I discovered this film, quite by chance, whilst looking through the early evening schedules for BBC1. Billed in the newspaper as a "Second World War drama" it is anything but, actually being set in early '60s East Africa just after countries like Kenya achieved independence from Britain. Richard Attenborough is splendid as the RSM who worships "spit and polish" as much as he does HM The Queen. (Odd to think she's still on the throne and "reigning" over the same but very much changed realm.) Attenborough's characterisation of the type of man who ran the British Army is spot on. Are such men still with us? Flora Robson also gives a entirely believable performance as the naive and opinionated Labour MP. We know such women are still amongst us. The supporting cast of actors portraying the sergeants and reluctant conscript give this film great credibility. Mia Farrow is an unexpected guest and we can only envy Wilkie for getting his wicked way. Jack Hawkins, as ever, gives a stock performance as the officer who remains stiff upper-lipped in the face of adversity. Altogether an unexpected treat.
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MikeZ-223 June 2001
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jandcmcq7 November 2006I remember seeing this film when it first came out and recall it made an impression on me as a young man. Saw it again last night on Fox Classics during war film week in the first week of November and it impresses me even more.
Since the first viewing I have experienced a military career in the air force and as a trainee pilot our WOD (Warrant Officer Disciplinary) could have been RSM Lauderdale to a tee. They just seem to know all about life and know what to do or say in any situation. And they have a wonderful innate knowledge of the big picture as well as the most intimate attention to detail. I am sure that this type of military rank was a vital cog in winning every war that has ever been won.
Loved the script - why, oh why, don't the smash, crash, wallop Hollywood script writers look at these old classics and learn how to put an interactive character piece together which can keep you on the edge of your seat without having cars smash through plate glass windows? Richard Attenborough certainly earned his BAFTA for his performance not only for the way he delivered his lines but his visual representation to every bat of his eyelid and twitch of his moustache.
My only criticism is the fact that being low budget it is quite obvious that it was shot in England especially when you can see English trees and houses in the background in some of the scenes. If only it could have been shot on location like "Zulu" it could have been even greater. But then again the strength of the film is the script and how cleverly it covered the type of dilemma which we still face to-day. Makes me wonder why it has never been done on the stage or maybe it has. -
planktonrules11 August 2011About the only British war film I can think of that was more tension-filled than "Guns at Batasi" is "Zulu"--and that puts it in awfully good company. In addition, Richard Attenborough has a terrific performance as a very rigid and very traditional Sergeant Major.
The film is set in Africa in one of the nations that is still a member of the Commonwealth--though it has achieved the distinction of finally having its own government. However, like so many nascent African nations, it's unstable--and soon after the film begins there is a coup and the government topples. The problem is that a group of British soldiers are stationed there and the new leaders want the Brits to give up their weapons as well as surrender a man to them. But, the tough-as-nails Sergeant Major isn't about to do either of these unless he has a direct order to do so. And, it doesn't matter if there is a know-it-all member of Parliament (Flora Robson) telling him to do this--she is not his superior officer and he is not about to break the chain of command.
As I said, it's a very tense little film. You may not appreciate the Brit-focus (after all, they were a Colonial nation until just before the film took place) nor casting an unnecessary sex interest (why include this--isn't there enough action already--plus who stops to have sex when they are facing what appears to be certain death?!). I could look past these things and just saw it as a darn fine action-adventure film. Worth seeing. -
ubercommando17 March 2005It's the early 60's, Africa is being decolonised and a supposedly peaceful transition from colony to independent nation goes awry. All that stands between order and "enemies of the new state" being butchered is Dickie Attenborough's RSM and his Sergeant's mess. He has to defend his barracks, put up with a naive left wing politician, a young girl who's taken a fancy to a conscript private who wants his last day in the army to go without a hitch, a wounded African officer who is greatly respected by the RSM, but is an enemy of the new army he's supposed to be in charge of and a largely absent British officer corps. But this won't get Dickie down; the worse things get, the more determined and resolved he gets. Some of his dialogue is fantastic and his calm (and not so calm) put downs of those who threaten him or complain to him are brilliant. Like Anthony Hopkins in "Remains of the Day", his is a lifetime of service and duty; but one that kicks serious ass.
