2009

Character: Lt. Aldo Raine
Release Date: August 21, 2009
Directed By: Quentin Tarantino
Written By: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/War
Tagline: -
MPAA Rating: Rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality
Produced by: Lawrence Bender Productions, Universal Pictures, The Weinstein Company
Distributed by: Universal Pictures, The Weinstein Company
Budget: &70,000,000 (estimated)
Filming Dates: 13 October 2008 -

Cast:
…Brad Pitt…Lt. Aldo Raine
…Diane Kruger…Bridget von Hammersmark
…Mike Myers…General Ed Fenech
…B.J. Novak…PFC Utivich
…Samm Levine…PFC Hirschberg
…Eli Roth…Sgt. Donnie Donowitz
…Til Schweiger…German Soldier
…Michael Fassbender…Lt. Archie Hicox
…Paul Rust…Andy
…Mélanie Laurent…Shoshanna Dreyfus
…Christoph Waltz…Col. Hans Landa
…Ludger Pistor…Wolfgang
…Jacky Ido…Marcel

Filming Locations:
Bad Schandau, Saxony, Germany
Berlin, Germany
Elbe Sandstone Mountains, Saxony, Germany
Görlitz, Saxony, Germany
Nauen, Brandenburg, Germany
Paris, France
Sebnitz, Saxony, Germany
Studio Babelsberg, Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany

Synopsis:
During World War II 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. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Trivia & Facts:
• In 2005, Quentin Tarantino was quoted as saying that he had written the script, a World War II story, but that he needed to convert it to a shooting script. He said that writing the script and preparing a shooting script were “two different things”.

• Quentin Tarantino started writing this movie before Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) but could not decide on a good ending and decide to put it on hold to do Kill Bill with Uma Thurman, a project he had been mentally preparing since Pulp Fiction (1994).

• When Quentin Tarantino wrote the screenplay, he wanted to have Mickey Rourke in the film to get Rourke back in the business again. But then Robert Rodriguez used him for Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) and Sin City (2005) and Tarantino scrapped the idea.

• Quentin Tarantino has said that he intends for this to be as much a war film as a spaghetti western, and has said he would also consider titling the movie “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France”.

• Quentin Tarantino worked on the script for almost a decade.

• David Krumholtz dropped out due a scheduling conflict and Samm Levine took his place.

• British actor Simon Pegg was originally set to play Lt. Archie Hicox but was forced to pull out of the project because of scheduling conflicts. Michael Fassbender replaced him.

• Tarantino approached Adam Sandler to play one of the Jewish soldiers. But Sandler had to turn it down because the schedule conflicted with the filming of Funny People (2009).

• The role of Francesca Mondino was written especially for Julie Dreyfus, who played a similar character
in Quentin’s previous movie, Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).

• Nastassja Kinski was in talks for the role of Bridget Von Hammersmark; Tarantino even flew to Germany to meet the actress, but a deal wasn’t reached.

• The name of Brad Pitt’s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, is a homage to actor Aldo Ray.

• Eli Roth’s character, Sgt. Donnie Donowitz, is part of the Tarantino-verse, sharing the last name of the film producer character, Lee Donowitz, in the Tarantino-written True Romance (1993). The Lee Donowitz character also produced a war film “Comin’ Home in a Body Bag”.

• Isabelle Huppert was the first choice for Madame Mimieux. But the actress’ behavior (too ‘divistic’) apparently irritated Quentin Tarantino so he replaced her with screen siren Maggie Cheung.

• Michael Madsen was originally announced to star as a character named Babe Buchinsky.

• Tim Roth was in talks with Tarantino to play Donnie Donowitz.

• Tarantino originally wanted Leonardo DiCaprio to play Hans Landa but decided that a German-speaking actor should play the role.

• According to Eddie Murphy, he was in talks with Tarantino for a role in the film.

• The scar on Aldo Raine’s neck will not be mentioned throughout the film. However, it hints that Aldo survived lynching, a common punishment in the early 1900′s.

• Despite being Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino’s first time working together, Brad had co-starred in True Romance (1993) (which was written by Tarantino).

