Goofs for
Zulu (1964) More at IMDbPro »

• Continuity: During the battle in the hospital, when Hook bayonets a Zulu up against the wall, the bayonet clearly goes under the armpit, not through as the mark left on the wall afterwards would suggest.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Set in 1879, several Zulu warriors are wearing wrist watches, probably the same ones that the production company paid the extras with.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: At one point in the film, a bright flash of sunshine can be seen reflecting briefly on what was believed to be a vehicle windscreen up on a hill behind Rorke's Drift. However, Stanley Baker's widow and others who have visited the site confirm that it was impossible to get any sort of vehicle onto the ridge, so there must be some other explanation (probably a spear).
  
  

• Factual errors: The soldiers wear parade dress uniforms, including white helmets displaying the regimental crest. On active service they would have worn a more basic uniform with plain cork helmets, as depicted correctly in Zulu Dawn (1979).
  
  
• Anachronisms: The 24th is identified as the "South Wales Borderers". In 1879 the regiment was the 2nd Warwickshire. It did not become a Welsh regiment until 1881.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Airliner contrails are visible.
  
  
• Continuity: Chard breaks his revolver to load it twice as he talks to Colour Sgt. Bourne. Both times, the empty shells are ejected.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The revolvers used by the officers are of WWI issue.
  
  
• Continuity: When Chard fights the two Zulus who break through the line, a soldier near him is shot and slumps over the sandbag wall. In the next shot Chard picks up the rifle which has a bayonet attached to it and uses it to fight the Zulus - except that when the stricken soldier fell, the rifle it didn't have a bayonet on it and was slung over the soldiers right shoulder - not propped against the wall conveniently to hand.
  
  
• Continuity: When Cpl. Allen is shot while helping Hitch, he grasps the right-hand side of his chest, but in all other scenes the wound is on the left side.
  
  
• Factual errors: The Zulu chief Cetshwayo did not send his impi to attack Rorke's Drift, and in fact ordered that the installation be left alone. It was one of his half-brothers who ordered and led the attack, figuring he would get a quick victory and impress the king.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A few of the battle scenes show British soldiers with bolt-action rifles. Apparently there weren't enough Martini-Henrys to go around.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When Lt. Bromhead (Michael Caine) is seen returning from his hunt, the bearers are carrying a dead cheetah and a springbok. The springbok is an antelope that inhabits arid areas in the northwest of South Africa, and was never present in Natal.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In order to simulate 4,000 Zulu warriors lining up on a ridge, when only 500 Zulu extras were available, long wooden frames were used with 10-12 Zulu shields attached to the front of them with a real Zulu at each end. As the Zulus line up for the final "Fellow Braves" chant, there is one shot in which these shield-frames are obvious.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Reverend Otto Witt flees Cetshwayo's kraal after the report of the massacre at Isandlwana you can tell that there is a stunt driver in the wagon. The man has a beard.
  
  
• Continuity: After Pvt Hook breaks into the doctor's cabinet and steals the brandy, he smashes the top off, when he takes a drink the bottle shape has changed.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Early scene with soldiers working on dam at the base shows the Drakensberg Amphitheatre in the background. This shot was taken in the upper Tugela river valley, miles away from the actual site of Rorke's Drift.
  
  
• Continuity: When De Witt is held is the store room before the first attack, some tunic jackets are seen hanging on the outside of the door in one medium long shot. But they weren't there a short while before, when Colour Sgt. Bourne told him to shut up, and they aren't there in a close-up of the store room door shortly after that.
  
  
• Continuity: As Chard is taken to the hospital, a soldier is leaning on the railing outside the hospital door. The soldier has both arms on the railing and his head is between an upright post and the door. When Chard reaches the hospital and the perspective switches, the soldier has only one arm on the railing and his head is on the other side of the post.
  
  
• Factual errors: The NCO badges of rank are on the left arms, these should be on the right arms.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The song Men of Harlech features prominently as the regimental song; it did not become so until later. At the time of the battle, the regimental song was The Warwickshire Lad.
  
  
• Factual errors: Neither Bromhead or Chard received their commissions in 1872 as the film states, in fact Bromhead received his in 1871 whilst Chard got his in 1868
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In the hospital the holes in the walls to be used as loopholes and to escape from one room to the next are clearly visible and plastered over.
  
  
• Continuity: When Sgt Maxfield faints in the hospital, Hook walks over and stands over him with both hands empty and hanging at his sides. In the next shot we see Hook's face, and he is holding his right hand at shoulder height with his bayonet in his hand.
  
  
• Plot holes: The British officer states that the Zulu riflemen can not fire from the hill because the chief is afraid of hitting his own warriors. This is incongruous with the opening skirmish in which the chief counts the British guns "with the lives of his warriors."
  
  
• Factual errors: When the attack on Rorke's Drift is under way and Bromhead wonders where the Zulus got their rifles, Adendorff tells him it was from dead British soldiers at Isandlwana. But the Zulus who attacked Rorke's Drift had not fought at Isandlwana; they had been held back in reserve, and thus had no opportunity for looting. In fact, Zulus had been acquiring firearms of their own for some time from various sources, but they were mostly obsolete weapons far inferior to the Martini-Henry rifles used by the British.
  
  
• Factual errors: The final salute by the Zulus depicted in the film did not take place. Some warriors did appear on the hill the following morning, but they simply observed the British in silence for a while before leaving again.
  
  
• Factual errors: In the hospital before the battle, one of the soldiers named Jones tells Cpl. Schiess (who was actually in the Natal Native Contingent, not the Mounted Police as stated in the film) that he belongs to 'C Company'. In fact the company stationed at Rorke's Drift was B Company - as correctly identified at the end of the film in the list of recipients of the Victoria Cross.
  
  
• Continuity: The scene with the messenger approaching the king, the sun is shining on the king's left shoulder. The following scene, messenger facing the king, the sun is shining from behind the camera position casting a different angle of shadow.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In two different scenes, when the soldiers are given marching orders, they start to move before the command to march or turn is finished.
  
  
• Continuity: During the opening dance sequence, a messenger approaches where the Chief and Witt sit. Shadows extend from from the Chief and Witt toward the messenger. When the messenger actually gets to the Chief, no shadows are present. Also, in these same cuts, the area where Chief and Witt sit seems to shift from ground level to raised.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The Commissary Doctor lifts the lid on a pot of boiling soup. It should be too hot to handle.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Camera shadow on the shield as the Zulu sneak up for the first engagement.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Camera shadow on the ground between the two rows of Zulus prior to attack.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Camera shadow on helmet as Chard walks along bag wall.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Camera shadow on Bromhead's right shoulder after he tells Chard he did it.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Camera shadow on a bandaged soldier, after the company roll call.
  
  
• Factual errors: Bromhead tells Chard his father was with Wolfe at Quebec. Wolfe died at Quebec, as a result of wounds suffered nearby on the Plains of Abraham, in 1759, over 110 years before the battle depicted in Zulu.
  
  

• Continuity: SPOILER: In the hospital scene Private Owen is seen to die on the operating table. Before the final battle he is seen in the ranks, ready "to die" again.
  
  

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