[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Zulu_5978.jpg]]

->'''Private Cole:''' Why does it have to be us? Why us?
->'''[[SergeantRock Colour Sergeant Bourne]]:''' [[SomeoneHasToDoIt Because we're here, lad]]. [[TheRemnant No one else.]] [[RagTagBunchOfMisfits Just]] [[LastStand us.]]

A classic war film set during the AngloZuluWar. Based on true events, the film is the story of a LastStand that the defenders managed to win. The Battle of Rorke's Drift was the result of the Battle of Isandlwana, at which the British expeditionary force of 2000 sent to crush the Zulus had been destroyed through a combination of skilled Zulu leadership of fearless legions of warriors and [[GeneralFailure and the incompetence of British commanders.]] 139 British soldiers in a farmstead, assigned there to protect colonials and wounded (about one third of the 139) held out against 4-5,000 Zulus for 12 hours. The battle is held to this day as one of the very best defenses in all history (Take that, [[EpicFail Little Big Horn]]!). Eleven of the soldiers got the VC, the highest number of this medal ever awarded for a single action. Also notable for being the film debut of an insignificant actor named MichaelCaine. Followed fifteen years later by a prequel, ''Zulu Dawn'' about the disastrous Battle of Isandlwana that took place earlier the same day. It starring Burt Lancaster and Peter O'Toole.

!!Tropes:

* SeventiesHair: Well... the '''18'''70s anyway. The long sideburns on the men wouldn't look out of place a century later.
* AntagonistTitle
* {{Badass}}: There ''is'' a reason why this battle is one of the most famous last stands in history.
* BecomingTheMask: during the ''Men of Harlech'' scene you see dozens of weary demoralized soldiers who enlisted because no one else was poor enough for the job, [[TakeALevelInBadass converting themselves]] into the ProudWarriorRaceGuy s that they were singing of. If you look closely at the Zulus you can see how many are obviously youngsters out for the first time. They are becoming a mask too.
* BeamMeUpScotty: "[[MemeticMutation Suddenly, Zulus! Thousands of them!]]"
* BloodlessCarnage: As a practical matter, 1960s special effects wouldn't have been up to the challenge of faking hundreds of bayonettings and large-caliber bullet wounds on bare-chested Zulu extras.
* TheCavalry: Rather cruelly subverted. A large force of cavalrymen arrive at the fort...then flee when faced with the Zulu army.
* CunningLinguist: Adendorff gives cultural advice.
* DarkestAfrica: Takes place there.
* DeadpanSnarker: Bromhead, very much so.
-->'''Chard:''' Don't worry, Miss Witt. The Army doesn't like more than one disaster in a day.
-->'''Bromhead:''' Looks bad in the newspapers and upsets civilians at their breakfasts.
** Adendorff also has his moments.
-->'''Bromhead:''' We've dropped at least sixty!
-->'''Adendorff:''' That leaves only 3,940.
* DirtyCoward: Private Henry Hook is portrayed as this in a particularly offensive [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade piece of revisionism]]. In real life he was a model officer who won the VC for saving the lives of at least a dozen patients in the hospital.
* EnsignNewbie: Bromhead, though in {{Real Life}} both he and Lieutenant Chard were [[InvertedTrope inversions]]: they were ''old'' for their rank, having been repeatedly [[PassedOverPromotion passed over for promotion]] as [[{{Irony}} unlikely to amount to much]] (and in Bromhead's case because he was going deaf).
* ExecutiveMeddling: By the apartheid government of South Africa, no less. It was forbidden by law to actually ''pay'' the Zulus working on the film, but the British crew, disliking the idea of taking advantage of an oppressed people (not cricket, eh?), instead gave them all the many cows that had been used for the movie, which was, to the Zulus, a far better gift than the measly krugerrands that they would have gotten even if the British had convinced the Boers to let them pay them.
* ICanStillFight: Time and time again.
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: what the British and the Zulus do to each other whenever the Zulu's ZergRush manages to get through the British's [[MoreDakka dakka]].
* LastStand: Averted; they actually do win.
* LoveableRogue: Private Hook. (The real Hook was a churchgoing teetotaler, and his elderly daughters were ''not'' happy at the way the film portrayed their father.)
** The "Private Hook" fictional character was shown performing the actions of several of the real life historical convict soldiers. It appears the filmmakers gave the composite character the name of the convict who won the Victoria Cross.
* TheMedic: Reynolds.
* MoreDakka: The chief tactic of the British.
* NippleAndDimed: The first TV screenings this film cheerfully screened it in its entirity, including the mass wedding sequence near the start where several hundred Zulu warriors dance their way into wedlock with a line of several hundred very exuberantly bouncy Zulu maidens. On the elsewhere mentioned [[NationalGeographicNudity African tribeswomen]] principle, this protracted scene of southern African pulchritude was always left in, regardless of the time of day of screening, throughout the 1970's, 1980's, and 1990's. Yet in the early 2000's, all this abruptly changed and British TV adopted a strictly censored version with all the bouncy toplessness left out. There was no clear reason given for this change of mind on the part of the broadcasters, and it was noticeable that later graphic scenes depicting mass slaughter of Zulu warriors under concentrated British riflepower were left in.
* NotSoDifferent: The Men of Harlech scene emphasizing the [[ProudWarriorRace mutual warlikness]] of the British and the Zulus.
* ProudWarriorRace: Both the British and the Zulus. More or less the whole point of the film.
* {{Plunder}}: Zulus are shown rifling British dead at Isandhwana.
* RatedMForManly: Manly Zulus fighting the manly British Army in a manly manner. This film oozes manliness.
* [[ScaryBlackMan Scary Black Men]]: Zulus. ''Very'' much justified by RealLife.
* SergeantRock: Colour-Sergeant Bourne. Corporal Allen, although not a sergeant, also qualifies.
* TheSpartanWay: The Zulus.
* WarIsHell: "Do you think I could stand this butcher's yard more than once?"
* WeHaveReserves: The Zulus.
* WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife: A couple times, and wrong on both counts.
* WorthyOpponent: The Zulus appear to be massing again to wipe out the British, but it turns out they're saluting the British for their bravery before departing for good. This is [[ArtisticLicenseHistory actually completely fictitious]]: In real life the Zulu's only left because the British reinforcements arrived... and it was in no way a peaceful and dignified retreat.
* YouAreInCommandNow: Lieutenant Chard assumes command of the post, despite being an engineer rather than an infantryman, due to his three months seniority over Bromhead. In reality, he had three years seniority.
* YouAreNumberSix: The Privates Jones refer to each other by the serial numbers of 593 and 716. We also meet 612 Williams. In Welsh regiments where an awful lot of people might be called Williams or Owen or Jones (Wales doesn't have that many surnames), this was, and remains, standard practice. Although the Toms themselves prefer to use distinguishing nicknames where possible. Invention tends to fade after about the thirtieth Williams...
* ZergRush: Again and again, the Zulu's chief tactic.

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