Rating: 4
John Barry’s first major film score is an excellent start. Though a short score for a long film, the spotting is perfect. The music itself is grand and martial, with a sturdy main theme booming from horns supported by intensifying strings and bombastic drums. The score has short stings, playful introductions and lengthy, gripping battle vistas. Latter day Barry would probably have written more emotion into the score’s closing sequences, however the relatively dry lead-up to the closing rendition of Men Of Harlech works well.
The impressive facet of Zulu is that it is an action score but, unlike the chaotic action music others write, Barry’s remains rhythmic, orderly and musically disciplined. Few composers have found a way of conveying such high drama whilst remaining so solidly in the field of listenable music.
Zulu is an early Barry classic.