It's one of Attenborough's finest performances: Certainly up there with Brighton Rock. -
Piafredux31 May 2006I first saw 'Guns At Batasi' several times in its butchered for television version shown mostly on late-night TV, a pan-&-scan version which also deprived the film of its Cinemascope format. But I just saw the DVD which reproduces the original Cinemascope (and which includes an entertaining commentary track by John Leyton who plays Pte. Wilkes in the film) which let's us see 'Guns At Batasi' to its deserved advantage.
It's a splendid character study of a British Army Regimental Sergeant Major set in an absorbing - and rather accurately prophetic - plot of a post-colonial African revolution.
After Richard Attenborough, properly dominant as the thoroughly professional, no-nonsense Regimental Sergeant Major, the almost uniformly solid casting gives us nice turns by the four sergeants, Leyton as Pte. Wilkes, Flora Robson as the gullible MP keen to believe her ilk's pie-in-the-sky Marxisant p.c. propaganda, Errol John as the African rebel officer, and the always splendid Jack Hawkins as Lt. Col. Deal (an apt name considering the part his character fulfils in the story). Teenaged Mia Farrow has a small role (her first in cinema, I think) as a events-stranded UN secretary who shares a mutual lust interest with Leyton's Pte. Wilkes (Farrow's scenes were re-shoots owing to the originally-cast Britt Ekland's desertion from the filming to fly to her then-paramour Peter Sellers' side while he was working in the U.S.). The writing is very good and, as I said, prescient in view of the continuing undeserved credibility placed in chiefly venal Third World leaders by Western politicians, media, and p.c. types; Guillermin's direction is sure-handed; and production design and cinematography - some very good B&W work here aided by capable lighting - are a cut or two above workmanlike.
Though shot entirely at England's Pinewood Studios on a rather low budget, the strong script and fine acting raise 'Guns At Batasi' to the level of a minor classic well worth appreciating. -
verbusen24 November 2006Let me preface that I am a huge militaria buff, history books, TV shows and especially movies, if they are British they are even better (even though I'm American, go figure). I also live and travel in parts that were once part of the British Empire and let me tell you, there remains a little of that colonial sense to these places concerning whites and the natives at least thats the way I feel about it. in the I bought this DVD from Amazon for about $10.00, not really knowing what to expect. Well I was expecting a tense escape from the heart of Africa of the last of the white Brits to be honest, kind of like a Wild Geese escape. Did it turn out that way, not at all. That's the best part of not reading IMDb before you see a movie, it won't spoil the movie for you! So what do I think this movie is? I think it's the last of the line in many ways. While probably not the absolute last one made, this is a pro military guys movie. While probably not the absolute last one made, it's also a black and white film from a large studio in the 60's. God, I'm listening to John Leyton's commentary on the DVD as I write and he just said (again) "I don't mean to remind you, this film was all shot on a stage", now that was really cool to hear it at 30 seconds into it (I kid you not that was his first point) but this is minute 45 and he has told us over ten separate times how this was all made on an indoor stage, hurrah already! That gets old really fast after the 5th time, lol. John Leyton also has glowing comments about everyone here EXCEPT, you guessed it, the black actors, unbelievably shallow and so obvious a mistake. OK now I probably sound like a liberal who bashes others, on the contrary I'm not. But even though the black actors will not go near the heights that Lord Attenborough will, he could have at least acknowledged Errol John who plays the mutinous officer and has a lot of face time, Leyton didn't once say his name or anything about him. Errol John would also play a mutinous African officer in an episode of Dangerman made around the same time, he plays an effective nemesis in my opinion. OK my pluses of the film, Attenborough's RSM in a verbal debate with the liberal MP (she fits the part too, doesn't she?), pretty much summing up England's future with the conservative pro empire voice ceding to the guilt trip liberal voice that trusts everyone except those defending their own countries interest's. Mia Farrow, for Mia Farrow fans , this was her first film role, she's very hot. In the commentary Leyton said a lot of their footage was cut out. Why was it cut? Well you have Attenborough in this great dramatic performance and in the context of a small group of whites in a revolutionary African nation where anything could happen. And than you have a light hearted Mia Farrow/Leyton young 20's fling and everyone else not really showing any tension that they really could be in a serious predicament, I'm glad they trimmed their bits down or this film would have been horrible. So, in summary, good time piece film. Its a guys feel good movie (white guys), not to be taken too seriously, with a great performance by Attenborough. In war movies from then on the action would get heavier, and there would be much more moral consequences to be introduced. Also, if your looking for a British black and white military drama made close to the same time, I recommend "The Hill". Guns Of Batasi 7/10
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brad_and_ethan2 December 2007I enjoyed this film considerably. The production values were nice, the acting good, and it had a good sense of humor I wasn't expecting. The Sergeant Major's character was obviously clichéd, but they rounded him out enough to save him from being a mediocre character. There are some really nice touches in the script, and many of them are humorous. I though that the wounded captain's collapse just as he's giving himself up to his African countrymen is a bit coincidental, but dramatically speaking, he needs to be kept in the mess hall. And for what it's worth, and although I've never been a big fan of hers, Mia Farrow has never looked hotter.
