Customer Reviews

Guns at Batasi

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Take one terrific performance by Richard Attenborough, add the nature of the character he plays, throw in politics, the British Army, mutiny, the end of Empire...and you have a strangely affecting and engrossing film that you may remember for quite awhile.

Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Richard Attenborough) and a detachment of the British Army are based outside Batasi, a town in a newly independent East African nation which had been part of the colonial empire. Lauderdale is at once pompous, narrow-minded, serious and proud. He is a dedicated professional soldier who has reached the top rank for a non-commissioned officer. He presents himself immaculately; he believes in traditions and rules; he is ram-rod straight and can strip hide off a malefactor at the top of his voice. "Now understand this, Wilkes! I can stomach a good soldier whatever his faults. What I can't stomach are Bolshies, skivers, scrimshankers and bunkhouse barristers. I've broken more of them than you've had eggs for breakfast!" And he is shrewd at war. He is resourceful and courageous. He knows his business.

A revolt against the government starts and most of the country's army takes part to overthrow the old and bring in the new. The British officers and NCOs at the base near Batasi are held at gun point in their respective messes. While the local British representatives keep a practical eye peeled for which way the wind is blowing, RSM Lauderdale, alone with only five sergeants and one enlisted man, is determined, in the absence of any officers or instructions, to do his duty. He will not acquiesce to unlawful orders from the rebels. He will not turn over to the rebels a seriously wounded native officer. He will defend the mess and the people in it, including the visiting and opinionated Miss Baker Wise, a member of Parliament played by Flora Robson. When Lauderdale organizes and leads a raid on the base's arms depot, now controlled by rebel soldiers, to bring arms back to the mess, he has to face a woman whose opinions are as certain as his own. "Has it occurred to you," Miss Baker Wise says emphatically, "that the rebels, or whatever you choose to call them, were leaving us alone because we were unarmed? What you are doing can only provoke more bloodshed." "Well, that's a matter of opinion," he tells her. "I'm surprised at you, ma'am. I thought you believed in all men being equal." "Of course I do. That's precisely the point." "Well," RSM Lauderdale tells her firmly, "they had guns and we didn't. That's not very equal, is it?"

While Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale organizes his sergeants and uses cunning and bluff to hold off a larger and better-armed rebel force, shifts in politics and power take place. He may lead a dangerous excursion with one other man to spike two rapid-fire artillery pieces brought to aim at the mess, but when the rebels win and take over the government, he finds himself more dangerously exposed that any military action would. The end of the movie leaves us with a great deal of respect for this rigid, professional Army man who's whole life is bound up in the certitudes of duty and tradition.

Attenborough's performance is extraordinary. At first it seems almost over the top, a comic caricature out of Carry On, Sergeant or Monty Python. During the next 20 minutes you realize that, while he may be smiled at behind his back by his sergeants and casually condescended to by his officers, he has his own dignity which is unshakeable. And for the last 70 minutes you come to realize that if you ever had to take part in a real crisis and battle, you could do far worse than be led by Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale.

His sergeants are played by reliable character actors whose faces will be remembered by those who enjoy British movies, Percy Herbit, David Lodge, John Mellon, Graham Stark and Bernard Horsefall. Jack Hawkins plays Colonel Deal, Lauderdale's colonel and a man who understands that compromises have to be made.

The DVD looks very good. There is a useful commentary by John Leyton, the actor who played the enlisted British soldier. It's value lies in Leyton's recollections about Attenborough and how he prepared for the role. Attenborough was, Leyton says, completely the opposite of a regimental sergeant major, but "in character he was spot on." Guns at Batasi is a well-made movie.

Let me start by saying if you enjoy films such as "The Wild Geese", "The Hill"(hopefully, it too will be on dvd someday),"Too Late the Hero" or perhaps "Breaker Morant" you will LOVE this film! I know the films I mentioned are depicting warfare in different eras, but they star great british/european actors such as Sean Connery, Michael Cain, Ian Bannen, Edward Woodward etc.. This stars the great Richard Attenborough as the senior sergeant in charge of a group of british non-comms who are trying to maintain order in their compound after control of the country has been turned over to the native government (set in a british colony in africa). The weapons are proper for the time period...sterling smg's and FN-FALS (brit L1A1). Great drama full of wonderfully stuffy british military etiquette! About time it has been brought out on dvd, it has become almost impossible to find on vhs and they don't show it on television much anymore. Truly outstanding!

Little known movie, with a big cast and a hardcore story.

Richard Attenborough in one of the most atypical roles he ever played.

Many think this is a war movie. The title is misleading. It is not.

Like many movies of this genre, this is a social study on human behaviour in adverse situations.

