Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, only this time set in the late 1960s).
Inglourious Basterds follows different subplots with one common goal: kill as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler. The story centers on two plans: one by a group known as “The Basterds”, led by Django Unchained and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood), and was very well-received by critics as well. The film is now best ed for the performances of Waltz and Pitt, its plot, and the peculiar way the title is spelled, which was completely intentional.
Tarantino is a well-known film enthusiast and takes inspiration from many films to write and make his own, not only in of narrative but also visually and other aspects, such as the titles. Inglourious Basterds’ title is inspired by Enzo G. Castellari’s The Inglorious Bastards (1978), an Italian action/war film (or “macaroni combat” film) that follows a group of prisoners drafted into a special war mission in 1944 – and which is, in turn, a loose remake of The Dirty Dozen (1967). However, Tarantino didn’t misspell the title to differentiate his film from Castellari’s, and was instead a creative decision which he initially refused to explain, simply saying that “Basterds” was spelled as such because “that’s just the way you say it”.
Tarantino eventually gave in and shared more about the decision of misspelling the title of Inglourious Basterds, saying it’s “a Basquiat-esque touch”. He later added while on the Late Show With David Letterman that it was a “Quentin Tarantino spelling”, but didn’t go any further into it. Of course, before that, fans came up with different explanations as to why the title of the film is spelled like that, and one of the most popular ones says it’s all because Aldo Raine can’t spell, as seen in the scene where the Basterds capture (and scalp) a group of Nazis and his rifle shows “Inglourious Basterds” carved into it – which is most likely just an in-movie nod to the title.
Inglourious Basterds’ title definitely makes it stand out from the rest of Tarantino’s movies, and gave viewers something to talk about for a while. Whether that was Tarantino’s intention or not is unknown, as well as if there’s more to the misspelling of the title than what he shared, as he tends to keep many details to himself.