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beeryusa10 November 2008I'd never even heard of Guns at Batasi before but I was amazed to find that it's a superlative film. I was expecting standard British stiff-upper-lip fare that the British did so well in the 1950s and '60s, but what I wasn't expecting is that a film I'd never even heard of rivals and even exceeds top-notch British dramas like Sidney Lumet's 'The Hill'.
The film stands squarely on Richard Attenborough's pitch-perfect performance as a Regimental Sergeant Major - the performance of a lifetime, especially when you consider that Attenborough is the complete opposite of the character he plays in this film - in reality he's soft-spoken and unassuming, yet the character he's playing is not at all those things. To say that this role was a stretch somehow doesn't do the performance justice - Attenborough literally becomes the RSM, and every moment he's on screen is incredible. Some reviewers assume that his performance is over-the-top, but I can assure everyone that British NCOs do act like this - or at least they did in the 1960s - I had the honour of knowing one of them.
Not that Attenborough is doing it all alone - the other performances are perfect too, as is the direction. The fact that the film was made in a studio in England makes you realise what a great job a truly great crew can do for a film - there's no way you'd think this movie wasn't made in Africa.
Altogether a fantastic movie - probably the best new film (new to me anyway) I've seen in the last two years. This blows everything else out of the water.
Oh, and for those worried that it's a war film - definitely not. It's a drama set in a military barracks, but psychological drama is what we have here, and unlike a lot of those kinds of films this one has a heart and a sense of humour. Don't miss this one! -
Robert Holles' novel "Siege of Battersea" becomes fascinating, gripping study of military rank, with egos clashing and tempers flaring. Richard Attenborough gives a masterly performance as a Sergeant Major with the British Army, stationed at a post in Africa and having to deal with a political coup; the uprising of the locals is in direct contrast with their servitude back in England, which catches everyone off guard when they rebel. Attenborough's performance, while at time over-scaled (as if he were performing this part on the stage), is nevertheless the film's centerpiece, and he's wily, tough, steely-eyed, unshakable, and also incredibly human. His underlings are impressively cast, as is Mia Farrow, looking fresh and lovely as a soldier's love-interest. The dislocation of these soldiers and their interpersonal relationships with each other, their leader, and the unpredictable nature of the Anglo-Africans provides for good, solid drama, which is given a lively pace and a simple, efficient production. **1/2 from ****
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steve_764916 May 2001Perhaps it is because I am a sucker for British military movies.
Or maybe it's because the first time I saw it I did not expect much from it, but Guns at Batasi lept to the top of my all-time favorites list the first time I saw it.
It stays there no matter how many times I see it.
It's hokey, it's overdone and it's certainly low-budget. But it does have a sterling cast of British character actors, and it has several powerful scenes and Attenborough is magnificent as the sergeant-major. A great character study.
Here's a man, who has dedicated his entire adult life to a code, a way of life. It's all he knows, it's all he wants and in this one incident everything he has ever stood for or worked for it tested and threatened.