• The name of Mike Myers’ character is a homage to actress Edwige Fenech.

From the gallery

Quotes
Lt. Aldo Raine: Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps… and I want my scalps!

Lt. Aldo Raine: You probably heard we ain’t in the prisoner-takin’ business; we in the killin’ Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin’.

Lt. Aldo Raine: My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I’m putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y’all might’ve heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we’ll be leaving a little earlier. We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin’ guerrilla army, we’re gonna be doin’ one thing and one thing only… killin’ Nazis. Now, I don’t know about y’all, but I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity. They’re the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin’, mass murderin’ maniac and they need to be dee-stroyed. That’s why any and every every son of a bitch we find wearin’ a Nazi uniform, they’re gonna die. Now, I’m the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty they will know who we are. And they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And the German won’t not be able to help themselves but to imagine the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And when the German closes their eyes at night and they’re tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good?
The Basterds: YES, SIR!
Lt. Aldo Raine: That’s what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y’all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin’.

Bridget von Hammersmark: There have been two recent developments regarding Operation Kino. One, the venue has been changed from the Ritz to a much smaller venue.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Enormous changes at the last minute? That’s not very “Germatic.” Why the hell is Goebbels doing stuff so damn peculiar?
Bridget von Hammersmark: It probably has something to do with the second development.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Which is?
Bridget von Hammersmark: [sits up] The Führer is attending the premiere.

Lt. Aldo Raine: [Drawing a map] Up the road apiece, there’s a orchard. Now, besides you, we know there’s another kraut patrol fuckin’ here somewhere. Now if that patrol were to have any crackshots, that orchard would be a goddamn sniper’s delight. Now if you ever want to eat a sauerkraut sandwich again, you gotta show me on this map where they are, you gotta tell me how many there are, and you gotta tell me what kinda artillery they’re carrying with ‘em.
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: You can’t expect me to divulge information that would put German lives in danger?
Lt. Aldo Raine: Well Werner, that’s where you’re wrong, because that’s exactly what I expect. I need to about Germans hiding in them trees, and you need to tell me, and you need to tell me. And you need to tell me right now. Now take your finger and point out on this map where this party’s being held, how many’s coming, and what they brought to play with.
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: I respectfully refuse.
Lt. Aldo Raine: [a smack is heard offscreen] Here that? That’s Sgt. Donny Donowitz. But you might know him better by his nickname. The Bear Jew. Now, if you heard of Aldo the Apache, you gotta have heard of the Bear Jew.
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: I have heard of the Bear Jew.
Lt. Aldo Raine: What did you hear about him, Werner?
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: He beats German soldiers with a club
Lt. Aldo Raine: He bashes their brains in with a baseball bat is what he does. Now, Werner, I’m gonna ask you one more goddamn time, and if you still “respectfully refuse,” I’m callin’ the Bear Jew over here, and he’s gonna take that big-ole bat of his, and he’s gonna beat you to death with it. Now take your wiener schnitzel lickin’ finger and point out on this map what I want to know.
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: Fuck you.
[pause]
Sgt. Werner Rachtman: And your Jew dogs!
[the Basterds all laugh]
Lt. Aldo Raine: Actually, Werner, we’re all tickled to here you say that. Frankly, watchin’ Donny beat Nazis to death is is the closest we ever get to goin’ to the movies.
[Calling offscreen]
Lt. Aldo Raine: DONNY!
Sgt. Donny Donowitz: [From offscreen] Yeah?
Lt. Aldo Raine: We got a German here who wants to die for his country! Oblige him!

Col. Hans Landa: [giddy] Oooh, that’s a bingo!
Col. Hans Landa: Is that the way you say it? “That’s a bingo?”
Lt. Aldo Raine: You just say “bingo”.
Col. Hans Landa: Bingo! How fun! But, I digress. Where were we?

Col. Hans Landa: Tell me, Aldo, if I were sitting where you’re sitting, would you show me mercy?
Lt. Aldo Raine: Nope.
Col. Hans Landa: What’s that English saying about shoes and feet?
Lt. Aldo Raine: ‘Looks like the shoe’s on the other foot.’ Yeah, I was just thinking that.

