Wanna know all the changes in the “Inglourious Basterds” final U.S. release cut vs. the cut shown in Cannes in May?
Don’t get your hopes up too high, the changes aren’t radically different, but there are a few minor tweaks here and there. Quentin Tarantino has already said the U.S. cut is about one minute longer and considering the official running time info, this appears to be true (It was 2 hours and 32 minutes with end credits in Cannes and the new running time is listed as 153 minutes or 2 hours and 33 minutes with end credits).
And note, we were going to track the changes from the Cannes cut vs. the changes in the final cut vs. the changes in the script, but then this piece would be 10,000 too many words long. We’ll try and save the script vs. final cut changes for another piece (and hopefully Blogger will have launched their reliable “read more” application this month as they’ve promised because all the hacks out here fuck up the site), but there might be some contextual mentions. Suffice to say spoilers ahead, so you’ve been forewarned. We’ve put the character legend at the bottom for reference if you need more of who is who.
One of the only major differences is the new cut is the inclusion of the pre-La Lousiana sequence that Anne Thompson first reported would be reinstated. So how does one add a new 2-minute (maybe even 3 minute) scene to the film with only adding 1 minute of total running time? Lots of nips, tucks and trims throughout to keep the pacing tighter. But one can presume we’ll all be able to see the extended, fuller versions on the DVD when it finally hits, what 2015? Then again, the “Kill Bill” non-special version did come out a year later on DVD and did have most of the deleted scene as well, so perhaps they’re only a year away.
Scene added: The “La Louisiana scene” — which Tarantino already arrogantly refers to as if it’s already a famous, well-known scene — is a 20-something-minute French basement tavern sequence where the Basterds, their English German-film expert Lt. Archie Hicox and German star/British undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark are supposed to rendezvous and discuss their final plans for Operation Kino (the plot to blow up a theater as Joseph Goebbels and other Nazi high command watch a German propaganda film). Missing in the original cut at Cannes is the brief sequence before that scene where the Basterds and Hicox survey and watch the locale in secret from an elevated room next door. The soldiers discuss how much of a terrible location La Louisiana is precisely because it is a basement (they didn’t have this intel beforehand).
They worry and fret that the locale is a unideal deathtrap and even complain that Von Hammersmark isn’t much of a strategist for picking the locale. Hicox says, she’s “just an actress,” and Lt. Aldo Raine says, “You don’t need to be Stonewall Jackson to know that you don’t want to fight in a basement.” In this brief scene Hicox also sees the quiet madmad Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) methodically sharpening a blade and asks him if he can keep cool under the pressure, reiterating the tavern is just a rendezvous, not a place intended for battle. “Do I not look calm to you?” is Stiglitz’s ice-cold response. Hicox then asks Raine, “This Gerry of yours, not exactly the loquacious type is he?” to which Raine says, “Is that the kind of man you need? The loquacious type?” Hicox says, “Fair point, Lieutenant,” and drops it. The scene ends shortly thereafter and can’t really be longer than about 2:20 seconds. It lands right between the sequence between where Gen Ed Fenech (Mike Myers) and Hicox (Fassbender) first meet to discuss Kino and the bar sequence itself (obviously).
Brief Scene Added: When Shosanna (Melanie Laurent) is first brought to meet Joseph Goebbels so he can determine whether her cinema is good enough to host the premiere of the German propaganda film, “Nation’s Pride,” she is also introduced to Francesca Mondino (Julia Dreyfus), his French translator and clearly a French collaborator to the Nazis. In the Cannes cut Shosanna just stares at her with a subtle (“you traitor” ) look on her face. In the new version, the scene is punctuated with a 3-4 second flash of Goebbels fucking Mondino from behind doggy-style shot at a low angle. We’re basically to assume that this is both what Shosanna thinks of Mondino and what the translator actually does as part of her careerist and opportunist ways. The script version is also a little longer. There’s supposed to be some voice-over where the narrator explains that Mondino is Goebbel’s favorite French actress and there is a flash on a scene of her in a fictional film called, “Sentimental Combat,” plus a quick more-lurid line of sex dialogue (“Do it! Do it!” Fuck me! fill me!”).
In terms of major or noticeable changes that’s about it. In other words, if you liked ‘Basterds’ before, you’ll like it now and if you disliked or had problems with the Cannes cut, there aren’t enough changes to likely sway your opinion of the film.
There’s lot of other small nips, tucks and trims throughout, but we’ll save that for the Cannes vs. final cut vs. script feature because a lot of them are really negligible and unnoticeable. And unless you’ve read the script more once (which we have) and if you’ve seen both cuts of the film (which we have), you’ll need script context otherwise it’s total minutia.
Even then, if we had to fully note every difference between the original script and the final film (or even Cannes cut), we’d be here all day. If every single moment of “Inglourious Basterds” the screenplay was shot (and not rushed and had a chance to breathe), it probably would have amounted to a three hour film (or maybe 3: 15?) which is why it’s a picture we’ve said feels simultaneously rushed and too long as it is.
We admire “Inglourious Basterds” for being original, distinctive and idiosyncratic. Plus being ballsy enough to take it’s sweet ass time and rewrite history. It’s based on a brilliant script, but it’s just not Tarantino’s second or even third best work. On a second viewing, we felt pretty much as we felt about the picture the first time: it was slow, unsuspenseful, telegraphed much of its surprises, and was visually flat and undynamic. It’s not a picture worth hating (or that anyone should vehemently dislike), because again, it is really original, but it’s also just unfortunately pretty dull overall (and on a second viewing we were even more bored and disengaged) and suffers from major pacing issues.
The Legend/Character Reference:
– Shosanna (Melanie Laurent): the French girl whose family is massacred at the hands of Col. – Hans Landa. She goes on to own the cinema in which the film and operation Kino climaxes in.
– Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger): a famous German movie actress, but a secret double agent working for the British
– Lt. Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender): The British Lt who in his pre-WWII civilian days was a film critic and expert in German Cinema which makes him the ideal British operative to rendezvous with the Basterds and Von Hammersmark because he also speaks fluent German.
– Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) – A German traitor who is recruited by the Basterds because he is notorious with all Nazis for killing 13 Gestapo Officers. Further and deeper background details here.
– Mike Myers (General Ed Fenech) – A British military mastermind who takes part in hatching a plot to wipe out the Nazi leaders. He gives Hicox the assignment to rendezvous with the Basterds.
– Francesca Mondino (Julie Dreyfus)- A French actress turned German collaborator/translator to Joseph Goebbels.