Game for Vultures 1979

Set against the late 1970s Rhodesian Bush War, David Swansey, Richard Harris, is a sanctions-busting arms dealer who keeps the Rhodesian Security Forces supplied through a shadowy web of black-market purchases despite a broad international embargo. His latest mission centers on securing a clandestine purchase of military helicopters, specifically surplus Bell UH-1s being auctioned off from a United States Air Force base in West Germany. The operation is intricate and high-stakes, wrapped in diplomatic pressure and political maneuvering as word of the deal leaks to a Zimbabwean office within ZANU, which wastes no time applying heavy political force to derail the transaction. Faced with the mounting scrutiny, the plan begins to fray, revealing how brittle the line is between profit, power, and geopolitical fallout.

As the helicopters spiral toward uncertainty, the threads of the story pull in a second direction through Gideon Marunga, Richard Roundtree, a guerrilla fighter in ZANLA. He learns that South African authorities are ready to permit a staged raid on the airfield to haul the aircraft onto Douglas C-47 Dakotas bound for Rhodesia. The tension rises as the raid day arrives: Marunga arrives at the airfield and methodically stalls the Rhodesian troops, while his comrades manage to destroy a substantial portion of the helicopter fleet. The clash is hard-edged and pragmatic, marked by a rare moment where Marunga and Swansey meet face to face and exchange a quiet, mutual acknowledgment of the stalemate that has frozen both sides in a tight, dangerous stalemate before they part ways again.

The consequences radiate outward, dragging international opinion and policy into sharper focus. The exposure of Swansey’s illicit activities forces him to rethink his operations beyond Rhodesia, and for a time he contemplates a settled, ordinary life there. Yet the machinery of the regime has other plans: he is conscripted into the security forces, thrusting him back into the very system he once dodged. The closing act returns to the battlefield, where Marunga and Swansey confront each other once more, their destinies converging through the barrels of their rifles and the high stakes of a conflict that refuses to stay neatly within the lines of friend or foe. The film sustains a restrained, observant tone while weaving together themes of loyalty, consequence, and the heavy costs of international meddling.