In 1944, in France, the rogue American soldiers Lieutenant Robert Yeager (Bo Svenson), Private Fred Canfield (Fred Williamson), the murderer Tony (Peter Hooten), the thief Nick (Michael Pergolani) and the coward Berle (Jackie Basehart) are transported to a military prison. However, the convoy is attacked by the Germans and they survive and flee with the intention of cross the border of Switzerland.Along their journey, they fight against a German platoon and capture the German prisoner Adolf Sachs (Raimund Harmstorf) that offers to guide them to the Swiss border. When they meet a German troop, they kill them but sooner they discover that they actually were and American commando in a mission headed by Colonel Buckner (Ian Bannen) to steal a German V2 warhead. Lt. Yeager, Fred, Tony and Nick offer to risk their lives to accomplish the mission."Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato" is the original "The Inglorious Bastards" that Quentin Tarantino repeated the title in his film. The story is a sort of rip-off of "The Dirty Dozen", with delightful characters and non-stop action and hilarious sequences. This B-movie is entertaining parody of movies of war. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "O Expresso Blindado S.S." ("The Armored S.S. Express")

Oh my. "A cult classic," I'm told. Oh my. Where does one begin? The acting? The directing? The screenplay? The cinematography? Basically, this looks like a film out of Film 101. Unconvincing, not funny (when it's supposed to be), unrealistic (when it's supposed to be), melodramatic (who WROTE these scenes?). It is easy to see Brad Pitt and gang (and Pitt probably belonged in this version anyway--sigh. What's with the bogus Hollywood accents of Southern folks!) But in this version, verisimilitude is out the window (does ANYBODY believe this is "France, about 50 miles from Switzerland? Pul-eeze. It's a Sergio Leone setting for a World War II "scene"! One could go on and on. Back to the "cult classic" label--always identified by the "literary" and "intellectual" crowd--like they do with the book "Finnegans Wake"! ONe can see where Bo Svenson's career didn't leap forward after this film and can anyone identify anyone else, save Ian Bannon, with another dreadful British "version" of American lingo. But I won't keep beating a dead horse. My time would have been better spent trying to read "Finnegan's Wake"!

In a nutshell, Enzo G. Castellari's legendary 1978 Eurocult classic "The Inglorious Bastards," which brought together "Walking Tall" star Bo Svenson, blaxploitation legend Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, and a whole lot of dead Italians is a naked chick war film that was an inspiration for Quentin Tarantino.In fact, there is supposedly footage in Quentin's film borrowed from this one (I haven't seen the new version yet), and Director Castellari (Keoma, Cold Eyes of Fear) is an actor in the new film.To say that the body count in this film is high is a misnomer; almost as many people died in this film as in the whole war.Like The Dirty Dozen, it is about a misfit group of deserters that is charged with an extremely dangerous mission to capture a German rocket.One heck of a bang up ending.

The prolific Italian helmer Enzo G. Castellari of "Any Gun Can Play "and "Payment in Blood" not only made terrific Spaghetti westerns, but he also made one of the best European B-movie World War II thrillers. This half-dozen "Dirty Dozen" actioneer consists of court-martialed American soldiers and a reckless Air Force fighter pilot. In 1944, they manage to escape from an armed escort of MPs after an enemy aircraft spots them. A German fighter attacks the convoy, and the MP guards actually shoot the prisoners as they jump out of the trucks for cover. Strapping tall blond Bo Svenson is cast as Lieutenant Robert Yeager; he was a pilot who used his P-51 Mustang to visit his girlfriend one time too many. As Private Fred Canfield, Fred Williamson endures racial slurs and prejudice from both sides. Williamson smokes his usual cigar and wears his handle-bar mustache. Once these fellows are free of the MPs, our anti-heroes head for neutral Switzerland. Along the way, they pick up a German deserter who agrees to lead them to Switzerland. Later, he dies tragically when he links up with a group of commandos and then is shot in the back by them. The deserters kill the commandos as revenge for their killing the German. Later, our heroes discover that they have killed Americans masquerading as Germans. Naturally, when the French Resistance come upon them, the Resistance believes that the deserters are in fact the commandos that they gunned down for killing the German. Consequently, they find themselves replacing those commandos to help a stubborn, hidebound colonel (Ian Bannen of "The Hill") accomplish his mission. Along the way, they allow the Nazis to capture some of their number so they can storm a stronghold and acquire motorized transportation. The Colonel and his commandos had trained to steal the gyroscope from the guidance system of a prototype of the new V-2 rocket warhead being transported on a Nazi train. Grudgingly, the Colonel uses them in place of his men. Our heroes are sympathetic and charismatic. "Eagles Over London" composer Francesco De Masi provides an atmospheric musical score, and Castellari orchestrates several machine gun clashes. He does an exceptional job with the firefight at the train, particularly with the use of slow-motion. The last battle displays energy with to spare with Nazis whirling as bullets riddle their bodies. At one point, they blow up a bridge, and one of the deserters makes a desperate "Great Escape" bid on motorcycle to pass along information to his comrades. There are couple of surprises and the guy who survives is not the one that you think will live. The matte work is reasonably well done in the long shots for this low-budget war epic. Five men wrote the screenplay. The train crash in the final quarter-hour is obviously a miniature exploding but looks pretty cool. "Inglorious Bastards" is diverting fun. Unfortunately, Quentin Tarantino's remake is nowhere as entertaining as Castellari's straightforward version. The graphics on the opening and the end credits was done by the same man who did similar graphics on Sergio Leone's "Fistful of Dollars."