Zulu (1964)

John Chard September 5, 2015

★ 10/10

Men of Harlech onto glory. "In the hundred years since the Victoria Cross was created for valour and extreme courage beyond that normally expected of a British soldier in the face of the enemy, only 1,344 have been awarded, 11 of these were won by the defenders of the mission station at Rorke's Drift, Natal, January 22nd to the 23rd 1879" Just typing out that spoken narration from Richard Burton brings me out into goose pimples, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention, Zulu quite simply is my favourite film of all time, and my love for cinema to this day owes its credit to this 1964 masterpiece. Zulu is a perfectly staged, perfectly acted account of the British defence of Rorke's Drift, where 139 British soldiers held off 4000 Zulu Warriors at the height of the Anglo-Zulu War. Its strength is not in romanticism or over sentimentality in the name of glossy hard …

CinemaSerf March 28, 2022

★ 8/10

A superb adventure tale about a British battalion charged with the defence of a mission station at Rorke's Drift from an army of Zulu who wish to remove the red devils from their lands. Stanley Baker plays "Lt. Chard" who takes command of this troop of engineers and has to plan and implement the defence of his ramshackle post whilst also combatting the superiority complex of Michael Caine's "Lt. Bromhead" who hails from a distinguished family of military and who, initially resents the leadership of this amateur, and the drunken preacher Jack Hawkins who's mission they are stranded in. John Prebble and Cy Endfield keep the script tight; and John Barry delivers a suitably grand score for this beautifully shot film with plenty of action, and quite a bit of dry humour too. It delivers well a sense of the relentlessness of the attacking Zulu: their pride, courage - and integrity, as well as g…