The Inglorious Bastards

Friday, August 14 - Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Italian original, never released theatrically in the US!

While the world awaits the August 21 release of Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, NYC midnight movie fans can experience the film that inspired it when IFC Center’s ‘Waverly Midnights’ hosts the New York Theatrical Premiere of Enzo Castellari’s THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS.

Castellari’s 1978 international hit remains perhaps the biggest war movie in EuroCult history. Action movie icons Bo (WALKING TALL, KILL BILL) Svenson and Fred ‘The Hammer’ Williamson star as the leaders of a gang of condemned criminals who escape from an Allied prison convoy with a plan to blast their way to the Swiss border, only to find themselves ‘volunteering’ for a suicide mission deep inside Nazi occupied France. Academy Award® nominee Ian Bannen (FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX, BRAVEHEART) co-stars.

“If I had known that the original THE INGLORIOUS BASTARDS would become a cult classic, I would have read the script more than once and would not have had as much fun while making the movie,” says star Bo Svenson, who also filmed a surprise cameo in Tarantino’s BASTERDS. Enzo Castellari, the Rome-based writer/director hailed as “The ‘70s Italian Drive-In God” by LA Weekly, also makes a crowd-pleasing appearance in Tarantino’s new film. “To have my movie become such an inspiration to Quentin is a wonderful acknowledgement of my career. I became a director because I loved American movies. With INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, that love has now come full circle.”

“One of the sharpest and most entertaining exploitation actioners of its era… The story involves a ragtag bunch of convicts and deserters in WWII who manage to evade discipline only to find themselves behind enemy lines, stumbling from calamity to calamity in their efforts to slip across the Swiss border to freedom. Along the way they are mistaken for a skilled commando squad on a suicide mission (whom they mistakenly killed), and sent in to finish the job. Bo Svenson and blaxploitation megastar Fred Williamson topline, supported by a colorful ensemble cast that includes Tom Savini lookalike Michael Pergolani and Peter Hooten as a racist gangster.” – Turner Classic Movies

  • Country Italy
  • Language In Italian with English subtitles
  • Rating R
  • Year 1978
  • Running Time 99 minutes
  • Director Enzo G. Castellari

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