Lt. Aldo Raine: [Aldo shoots Hans' driver Hermann, and gives Utivich a knife] Scalp Hermann.
Col. Hans Landa: Are you mad? What have you done? I made a deal with your general for that man’s life!
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, they made that deal, but they don’t give a fuck about him. They need you.
Col. Hans Landa: You’ll be shot for this!
Lt. Aldo Raine: Nah, I don’t think so. More like chewed out. I’ve been chewed out before.

Lt. Aldo Raine: You didn’t say the goddamn rendezvous was in a fuckin’ basement.
Lt. Archie Hicox: I didn’t know.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You said it was in a tavern.
Lt. Archie Hicox: It is a tavern.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, in a basement. You know, fightin’ in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you’re fightin’ in a basement!

Sgt. Donny Donowitz: Speaking of Frau von Hammersmark, whose idea was it for the death trap rendezvous?
Lt. Archie Hicox: She chose the spot.
Sgt. Donny Donowitz: Well, isn’t that just dandy.
Lt. Archie Hicox: Look, she’s not a military strategist. She’s just an actress.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Well, you don’t got to be Stonewall Jackson to know you don’t want to fight in a basement.

Sgt. Donny Donowitz: [Aldo is carving a swastika into Private Butz's forehead] You know, Lieutenant, you’re getting pretty good at that.
Lt. Aldo Raine: You know how you get to Carnegie Hall, don’t ya? Practice.

Lt. Aldo Raine: Every German we meet wearing a Nazi uniform… they’re gonna die.

Col. Hans Landa: As of this moment, both Omar and Donowitz should be sitting in their very seats we left for them, 0023 and 0024 if my memory serves, explosives still around their ankles, still ready to explode and your mission, what some would call a terrorist plot, as of this moment is still a go.
Lt. Aldo Raine: That’s a pretty exciting story. What’s next? “Eliza On The Ice”?
Col. Hans Landa: However… all I have to do is pick up this phone right here, inform the cinema, and your plan’s kuputt.
Lt. Aldo Raine: If they’re still there, and if they’re still alive, and that’s one big if, there ain’t no way you gonna take them boys without settin’ off them bombs.
Col. Hans Landa: I have no doubt. And yes, some Germans will die, and yes, it will ruin the evening, and yes, Goebbels will be very, very, very mad at you for what you’ve done to his big night… but you won’t get Hitler, you won’t get Goebbels, you won’t get Göring, and you won’t get Bormann. And you need all four to win the war. But if I don’t pick up this phone right here, you may very well get all four… and if you get all four, you’ll end the war… tonight.
[he opens a bottle of Chianti]
Col. Hans Landa: So, gentlemen, let’s discuss the prospect of ending the war tonight.

Lt. Aldo Raine: I’m gonna give you a little somethin’ you can’t take off.

[last lines]
Lt. Aldo Raine: You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece.

Bridget von Hammersmark: I can see since you didn’t see what happened inside, the Nazis being there must look odd.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Yeah, we got a word for that kinda odd in English. It’s called suspicious.

Lt. Aldo Raine: Well, I speak the most Italian, so I’ll be your escort. Donowitz speaks the second most, so he’ll be your Italian cameraman. Omar speaks third most, so he’ll be Donny’s assistant.
Pfc. Omar Ulmer: I don’t speak Italian.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Like I said, third best. Just keep your fuckin’ mouth shut. In fact, why don’t you start practicing, right now!

Lt. Aldo Raine: [the Basterds are breaking Sgt. Stiglitz out of jail] Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz?
[Sgt. Stiglitz nods]
Lt. Aldo Raine: Lt. Aldo Raine. These are the Basterds, ever heard of us?
[Sgt. Stiglitz nods]
Lt. Aldo Raine: We just wanted to say we’re a big fan of your work. When it comes to killing Nazis…
Nazi Guard: Uggghhhhaahhh…
[one of the Basterds shoots him]
Lt. Aldo Raine: …I think you show great talent. And I pride myself on having an eye for that kind of talent. But your status as a Nazi killer is still amateur. We all come here to see if you wanna go pro.

