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:

An impregnable fortress... An invincible army... and the unstoppable commando team.

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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:

22 June 1961 (USA)

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 Corporation,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

The only Best Picture Oscar nominee that year not to be nominated in any of the acting categories.

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Goofs

The "German" patrol boat that intercepts the team's decrepit fishing boat is actually a British HDML (Harbour Defence Motor Launch).

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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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Connections

Referenced in Deadly Eyes: An Interview with Lesleh Donaldson (2014)

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Soundtracks

Karagouna
(uncredited)
Traditional
Arranged by Andreas Markides

User Reviews

Spiking Those Two Big Guns

The Greek part of the Mediterranean Theater of World War II was strictly a British show. They fought a pitched seesaw battle with the Germans until almost the end of the war. A great deal of debate about the feasibility of the whole operation has raged with military historians. The reason that the British Army and forces from their Commonwealth countries was to keep Turkey in the position of benevolent neutrality. At least this was one of Winston Churchill's stated aims and The Guns of Navarone makes the case for it.

But specifically this film deals with a pair of menacing looking naval guns embedded in a cliff with a big rock overhang. The RAF can't get at the thing to destroy from air, so a commando team is put together under the charge of Anthony Quayle. A couple of native Greeks are along, Anthony Quinn and James Darren, an explosives man, David Niven, a tough anti-fascist resistance man whose service dates back to the Spanish Civil War, Stanley Baker, and a mountain climber, Gregory Peck.

Peck has to get the team to climb a forbidding cliff which is the only area of the beach the Nazis don't guard because they think nobody can land over there. Peck gets the job done, but Quayle becomes injured and Peck gets the responsibility for the whole mission.

The Guns of Navarone is filled with tension as the men keep getting into and out of one situation after another. The film crackles with excitement and really should be seen on the big screen, it's the only way you can appreciate the special effects which got The Guns of Navarone its Oscar.

The film marked a screen partnership of Gregory Peck and director J. Lee Thompson, they did four films together. Thompson specialized in these action adventure films. Later on Thompson partnered with Charles Bronson in some of his best films of the seventies and eighties.

To get the young into the theater, current teenage heart throb James Darren is in the cast. We even gets to hear him sing in Greek which is in fact Darren's own ancestry. Irene Papas is also in the cast as his older sister and Gia Scala is her silent friend.

Despite setback and betrayal our team continues on. The climax of The Guns of Navarone is exciting and unforgettable and should not be missed.