Everything that is at its best and at its worst comes, to shine in such situations of conflict.

It is a very intelligent movie, well scripted, well directed and well played.

This is a must buy for those who love good storytelling.

I first viewed this fine UK production in a small theater in Oakland, California when I was 17 years of age. And, get this, it was screened as the *second film* on a double bill. The first film on the bill was (...gotta love this...) an Annette Funicello thing called "Pajama Party."
Most of the teens exited the theater when the Annette movie ended. Too bad for them.
Seeing this terrific Richard Attenborough film at that age wet my appetite for trully great acting and quality films. And it firmly set me looking for more.

Guns at Batasi is a great movie. Not only does it tell a story about the old British Commonwealth countries obtaining home rule and going through the typical violent political changes most of these nations experienced then and some are still experiencing today, but it showed accurately the life of a British Empire soldier and his professionalism.
Flora Robson played the typical do-gooder middle class socialist MP - a breed that exists even today.
The rest of the cast did an excellent job and the movie moved at a goodly pace right up to the (almost) predictable end.
Excellent entertainment and for anyone who has served in the army, a realistic and somewhat nostalgic reminder of a time when things were more black and white.

This film is one of those "quiet" pieces of work that didn't make much of a splash when it came out, yet more than 40 years on, remains a compelling and absorbing production. Attenborough gives an inspired performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale, a consummate professional soldier who collides head-on with political expediency. Attenborough's Lauderdale is utterly convincing-- a soldier who is unbendingly loyal to centuries of military tradition, experienced and effective in combat, and fiercely protective of those underneath his command. He also has a wry sense of humour. He is faced with what is essentially a mutiny, and an officer wounded by the mutineers takes refuge in the Sergeants' Mess. Lauderdale defies the threats of the mutineers, and destroys the guns they have trained on the mess... only to find that a change in government means they weren't actually mutineers after all...

This is a great film that will not fail to move you-- as well as make you laugh.

First saw this movie in the mid 60's as second billing behind either "Hercules in the Haunted World" or "Escape From Zahrain" - hard to remember that far back - and knew I'd found a gem. The best character study of the militarist personality ever filmed. Based on a 1962 novel by Robert Holles, "The Seige of Battersea," it takes most of it's dialogue directly from the book, and the acting is over the top. Attenborough's portrayal should have won an Oscar. A "must see" for any dedicated film fan

I have watched this film multiple times over the years. It is a great piece of miltaria, and a fine example of Sir Richard's tremendous range as an actor of the old school. The details of a mixed BA/native contingent Battalion in the last days of the Empire are spot on. The frustration of a proper RSM doing his duty in the manner that has served his sovereign and country well for decades only to be stimied by politics can be appreciated by current and former NCOs of all nations. I simply adore this movie.

This excellent film is a rediscovered jem. Attenborough is first rate as the stiff upper-lipped RSM. He was your typical British senior warrent officer who basically held the battalion together. An empire was built by such men and their spit and polish manner. The movie concerns itself with a post-colonial African nation, under-going the usual tumult for that time and place. The RSM and the Sarjeant's Mess of the 2nd Royal African Rifles get mixed up in a political coup d'etat. There is some fine acting by Richard Attenborough who really personifies the British RSM type for that day. This is not a war firm per se. The overtones are military for sure, but the story really concerns itself with clashing personalities. In this respect it resembles some other very good British films of the period that probe post war feelings and attitudes in the arm. TUNES OF GLORY comes to mind as another fine example of this genre of British film.

There is some racial tension between the RSM and the arrogant Black Captain of the battalion who seeks to take political charge and remove a wounded rival in the process. The RSM rightfully puts him in his place, and while we may find this sort of behavior hard to understand today, RSM Lauderdale is really the kind of guy you want to have in a crisis. Frustrated perhaps by missing out in WW2, and molded from years of strict military etiquette into something of a martinet, one has to see RSM Lauderdale in the light of both sympathy and admiration. Attenborough manages to convey both of these elements in his wonderful portrayal of this personality.

In the end the political crisis passes, but the RSM is sacreficed to political expedincy. You might say this marks the beginning of Political Correctness in that stern characters like Lauderdale are sacreficed for racial politics. A fine story and a touching portrait of a kind of soldier we are not likely to see anymore. What a pity too! Well worth many viewings. Thank god its back on DVD!

I really liked this film and every single actor in it did a bang-up job! It was exciting, suspenseful, humorous, beautifully filmed (don't fail to listen to the commentary which will surprise you), well conceived and written. It deserved wider recognition in the US. Attenborough was absolutely, as commented, "spot on".
A great example of British filmmaking. For more, see the British War Collection...and especially "The Dam Busters". A definite 4.5 stars!