INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS ***

Written and directed by Quentin Tarantino this War Drama stars: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Bruhl, Eli Roth, Samm Levine, B.J. Novak, Til Schweiger, Gedeon Burkhard, Paul Rust, Michael Bacall, Omar Doom, Sylvester Groth, Julie Dreyfus, Jacky Ido, August Diehl, Martin Wuttke, Richard Sammel, Christian Berkel, Sonke Mohring, Michael Fassbender, Mike Myers, Rod Taylor, and Denis Menochet. Rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality. Running time is two hours and thirty-six minutes.

A group of Jewish soldiers (Pitt, et. al.) engage in targeted acts of retribution to WWII German soldiers and join a German actress/undercover agent (Kruger) on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich. Throughout the film they are continually watched by a brutal, opportunistic SS Col. (Waltz).

This isn't so much a war drama as Tarantino's idea of what an entertaining war drama should be. If you're expecting historical accuracy, forget about it. Pitt is very good as Lt. Aldo Raine (I can't help wondering if this name is a tribute to the 50-60's actor Aldo Ray who made a number of war films), but the shining star in the film is Christoph Waltz, who is outstanding in his portrayal of a sadistic SS. Col. The pic is unnecessarily long and would have been much better if at least forty-five minutes had been trimmed. Still, the time passed fairly quickly and it was fun spotting Mike Meyers and Rod Taylor (remember him) in their heavily made up roles. The language is graphic, there's lots of violence, and there are those scalping scenes which will cause many to cringe. The picture looks and sounds good and should be seen on a large screen for best effect.