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Zulu Dawn
Martin Everett


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 786
Location: Brecon
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There is a showing of 1979 film 'Zulu Dawn'
Saturday 24 September
Channel 5 - 1800 hrs BST

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Martin Everett
Brecon, Powys
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Paul Raby


Joined: 28 Oct 2010
Posts: 15
Location: York, UK
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Worth watching, Zulus using Knobkerries which you don't see in Zulu
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Peter Ewart


Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Posts: 1797
Location: Near Canterbury, Kent, England.
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Oh well, glad it's got something going for it ...!

P
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ciscokid


Joined: 01 Nov 2008
Posts: 54
Location: Plymouth, Devon
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Paul Raby wrote:
Worth watching, Zulus using Knobkerries which you don't see in Zulu


Also a scene of a British solider using one too! Very Happy
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Hey, it's not all that bad, People. OK, Stanley Baker couldn't make it (seems he had another commitment) and Cy Enfield was a bit past his prime and wasn't given enough control. And I will also concede that money spent for a "big name", Heston, admittedly could better have been spent on finding and renting the proper rifles and such. And a little more input from the Zulu's themselves wouldn't have hurt. Yadda, yadda...

I can only imagine a movie with the "heart" of "ZULU", the financial backing of "Zulu Dawn" and the production capabilities and CGI of the 21st century?
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tom


Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 45
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Sir Stanley Baker died 3 years before Zulu Dawn was made.
I think that's quite a big commitment,don't you? Rolling Eyes
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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I apologize, Tom. I guess my fellow Yanks generally aren't expected to have quite as dry a sense of humor as I . I should have included a "wink" emoticon with that "clever" phrase.
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Saw, you mean Lancaster, not Heston, and Endfield, not Enfield. It was not that Cy wasn't given enough control (he only co-wrote it and declined the opportunity to direct) as that, in his view, Douglas Hickox did not have the ability to handle a large-scale production. Of course, he didn't know this until after the film had been made - he gave his blessing to Hickox at the outset.
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Sawubona


Joined: 09 Nov 2005
Posts: 1179
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Thanks for that! I'm glad someone is watching my back, Sheldon. Sad to say, I've often confused Charlton and Burt in the past. Hey, I love them both, but wouldn't you agree that they share a common cinematographic idiom? Your thoughts as to why Endfield declined the opportunity to direct? I'm thinking that politics and infighting have no place in the making of films, but they are and always has been a driving force, don't you think?
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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According to his widow did not want to direct the film because his heart had gone out of it after Baker's death in 1976. He had not directed since 1971 and had other interests besides moviemaking. He also was initially confident that Hickox was up to the job and only changed his mind after seeing the result. As far as I can tell there was no politicking or infighting (i.e., Endfield was not forced out but chose not to direct). The problems with the production were largely financial, with the budget overrunning, money running out, people not getting paid, scenes having to be cut from the script, lawsuits, bankruptcies, etc. See co-producer Nate Kohn's memoir, which includes details of some of the dodgy dealings, such as suitcases full of money being exhanged in the back rooms of bars.
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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P.S. If anyone actually benefited financially from the production it was Endfield, who adapted the screenplay into a novelisation and saw it become a bestseller in the UK - unlike the film itself, which flopped everywhere (when it got a release at all).
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Zulu Dawn
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