Khartoum [DVD]

I loved Charlton Heston in this role as Charles “Chinese” Gordon, who stood by the Egyptian people in Khartoum instead of abandoning them as commanded by the British government. The battle scenes were outstanding and the courage of the defenders was touching considering the fate that they faced. I bought the book about the real life Charles Gordon to see how much reality was protracted in the movie..

This is a wonderful story and a riveting film, as the other reviewers have noted. This DVD version is crisp and clear, well done. The final narrator comment is on the mark -- A world in which there is no room for Gordons is doomed to turn to sand. If you would like to learn in exquisite detail what the Mahdi was truly like, his background, the games he played interposing himself between God and man, his private vices versus public face of holiness, the extent of his crimes against duped humanity, how he died [the narrator fo the film says we will never know, but Rudolph Slatin reported the cause of death more than 100 years ago], then by all means read "Fire and Sword in the Sudan," written by Colonel Sir Rudolph Slatin Pasha, an Austrian officer held captive inside the inner circles of both the Mahdi and his successor the Khalifa Abdullahi for twelve agonizing years. General Gordon's severed head was brought to Slatin in prison before it was taken as prize to the Mahdi. Slatin, an expert linguist and accomplished field commander, was appointed by Gordon as governor of Darfur and led troops in the field against rebels for one year after being cut off from all contact with his government. He played convert to Islam as a strategy to inspire his troops and to stay alive as a personal slave to the Mahdi and the Khalifa, biding his time until he could make good his escape. Slatin's story is at least as inspiring as the life of the legendary General Gordon. Several anecdotes Slatin reveals about Gordon give a special insight into the kind nature of the great but human general. My only complaint about "Khartoum" -- The movie was grossly slanderous toward General Hicks, who commanded the troops massacred in the opening scene. Rediculed in the movie as a "fool," the facts show him a great hero. When questioned by one of his friends before the fatal expedition in which Hicks died and his 10,000 troops were wiped out, Hicks said, "I am as Jesus Christ in the midst of the Jews." He knew he was about to become a martyr. He and his handfull of officers all agreed their chances were bleak. Still he marched off, thinking his honor might be impugned if he refused to advance. When the Mahdi made Hicks an offer to accept his surrender with terms and passed out hundreds of handbills along the route of march documenting that offer, Hicks refused. He died to protect his honor just as Gordon later died. An officer sent to his death for nothing by ignorant politicians. Sound familiar? Sir Winston Churchill's book "The River War" is a brilliantly told first-hand account of the retaking of the Sudan. Churchill's written description of the charge of the 21st Lancers is as vivid as any war scene ever filmed. General Gordon's Khartoum Journals are also available in several different printings. "Khartoum" will open an entirely new world to those interested enough to study the history. Those were days when 3,000 men could be killed in one twenty minute clash by spear and sword, rifle and pistol. The scenes of bravery on a large scale are like nothing we could imagine today. Many of us tend to panic at the scale of human life taken in today's war on terror. We forget the huge scale of the battles our ancestors fought before the dawn of the age of modern weaponry and terrorist attacks. We underestimate the ability of a strong society to absorb incredible blows in battle, and risk joining the ranks of the terrorized and self-defeated. Abraham Lincoln once wrote that if this great nation is to ever die, it will be by suicide, not at the hands of foreign armies incapable of stealing a single drink from the Ohio river.

I'd seen this film a couple of times during the 70s and 80s. It's not great entertainment, but it's one of those movies that passes the time for dudes on a lazy weekend afternoon. Heston plays a lord with questionable morals not brought up nor otherwise addressed in the movie, who defends the fortress city of Khartoun. What has always gotten me about this movie is why the moat was not dug deeper, and then extended as the water retreated to high season levels. I'm just baffled by that. Because had that been done, then Heston's character probably would have successfully defended the city. But that's just me. It's a dude film. About dudes fighting dudes during the height of the Victorian era in North Africa. Lots of shots fired, lots of camels and horses falling in front of the camera ... other stunts ... stuff like that. It's okay for what it is, but I think the film could have high lighted some of the strategy and tactics and let the viewing audience in on why certain decisions were made and others not. It's not a deep film but had the gloss of being an important one, and gets your hopes up before dashing them later on, so its kind of manipulative in that way. Again, it's week end fodder. Don't take it too seriously.

Gen. Charles 'Chinese' Gordon (on being asked how he got talked into coming to Khartoum): "As is well known, I, ah..regard myself as a religious man, yet belong to no church. I'm an able soldier yet abhor armies. I can even add that I've been introduced to hundreds of women but never married. In other words no one's ever talked me into anything." This is an epic movie, beautifully filmed in Technicolor and Ultra Panavision 70, depicting the defense of Khartoum in the Sudan, led by British Gen Charles Gordon against the Mahdist Army, led by Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be the Islamist Mahdi. With Charlton Heston in one of his best roles as Gordon; Sir Lawrence Olivier as the Mahdi; and Sir Ralph Richardson as British Prime Minister Gladstone, the casting is darn near perfect. And as a historical epic, this is about as close to the actual events that took place in 1883 in the defense of Khartoum as you ever get on film. So you can watch this for it's entertainment value - which is considerable - for it's battle sequences, which are superbly choreographed and directed... and for the history it portrays. I saw this film in 1972 and loved it then; I've seen it several times since then and still love it...it never ages. My highest recommendation!

Fascinating film. That rarity, a wide screen spectacle that does not overshadow its main charactors. Charlton Heston does an admirable job. I can see where he struggled with his English accent, but he did well with the overall acting and he was just fine as General Gordon. Even though Laurence was in blackface, and had a much shorter role, he was superb as usual. I don't think I've ever seen Lord Olivier give a poor performance, one of the greatest actors ever. The plot took license with the actual events, the Mahdi and General Gordon actually never met face to face but communicated by letters. They did respect each other despite being enemies. All in all, this literate film was well worth buying and I will be watching it again.

I love the film. It was originally released as a 70mm "Cinerama" release in 1966, after abandonment of the 3-strip process. It is a first-rate historical drama, with a taut and incisive screenplay by Robert Ardry. And the production values are top-notch. Unfortunately, this release has not been properly expanded to the width of the wide screen presentation to proper 16x9 limits, thus wasting available screen acreage and effectively lowering the benefits of Blu-ray resolution. It's just an old master.

This movie made 50-plus years ago is the "Hollywood-ized" version of the siege of Khartoum during the Sudanese wars in 1883/4. It is beautifully filmed but historically incorrect. General "Chinese" Gordon and the religious leader of the Sudanese, the Mahdi never did meet. One has to ignore Charlton Heston's feeble attempt at an English accent, and Laurence Olivier's peculiar "home-made" Sudanese accent. But a rollicking good tale anyway.

The film based on real history the plot of the film is great the cast excellent.