Like any other Quentin Tarantino movie, Inglourious Basterds has generous amounts of blood and violence, but surprisingly, one of its main characters, with a long history of violence, only kills one person on screen. After exploring the genres of crime, martial arts, and slasher, Quentin Tarantino tried something completely different and told an alternate version of historical events in Inglourious Basterds. Released in 2009, Inglourious Basterds took viewers back to World War II but in an alternate timeline, in which the Nazis’ fate was completely different from what history books tell.

Inglourious Basterds follows two plots to assassinate Adolf Hitler, which end up converging at the premiere of a German propaganda film. First is that of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), whose family was murdered by the men of Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), so now she plans to kill him, Hitler, and everyone else at her cinema. Then there are the Basterds, led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a black ops commando unit looking to kill (and scalp) as many Nazis as possible, including Hitler – and despite this, Aldo Raine only has one on-screen kill.

Aldo Raine Only Kills One Person On-Screen In Inglourious Basterds

Surprisingly, The Leader Of The Basterds Has Only One On-Screen Kill

When Inglourious Basterds introduces the title group, Aldo Raine is giving a speech about their mission and how every single one of them owes him 100 Nazi scalps – and he really wants those scalps. Raine led his team of Basterds on different missions to kill Nazis and was a key part in the planning and execution of Operation Kino, a plan created by actress and UK spy Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) with the help of the Basterds, General Ed Fenech (Mike Myers), and Sir Winston Churchill (Rod Taylor).

Throughout Inglourious Basterds, the team is seen in different places killing and scalping Nazis, with Raine always supervising and making sure they send a strong message to Hitler and his people. However, and surprisingly enough, Raine only kills one person on-screen, despite being the leader of the Basterds and the one who encourages them to kill and scalp Nazi soldiers. At the end of Inglourious Basterds, Landa, looking to protect himself after finding out the Basterds’ plan at the premiere, makes an offer to Raine and his OSS commanders to guarantee his safety after the war.

The plan was for Landa and his radio operator, Hermann, to be driven by Raine and Utivich (B.J. Novak) to Allied territory where they would surrender to Raine, but the latter decides to improvise. With Hermann and Landa handcuffed and thus unable to defend themselves, Raine shoots the former, shocking Landa for breaking their deal. Of course, Raine doesn’t care, and he carves a swastika on Landa's forehead. Hermann is Raine’s only on-screen kill in Inglourious Basterds.

Another Basterds Member Has The Highest Kill Count In Inglourious Basterds

It’s Very Fitting With This Character

Although Aldo Raine only killed one person on-screen during Inglourious Basterds, his total kill count is a lot higher. Though the exact number isn’t known, it’s believed Aldo Raine had over 250 kills on his list, but he still isn’t the character with the highest kill count in Inglourious Basterds. According to different sources, including All Outta Bubblegum, which provides a body count breakdown, the Inglourious Basterds character with the highest kill count is Sgt. Donny Donowitz a.k.a. The Bear Jew (Eli Roth).

According to that breakdown, Donny has a kill count of 240, thanks to the many Nazis he killed at the cinema with Omar Ulmer’s (Omar Doom) help, who is second on the list with 233. Of course, these are based on their on-screen kills, so the total count would be higher depending on how many people they killed before the events of Inglourious Basterds. On the third spot of the list of Inglourious Basterds’ highest kill counts is Hans Landa, with approximately 230 kills, though how many of those were by his own hand is unknown.

Inglourious Basterds Is Still Tarantino’s Movie With The Highest Kill Count

One Scene Granted Inglourious Basterds A Very High Kill Count

As mentioned above, blood and violence are the main ingredients in Tarantino movie with the highest kill count. Though there’s not an official number of deaths in Inglourious Basterds, it has been calculated to be between 315 and 396. The scene at the premiere, where Shosanna’s plan ends up fusing with that of the Basterds’ is the one that gives Inglourious Basterds such a high kill count, as they killed a cinema full of Nazis, among them Hitler and Joseph Goebbels.

Another scene with many deaths is the one at the tavern, where Operation Kino failed after Hicox (Michael Fassbender) made the wrong hand gesture that gave him away in front of Major Dieter Hellström (August Diehl). It’s unlikely that Quentin Tarantino’s tenth and supposedly final movie will beat Inglourious Basterds’ high kill count, but he could still surprise the audience.

Source: All Outta Bubblegum.