The Guns of Navarone (1961)

Simply Perfect

Sadly Over-hyped

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The Guns of Navarone is a long and eventful adventure film, though fairly monotonous.While, Peck and Quinn were reasonable, the rest of the cast added very little. Anthony Quayle's character is merely there for Mallory to use as a soundboard to give back story so there is some tension, that is never eventuated and I think he was out of place in this role. The film is watchable, but it is lacking the punchline so to speak.

THE GUNS OF NAVARONE is another strong adaptation of an Alistair MacLean thriller, not quite up to the same classic level as WHERE EAGLES DARE but still proving engaging and thoroughly thrilling, despite the lengthy running time. The simplistic plot has a crack squad of men - each with their own specialism - tasked with destroying a Nazi gun placement located in a cliff on one of the Greek islands. It's one of those ensemble productions that has plenty of drive and momentum to see it through, and although there's not a wealth of action, that which does take place is expertly staged. The throughly decent Gregory Peck plays the leader of the team, bolstered by support from Anthony Quayle (sympathetic), Stanley Baker (tough), Anthony Quinn (grizzled), and David Niven (funny). It's a classic '60s war film, and you don't need to know anything more than that.

"The Guns of Navarone" from 1961 has an all-star cast including Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven, Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, and James Darren. It's 1943, and the Germans want Turkey on their side. They have trapped 2000 British soldiers on an island in the Aegean, Kiros. The only way the men can evacuate is by sea, but there are two massive radar-directed superguns on a treacherous cliffside bunker on the island of Navarone. The British bring in Keith Mallory (Peck), a commando officer and expert mountaineer to bring a team of British commandos to the only part of Navarone not monitored by the Germans, a 400-foot cliff. Greek resistance will meet the team guide them to the German guns.During this difficult mission, the men, disguised as fisherman, manage to kill a German patrol but are then shipwrecked on Navarone. Then, while climbing the cliff, Franklin (Quayle) breaks his leg in two places and gangrene sets in. Then Miller's explosives are destroyed, and the men realize they have a traitor.Very exciting and absorbing film, and the biggest money-maker of 1961, deservedly. The acting is very good, but the actors, with the exception of James Darren, are probably ten years too old for their roles. And Gregory Peck is miscast as a British athletic mountain climber. He does not attempt a British accent, and his German and Greek are dubbed.It always cracks me up that whomever writes scripts constantly use German in the formal tense, even when talking to subordinates or prisoners, when they more than likely said "du" instead of "Sie." It was fun to hear the German anyway.As an aside, there is a trivia note that Harrison Ford is the soldier who looks out of the back of a truck during one scene. It's not Harrison Ford, who at the time was living in the midwest and in school. There is a very slight resemblance around the eyes but the shape of the face is all wrong. Though this movie runs long, you won't notice it.

Based on Alistair MacLean's novel, film details a group of Allied soldiers on a secret mission to destroy two massive German guns outside the sea of a Greek Island, in order to make an Allied troop evacuation possible, and also freeing up those waters to further the Allied war effort. Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, and James Darren among others round out the cast.Grand adventure film takes many interesting twists and turns, and also becomes philosophical at times(Peck has a memorable speech to Niven about responsibility, for one.) Director J. Lee Thompson stages the action scenes impressively, leading to an exciting climax in the gun's fortress. Pace occasionally slackens, but overall a solid and entertaining film.