The sergeant major, despite what you might think of the military is a man of honor and courage. He's the kind of guy you would want on your side no matter what.
If you have not seen this movie. Find it, see it. Give it a chance. I think you will like. A definite thumbs up. -
lastliberal-853-25370826 May 2014Wow, a 19-year-old Mia Farrow in her first credited role.
But, eye-candy aside, the real stars are Richard Attenborough (Gandhi, Jurassic Park) as the Regimental Sergeant Major, and Flora Robson as MP Barker-Wise.
Upheaval in Africa as a newly independent country decides to change leadership, provides a backdrop for conflict between the RSM and the mutinous Lieutenant (Errol John) who supports the new government.
The stiff discipline of the British Army is on full display as the RSM tries to protect his charges.
The acting by all was excellent, and the story was both dramatic and funny at times. -
This is a brilliant representation of a classic Regimental Sergeant Major, and shows the classic values that should continue to thrive (and sadly don't) in our military of today.
Over the top? Yes... a little...but show me a TRUE RSM who isn't. Such men really existed... and they were a source of inspiration, guidance and customs and traditions for many.
Well done by Sir Richard.
From what I've heard, he spent a year preparing for this role by understudying real RSMs at the RSM-prep school in Sandhurst.
I've used this film as a training aid when teaching leadership to young soldiers - and I continue to enjoy it today. -
ma-cortes22 March 2021This attractive picture deals with a group of military Sergeants : Perry Herbert , Grahame Stark , David Ledge , among others , stationed in in Africa during the anti-colonial Sixties , they are under orders of a stiff-upper-lip Sergeant-Major named Lauderdale : Richard Attenborough and ultimately all of them become involved into a local coup d'etat in the emergent African state . Surprisingly , things go wrong when the regiment is threatened and heavily sieged by the African rebels . These were the last of the great adventurers , suddenly besieged in a jungle powderkeg hall way between heaven and hell ! The battle lines have just been redrawn . Brothers of Vengeance . Outnumbered a hundred to one -Yet fighting like a thousand heroes in a hell spot called Batasi ! . On Parade a tyrant ..in a hot spot , a hero ! Outnumbered , but never outfought !
A nice film with intelligent dialogue about military life , drama , thrills , adventure and emotion . Sir Richard Attenborough draws the regiment sergeant-Major to life in this sympathetic drama with action , intrigue and surprises . Fine interpretations make this rather predictable movie very watchable . Cast is frankly fabulous , Richard Attenborough is magnificent as the tough and strict Sergeant Major stealing really the show , Flora Robson as a meddler senator , a very young Mia Farrow , John Leyton as an unfortunate Private and other prestigious secondaries as Earl Cameron, Cecil Parker , David Ledge , John Meillon and Percy Herbert .
It displays an evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by great cameraman Douglas Slocombe , and shot on location . As well as adequate and brilliant musical score by John Addison . The motion picture was competently directed by John Guillermin . This Brit craftsman filmmaker directed several films of all kinds of genres , getting several hits and some flops , as he made the following ones : "The Blue Max" , "Walz of the Toreadors" , "Never Let Go" , "Death on the Nile" , "King Kong" , "King Kong lives" , "Towering inferno" , among others . Rating : 7/10 . Better than average . Essential and indispensable watching for British cinema enthusiasts . The flick will appeal to Richard Attenborough fans . -
rmax3048235 September 2010I never believed that I would ever see Richard Attenborough in a movie in which he seemed to be overacting. I mean "Attenborough" and "overacting" don't belong in the same sentence. Yet here he is, as the Sergeant Major left in charge of half a dozen non-commissioned officers at a British Army post in Africa, the highest rank an enlisted man can achieve, and he enacts a blustering stereotype, his mess hall accent full of roller coaster contours.
Actually I didn't mind it too much. Make up has aged him, given him and intense, almost crazed look, and the director, John Guillerman, seems to have given Attenborough his own leash, and Sir Richard takes off with it. He's a bundle of fiercely constrained potential energy. He never walks. He strides. He snaps out orders to African and British soldiers alike. He insists on proper decorum. He will not recognize an African colonel who has just taken over the country and is threatening to destroy the British post with 40 millimeter cannons -- until the infuriated colonel removes his cap in the mess hall. First things first.
