The “Bingo” scene in Inglourious Basterds (2009) is about leverage, power, and one man’s remarkable ability to smile his way through treachery.Opposite Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and Smithson Utivich (B.J. Novak), the alleged winners of history, SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) sloppily alters the war’s conclusion as if it were his own screenplay. The stakes are extremely high: giving away the Nazi government in return for safe travel and a new identity in the U.S. It’s a combination of theater, extortion, and diplomacy.Then, as he describes the most daring transaction of the century, he exclaims, “That’s a bingo!” and wiggles in his chair with the joy of a child winning at a carnival game. It’s simultaneously funny, strange, and terrifying.Although it shouldn’t, the phrase works flawlessly in a war drama. Waltz’s remarkable talent for making words dance and Tarantino’s ability to use dialogue as a weapon are both encapsulated in that one line.Was it a bit of improvisation, Waltz’s own invention, or was it always supposed to be there? That’s what this article is going to do: provide an insight into the creation of this memorable cinematic moment.Debunking the MythThe Common MisconceptionIt’s not uncommon for us, the audience, to want such memorable cinematic elements to come from spur-of-the-moment brilliance. The idea is reassuring: the actor is moved, blurts something out, and the history (and a bit of trivia) is created. Makes for a good “bloopers” video.So people assumed Waltz must have improvised this unexpected and gleefully bizarre delivery of...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Saturday, 8 November