Zulu Dawn poster & wallpaper

Bob Hoskins, Burt Lancaster, Christopher Cazenove

Cy Endfield co-wrote the epic prequel Zulu Dawn 15 years after his enormously popular Zulu. Set in 1879, this film depicts the catastrophic Battle of Isandhlwana, which remains the worst...( read more  read more... ) defeat of the British army by natives, with the British contingent outnumbered 16-to-1 by the Zulu tribesmen. The film's opinion of events is made immediately clear in its title sequence: ebullient African village life presided over by King Cetshwayo is contrasted with aristocratic artifice under the arrogant eye of General Lord Chelmsford (Peter O'Toole). Chelmsford is at the heart of all that goes wrong, initiating the catastrophic battle with an ultimatum made seemingly for the sake of giving his troops something to do. His detached manner leads to one mistake after another, and this is wryly illustrated in a moment when neither he nor his officers can be bothered to pronounce the name of the land they're in. That it's a beautiful land nonetheless is made clear by the superb cinematography, which drinks in the massive open spaces that shrink the British army to a line of red ants. Splendidly stiff-upper-lipped support comes from a heroic Burt Lancaster and a fluffy, yet gruff, Bob Hoskins. Although the story is less focused and inevitably more diffuse than the concentrated events of Rorke's Drift which followed soon after, Zulu Dawn is an unflinchingly honest depiction of British Imperial diplomacy. --Paul Tonks

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65% liked it

3,610 ratings

PG, 1 hr. 57 min.

Directed by: Douglas Hickox

Release Date: December 14, 1979

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DVD Release Date: September 27, 2005

Stats: 144 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (144)

  • filmguy450
    November 22, 2009
    filmguy450
    This prequel to the very solid original is astonishing. Aside from an odd score, I am in love with this movies.
  • jam233
    June 14, 2009
    jam233
    One of several "Zulu" films, not as good as the 1964 film however. Good production, great cast and it is quite well acted. The location filming is a huge plus. Professionally done.
  • riyals
    May 4, 2009
    riyals
    Not a bad sequel but not as good as the first.
  • jp992751
    February 13, 2009
    jp992751
    Nothing worth watching. It looked good to start but quickly faded.
  • xxxcli213xxx
    December 9, 2008
    xxxcli213xxx
    no thanks not my thing
  • blacksnake2
    February 28, 2008
    blacksnake2
    The "Pre-quel" to "Zulu", watch this one first..A must see film IMVVHO especially for MilHistory buffs. "pete36" from Belgium at IMDB had these comments about the film which I agree with..."In fact, a prequel to 'Zulu' (1964) directed by Cy Endfield who was also a major collabor...( read more)ator on ZD. As 'Zulu' is about the battle of O'rourke's drift, one of the most celebrated victories in British military history, ZD deals with one of the biggest defeats of the British army by an indigenous force. It happened just a few days before the events in 'Zulu'.

    ZD is sheer heaven for history buffs : everything is recreated into the tiniest detail : the uniforms, entirely filmed on location in South-Africa Natal province , the famous Martini Henry rifles, even including some kind of prehistoric rocket launchers, so no cost or effort were spared to recreate the conditions of the battle.

    The Brits are represented by the cream of English actorsgild : Peter O'Toole as the too self-confident general, Simon Ward as the green lieutenant, Bob Hoskins (just before his breakthrough role in "the Long Good Friday") as a hardasnails sergeant and Denholm Elliot as one of the ignorant troop commanders.

    Also a large Boer party ( settlers mostly from Holland as 'Boer' is the Dutch word for farmer) took part in the battle, lead here by none other then Burt Lancaster ! In 1879 the Boers still sided with The British against the Zulus. Twenty years later, after having defeated the Zulus, the Brits and Boers turned against each other and became involved in a struggle for the diamond-rich Natal province. A very bloody three-year war followed, simply known as 'the Boer war', where the British army was nearly defeated by the much smaller number of unprofessional Boers soldiers.

    Director Douglas Hickox ( Entertaining Mr Sloane, Sitting Target, Sky Devils,etc..)does an excellent job and turns in a classic-style, immaculate and spectacular epic. Sadly ZD was a big flop at the box-office and marked the end of the old-style colonial epics, up until the recent remake of 'The Four Feathers'.

    It also marked the end of the career of director Hickox in feature-length movies and he was forced to work for TV, condemned to churning out superior 'schmalzy' series as 'Mistral's Daughter', 'Sins', etc...

    But as historical epics go, they do not come any better than this. I rate it 8/10.

    If you like this try also 'Khartoum' (1966)". So there you have it. Break out the popcorn and get into it, Kids!!!
  • flixsterbum
    February 16, 2008
    flixsterbum
    A pretty dry retelling of one of the most stunning defeats in history. But it moves at a decent clip, and it's got Bob Hoskins in an early role and he's awesome, so there's that. Peter O'Toole and Burt Lancaster are all right, but they don't have much to work with and feel very...( read more) much like they're phoning it in. My suggestion, watch this first with a double feature of "Zulu", a superior film that will also give you much more appreciation for those events after witnessing the crushing defeat in this one.
  • Jomin96
    December 25, 2007
    Jomin96
    Great Movie about a great piece of history!
  • tpb001
    November 15, 2007
    tpb001
    It's ok, I do prefer the first though. It's crazy lines in this one as well. :)
    "Oh no! Came all this bloody way to get shot by a bullet from Birmingham. Shoot straight you bastards!"
  • goezy
    September 29, 2007
    goezy
    No computer generation here. When you want 100 warriors you go out and hire them! They didn't have too much blood in this type of movie back then and the kills were always very clean. Probably quite different to how the battles truely played out but this is good boys stuff.

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  • captaincook
    October 12, 2006
    captaincook
    great film realy good entertainment which you just dont seem to get in films these days as thay are some what sanitised
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