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Zulu Dawn soundtrack movie reference Inglorious Bastards
Johnny_H


Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 101
Location: Canada, Halifax Nova Scotia
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Around 3 quarters of the way in, the hectic music from the final battle scene of Zulu dawn in played during Tarentino's WW II flick "Inglorious Bastards". A good movie in its own right, I was really taken by surprise that he plucked that piece of music for his film.

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Johnny

That is unusual, but on checking the net, I've found it to be true !

It might then mean Quentin Tarantino is aware of 'Zulu Dawn'/'Zulu', and having him working with Brad Pitt and previously George Clooney, makes me wonder about a possible Tarantino version of 'Zulu', with Clooney as Chard and Pitt as Bromhead ! Wink

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Johnny_H


Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 101
Location: Canada, Halifax Nova Scotia
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I don't think one can call themselves a 'war film fan' and not have Zulu in their top 5. I don't know how to confirm this but another tidbit I picked up was that one of the producers of Zulu Dawn is one "Archie Hickcox" and the British Commando in the film is Lt.Hickcox.

Again, I'm not sure of this one but it would be neat if true.

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mons14


Joined: 23 Jan 2006
Posts: 64
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Another one of these things in the movie Gladiator: During the opening battle sequence, the sound editors added chanting Zulu warriors taken from the movie Zulu. All of us who know the movie Zulu would have spotted this right away, while others have no idea of course.

David

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'Ah! Those red soldiers at Isandlwana, how few they were, and how they fought! They fell like stones-each man in his place.' - A Zulu Warrior
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Johnny_H


Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 101
Location: Canada, Halifax Nova Scotia
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Haha, yeah I remember wondering why the hell a bunch of Germanic tribesmen were yelling Utzu at the top of their lungs. Later I found Ridley Scott did it as a tribute to Zulu. Which was kinda neat.

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Paul Bryant-Quinn


Joined: 14 Oct 2007
Posts: 551
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Johnny_H wrote:
Haha, yeah I remember wondering why the hell a bunch of Germanic tribesmen were yelling Utzu at the top of their lungs. Later I found Ridley Scott did it as a tribute to Zulu. Which was kinda neat.


I wonder if he also paid royalties? Wink

What does "Utzu" mean?

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Simon


Joined: 26 Feb 2007
Posts: 95
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Hi,

I'm sure I will maintain my record of getting every post I put on this website wrong and cause a flurry of indignation but here goes....

I believe it should be 'usutu' or 'usuthu' (in the films it sounds a little like 'uzu' when chanted by loads of extras) which was the name of the political faction of Cetshwayo. It was also used in battle as a war cry, meaning 'death or kill'.

Although it could also be 'uzulu' which I have read was another war cry employed by the Zulu warriors.

Cheers

Simon
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Johnny_H


Joined: 19 Feb 2006
Posts: 101
Location: Canada, Halifax Nova Scotia
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If you are wrong Simon, I'd certainly not know it. My understanding was "Utzu" or some similar word was the war cry yelled before or during a charge. I'm a novice to the subject at best and could very well be wrong in both pronunciation, spelling and context.

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I'll tell you though, I'd really like to see a Tarantino version of Isandlwana, as whether you love or hate his films, he puts in a lot of character detail and memorable sequences.

Now that really would 'shake up' the Anglo-Zulu War 1879 World ! Shocked

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mons14


Joined: 23 Jan 2006
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Coll,

It has to be Ridley Scott or Peter Jackson, both these guys have done some really impressive work... Imagine an Isandlwana movie on the grand scale of Lord of The Rings or Gladiator - I'm getting all excited just thinking about it!

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David

Yes. However, I initially thought such directors would be good a while back, but then, for a battle like Isandlwana, it might be a tad confusing to know what is going on, as their films tend to be kinda 'busy', meaning a lot might be lost within the chaos, as in, 'not being able to see the action for the fighting', if you know what I mean.

It'd be better with a bit more attention to characters, with the battle at Isandlwana, obviously, being the main story, but filmed in such a way that we see detailed set-pieces with those portraying the real participants, seeing what they see and are involved in during the fighting, placed at different parts of the battlefield, perhaps as officers,etc., in charge of the various units, that way we can follow the events, much like in 'Zulu'.

As a wannabe screenwriter, I don't know how such a format could be arranged for Isandlwana, but it would assist in the following around the battlefield of characters, covering incidents/actions as they are happening, but from different points of view.

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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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Tarantino introduced a screening of "Zulu Dawn" at Chicago-based critic Roger Ebert's film festival a few years ago, and is a fan of the film (though I'm not sure that he feels the same way about "Zulu"). The excerpt of Elmer Bernstein's ZD music on the soundtrack of "Inglourious Basterds" is one of numerous music clips used in the film; others include "The Battle of Algiers", "Kelly's Heroes", "The Dark of the Sun" (aka "The Mercenaries") and David Bowie's end-title song from the 1982 version of "Cat People" (!). As usual with Tarantino's soundtracks, there is no original score but a merely a seloection of extracts from his record collection.

For the record, I thought "Inglourious Basterds" was utterly deplorable - the worst film I've seen this year.
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Sheldon

Tarantino a fan of 'Zulu Dawn' ?

I'm in very good company then ! Very Happy

Hope he joins this forum. Cool

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leightarrant


Joined: 21 Feb 2006
Posts: 131
Location: East Sussex
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As well as Tarantino using 'music from other sources' brings me on to mention the great Kubrik. He also chose to select music from his personel
record collection, and sometimes ask others to source some music, already pre recorded........Perhaps SPARTACUS is unique, as Alex North actually wrote the score for that film, but nearly all the other Kubrik films that followed, were lead by classical pieces......Obviously Tarantino was influenced by Kubrik, or maybe even Scoresse!

A note on the Zulu Dawn music, as I've mentioned before, Its a poor score, especially from Elmer Bernstein. It didn't really 'lift' the film where it needed it, making the movie less memorable. I wonder why Tarantino chose to use this particular score??
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Sheldon Hall


Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 377
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I think Scorsese is a more likely influence on QT than Kubrick, but the main factor is his own egotism: he's such a control freak that he doesn't want to give a composer the licence to compose original music and therefore prefers selecting his own favourites (he has said this in interviews, so I'm not making it up). Never mind that none of the pieces used in IB adds up to a coherent score - but then the disjointed scenes that make up the movie don't add up to a coherent story, either (he has NOT said this in interviews!).

As for Kubrick himself, his films before 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY have more-or-less traditional scores, and Alex North was commissioned to write an original score for 2001 (the unfinished music has been recorded and is available to buy on CD). But Kubrick was persuaded to use his "temp" track instead - the bits and pieces of classical music assembled to form a temporary soundtrack while the film was being edited to give the editors (and possibly the composer) an idea of what kind of music to use in each sequence (a common practice in the film industry). Kubrick was not the first filmmaker to use "found" music instead of an original score, but it became more common from the late 1960s onwards for both classical excerpts and pop songs to be used as soundtracks. 2001 was undoubtedly an influence in helping to popularise this.
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Zulu Dawn soundtrack movie reference Inglorious Bastards
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