It's mostly a filmed play that takes place in the Sergeants' Mess, and it looks it. There are a few outdoor scenes but they're brief, and mostly filmed at night.
The performers all look properly sweaty. They're competent too, though none stand out except Attenborough and a few scenes with the ever-reliable Jack Hawkins, who breezes through his part in a state of quizzical tranquility. The women -- Flora Robeson and the teen-aged Mia Farrow, are mostly along for the ride. Farrow looks plumper, more succulent, than we're used to seeing her.
The story is fairly comic at first, concentrating on the men's resigned acceptance of Attenborough's by-the-book military character. When he spins a tale at the bar, the other men can mouth the story silently word for word.
He performs an heroic deed at the end, but unknowingly he does it after the conflict is resolved. At the request of the new African president, Attenborough is sent back to England. He's not reprimanded or court martialed but it's a definite slap in the face, considering what he accomplished. Later, alone in the mess, he flings a glass of whiskey at the portrait of Queen Victoria, then hurriedly tries to cover up signs of the deed. The significance of the act may have escaped me. I'd have to guess that he, who has lauded the British Army from the beginning, feels that it has turned on him, and that Victoria represents the Army. Instead of a decoration, he's gotten a boot in the pants. If that isn't why he hurls the glass at the picture, I don't know what it is.
It's not a bad film and I realize Richard Attenborough has received a cornucopia of kudos for his performance, but it's still a stereotype, a kind of Colonel Blimp. This was shot in 1963 when the British Empire was in the process of contracting and it occurs to me that it might seem dated now, except that as this is being written, the United States is having an almost identical problem in Iraq. -
tieman6426 February 2010"Mr. Boniface! I've been a member of this Mess for 23 years, Sir. In all that time I've never seen anybody - man, woman or child - walk into this mess with his hat upon his head. I do not see you now, Sir!" – Major Lauderdale (Richard Attenborough)
Shortly after World War 2, the British Empire, once the largest Empire in all of World History (at one point holding sway over ¼ of the world's population), began granting independence to many of her oversees colonies. This period of decolonisation began in 1945 and ended as late as 1997, though by the early 1980s the yielding of independence to Zimbabwe and Belize meant that most of the major colonies had been set free. This freedom came at a "cost", and wasn't entirely benevolent. Britain did her best to destabilise and divide these colonies before departing, and retained control of as many local industries and institutions as she could.
With the dismantling of the Empire came a wave of films, during the late 1950s and early 60s, which were openly critical of colonialism ("The Hill", "Battle of Algiers", "Z" etc). "The Guns at Batasi" belongs to this group, but is more interested in exploring the confusion that emerges when a country is granted the right to self-determination.
Set in a military outpost during the last days of the British Empire, the film revolves around a by-the-books Regimental Sergeant Major, played by Richard Attenborough, caught between two dissident factions in a newly-created African state.
The film highlights how many post-colonial governments are overthrown by populist rebel groups, and how the process of decolonisation often creates a period of violent turmoil, different factions rising to occupy the vacuum that the Empire once filled. But unlike films like 1959's "North West Frontier", "Batasi" isn't interested in "praising" the Empire for keeping order (this "order" came at a horrible price- millions dying across the West Indies, for example, and almost 1.8 billion in the Indian colonies etc). No, the film is instead obsessed with the far-ranging identity crises that often occur during specific types of social unrest. For example, Richard Attenborough plays Major Lauderdale, an ultra-patriotic disciplinarian who with the collapse of the Empire now seems like a 19th Century anachronism. Like an emasculated man desperately holding on to outdated codes of masculinity, honour and nationalism, Lauderdale is continually mocked behind his back by both his officers and a liberal female MP. Lauderdale's inability to adapt to this "brave new world" is mirrored to the numerous African officers he encounters, characters who likewise find it difficult to comprehend the freedoms they've been given.
