INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, QUENTIN TARANTINO’S latest audacious offering, is a film geek’s dream.  Overly rich on dialogue and moxie, BASTERDS is a homage to the Spaghetti Western, THE DIRTY DOZEN, and the sheer guts, glory, and reverie of  a SAMUEL FULLER (THE BIG RED ONE) adventure..  Trailers suggest that the film primarily deals with a bloodthirsty, macho man named LIEUTENANT ALDO RAINE(BRAD PITT), who along with his mainly Jewish group of Basterds, are on a mission to scalp and kill any Nazi that crosses their path, leaving a trail of fear right through the doorstep of Hitler himself.  And though the BASTERDS are a breathe of fresh air whenever they’re on screen (especially director ELI ROTH, who is  convincing as the BASTERDS’ most dangerous soldier, SGT. DONNY “THE BEAR JEW” DONOWITZ), it’s NAZI COLONEL HANS LANDA (CHRISTOPH WALTZ, in a revelatory performance) and French-Jewish cinema owner SHOSANNA DREYFUS (MELANIE LAURENT, who bares a striking resemblance to a young NASTASSJA KINSKI), who take the biggest narrative bite out of QT’s picture . 

 Annoyed at being dubbed the “Jew Hunter” for his successful tracking methods, LANDA is a talented linguist and student of the human condition.   Whether terrorizing German actress BRIDGET VON HAMMERSMARK (DIANE KRUGER) after uncovering her motives; or playing mind games with a farmer (DENIS MENOCHET) while drinking a glass of milk, LANDA is never out of his element, even during his inevitable confrontation with the BASTERDS.  The 52-year-old WALTZ,  who received the Best Actor honor at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, should receive an Oscar nod for his riveting work; WALTZ is TARANTINO’S biggest acting coup since nabbing JOHN TRAVOLTA for PULP FICTION.   As SHOSANNA DREYFUS, a woman whose family was murdered by LANDA’s soldiers, LAURENT gives an equally determined and inspired performance, and her nerve-wracking dining table interrogation at the hands of LANDA is one of the film’s high points. 

 TARANTINO does use poetic license with WWII, as ADOLF HITLER and JOSEPH GOEBBELS get their comeuppance at the hands of the BASTERDS during a screening at DREYFUS’ theater.    However, expecting a historically accurate film from TARANTINO, especially with such an over the top storyline, is ludicrous.   Clocking in at over two and a half hours, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS takes its time to develop, and viewers who didn’t flip for the long conversations peppered throughout DEATH PROOF or JACKIE BROWN may not cotton to TARANTINO’s latest.  That would be a shame, since TARANTINO strikes narrative gold with INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, a bloody, engrossing, and at times self-indulgent revenge tale that isn’t afraid to wear its cinematic heart on its sleeve.