| Aldo Raine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Vital statistics | |
| Name | Aldo Raine |
| Gender | Male |
| Allegiance | United States, The Basterds |
| Title/Rank | First Lieutenant Aldo the Apache |
| Nationality | American |
| Fate | Most likely survived WWII |
| Portrayed by | Brad Pitt |
- “You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'.”
- ―Aldo Raine
1st Lieutenant Aldo "The Apache" Raine is an American, and the leader of the "Basterds".
Biography
A hillbilly-moonshiner from Maynardville, Tennessee, Aldo bears a large scar around his neck which is rumored to be from a lynching. Aldo's nickname "The Apache" comes from his penchant for scalping Nazis (done in the tradition of American Apache Indians). In his introductory scene, Raine states that he is a direct descendant of legendary mountainman Jim Bridger.
Story
Chapter Two - INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS
Aldo Raine is first seen talking to a group of soldiers. He introduces himself as Lt. Aldo Raine and claims that he needs 8 soldiers, 8 Jewish-American soldiers to be exact. He tells them that there are rumours about an armada waiting to happen. They will be leaving a little earlier. He tells them that they'll be dropped into France and there, dressed as civilians, they'll be doing one thing and one thing only: killing Nazis.
Some time later we see private Butz telling Hitler how they were ambushed by Raine's men. Aldo calls Seargent Werner Rachtman and asks him if he knows who Hugo Stiglitz is. Afterwards, he demands that he tell him the positions of the other German soldiers, also what weapons they have and how many of them there are. Rachtman refuses and Aldo calls "The Bear Jew" aka Sgt. Donny Donowitz to beat him to death with his baseball bat, as he eats a sandwich. Afterwards, he tells Donny to bring Butz to him to point on a map the location of the other German unit. After Butz tells him what he needs to know, Aldo pulls his knife and gives him a swastika scar. From a trunk shot, we see Donny telling Aldo that he's getting pretty good at that. Aldo confirms that, saying that it's just practice.
Chapter Four - OPERATION KINO
He meets with Lt. Archie Hicox in a ruined house in the village of Nadine, where they're supposed to meet with their contact, the German actress Bridget von Hammersmark. Here, we see him being angry that the rendezvous place is a basement. Hicox tells him that it's actually a tavern, to which Raine replies that it's a 'tavern alright', but in a basement. He adds that fighting in a basement is a problem, to which Hicox replies that she wasn't looking for a place to fight, but a place isolated and without Germans. During the rendezvous a shootout occurs, leaving everyone in the tavern dead except von Hammersmark and a German soldier named Wilhelm. Aldo successfully bargains with Wilhelm to let them take von Hammersmark. After Wilhelm drops his weapon, von Hammersmark guns him down. With the German speaking members of the Basterds all dead, Aldo decides that there's no other choice but for him, Donny, and Omar to attend the premiere in their places, posing as von Hammersmark's Italian escorts.
Chapter Five - REVENGE OF THE GIANT FACE
Later in the film, he attends the premiere with von Hammersmark, but Hans Landa speaks with them and sees through their disguises. Hans then kills von Hammersmark and has Aldo captured along with another Basterd, Utivich. Hans then negotiates his surrender with Aldo, and the missions goes as planned, with the theatre blowing up and the Nazi High Command being killed, possibly ending the war. At the end, he kills the German driver while sparing Landa. He then carves a swastika on Landa's forehead as he screams in agony. He states to Utivich "This just might be my masterpiece."
Trivia
- The place where Aldo Raine briefs the Basterds is identified as England only in the original draft of the script.
- The reason for the scar on Aldo Raine's neck is not mentioned in the film. The script hints that Raine survived a lynching, a common punishment in the 1920s and 1930s.
- The hanging scar is a reference to the character Tuco, one of the three protagonists of The Good The Bad The Ugly by Sergio Leone, who managed to avoid death by hanging on several occasions.
- When Aldo Raine is introduced, he is shown wearing the insignia for the "Black Devils" the 1st Special Service Force, composed of both Canadian and American soldiers.
