Guns at Batasi
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
John Guillermin
Richard Attenborough
Jack Hawkins
Flora Robson
John Leyton
Mia Farrow
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When a rebellion breaks out in the capital of the newly-independent nation of Batasi, Colonel Deal is ordered to confine all British Army personnel to quarters and to turn over his command of a mixed Anglo-African regiment to a native African officer, Captain Abraham. Colonel Deal departs for the capital, and the second-ranking African officer, Lieutenant Boniface, quickly arrests Captain Abraham and assumes command of the regiment in the name of the rebels. Stranded at the airport because of the rebellion, British Private Wilkes and a Swedish United Nations employee, Karen Eriksson, go to the all-white sergeants' mess, administered by Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale, a staunch old-line British career soldier. Lauderdale is serving as host to Miss Barker-Wise, a leftwing Member of Parliament on a factfinding tour. Captain Abraham escapes from his guards and, seriously injured, finds refuge in the messhall. Overriding the protests of Miss Barker-Wise, who naively champions Boniface, Lauderdale refuses to surrender Abraham to the rebel leader. Boniface threatens to destroy the mess if Lauderdale does not comply with his demand. Deal returns from the capital, and as he announces the success of the revolt and British recognition of the new government, Wilkes and Lauderdale blow up the antitank guns positioned to raze the messhall. Boniface, now a colonel, orders Lauderdale out of the country, and Lauderdale complies, looking forward to the future wherever the army may take him.
Director
John Guillermin
Cast
Richard Attenborough
Jack Hawkins
Flora Robson
John Leyton
Mia Farrow
Cecil Parker
Errol John
Graham Stark
Earl Cameron
Percy Herbert
David Lodge
Bernard Horsfall
John Meillon
Horace James
Patrick Holt
Alan Browning
Richard Bidlake
Joseph Layode
Ric Hutton
Bloke Modisane
Crew
John Addison
Max Benedict
George H. Brown
Maurice Carter
Bill Daniels
Don Deacon
Gerry Fisher
Stuart Freeborn
Betty Harley
Robert Holles
Stuart Lyons
Robert T. Macphee
Leo Marks
John Mccorry
David W. Orton
C. M. Pennington-richards
Marshall Pugh
Barbara Ritchie
Sinfonia Of London
Douglas Slocombe
Jan Darnley Smith
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
I have seen Calcutta. I have eaten camel dung. My knees are brown, my navel is central, my conscience is clear, and my will is with my solicitors, Short and Curly.- Sgt. Major Lauderdale
Will you stick a boomerang in that great Aussie cakehole of yours until I've finished!?- Sergeant Major Lauderdale
Trivia
Notes
Opened in London in September 1964.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1964
CinemaScope
Released in United States Winter January 1, 1964
