Guns at Batasi (1964)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

John Guillermin

Writers:

Robert Holles (screenplay)
Robert Holles (novel)

Release Date:

30 October 1964 (West Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Outnumbered A Hundred to One - Yet Fighting Like a Thousand Heroes in a Hell Spot Called Batasi!

Plot:

An anachronistic martinet RSM on a remote Colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat must use his experience to defend those in his care.

Plot Keywords:

Bofors Gun | Sergeant | Captain | Mutiny | Lieutenant

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Richard Attenborough	...	Regimental Sgt. Major Lauderdale
Jack Hawkins	...	Colonel Deal
Flora Robson	...	Miss Barker-Wise
John Leyton	...	Private Wilkes
Mia Farrow	...	Karen Eriksson
Cecil Parker	...	Fletcher
Errol John	...	Lieut. Boniface
Graham Stark	...	Sgt. 'Dodger' Brown
Earl Cameron	...	Captain Abraham
Percy Herbert	...	Colour Sgt. Ben Parkin
David Lodge	...	Sgt. 'Muscles' Dunn
Bernard Horsfall	...	Sgt. 'Schoolie' Prideaux
John Meillon	...	Sgt. 'Aussie' Drake
Horace James	...	Corporal Abou
Patrick Holt	...	Captain

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Netherlands:12 | USA:Approved (MPAA rating: certificate #26767) | UK:PG | Finland:S | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

George H. Brown Productions

Trivia:

Mia Farrow replaced Britt Ekland at the last minute.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Sgt. Dodger Brown: [singing as he drives a truck] She'll be comin' round the mountain when she comes. She'll be comin'
Colour Sgt. Ben Parkin: Can't you sing in tune?
Sgt. Dodger Brown: round the mountain when she comes!
[pause as truck bumps over rough road]
Sgt. Dodger Brown: Hey, Ben, you know I was just thinkin'. Back home they wouldn't let me drive a scooter without taking a test.
[chuckles]
Sgt. Dodger Brown: Marvelous, isn't it?
[thud as truck jolts]
Colour Sgt. Ben Parkin: Marvelous

Thoroughly enjoyable

I 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.