10 out of ten, no question

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2009)

"You're all going to die! ... Die! Death awaits you all! ... Die! ... Die!" These are the ominous cries of missionary Otto Witt (Jack Hawkins), as he is bundled off in a carriage with his innocent daughter to flee yet another attack by 4,000 Zulu warriors.
"Why us?", asks a terrified private of the stoic Colour Sergeant Bourne, played to perfection by Nigel Green. He calmly replies, "Because we're 'ere, lad. Nobody else ... Just us..."
This typifies the tone of the film: the scared, but disciplined British soldiers, plus their breech-loading Martini Henry rifles of course, facing repeated onslaughts by their fierce and seemingly unstoppable foe, the Zulus, in overwhelming numbers.
I first saw this film close to its release date, and it was the best film I had ever seen. I was a young schoolboy at the time, but even now, forty-something years later, it still stands up with the best of any action or war films.
I won't go into the plot, or historical accuracy, as that is well covered, but the reason this film is so entertaining is that it succeeds, and excels, on so many levels: the build up of suspense, the well-written characters, the brilliant acting and directing, the location, the cinematography, the dialogue, and, of course, the action scenes. You might think that a battle that goes on as long as portrayed in this film would get boring, and that you would get numb from so much violence. However, the pacing of the film is expertly judged, and the fighting is punctuated with contrasting scenes, some comedic (Hook, as the eternal malingerer, complaining about his lot in life), some poignant (the Welsh soldier comforting a frightened calf, although one suspects he is really comforting himself) and some dramatic/tragic (exchanges between Chard and Bromhead, scenes in the hospital with the surgeon attending horribly wounded men, etc.).
The cast is stellar. Michael Caine puts on his best "toff" (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/toff) accent -- which I have never heard him repeat since -- as Gonville Bromhead, Stanley Baker is great as the stalwart Lt. (that's "Lef-tenant", BTW, not "Loo-tenant") Chard, James Booth does a great comedic, yet believably courageous, turn as Private Henry Hook, and Jack Hawkins is excellent as the missionary Witt. All the supporting characters are also perfectly crafted by their respective actors, aided by a superb script which I will mention shortly. The performance which steals the show, in my opinion, is the brilliantly understated, yet immensely solid and powerful portrayal of Colour Sergeant Bourne by Nigel Greene. He is the absolute personification of the British "stiff upper lip", calm, reassuring attitude in the face of danger. Whether it still exists as mythologised in this and other films is debatable, but Nigel Green is completely credible as the unflappable Bourne. "Button up your tunic, lad. Where do you think you are?" A seemingly ridiculous order, considering the context, given to a soldier trying to gain relief from the intense African heat. Yet the actual effect is that it restores the sense of military order and consequently takes the soldiers' minds off the approaching horror and chaos. Also reinforcing his character is his attitude toward the drunken Reverend Witt - it is respectful, as befits their social ranking in those times, yet firm. He expects no brooking of his command, "Mister Witt sir, be quiet now, will you? There's a good gentleman. You'll upset the lads."
The script is brilliant, there are more memorable quotes in this film than I can think of in any other. Never mind "I'll be back", "Go ahead, make my day", "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse", "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" (somewhat obscure Michael Caine quote, I couldn't resist) - these and many other films have only at most a handful of worthwhile quotes. Somehow, a lot of them also seem a bit self-conscious, like they were written to be "sound-bite" type quotes. With Zulu, they are quite natural, and never sound hackneyed.
One last note: Ridley Scott liked this film so much that he used the Zulu war chant as the battle cry of the Germanic tribes in the opening scene of Gladiator. It is instantly recognisable.