this is an accurate description of World War II. Robert Richardson’s cinematography brings up the action and even the inaction. There’s a lot of scenes that involve people sitting at tables and talking. Yet they are lit so the participants are interesting to watch. Christopher Waltz dominates in these scenes as he picks people apart in his cunning ways. He deserved his Best Supporting Actor Oscar. Eli Roth gets to be as bloody as one of his movies as he swings a baseball bat at German skulls.
The action in the third act inside the cinema is rousing. Not to give away the plot, but the nitrate film exploding is not made up for the movie. That stuff is extremely dangerous. During my film school days, Ray Regis (who held the largest private collection of 35mm films) would open up his history of film class by lighting up a few frames of old nitrate film so we could see burn. He also showed off pictures of a former Nitrate film storage vault that exploded. It looked like a bomb had hit the buildings because Nitrate film is a bomb. I can’t remember exactly, but a reel of 35mm nitrate film is like two sticks of dynamite. Having film be a weapon give us a sense that it is a proper Tarantino tale of World War II. A movie theater in Paris is a crucial battleground.
During the late ’90s Ray Regis would loan Tarantino films from his 35mm collection (nothing Nitrite). My job was to retrieve the cans from the vault for shipping. I was always tempted to put in a note confessing the Mickey Rourke phone call between the reels. But I didn’t. I couldn’t destroy the legend of Mickey’s rant with the reality.

The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The 4K UHD brings out the details of the film that was shot around Berlin. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1. You can hear the bullets and blasts from every part of the room. There’s also a DTS-HD 2.0 track if you want to keep the action at the front of the room. The movie is subtitled in English.
Limited edition ‘Operation Kino’ packaging with new art by Dare Creative
60-page ‘Films & Filmmakers’ collector’s book with essays by Dennis Cozzalio and Bill Ryan
Double-sided fold-out poster suitable for framing.
Replica Nation’s Pride Premiere programme booklet in case you need something to read before hitting play.
La Louisianne beermat to keep things clean.
3 postcard sized double-sided art cards that are also suitable for framing.
Strudel recipe card for pre-viewing treats.
DISC 1 – FEATURE (4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY)
Audio commentary by film critic and author Tim Lucas gets into all the references in the movie.
DISC 2 – EXTRAS (BLU-RAY)
What Would Sally Do? (11:08) is a new interview with editor Fred Raskin. He had worked as assistant to Sally Menke, who passed away in 2010. He gets into the balancing of extreme violence and extreme humor. We see his violent NYU film school movie. He decided to focus on editing. This worked out well since he met James Gunn at Troma and edited his films. He began working with Sally Menke on a Billy Bob Thorton movie and she brought him along for Kill Bill. We learn how he judges the dailies when watching with Tarantino.
Blood Fiction (22:14) a new interview with special make-up effects supervisor Greg Nicotero (The Walking Dead). He talks about working with Tarantino over the years. Greg came up with the ear slicing effect in Reservoir Dogs. He talks about coming with the head scalping effect for Basterds. This is a great master class for people who want to duplicate the effect at home. We also learn of Greg’s cameo.
Doomstruck (11:24) a new interview with actor Omar Doom who played PFC, Omar Ulmer. He talks about the novelty of being in a Tarantino film doesn’t wear off. It’s been over 15 years so he knows what he’s talking about. We learn about his musical work Straight Razor. He met Tarantino at a club and auditioned for Death Proof by making a demo film. He got the gig. He’s also appeared in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. Omar gets into what it’s like on Tarantino’s set and how the director sets the tone. He shares photos from the shoot including their time in Berlin off camera. There is talk about scalping classes with Greg Nicotero.
Making it Right (22:04) is a new visual essay about the kindness of Tarantino in his films by film critic Walter Chaw, author of A Walter Hill Film. It’s about the little things he does in the movies. He links the movie to the last shot of The Searchers.
Film History on Fire (19:49) is a new visual essay by film scholar Pamela Hutchinson, author of BFI Film Classics Pandora’s Box. She gets into the danger of nitrate film. There’s a bit of lesson of German cinema.
Filmmaking in Occupied France (15:42) features film scholar Christine Leteux, author of Continental Films: French Cinema Under German Control. She talks about how before the War, the French film industry made joint productions with Germans. Productions were shut down during the early years in the war. A German producer came to Paris to create movies for entertainment to make money. He was appointed by Goebbels.
Extended and alternate scenes has longer cuts of Lunch with Goebbels (7:12) and La Lousiane Card Game (2:09). There is also an alternate cut of “Nation’s Pride” begins (2:06) as the audience waits for the curtain to rise. It’s all about presentation.
Nation’s Pride (6:13) is the footage of the movie shown at the big premiere so that it looks like a short film. There’s a lot of people being shot and falling off buildings. Bo Svenson (The Inglorious Bastards) has scenes on a walkie-talkie. We learn why they didn’t just decimate the bell tower with bazookas. There’s two audio tracks.
The Making of Nation’s Pride (4:02) has Eli Roth talk about shooting the film in character. Other German characters act like this is a normal EPK piece that would end up on Entertainment Tonight.
Roundtable Discussion (30:47) has Quentin Tarantino and Brad Pitt talk with critic Elvis Mitchell about the film during the original release. Pitt gets into working with Tarantino and the church-like atmosphere on the set. They tried to keep the film on schedule so they could make Cannes. The vibe between the two explains how they ended up together on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood that won Brad Pitt his Oscar.
The Original Inglorious Bastards (7:41) has Eli Roth talking about the Enzo G. Castellari’s film that had the title. Enzo has a cameo in the film. Bo Svenson also gets a cameo after being in the first film. They include the trailer so you’ll know Basterds is not a remake of Bastards.
A Conversation with Rod Taylor (6:45) has the star of Hitchcock’s The Birds discuss how he ended up in the film playing Winston Churchill. Tarantino called him to offer the role. There’s behind the scenes footage of Taylor working on the set in Berlin. He appreciates that Tarantino doesn’t direct from a video village -he’s next to the camera.
Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitter (3:21) has him talk about the beer that doesn’t get exported from Australia. Tarantino got him some on the set in Berlin.
Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel (2:44) are the slates throughout the film. It was a loose set. Robert Richardson slates once.
Hi Sallys (2:11) has times when Tarantino and others would say hi to editor Sally Menke on film. The best is one is an actor lying in a pool of blood telling Sally he’s not really dead. This was her final movie with Tarantino. She died in a heat related accident in Los Angeles.
Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell (11:02) goes into the artwork used in the movie. We find out what is real and what was made by the art department.
Trailers includes Trailer 1 (1:47) with Brad Pitt’s speech to the Basterds, Trailer 2 (2:25) sets up the movie theater, Trailer 3 (2:10) is a bit more funky and Trailer 4 (1:19) is the Japanese Trailer.
Arrow Video presents Inglorious Basterds: Limited Edition. Directed by Quentin Tarantino. Screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. Starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Daniel Brühl, Til Schweiger, Mélanie Laurent, August Diehl, Julie Dreyfus, Sylvester Groth, Jacky Ido, Denis Ménochet, Mike Myers & Rod Taylor. Running Time: 155 minutes. Rating: Rated R. Release Date: January 14, 2025.