Game for Vultures

Game for Vultures is a 1979 British thriller film starring Richard Harris, Joan Collins, and Richard Roundtree. It was directed by James Fargo and based on the 1975 novel with the same name by Michael Hartmann set during the Rhodesian Bush War.

Plot

During the late 1970s, as the Rhodesian Bush War reached its height, arms dealer David Swansey (Richard Harris) is a "sanctions-busting" specialist, one of many who keeps the Rhodesian Security Forces supplied through black-market purchases despite an extensive international arms embargo. Swansey's latest assignment is to arrange the illicit purchase of military helicopters, which he acquires in the form of surplus Bell UH-1s being auctioned from a United States Air Force base in West Germany. However, word of this transaction is soon leaked to a foreign office of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which applies strong political pressure in an attempt to kill the deal in its cradle. Due to this, the helicopters are barred from reaching Rhodesia and are instead diverted to neighbouring South West Africa, then administered by South Africa.

Meanwhile, Gideon Marunga (Roundtree) is a guerrilla fighter in the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), ZANU's armed wing. Marunga learns that the South African authorities are going to allow Swansey and the Rhodesian Special Air Service to stage a mock raid on the airfield where the helicopters are being stored, with the intention of loading them onto Douglas C-47 Dakotas bound for Rhodesia. On the day of the raid, Marunga arrives at the airfield and stalls the Rhodesian troops, while his accomplices succeed in destroying half of the helicopters. In the ensuing battle, he comes face-to-face with Swansey, and the two men share a weary moment of reflection on their stalemate before abruptly parting ways.