In 1879, the British suffer a great loss at the Battle of Isandlwana due to incompetent leadership.

Burt Lancaster
as Col. Anthony Durnford

Peter O'Toole
as Lord Chelmsford

John Mills
as Sir Henry Bartle Frere

Denholm Elliott
as Colonel Pulleine

Simon Ward
as Lt. Vereker

Nigel Davenport
as Col. Hamilton-Brown

Michael Jayston
as Col. Crealock

Peter Vaughan
as QSM Bloomfield

James Faulkner
as Lt. Melvill

Christopher Cazenove
as Lt. Coghill
CinemaSerf
Though certainly epic in cinematographic terms, this is a really meandering and over-cast depiction of the Zulu defeat of the British garrison at Isandlwana at the end of the 19th century. I'm assuming it was made as a precursor of - and to capitalise upon - the far superior "Zulu" (1964) but right ...