Lt. Aldo Raine: [trying to speaking Italian in an attempt to fool Landa to keep up his cover as an Italian actor] Gwatzeeeeee. Gwatzeeee. Gwatzeeee.

Lt. Aldo Raine: [very bad Italian accent] Arriverderci.

Col. Hans Landa: [to Aldo] So you’re “Aldo the Apache”.
Lt. Aldo Raine: So you’re “the Jew Hunter”.

Lt. Aldo Raine: [faking Italian with a Southern accent] Bon jorno.

Lt. Aldo Raine: You know, where I’m from…
Col. Hans Landa: Yeah, where is that, exactly?
Lt. Aldo Raine: Maynardville, Tennessee.
[pause]
Lt. Aldo Raine: I’ve done my share of bootlegging. Up ‘ere, if you engage in what the federal government calls ‘illegal activity,’ but what we call ‘just a man tryin’ to make a livin’ for his family sellin’ moonshine liquor,’ it behooves oneself to keep his wits. Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true… it ain’t.
Col. Hans Landa: Sitting in your chair, I would probably say the same thing. And 999 point 999 times out of a million, you would be correct. But in the pages of history, every once in a while, fate reaches out and extends its hand.
[Landa slowly sweeps his arms out in a grand shrug]
Col. Hans Landa: What shall the history books read?

Master SGT. Wilhelm: Who are you? British, American? What?
Lt. Aldo Raine: We’re American! What’re you?
Master SGT. Wilhelm: I’m a German, you idiot!
Lt. Aldo Raine: You speak English pretty good for a German.
Master SGT. Wilhelm: I agree.

Lt. Aldo Raine: Enormous changes at the last minute? That’s not very Germatic. Why the hell is Goebbels doin’ stuff so damn peculiar.
Bridget von Hammersmark: It probably has something to do with the second development.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Which is?
Bridget von Hammersmark: The Führer is attending the premiere.
Adolf Hitler: [cut to Hitler] I’ve been rethinking my position in regards to your Paris premiere of “Nation’s Pride”. As the weeks have gone on and the Americans are on the beach, I do find myself thinking more and more about this Private Zoller. This boy has done something tremendous for us. And I’m beginning to think my participation in this event could be meaningful.
Sgt. Donny Donowitz: [cut back to the Basterds] Fuck A Duck!

Lt. Aldo Raine: [to Utivitch] Ask him what he is gonna do with his uniform when he gets home.
Pvt. Butz: [through an interperter] Not only do I intend to take off my uniform, I intend to burn it.
Lt. Aldo Raine: Nah, see, we don’t like that. We like our Nazis in uniform. That way we can spot ‘em just like that. We’re gonna give you a little something you cant take off.

Lt. Aldo Raine: Y’know… Utivich ‘n myself heard that deal you made with the brass. “End the war tonight”?… I’d make that deal. How ’bout you Utivich, you make that deal?
Pfc. Smithson Utivich: [busy scalping Herrmann] I’d make that deal.
Lt. Aldo Raine: I don’t blame ya! Damn good deal! And that purty little nest you feathered for yourself. Well, if you’re willing to barbecue the whole high command, I ‘spose that’s worth certain considerations. But I do have one question. When you get to your little place on Nantucket Island, I ‘magine you’re gonna take off that handsome-lookin’ S.S. uniform of yours, ain’tcha?… That’s what I thought. Now that I can’t abide. How ’bout you Utivich, can you abide it?
Pfc. Smithson Utivich: [finishes scalping Herrmann] Not one damn bit, sir.
Lt. Aldo Raine: I mean, if I had my way… you’d wear that goddamn uniform for the rest of your pecker-suckin’ life. But I’m aware that ain’t practical, I mean at some point you’re gonna hafta take it off. So. I’m ‘onna give you a little somethin’ you can’t take off.
[Cut to Landa screaming and crying as Raine carves a swastika into his forehead]
Lt. Aldo Raine: You know somethin’, Utivich? I think this just might be my masterpiece.
[Raine and Utvich grin sardonically as the credits roll]

External Links
…Official website
…IMDB