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

In 1943, the British Navy is not able to rescue 2,000 soldiers trapped in the Island of Kheros since two powerful German cannons on the top of the Navarone Island are sinking the Allied vessels. After a failed aerial attack, the Allied command decide to send a six-man team disguised as fishermen to Navarone to blow-up the guns. The squad is commanded by Maj. Roy Franklin and composed by Capt. Keith Mallory, who is an experienced mountain climber, and his former partner Col. Andrea Stavros; the explosive expert Cpl. John Anthony Miller; the engineer CPO 'Butcher' Brown; and the Greek assassin Spyros Pappadimos, who was born in Navarone. They sail during the night and after an encounter with a German patrol boat and a storm in the sea, they arrive to Navarone and Capt. Mallory needs to climb a cliff face during a heavy rainy night to proceed their mission. Will they succeed?

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Plot Keywords:

historically inaccurate | firearm | artillery | behind enemy lines | island | 

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Taglines:

Still! The Greatest High Adventure Ever Filmed! [re-issue]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

There was reportedly much tension between many of the stars (particularly Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn) early in the film's production, but the cast gradually bonded over endless games of chess.

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Goofs

When Stavros rips open Anna's dress to look for the scars on her back, medal ribbons appear and disappear on his uniform between shots.

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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

To receive a 'U' certificate the original UK cinema version was overdubbed to remove all of Barnsby's uses of the word 'bloody' (the word was replaced with the less offensive 'ruddy'), and this same print appeared on early video releases. The film was restored in 1993 and all later widescreen releases feature the full unedited version.

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Connections

Referenced in Escape to Athena: Cast and Crew Interviews (1978)

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Soundtracks

Das Sundenlied
(uncredited)
Music by Dimitri Tiomkin
Lyrics by Alfred Perry

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.

Details

Official Sites:

Sony Movie Channel [United States]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Greek German Latin

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)

Company Credits

Production Co:

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