Archive: August, 2009
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Maybe one of the reasons Quentin Tarantino insists on spelling Inglourious Basterds the way he does (the director’s not saying) is that there’s already a Spell-Checked Inglorious Bastards out there in the universe.
Released in 1978, Enzo Castellari’s World War II action pic remains a cult fave, revered in certain cinema circles – Tarantino’s circle being one of the more notable. (Tag line on the original poster: "Whatever the Dirty Dozen did, they do it dirtier!") To capitalize on the new Weinstein Brothers' release, the first Inglorious has just been sent out on DVD and Blu-Ray via Severin Films. Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson star as members of a gang of criminals who escape an Allied prison convoy with a plan to hop over the Swiss border, but end up ‘volunteering’ for a suicide mission deep inside Nazi-occupied France instead.
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
Steven Rea, Inquirer Movie Columnist and Critic
When Steven Spielberg heads to the National Constitution Center on October 8 to accept his Liberty Medal, he’ll be bringing vivid memories of a childhood spent in the Philadelphia area. From my interview with the filmmaker way back when Schindler’s List was released in December, 1993, Spielberg had this to say about his days as a whippersnapper living in Haddon Township, NJ -- and hanging around the grand hall of Philadelphia’s landmark John Wanamaker department store, in the shadow of the bronze eagle statue:
"My family lived in Haddonfield and we used to go to Philadelphia on weekends to visit relatives. . . . My parents used to put me under the eagle and leave me there for an hour and a half, alone.
"My job was not to wander - no nannies, no baby sitters - and they went shopping, because I was impossible to shop with. So they would go all around Wanamaker’s and I would sit there terrified because there was this eagle over me, there were a million people and there were nuns playing the organ.
Steven Rea's previous blog posts can be found here. Read his most recent columns and reviews, here. He also curates the movie stars and bicycling photo blog, Rides A Bike. Reach Steven at srea@phillynews.com.
