Zulu (1964)

Director:

Cy Endfield

Writers:

John Prebble (screenplay) and
Cy Endfield (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 June 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

Dwarfing The Mightiest! Towering Over The Greatest!

Plot:

Outnumbered British soldiers do battle with Zulu warriors at Rorke's Drift.

Plot Keywords:

Zulu | Battle | Warrior | British Army | Soldier

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Stanley Baker	...	Lieutenant John Chard R.E.
Jack Hawkins	...	Otto Witt
Ulla Jacobsson	...	Margareta Witt
James Booth	...	Private Henry Hook
Michael Caine	...	Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead
Nigel Green	...	Colour-Sergeant Bourne
Ivor Emmanuel	...	Private Owen
Paul Daneman	...	Sergeant Maxfield
Glynn Edwards	...	Corporal Allen
Neil McCarthy	...	Private Thomas
David Kernan	...	Private Hitch
Gary Bond	...	Private Cole
Peter Gill	...	Private 612 Williams
Tom Gerrard	...	Lance / Corporal
Patrick Magee	...	Surgeon Reynolds

Also Known As:

The Battle of Rorke's Drift (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Zulu

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | New Zealand:PG | Australia:M (alternate rating) | Australia:PG (original rating) | Finland:K-8 | Singapore:PG (DVD rating) | Sweden:15 | UK:PG (video rating) (1989) | UK:U (original rating) | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Drakensburg Mountains, South Africa

Company:

Diamond Films

Trivia:

Stanley Baker owned John Chard's Victoria Cross (and other medals) from 1972 until his death in 1976. Originally thought to be what is known as a "cast copy", the Victoria Cross was later proven, after a series of tests, to be the original. Unfortunately, Baker died never knowing he had the real VC.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The soldiers wear parade dress uniforms, including white helmets displaying the regimental crest. On active service they would have worn a more basic uniform with plain cork helmets, as depicted correctly in Zulu Dawn (1979).

Quotes:

Colour Sergeant Bourne: The Lord of Hosts is with us.
Cpl. William Allen: I hope so... as I live and die, I hope so.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

Undisputed Classic

It`s shameful no-one makes films like ZULU anymore. In these PC dominated times there are those who may view this film as being racist dealing with a heroic battle between white foreign troops against native black Africans during Victorian times. Nothing could be further from the truth. The zulus are rightly presented as being fearless and disciplined warriors ready to willingly die than show cowardice.

The only other criticism a modern day audience can level at the film is the fact that the battle scenes are slightly ungory compared to the likes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and PLATOON. But so what ? How many other films compete with the excitement and tension of scenes like the soldiers fighting off the hordes of zulus in the hospital building ? Would graphic disembowelment and decapitation improve these scenes ? of course not.

I could go on all day as to what`s brilliant about ZULU , but I wont. But I will say that for me the greatest aspect of the film is John Barry`s score. The fact that he never won an oscar for it just goes to show there`s no justice in the world.

Without doubt the greatest British film of the 1960`s , probably the greatest British picture ever , and possibly the greatest film ever. Let`s hope Hollywood never decides to remake it