What eventual emerges is a film that is very critical of previous British values. Made during the height of the second-wave British feminist movement, the film ushers in an era of change, not by celebrating the freedoms and "liberations" of the 1960s, but by mocking the archaic world it has replaced. Attenborough, whose Major Lauderdale is one of the celebrated actor's finest creations, is thus an amplification of the kind of caricatural military man Alec Guiness played so well in "The Bridge Over The River Kwai", a cartoon whom we both chuckle at and sympathise with.
What's most disturbing, though, is that after all these post-colonial films, most of which were openly critical of colonialism, British and American cinema began releasing a slew of films that began capitulating to certain imperialist tropes and racialized fantasies.
In 1984 author Salman Rushdie commented on this trend, describing a spate of British productions (David Lean's "A Passage to India" and Attenborough's own "Gandhi" helped counter this somewhat) as "the phantom twitchings of imperialism's amputated limb". These were epics which are bathed in a kind of colonial nostalgia. They served as apologias for Imperialism, romanticised the native and offered up a kinder, gentler version of colonialism. Meanwhile, "the native", because he's portrayed as being "closer to nature" ("Out of Africa", "Indochine", "The Piano" etc), and thus less corrupted than his white counterparts, often acted as a symbol designed to redeems certain white characters (as well as the colonising culture that he is associated with).
But made in the early 1960s, "The Gun's of Batasi" is a bit more complex and doesn't succumb to these later trends. "For the first time in the history of my country, Sergeant Major, it is the African who is putting the shell into the breech and giving the order to fire!" an African General yells, the native empowered by the white man's departure.
But of course the white man is determined to retreat into history with his head held high. "I've never come across a misfit of your size and quality before!" Major Lauderdale responds, "If you do happen to go putting a shell into the breech, sir, I sincerely hope that you'll remember to put the sharp end to the front!"
Witty spars like this are common in the film, the humour only dissipating when you realise that these African Generals are going to spend the next few decades killing their countrymen with British guns. "Who put the guns into their hands!" a female officer, seemingly the only voice of reason in the film, mourns. "You!"
8.5/10 - An excellent film, which perhaps relies too heavily on dialogue to get its points across. Nevertheless, Attenborough's Major Lauderdale is such a cauldron of pent up emotion, that we can't resist watching his wild theatrics. Worth one viewing. -
A nice character-driven vehicle for Richard Attenborough, GUNS AT BATASI is a working example of the British army in its dying days of world domination. It's a warts and all portrayal of a forgotten breed of men who had words like courage, honour, and duty sewn into their uniforms and would sooner die than bring dishonour to their hallowed institution.
This is basically a low budget character vehicle for an on-fire Attenborough, barely recognisable behind the facial hair. Attenborough plays an old-fashioned officer working in Africa whose outdated methods are a source of amusement for his men. However, when local political turmoil sees an attempted coup against his allies, he must spring into action, at which point his men discover that sometimes, the old ways are still the best.
There's very little to dislike about GUNS AT BATASI, a delightfully old-fashioned and almost anachronistic little wartime thriller. I wonder what audiences would have made of its deliberately backward-looking ways in the progressive sixties? The sun-drenched locations ably bring Africa to life, even though the lack of budget means that this is a set-based story, and there are enough character actors around like Percy Herbert, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, and David Lodge to do justice to the material. -
richardchatten23 December 2020Although this film can be enjoyed as a an old-fashioned adventure of empire in the tradition of 'Lives of a Bengal Lancer' (a sense heightened by John Addison's percussion-heavy score), the 1962 novel by Roger Holles was set in the present day, and the trauma suffered by the British both at home and abroad as the Wind of Change swept Africa a very contemporary one.
Even as he was accepting his BAFTA for his incisive performance here as as a stiff-necked representative of the old empire, Richard Attenbrough had already embarked on his twenty year mission to raise money for a film about Mahatma Gandhi. -
A British military drama. The story is set in an overseas colonial military outpost, seemingly East Africa, during the last days of the British Empire. As Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale, a martinet of the outpost, Richard Attenborough gave a BAFTA award winning performance, a stunningly convincing central performance. He plays a man whose career is his reason for being. The coup d'état that threatens his position brings out the best and worst in a military man, reasoning that his deeply entrenched values and beliefs are no longer valid.
