Zulu

In January 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa, a British garrison at the isolated outpost of Rorke's Drift learns that a large Zulu force is advancing on their position. The station is a mission and supply point rather than a fortress, and the defenders are heavily outnumbered. Lieutenant John Chard of the Royal Engineers, who arrives to build a bridge, and Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead of the 24th Regiment share command in the officer's absence, while the Reverend Otto Witt, a pacifist missionary, urges withdrawal. Chard and Bromhead choose to stand and fight, organizing the soldiers and the garrison for the defence.

Cy Enfield directed the film, his third feature after Hell Drivers in 1957 and Mysterious Island in 1961; he also wrote the screenplay with John Prebble and produced with Stanley Baker. Baker plays Chard, Michael Caine appears as Bromhead, and Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth and Nigel Green round out the main cast, which numbers thirty-one credited players. Enfield and his team recreated a Victorian military engagement on a substantial scale.

The film was released in January 1964 after a budget of about two million dollars, and it returned roughly eight million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.7 out of 10 from 46,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4 from 588 votes, while a critics' score of 7.9 from 29 reviews sits slightly higher than the audience ratings.