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7.4In 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, man-of-the-people Lt. Chard and snooty Lt. Bromhead are in charge of defending the isolated and vastly outnumbered Natal outpost of Rorke's Drift from tribal hordes.
Cast
- Stanley Baker as Lt. John Chard R.E.
- Jack Hawkins as Rev. Otto Witt
- Ulla Jacobsson as Margareta Witt
- James Booth as Pte. Henry Hook
- Michael Caine as Lt. Gonville Bromhead
- Nigel Green as Colour Sgt. Frank Bourne
Themes
- africa
- south africa
- british army
- british empire
- based on true story
- mixed martial arts (mma)
- attempted rape
- zulu
- tribal warfare
- 19th century
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Ratings
IMDb
7.7/10
45,853 votes
Rotten Tomatoes
97%
Metacritic
77/100
- Year
- 1964
- Runtime
- 138 min
- Genres
- Drama, History, War
- Rated
- Approved
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award1 nomination total
via OMDb · IMDb
Key facts
- Directed by
- Cy Endfield
- Screenplay by
- John Prebble , Cy Endfield
- Story by
- John Prebble
- Produced by
- Stanley Baker , Cy Endfield
- Starring
- Stanley Baker Jack Hawkins Ulla Jacobsson James Booth Michael Caine
- Narrated by
- Richard Burton
- Cinematography
- Stephen Dade
- Edited by
- John Jympson
- Music by
- John Barry
- Production company
- Diamond Films
- Distributed by
- Paramount Pictures
- Release date
- 22 January 1964 ( 1964-01-22 ) ( London )
- Running time
- 139 minutes
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Budget
- US$ 1,720,000. (666,554. GBP) or £653,439
- Box office
- $8 million (US)
via Wikipedia infobox
~26 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Zulu is a 1964 British epic historical drama film depicting the 1879 Battle of Rorke's Drift between a detachment of the British Army and the Zulu, in the Anglo-Zulu War. The film was directed and co-written by American screenwriter Cy Endfield. He had moved to the United Kingdom in 1951 for work after being blacklisted in Hollywood. It was produced by Stanley Baker and Endfield, with Joseph E. Levine as executive producer. The screenplay was by Endfield and historical writer John Prebble, based on Prebble's 1958 Lilliput article "Slaughter in the Sun".
The film stars Stanley Baker and introduces Michael Caine in his first major role, with a supporting cast that includes Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Nigel Green, Paul Daneman, Glynn Edwards, Ivor Emmanuel, and Patrick Magee. Zulu chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi (a future South African political leader) played Zulu King Cetshwayo kaMpande, his great-grandfather. The opening and closing narration is spoken by Richard Burton.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Zulu” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.