Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1340 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-08-10
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 95 minutes

Synopsis
Cult favourites Fred Williamson (BLACK CAESER, FROM DUCK TILL DAWN) and Bo Svenson (WALKING STAR, KILL BILL) star in this THE DIRTY DOZEN homage directed by Italian action maestro Enzo G. Castellari (STREET LAW, KEOMA). Set during the Second World War, a group of soldiers arrested for crimes against the army escape when their prison convoy is attacked by Germans planes. Caught behind enemy lines, and not looking forward to serving prison sentences in their own countries, they decide to fight their way to neutral Switzerland. This hugely enjoyable exploitation picture would later inspire Quentin Tarantino's long-gestating World War II film INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS.

Customer Reviews

Classic 70s Spaghetti Western styled WWII movie
I have to say I did only buy this as I saw it on sale quite cheaply but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a proper low budget shoot 'em up set during World War II, a kind of low rent version of the Dirty Dozen. The plot is a little bit messy but there's plenty of things going on so you never get bored. There is a real sense of fun about this which sets it apart from the current trend of war movies to be very 'war is hell' and I found that quite refreshing. It gets four stars from me because I thoroughly enjoyed it. The extra feature with Tarantino interviewing the director of this is quite fun too.

Dirty Dozen(ish) Italian Style
WW2.Five U.S Army personnel(Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson among them)due for the stockade take advantage of a german attack to escape.They survive several skirmishes until they accidentally kill an elite squad posing as german officers whose mission is to hijack a train and remove a vital component from a Nazi rocket.Needless to say they take that squad's place and under the command of Colonel Buckner(Ian Bannen)they attempt to carry out the mission.
Surprisingly enjoyable,time has been kind to this b-movie war picture.Sure the dubbing is obvious but it is not that intrusive,the acting is variable(Williamson gives it that neat 'ploitation selling point and the hammy Svenson is pleasingly dignified as the flyer with an attitude)and the pace fairly rattles along.Castellari allows for little in the way of story lulls and the action sequences are plentiful and very well staged.Okay there are one too many machine gun sprays that kill six nazi's in a line but after a while that becomes a kind of running gag and call me old fashioned but watching actors(and some enterprising stuntmen) falling off fast moving trains and doing other hair raising stuff is a lot of fun.
Hopefully more people will find this forgotten low budgeter in the wake of Tarantino's "remake" and you can be sure of one thing,Catellari's version will be a lot shorter and probably more fun.
Decent print with the only extra a conversation between Castalleri and Tarantino.

The not-so-dirty half-dozen...
After watching Quentin Tarantino's latest film at the cinema, I decided to pick up a copy of the Italian-made exploitation movie that served as its primary inspiration. However, the original Inglorious Bastards bears almost no resemblance to Tarantino's swollen, movie buff's dream of a film, and even as an example of the `men on a World War II secret mission' sub-genre, it is well below par.
Billed as a `dirtier Dirty Dozen', Inglorious Bastards is actually tame, lightweight stuff, played half for laughs by an uninterested and uninteresting cast. The story, such as it is, follows the misadventures of five military prisoners, among them a disgraced Air Force Lieutenant, a coward, a thief, a gangster, and a murderer, the last played by Blaxploitation star Fred Williamson. After their escort is killed in a German ambush, the men flee, getting into various scrapes with other Germans (including some gratuitous frolicking with a load of skinny-dipping frauleins), before eventually finding themselves assisting an air-dropped officer (Ian Bannen) on his dangerous improvised mission.
Don't let this brief synopsis lead you to believe that the film is in any way tightly plotted or suspenseful; it goes nowhere, and gets there slowly. Bannen, who seemed to spend his career alternating between wonderful prestige projects like the BBC's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and absolute dreck like this, is dubbed throughout in an American accent, which renders his appearance comical and his performance impossible to rate. Williamson gurns and grins whilst mowing down `Kraut' soldiers as though he were in a Mel Brooks spoof, and the rest of the cast follow suit. No doubt Tarantino and his followers believe that this film is a laugh riot and a grimier, more hard-nosed successor to the likes of The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare. But it's not; it's just an unfocused piece of low-budget nonsense that isn't good enough to be enjoyable, and isn't violent or tasteless enough to be shocking. And the `conversation' between Tarantino and director Enzo G. Castellari, included here as a DVD extra, is truly painful stuff; watch it only if you fancy seeing a motor-mouthed nerd blather on in hyperactive, fanboy fashion to a (clearly confused) old Italian bloke.