"Inglourious Basterds" opens this week with one of the most intentionally Jewish casts of action heroes that any writer or director has ever assembled. Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent tale sets itself historically during a time that many films have tackled, showcasing the tales of real-life heroes in Jewish history like Oscar Schindler in "Schindler's List" and Anne Frank in "The Diary of Anne Frank." I'm talking of course about World War II.
Tarantino's trademark penchant for extreme black humor and overshooting reality, meanwhile, places his ambitions somewhere between those more somber films and other over-the-top performances, like Adam Goldberg in the Comedy Central TV movie "The Hebrew Hammer." Eli Roth and his fellow Basterds will join a long history of Jewish action heroes in film, though. Here are five of the most famous figures who have earned that distinction. Read more...
He was an Italian delivery man in "Mr. Deeds," a Creole townie in "The Waterboy," an Asian minister in "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," and, most recently, a Palestinian cab driver in "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." (And we haven’t even mentioned the time he played a Hawaiian, a Prince, and that guy from "Big Daddy.")