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I saw the last half of the coolest movie last night (Zulu - 1964, Stanley Baker, Michael Caine). It was amazing. (if not a bit depressing) My favorite part was the singing/percussion - that the Zulu warriers did as they were heading into battle (think Paul Simon/Graceland) At one point, one of the British soldiers starts singing like an Irish Tenor, and then the rest of the soldiers join in, and you've got the Zulu war song with all these percussion sounds superimposed on the men's choir singing. I with it came on a CD, it was beautiful. Have any of you seen this movie?

Jodi

Yes, I saw this movie a couple of times over the holidays on AMC. The war chant with the rhythmic foot stomping and shield banging gives quite an impression. It is most effective, I suspect, when there are about three thousand of them.

Great movie.

Snake eyes

I love the mov1e.

I first saw it when I was a child and have alway loved the movie. Maybe it was the bare breasts of black women that the movie started out with that intrested me (where have I seen something like that lately?)

One of the best ever made.

The Zulus could have probably made even more of an impression with some crotch grabbing to go along with that war chant.

Yes a great movie. You might have to go back and listen carefully to hear this, or perhaps its only on the Platinum-IV Extra Special Director's Cut Edition that I have.

As the 35,000 Zulu warriors are surging forward like a tidal wave toward the ragtag band of 150 embattled British soldiers awaiting their fate (hey its FUN to write drivel like this) you can hear a spin-chilling hope-dashing spirit-sapping loon-like cry rising above them like an ominous audible fog:


Ha-Ha Zu Lose

A fine tribute to the British Empire and Manifest Destiny. Cherrio, pip pip, and all that rot!

Hi Jodi,

We seem to enjoy crossing swords but not this time! Delighted to share your enjoyment of the film "Zulu".

You were knocked over by the cultural contrasts of bravado-singing of the opposing forces. Some 100 professional solders with guns and ammo against a horde of 4000 black warriors armed with assagais and shields.

The singing reminds me of the comfort a schoolboy finds in whistling while taking a shortcut through a graveyard. Those centuriors knew that they were going to die but miraculously beat the odds. Stoic bravery earned an unheard of 11 Victoria Crosses. But bear in mind that the Zulus
were equally aware that they were going to be slaughtered en masse by the shite mans' guns. The
warriors had the unenviable choice of obeying the Chief's battle plan as brave cannon-fodder in the front line of battle or face later tribal execution for the slightest show of cowardice.

But on the lighter side - the image that really sticks in my mind - is that of golden-haired Cockney newcomer - now Sir Michael Caine (what an actor!) - imperiously coming into the picture astride his horse - red-lined cape neatly draped over the rear of his mount - and spouting the posh upper-crust lingo of Queen Victoria's military top brass - " I say old chap and all that rot". So different from the East-end dropping of "h's" when playing the role of a jewel thief - "that you 'Arry?"

One confused submission has managed to add a fanciful extra 31,000 to the actual warrior count of 4,000 ( read off the video cover) to set up a playful but tastless banter. Like giggling over September 11 ... not on!

The latest movie to be released on video with Michael Caine in it is called "Secondhand Lions". It also has Robert Duvall in it, and that little funny looking kid who starred in the thriller (can't remember the title) where he said "I see dead people". I don't watch many movies, but when the movie came into inventory at the video store I took it home and watched it 3 times in a row. Excellent movie.

My husband has been raving about "Secondhand Lions" as well. I think it comes out in video (at least to our local Blockbuster) this week.

Haley Joel Osment is the kid. Why do I remember this but can't remember my computer passwords??

Maybe I should change my pw's to Haley Joel Osment. Hmmm...

Nina

I saw it in the theater on my first date ever. I was 13. It was a forced deal -- my mother and the guy's mother (I think he was 15) were good friends and kept trying to push us at each other. Didn't work. That date was a disaster. But the movie was great -- and still is.

Now there's a Freudian typo if ever there was one! :p

Topeka Bob....(RKVS1).......

Just to let you know your constant stream of wry witticisms, word play, puns and jokes does not go unnoticed.. I guess by now I'm a bit jaded; my eyebrow rises as my eyes roll. Sometimes tho, I guffaw.... surprized by the Panama Canal in a dentistry thread, or the thought of warriors shouting "Ha Ha Zu Lose".

Where do you come from?

Zulu is one of my all time favourite movies. I saw it as a kid and still watch it from time to time. There was a follow up movie done in the 1980's starring Peter O'Toole called Zulu Dawn. Not quitew as good as its predecessor but nevertheless very well done and worth watching. It describes the events leading to the Zulu War and examines the Battle of Islandawana that occurred the day before Rorke's Drift. Islandawana was the British equivalent to Custer's Last Stand.

Zulu is one of my alltime favorite movies, jodi!

One of the things I did during my time in the U.S. ArmyVietnam War was to serve as usher, then post theater projectionist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Zulu was the first movie I ever ushed. I thought it was good, but have run into two people since then who thought it was the greatest movie ever made. (One of those people, a cousin of mine now in her 80s, may have been under the influence of chemical stimulants when she was watching the film. The other would always say, whenever the film was mentioned, "Button your tunic, you slovenly soldjah!")

Brings back old times.