The Guns of Navarone (1961)

A British team is sent to cross occupied Greek territory and destroy the massive German gun emplacement that commands a key sea channel.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Alistair MacLean (novel) (as Alistair Maclean), Carl Foreman (written for the screen by)

Stars:

David Niven, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Peck	...	Capt. Keith Mallory
David Niven	...	Cpl. John Anthony Miller
Anthony Quinn	...	Col. Andrea Stavros
Stanley Baker	...	CPO 'Butcher' Brown
Anthony Quayle	...	Maj. Roy Franklin
James Darren	...	Spyros Pappadimos
Irene Papas	...	Maria Pappadimos
Gia Scala	...	Anna
James Robertson Justice	...	Jensen / Prologue Narrator
Richard Harris	...	Squadron Leader Barnsby
Bryan Forbes	...	Cohn
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Maj. Baker
Michael Trubshawe	...	Weaver
Percy Herbert	...	Sgt. Grogan
George Mikell	...	Sessler

Storyline

Two powerful German guns control the seas past the Greek island of Navarone making the evacuation of endangered British troops on a neighboring island impossible. Air attack is useless so a team of six Allied and Greek soldiers is put ashore to meet up with partisans to try and dynamite the guns. The mission is perilous enough anyway, but are the Germans on the island getting further help too?

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Plot Keywords:

greek resistance | british army | resistance fighter | tommy gun | special forces | 

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Taglines:

The Greatest High Adventure Ever Filmed!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English Greek German

Release Date:

28 April 1961 (UK)

Also Known As:

Carl Foreman's Production The Guns of Navarone

Filming Locations:

Ile de Gorée, Dakar, Senegal

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$28,900,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Highroad Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

158 min

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (Westrex Recording System) (35 mm magnetic prints) 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Japan theatrical release) Mono (35 mm optical prints) Dolby (Restored version)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Gregory Peck revealed, in a later interview, his bemusement at co-star Anthony Quinn's decision to wear a red undershirt, which was only somewhat revealed through most of the movie, but which became a glaring focal point when wet and placed against a most blue and gray background near the end of the movie.

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Goofs

When the German patrol boat first stops alongside the fishing boat, and its captain calls out, "Lower your sails," the incorrect shot has been edited in: the German is clearly not speaking, and Mallory, instead of facing him, is looking back toward the stern, which he did not do until a few moments later when he speaks to his own crew in Greek.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Prologue Narrator: Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea have given birth to many myths and legends of war and adventure. And these once-proud stones, these ruined and shattered temples bear witness to the civilization that flourished and then died here and to the demigods and heroes who inspired those legends on this sea and these islands. But, though the stage is the same, ours is a legend of our own times, and its heroes are not demigods, but ordinary people. In 1943, so the story goes, 2000 ...

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits prologue: The first day 02.00 Hours An Allied Airfield somewhere in the Middle East

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Alternate Versions

Copies with different colour credits exists. The most common ones proclaiming "Eastmancolor by Pathé" while others says "Technicolor".

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Connections

Referenced in From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series: Matanzas (2016)

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Soundtracks

Yalo Yalo
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Andreas Markides

User Reviews

The original Commando team movie...

"The Dirty Dozen" may have updated the film's premise for the cynical late '60's, but as much as I love that old hard-boiled film, even I have to admit that it doesn't hold a candle to "The Guns of Navarone". Though it may be hard to remember now that the premise has been used so much, the impossible mission theme was NOT a common staple in action films until this movie. The question of whether or not the team is going to pull it off is, for once, not as simple as many other simple-minded movies have made it. There are moments where the mission is endangered by just about everything imaginable: the CO being critically wounded, suspicious enemies, personality conflicts, wrenching moral dillemas, a traitor in the ranks, being captured by the enemy. The storyline plays out like the most extreme manifestation of Murphy's Law: everything that can go wrong DOES go wrong.

The team put together here couldn't be more incongruent with each other. Gregory Peck's world-class mountain climber who becomes the team's reluctant CO, David Niven's hot-tempered, authority-defying sapper, Anthony Quinn's Greek ex-Colonel who has promised to kill Peck at war's end, Stanley Baker's weary soldier who's tired of the unending slaughter, a young Greek national who wants more and more of it...the real miracle is that they manage to get as far and as well as they do. For every step forward, they wind up paying for it. Be it in blood, moral anguish, or pain, no one comes out of this mission unchanged or unscathed. I honestly feel that it is this theme of sacrifice that is the key to the greatness of "The Guns of Navarone".