Westerns & Spaghetti Westerns

western films tell stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the american old west. most are set between the end of the american civil war (1865) and the massacre at wounded knee in 1890

westerns often portray how primitive and obsolete ways of life confronted modern technological or social changes e.g by showing conflict between natives and settlers

westerns from the 1960s and 70s often have a more pessimistic view, glorifying a rebellious anti-hero, highlighting the cynicism, brutalityand inequalityof the american west

despite being tightly associated with a specific time and place in american history, these themes have allowed westerns to be produced and enjoyed across the world

spaghetti western is a nicknamefor a broad sub-genre of western film that emerged in the mid 1960s

they are named this because most were produced and directed by italians, usually in co-production with a spanish partner and in some cases a german partner

typical team was made up of an italian director, italo-spanish technical staff, a cast of italian and spanish actors, sometimes a fading hollywood star and sometimes a rising one

the films were typically shot in inexpensive locales resembling the american southwest

they are characterized by their production in the italian language and low budgets

Blaxpoitation

blaxploitation is a film genre that emerged in the united states circa 1971 when many exploitation films were made specifically (and perhaps exclusively) for an audience of urban black people

 the word itself is a mix of the words 'black' and 'exploitation'

blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music

 these films starred primarily black actors

when set in the northeast or west coast of america, blaxploitation films tend to take place in the ghetto, dealing with hit men, drug dealers and pimps

the genre frequently takes place in an atmosphere of crime and drug-dealing. ethnic slurs against whites (e.g., 'honky')

negative white characters like corrupt cops, politicians, prostitutes and gullible gangsters were common

blaxploitation films set in the south often take place on a plantation, dealing with slavery and miscegenation

blaxploitation includes several subtypes of films, including crime, action/martial arts, westerns, horror, comedy, nostalgia, coming-of-age/courtroom drama and musical

many of these films featured funk and soul jazz soundtracks with heavy bass, funky beats and wah-wah guitars

these soundtracks are notable for a degree of complexity that was not common for radio-friendly funk tracks and rich orchestration that included uncommon instruments such as flutes and violins

these films were accused of stereotyping blacks—their target audience—as pimps and drug dealers

 this dovetailed with common white stereotypes about black people, and as a result, many called for the end of the blaxploitation genre

Inglorious Basterds

GENRE: adventure, war & drama

RELEASED: 19th august 2009

BUDGET: $70,000,000

GROSS: $120,523,073

FEATURES:  brad pitt, melanie laurant, christoph waltz, eli roth & diane kruger

in nazi-occupied france during WWII, a group of jewish-american soldiers known as 'the basterds' are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the third reich by scalping and brutally killing nazis.

a young jewish refugee shosanna dreyfus witnesses the slaughter of her family by colonel hans landa. narrowly escaping with her life, she plots her revenge several years later when german war hero fredrick zoller takes a rapid interest in her and arranges an illustrious movie premiere at the theater she now runs. with the promise of every major nazi officer in attendance, the event catches the attention of the 'basterds', a group of jewish-american guerilla soldiers led by the ruthless lt. aldo raine. as the relentless executioners advance and the conspiring young girl's plans are set in motion, their paths will cross for a fateful evening that will shake the very annals of history...

• tarantino intended for this to be as much a war film as a spaghetti western, and considered titling the movie 'once upon a time in nazi-occupied france'. he gave that title instead to the first chapter of the film
• he worked on the script for almost a decade
• the name of brad pitt's character, lt. aldo raine, is an homage to both the actor and WWII veteran aldo ray and a character from rolling thunder
• on german advertisement materials all swastikas were removed or covered up, as it was unclear to the distributor if the swastikas violated german law (which prohibits the exhibition of nazi symbols except for purposes such as historical accuracy)
• the very first scalping shown in the film on a dead nazi is a dummy of tarantino
• the film has recieved eight academy award nominations

