Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Bit of a military classic depicting the Battle of Rorke's Drift, January 22-23, 1879. During the Zulu War (eastern Africa) a British column was massacred at Isandlwana. The Zulus then attacked the outpost at Rorke's Drift, defended by 150-odd British troops led by Lieutenant John Chard, Royal Engineer (Stanley Baker) who happened to be there building a bridge and took command over outpost commander Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine).

When I first saw this film as a kid it was quite an exciting action movie. Seeing it as an adult it still is. But since I have read about the battle the film is... not so much inaccurate as vague. There are specific things that happened during the battle that appear in the film (like the redoubt and fighting in the church/hospital) but the connecting scenes are rather unspecific.

Also now that I'm older some of the references make more sense. The Boer guy saying something like "I don't mind you British fighting on my side, I'm just not sure I'll like the cost" which refers to the Boer War two decades later.

Action is good, though there's a lot of setup before the fighting starts. No gore though lots of dying. Some tactics. Very little shown from the Zulu side though I liked the explanation of Zulu tactics (the head, two horns and the loins). It's a good war film back when war films were a bit more romantic than today.