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jim dunn25 January 2001This is one of my favorite movies of all time. An outstanding ensemble cast and strong writing delivers a movie that sticks with for days afterwards. The comparision of the noble enlisted men standing for honor, Queen and Country while the officers have the morally bankrupt practicality so evident in the declining days of an empire. Richard Attenborough is excellent as the efficient by the book sargeant whose moral stand is betrayed by the very Empire he holds so dear.
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arthur_tafero23 October 2023Richard Attenborough does a wonderful job as a lifetime enlisted man who has risen to the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest non-commissioned rank one can achieve in the military. He is pompous, loud, respectful, occasionally social, and a very good combat soldier. He is ably supported by Jack Hawkins of Lawrence of Arabia fame, who plays his role as if he never left the Lawrence role.
Also notable is Mia Farrow as a young attractive traveller who gets stuck in a revolution in one the commonwealth's minor countries in Africa. She is ably accompanied by a lucky British private. The rest of the cast seems to just blend in the background, including the rebels and those formerly in power. The film is watchable, and not every movie that is enjoyable needs to be of Oscar caliber. This is one of those films. -
emuir-13 February 2008I was pleasantly surprised to find how much I enjoyed this black and white low budget film. Although it was about the British army in East Africa during a coup, it was not an action film in the Rambo or Jean Claude Van Damm vein, instead it was an intelligent portrayal of a career RSM faced with a crisis on his hands, and having to take the appropriate action to save the people for whom he was responsible. In many ways the film reminded me of Tunes of Glory, where Alec Guiness played a similar career NCO.
The film is proof that a low budget B&W production filmed in a studio need not be an inferior product. Tens of millions of dollars do not need to be squandered on action scenes, all you need is a darned good script, good actors and imagination. -
rupie1 July 2022I'm glad I stuck with this movie, due to various viewers' admonitions to be patient. At the outset, Attenborough's character is drawn so broadly as the paragon of the rigid, by-the-book, stiff upper lip British Sergeant Major that one is sure he is being set up as the fall guy. Also the setting - a British colonial country in the throes of revolution - makes us sure that the usual anticolonial, pro-revolutionary tone will be maintained. On the contrary, expectations are overturned, and the movie turns out to be a very even-handed and intelligently written drama. Attenborough's character is one streotype; the other is Flora Robson's portrayal of the liberal, cigarette smoking Labour MP spouting the usual leftist nostrums.
The cast is super - Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Cecil Parker (briefly), Mia Farrow, and a host of male character actors one sees often in British war movies.
The viewer's interest is maintained throughout, wondering how the various characters will deal with the situation. It could have been made into a tragedy, but the relatively lighthearted conclusion prevents it from attaining that level. It's a film of its times, but very much worth watching even today. -
mphilipm26 August 2006Richard Attenborough gave a performance in this film worthy of an Oscar and everyone in the movie shone. The writing, the direction, the experience are what movies are all about and time has not dimmed the significance of the content. It seemed to be a lost film for many years but has come out on DVD with the usual--and in this case--entertaining extras. It is billed as a "war film" but it is much more than that, an action film in the way in which Master and Commander is an action film, exciting but significant as well, since it illustrates a point of view with which you may agree or disagree but which you will see distinctly after a viewing, comparisons and contrasts being inherent to the vehicle itself. Mia Farrow debuted in this but it is an English movie with a fine supporting cast including Jack Hawkins in a final speaking role.
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Guns at Batasi is a movie that would most appeal to those who are 30 and older and for those who enjoy watching war type movies in black and white. The acting is good in the movie, especially the actors Richard Attenborough and Jack Hawkins who are always good. The characters in this movie are good and believable. The story and pace of the movie is fine. The musical score for the background action is very good. I was really very disappointed that a 1964 movie was in black and white. This is my biggest criticism of the movie. It could be a prime time movie, but is better watched in the afternoons or late at night because it is black and white. Any snack will do with this movie, beer and popcorn are suggestions here. Enjoy.
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Mountain-314 September 1999A career soldier (Attenborough) struggles in disbelief as the Empire crumbles before his eyes in East Africa. A fascinating insight into the passing of Colonialism in a period of history as far in the past as The British Empire.