Inglorious Basterds basement salute: wrong salute?

Submitted by FlapJack_Mac t3_11b8zpn in movies

In the basement scene when the undercover characters come down the stairs, all the German enlisted men stand and give an American salute, is this how enlisted German soldiers would salute or is this just a historical error made by tarantino?

Was just rewatching it in the basement and was suddenly taken out of the movie thinking about this question, I can’t seem to pin it online so I wasn’t sure if anyone had the same thought or found an explanation for it. Everyone is so focused on the correct fingers for the number three lol

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dow366 t1_j9wn4y9 wrote

Well they kill Hitler in the theater at the end. i dont think he was going for historical accuracy lol

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FlapJack_Mac OP t1_j9wp4cc wrote

Lol while that IS fair…every other little detail has been to a tee perfectly accurate, was wondering if it was just an oversight

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extra_specticles t1_j9wmq2v wrote

Before the attempt on Hitler's life in 1944, the German army tended to salute using the traditional British naval salute (that same as the American armed forces salute) among themselves, and using the Roman (Hitler) salute only when meeting Hitler himself. The SS on the other hand preferred the Roman salute most if not all of the time. I believe after the attempt on his life, he made it compulsory for all to use that Roman salute. How many used it as the Reich fell apart, however, is anyone's guess.

There are photos of line where the army officers are employing one salute, while the SS another, at the same time.

Interestingly for Americans

> In 1892, Francis Bellamy introduced the American Pledge of Allegiance, which was to be accompanied by a visually similar [to the Nazi] saluting gesture, referred to as the Bellamy salute.

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FlapJack_Mac OP t1_j9wp7a0 wrote

This is amazing thank you for the context, I have heard of it referred to as the Bellamy salute but never knew the history

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itjustgotcold t1_j9xk6xj wrote

I never understand focusing on such minute details in a fictional movie. It’s like trying to prove it’s not real, but we all know it’s not real as it’s a scripted movie. Pointing out misinformation is important with a “documentary” like Plandemic, but with fiction it’s not so important. I have a buddy that is an ex-marine that focuses on the accuracy of medals in movies and it bugs him when they’re not accurate. If this scene is inaccurate I’m going to give Tarantino the benefit of the doubt since he likely had people on set that were supposed to handle accurately portraying military at the time.

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mechaiineramen t1_j9xxot0 wrote

Well Tarantino does use the difference between how the Americans show numbers on their fingers vs how Germans do in the movie as a sign of them not being true German officers, and it gets them killed. So he early cares to some extent and makes an effort so maybe that's why this guy cares.

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itjustgotcold t1_j9y3hwd wrote

Oh yeah, I remember that now. It’s been a minute since I watched it. So that’s what OP was asking about? Tarantino does care about his craft, but that’s a little different than caring about other peoples inaccuracies in movie-making.

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FlapJack_Mac OP t1_j9zi7zn wrote

I’m not really concerned with inaccuracies, other than wondering if what looked to me like an inaccuracy actually was my misunderstanding of history, which turned out to be the case. It’s fun to question what we know and learn from it. Knowing it was Tarantino I immediately thought “does he know something I don’t?” And that turned out to be the case. Not at all a “gotcha” type of thing

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fart-debris t1_j9wmcvm wrote

What makes it an American salute?

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sensibleb t1_j9wt75x wrote

It's how Americans shield their eyes from the sun when they wear their ball caps backwards

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