SONGS USED

• the green leaves of summer- nick perito
• the verdict- ennio morricone
• white lightening- charles bernstein
• il mercenario- ennio morricone
• slaughter- billy preston
• the surrender- ennio morricone
• one silver dollar- gianni ferrio
• bath attack- charles bernstein
• davon geht die welt nicht unter- zarah leander
• the man with the big sombrero- june havoc
• ich wollt ich war ein huhn- lilan harvey & willy fritsch
• main theme from dark of the sun- jacques louisser
• cat people- david bowie
• mystic & severe- ennio morricone
• the devil's rumble- mike curb & the arrows
• zulus- elmer bernstein
• tiger tank-lalo schifrin
• uh amico- ennio morricone
• eastern condors- sherman chow gam-cheung
• rabbia e tarantella- ennio morricone

REVIEWS

http://blog.quickflix.com.au/2009/12/tarantinos-pride-inglourious-basterds.html

http://blog.quickflix.com.au/2009/12/tarantinos-pride-inglourious-basterds.html

http://incontention.com/2009/08/05/review-inglourious-basterds-12/

"inglourious basterds was advertised (often by tarantino himself) as a ‘men-on-a-mission’ movie; a western set during WWII. well, the ads were half right. fhe film did feature men on a mission, and the western inspirations were clear (ennio morricone is all over the soundtrack). but this was not the action movie we had been promised; in fact, the film’s brief moments of action are so abrupt, immediate and bloody you might as well consider them tableaus. the film is far bigger and better than that"

"its budget was a minuscule $70 million (that seems like a lot, but it was about the same as judd apatow's 'funny people'). having seen about three quarters of the touted best picture contenders for the 2010 academy awards, i can say without hesitation that inglourious basterds is the only film that warrants victory. as i plough through the remaining oscar bait, i’m sure deserving nominees will be revealed, but surely none could top tarantino’s achievement"

"tarantino is often criticised for being something of a “mash-up” director; a filmmaker who takes all his influences, throws them into a blender and emerges with a film of his own. we could devote an entire encyclopaedia to the references in inglourious basterds"

"tarantino also disrupts my interest during the movie, interrupting my attention with “stunt casting” (like mike meyers in a distracting cameo) and references to his own past triumphs. in the opening scene, landa gulps down a “tasty beverage” provided by his host—his target—in an obvious reference to pulp fiction’s jules. later, the voice on a telephone is obviously harvey keitel—a clever but distracting cameo included as a wink to his fans"

"tarantino is, at times, like one of those popular, flamboyant, egomaniacal orchestra conductors, gesticulating wildly and turning to the audience to make sure we know that the show’s about him"



Quentin Tarantino

Quentin Tarantino- 27th March 1963, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

• film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer & actor
• collects old board games
• his father is of italian decent and his mother is half-irish half-cherokee
• his dad was an actor
• dropped out of school at sixteen
• strongly detests violence and drugs (despite using them in his films)
• he has called uma thurman his muse
• his mother was only 16 when she gave birth to him
• hates product placement
• six of his movies are mentioned in FHMs 100 best male movies ever (true romance, from dusk till dawn, kill bill vol.2, kill bill vol.1, reservoir dogs & pulp fiction)
• would like to direct a james bond movie at some point in his life
• he has two sisters and one brother

FILMOGRAPHY

• kill bill vol.1 (writer & director)
• kill bill vol.2 (writer & director)
• inglorious basterds (writer, director & producer)
• planet terror (producer)
• death proof (writer, director, producer & actor)
• grindhouse (writer, director, producer & actor)
• daltry calhoun (producer)
• god said 'ha!' (producer)
• jackie brown (writer & director)
• curdled (writer & executive producer)
• from dusk until dawn (writer, executive producer & actor)
• four rooms (director, writer, executive producer & actor)
• natural born killers (writer)
• pulp fiction (writer, director & actor)
• reservoir dogs (writer, director & actor)

ELEMENTS HE IS FAMOUS FOR

• feet
• lead characters drive cars such as chevrolets & cadillacs
• briefcases & suitcass (in pulp fiction, reservoir dogs, jackie brown, true romance & kill bill vol.2)
• frequently workswith harvey keital, tim roth, michael madsen, uma thurman, michael bowen & samuel l.jackson
• his films usually have a shot from inside a car boot
• dutch elements
• feature a scene in which threeor more characters are pointing guns at each other at the same time
• frequently sets films in LA
• characters frequently use the phrase 'bingo'