Before They Were 'Basterds'
Finding influences and references in Tarantino's latest
Seattle's Scarecrow Video is located approximately 15 blocks down the road from my house (don't stalk me!) and on top of being one of the largest independent video stores in the country they apparently have a blog I knew nothing about and my first trip to said blog has me looking squarely at a post titled "Before They Were Basterds," which is described by the site as such:
Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds is perhaps his most deft handling of reference and homage yet. The video store nerds at Scarecrow Video would like to present to you an unofficial and in progress footnotes companion to Basterds. Some of these films are directly referenced in the film, others are only evoked, while others still are films we simply felt should go on the list. All titles will be available for rent in a special section except where noted.
Now, I want to tell you this is not your average list. These guys aren't messing around in the slightest as they currently have listed 149 separate movies they have found have similarities to Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
The list includes everything from the Donald Duck animated short "Der Fuehrer's Face" and Looney Tunes Gold Collection to Battleship Potemkin and The Wizard of Oz.
Just so you know, as they note in the introduction I referenced, this is an unofficial list. Some of the mentions they make are simply similarities they have found while others are actually taken from specific interviews or obvious references.
For example, Les Vampires is mentioned because the poster is seen hanging in Shosanna's office. Carrie is mentioned due to the film's fiery conclusion much like the face from The Wizard of Oz is equally reminiscent of the film's finale.
Official or not, it's an interesting read on top of a site you should give a once over. You can check out the full piece right here and perhaps find a few titles to add to your Netflix queue, or if you live in Seattle hit up Scarecrow.
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