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Rich

Have you ever seen the western in which John Mills (Bartle Frere in Zulu Dawn) plays the role of the commander of a fort under attack by indians, in which, I think, he states that he wishes he had a British Regiment in his command ?

I can't remember the film's name off-hand, but I was surprised to see him in it.

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Found it - 'Chuka'.

I don't know what made me think it was called 'Pistolero'. Confused

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rich


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John Mills was a fine actor. How's the film? I heard of it but never saw it.

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From what I recall, it was okay.

It's a last stand of sorts, but at a fort, instead of a mission like the Alamo or supply depot like Rorke's Drift, though not large scale in cast or extras.

I haven't seen it for long time, so it might have aged badly.

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Peter Ewart


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I have seen a Robert Shaw film! My son was watching The Battle of Britain on DVD the other day and I spotted his name in the credits at the end. Although I'm very familiar with the film I still didn't have a clue which one he was, so Google Images has had to come to my rescue. He had a good part in the film (no-one really had a very big part). Several times a week I drive past the pub which Christopher Plummer and Susannah York had a drink in. The prices have gone up!

Odd that Wikipedia didn't mention this in one either in his repertoire.

P.
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Kiwi Sapper


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Peter Ewart wrote:
I have seen a Robert Shaw film! My son was watching The [I]Battle of Britain [/I..............Odd that Wikipedia didn't mention this in one either in his repertoire. P.


It did number 25 and also one which I said it did not as well , Robin and Marian. Me thinks Wiki is playing tricks on us.

.........Filmography

The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) (uncredited)
Operation Secret (1952) (uncredited) - Jacques
The Dam Busters (1954) - Flight Sgt. J. Pulford
A Hill in Korea (1956) - Lance Corporal Hodge
Double Cross (1956)
Man from Tangier (1957) - Johnny
The Buccaneers (1957) - Captain Dan Tempest - Television (39 episdes)
Sea Fury (1958) - Gorman
Libel (1959) - Newspaper Photographer
The Four Just Men (1960) - TV episode - Crack Up - Stuart
Danger Man (1961) - TV episode - Bury The Dead - Tony Costello
The Winter's Tale (1961) - Leontes
The Valiant (1962) - Lieutenant Field
The Caretaker (1963) - Aston
From Russia with Love (1963) - Donald 'Red' Grant
The Cracksman (1963) - Moke
The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964) - Ginger Coffey
Carol for Another Christmas (1964) - Ghost of Christmas Future
Tomorrow at Ten (1964) - Marlowe
Hamlet (1964) - Claudius, King of Denmark
Battle of the Bulge (1965) - Col. Martin Hessler
A Man for All Seasons (1966) - King Henry VIII
Custer of the West (1967) - Gen. George Armstrong Custer
The Birthday Party (1968) - Stanley Webber
Battle of Britain (1969) - "Skipper"
The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969) - Francisco Pizarro
Figures in a Landscape (1970) - MacConnachie (also adapted for the screen)
A Town Called Bastard (a.k.a. A Town Called Hell) (1971) - The Priest
Young Winston (1972) - Lord Randolph Churchill
A Reflection of Fear (a.k.a. Labyrinth) (1973) - Michael
The Hireling (1973) - Steven Ledbetter
The Sting (1973) - Doyle Lonnegan
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1974) (uncredited) - The Oracle of All Knowledge
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) - Mr. Blue - Bernard Ryder
Jaws (1975) - Quint
The Man in the Glass Booth (1975) -
Der Richter und sein Henker (a.k.a. End of the Game, Murder on the Bridge, Deception, and Getting Away with Murder) (1975) - Richard Gastmann
Diamonds (a.k.a. Diamond Shaft) (1975) - Charles/Earl Hodgson
Robin and Marian (1976) - Sheriff of Nottingham
Swashbuckler (a.k.a. Scarlet Buccaneer) (1976) - Ned Lynch
Black Sunday (1977) - Major David Kabokov
The Deep (1977) - Romer Treece
Force 10 from Navarone (1978) - Major Keith Mallory
Avalanche Express (1979) - General Marenkov

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rich


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Come to think of it Robert could have made a pretty good Durnford in Zulu Dawn. I'd think he sure would have used the intensity he showed in presenting Henry's character in A Man for All Seasons to go and close with the Zulu!

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Peter Ewart


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Kiwi

Yes, I now see it does list The Battle of Britain in his full list at the bottom, but I'm still surprised it doesn't appear in the half-dozen or so mentioned early in the article (rather than two or three I've never heard of!) Still, I suppose these were films in which he played leading parts, whereas in The B of B the large, well known cast shared parts around fairly evenly. It must have been an interesting task to get together so many leading stars for one production (as in The B of B) when none of them has a role which could be called "leading." Offhand I can't think of another film which featured so many established top names, including several of the very, very best. The Longest Day comes to mind but others here may well have more.

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Robert Shaw as Durnford ?

I'm not sure, though definitely would have been a better choice than Lancaster, but he died in about 1978 at about 50 years old, so as with Baker couldn't have made it anyway. Sad

One thing for sure, he would have been better in the role of Durnford, instead of being really miscast as Custer !

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rich


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You know I related Shaw to presenting authority in his roles and kind of saw it in Durnford's character. (at least that's the type of fellow I think him to be when I read about him!).

And I have the Dambusters where he does his screen debut. Quiet part he had there. But I got a kick out of a quote he made .. ..."Most of the time in movies I'm 50 times larger than the part". Nice confident fellow Shaw!

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Yes, the role of Durnford (and Custer) certainly needed actors who would have a 'leadership' kind of quality to both their acting styles and personality. Gerard Butler believed in this when he made '300' portraying King Leonidas.

Lancaster may have had that quality when he was younger, but as an older man, didn't really have the clout any more, to carry it.

Not sure which modern actor would be dynamic enough to dominate the role of Durnford or Custer on the screen, considering the superheroes we are getting swamped with in the cinemas.

This sci-fi phase if going on too long - years and years. It may sell tickets, but it is becoming more and more the same format.

Bring back historical epics I say, the stories are far more heroic, exciting and action-packed than most films doing the rounds nowadays.

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