Like any other Quentin Tarantino movie,Inglourious Basterdshas generous amounts of blood and violence, but surprisingly, one of its main characters, with a long history of violence, only kills one person on screen. After exploring the genres of crime, martial arts, and slasher, Quentin Tarantino tried something completely different and told an alternate version of historical events inInglourious Basterds. Released in 2009,Inglourious Basterdstook viewers back to World War II but in an alternate timeline, in which the Nazis’ fate was completely different from what history books tell.
Inglourious Basterdsfollows two plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler, which end up converging at the premiere of a German propaganda film. First is that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), whose family was murdered by the men of Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), so now she plans to kill him, Hitler, and everyone else at her cinema. Then there are the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a black ops commando unit looking to kill (and scalp) as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler – and despite this, Aldo Raine only has one on-screen kill.
Aldo Raine Only Kills One Person On-Screen In Inglourious Basterds
Surprisingly, The Leader Of The Basterds Has Only One On-Screen Kill
WhenInglourious Basterdsintroduces the title group, Aldo Raine is giving a speech about their mission and how every single one of them owes him 100 Nazi scalps – and he really wants those scalps. Raine led his team of Basterds on different missions to kill Nazis and was a key part in the planning and execution of Operation Kino, a plan created by actress and UK spy Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) with the help of the Basterds, General Ed Fenech (Mike Myers), and Sir Winston Churchill (Rod Taylor).
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ThroughoutInglourious Basterds, the team is seen in different places killing and scalping Nazis, with Raine always supervising and making sure they send a strong message to Hitler and his people. However, and surprisingly enough,Raine only kills one person on-screen, despite being the leader of the Basterdsand the one who encourages them to kill and scalp Nazi soldiers. At the end ofInglourious Basterds, Landa, looking to protect himself after finding out the Basterds’ plan at the premiere, makes an offer to Raine and his OSS commanders to guarantee his safety after the war.
The plan was for Landa and his radio operator, Hermann, to be driven by Raine and Utivich (B.J. Novak) to Allied territory where they would surrender to Raine, but the latter decides to improvise. With Hermann and Landa handcuffed and thus unable to defend themselves, Raine shoots the former, shocking Landa for breaking their deal. Of course, Raine doesn’t care, and he carves a swastika on Landa’s forehead.Hermann is Raine’s only on-screen kill inInglourious Basterds.
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Another Basterds Member Has The Highest Kill Count In Inglourious Basterds
It’s Very Fitting With This Character
Although Aldo Raine only killed one person on-screen duringInglourious Basterds, his total kill count is a lot higher. Though the exact number isn’t known,it’s believed Aldo Raine had over 250 kills on his list, but he still isn’t the character with the highest kill count inInglourious Basterds. According to different sources, includingAll Outta Bubblegum, which provides a body count breakdown, theInglourious Basterdscharacter withthe highest kill count is Sgt. Donny Donowitz a.k.a. The Bear Jew(Eli Roth).
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According to that breakdown,Donny has a kill count of 240, thanks to the many Nazis he killed at the cinema with Omar Ulmer’s (Omar Doom) help, who is second on the list with 233. Of course, these are based on their on-screen kills, so the total count would be higher depending on how many people they killed before the events ofInglourious Basterds. On the third spot of the list ofInglourious Basterds’ highest kill counts is Hans Landa, with approximately 230 kills, though how many of those were by his own hand is unknown.
Inglourious Basterds Is Still Tarantino’s Movie With The Highest Kill Count
One Scene Granted Inglourious Basterds A Very High Kill Count
As mentioned above, blood and violence are the main ingredients inQuentin Tarantino’s movies, but even after movies with violent scenes likeDjango UnchainedandKill Bill(both movies),Inglourious Basterdsis still theTarantino movie with the highest kill count. Though there’s not an official number of deaths inInglourious Basterds,it has been calculated to be between 315 and 396. The scene at the premiere, where Shosanna’s plan ends up fusing with that of the Basterds’ is the one that givesInglourious Basterdssuch a high kill count, as they killed a cinema full of Nazis, among them Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.
Another scene with many deaths is the one at the tavern, where Operation Kino failed after Hicox (Michael Fassbender) madethe wrong hand gesturethat gave him away in front of Major Dieter Hellström (August Diehl). It’s unlikely that Quentin Tarantino’s tenth and supposedly final movie will beatInglourious Basterds’ high kill count, but he could still surprise the audience.
Source:All Outta Bubblegum.
Inglourious Basterds
Inglourious Basterds is a film set during World War II in Nazi-occupied France. It follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers, known as “The Basterds,” led by Lt. Aldo Raine, who engage in ruthless anti-Nazi efforts. Their actions intersect with a French-Jewish theater owner in a plot against the regime.
