Chapter One: Once Upon A Time In Italy

If Quentin Tarantino’s latest cinematic opus has a direct inspiration, it’s surely Enzo G Castellari’s 1978 Italian war pic Quel Maledetto Treno Blindato (AKA That Damned Armoured Train), and released in America as – guess what? – Inglorious Bastards.

The plot finds five American soldiers in World War Two being carted off to answer for various war crimes.

But a German attack on the convoy ferrying them to prison leaves the guards and most of their comrades dead, and the five head off on a commando mission to clear their names by stealing a precious piece of Nazi equipment.

Their target? A heavily protected train…

The film, along with other movies like The Dirty Dozen and Five For Hell, inspired a young Quentin Tarantino to make a men-on-a-mission pic back in the days when he was still just a video store employee.

"This will be our “Inglorious Bastards!” he and his friends would laugh as they plotted fantasy versions of the film. Something stuck…