- Aldo snuffs tobacco from a box with engraved above the eagle Nazi (object certainly stolen from the corpse of one of the enemies), which comes in the form of powder obtained by grinding the leaves of tobacco, was much in vogue in previous centuries, especially during the 17th century.[1]
- Shortly after carving the swastika on Butz's forehead, Aldo responds to Donny, who had just complimented him, by saying the phrase: "You know how you get to Carnegie Hall, doncha? Practice". The joke is a reference to this very old American joke: "A tourist visiting New York stops and asks a passerby," How do you get to Carnegie Hall? "(The most prestigious concert hall in the world) meaning, of course, the road directions to reach it and the New Yorker, in the mood of jokes, answers him: "Practice, practice, practice", meaning, however, what you need to do to be able to perform in the famous hall.
- Aldo's dagger was made specifically for the film by using the blade of the Bowie hunting knife "Smith & Wesson Texas Hold 'em".
- The phrase said by Aldo, "Fightin 'in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!" is a reference to the movie Fight Club, where Pitt stars.
- The standoff between Aldo and Wilhelm during the La Louisiane scene is similar to a scene in Quentin Tarantino's other movie Kill Bill: Vol. 2 in which Beatrix Kiddo just finds out she is pregnant and is attacked by a hit woman. The two have a standoff in which she makes a deal with the hit woman to let her go as she is pregnant. Sgt. Wilhelm makes a deal with Aldo to let him go as he had become a father that night. The difference in the two scenarios is that Beatrix honors the deal and the hitwoman escapes, while Aldo honors the deal but Bridget von Hammersmark shoots and kills Sgt. Wilhelm.
- When Aldo Raine pretends to be an Italian actor at the movie premiere, he uses name "Enzo Gorlami", which is the birth name of the director of original Inglorious Bastards (The Inglorious Bastards), Enzo G. Castellari.
- Despite his character's reputation and being leader of the Basterds, Aldo Raine only kills one person on-screen (the radio operator).
- In "Quentin Tarantino's Universe", the character of Lt. Aldo Raine is Floyd's - aka The pothead on the couch from True Romance - great grandfather. Both characters are portrayed by Brad Pitt.
- In Legends of the Fall, Brad Pitt plays a man who scalps two German soldiers and gets involved with bootlegging. In this film, he plays the leader of a group that scalps German soldiers and mentions a past involvement in bootlegging.
- Aldo said that every 'Basterd' owes him 100 Nazi scalps. This may be a refernce to the Bible story in which King Saul commands David to bring the former 100 Philistine foreskins in exchange for the bride.
- Aldo Raine states that he's a descendant of "the mountain man Jim Bridger," who really did have Native American wives. Consequently, his nickname is "Aldo the Apache." However, none of Bridger's three Indian wives were Apache (they were, in order, Flathead, Ute, and Shoshone).
- Lt. Aldo Raine says he is from the Smoky Mountains, and later from Maynardville, Tennessee. Maynardville is not actually in the Smoky Mountains, but in one of the East Tennessee valleys between the mountains (some distance north of the Smoky Mountains).
Notable quotes
- Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y'all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin'.
- I'm gonna give you a little somethin' you can't take off.
- You probably heard we ain't in the prisoner-takin' business; we in the killin' Nazi business. And cousin, business is a-boomin'.
- Well, you don't got to be Stonewall Jackson to know you don't want to fight in a basement!
- You know, fightin' in a basement offers a lot of difficulties. Number one being, you're fightin' in a basement!
- Yeah, we got a word for that kinda odd in English. It's called suspicious.
- 'Looks like the shoe's on the other foot.' Yeah, I was just thinking that.
- I've done my share of bootlegging. Up 'ere, if you engage in what the federal government calls 'illegal activity,' but what we call 'just a man tryin' to make a livin' for his family sellin' moonshine liquor,' it behooves oneself to keep his wits. Long story short, we hear a story too good to be true... it ain't.
Behind the scenes
- Aldo Raine was played by Brad Pitt.
- The name of Brad Pitt's character, Lt. Aldo Raine, is an homage to both the actor and WWII veteran Aldo Ray and a character from Rolling Thunder, Charles Rane (played by William Devane). One of the casting directors, Johanna Ray, is Aldo Ray's ex-wife.
- The name Aldo Ray was mentioned in Tarantino's first film, My Best Friend's Birthday.
- Tarantino explained that Aldo's hatred of Nazis has to do with his years fighting The Ku Klux Klan.
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