THE GUNS OF NAVARONE Movie Review

1961 J. Lee Thompson

The influence that this adventure has had on the action films that have come since is almost impossible to overestimate. From the James Bond series of the 1960s to the big-budget action pictures of the ‘80s and ‘90s, filmmakers have borrowed liberally from its successful mixture of character, structure, and exotic locale. Few have recreated them so well. Behind the derring-do and the often clunky mechanics of the plot lies solid craftsmanship. Journeyman director J. Lee Thompson, who has made some genuinely atrocious films, handles the story with a finer touch than he normally displays.

Most viewers certainly are familiar with the archetypal suicide-mission plot, wherein a team of British commandos sets out to destroy a brace of huge German cannon on a Greek island. Despite the patently silly nature of the premise, the introductory combination of professorial voice-over narration by James Robertson Justice with black-and-white archival footage is so persuasive that some 1961 viewers believed that the film was based on fact. Actually, the tale is a long chase. Once the details of the situation have been laid out, virtually every scene involves movement from one place to another. The motion stops only for emotional or physical confrontations.

The tank scenes, in which the small fishing boat is caught in a storm and is in danger of being smashed against rocks and cliffs, are still some of the most exciting ever filmed. That sequence is so carefully set up that it goes on for more than 14 minutes without a word of dialogue being spoken, and it mirrors the long, virtually speechless conclusion at the guns. It's a tribute to the director and the actors that they can get so much information across visually. Credit for the film's perennial popularity should be shared by production designer Geoffrey Drake, who gives the production a realistic, lived-in look that's associated more with “serious” black-and-white World War II films than with escapism.

At first blush, the cast appears to be better than the light material, but to a man, they treat it seriously. Gregory Peck's natural stiffness serves the role well, and balances David Niven's light, intelligence touch. Anthony Quinn restrains his normal flamboyance to play a glowering, vengeful Greek. Though the film was one of the major boxoffice hits of 1961, and received several Academy Award nominations, it lost out to another strong critical and commercial hit, West Side Story.

Two caveats: First, some older tapes appear to have been made from a less-than-perfect print and have a grainy, faded look. Also, the pan-and-scan transfer on that edition is entirely inadequate. In some conversations, both speakers are out of the frame. The widescreen version now available is far superior. Second, avoid the useless sequel, Force Ten from Navarone.

Cast: Gregory Peck (Capt. Keith Mallory), David Niven (Cpl. Miller), Anthony Quinn (Col. Andrea Stavros), Richard Harris (Squadron Leader Barnsby), Stanley Baker (C.P.O. Brown), Anthony Quayle (Maj. Franklin), James Darren (Pvt. Spyros Pappadimos), Irene Papas (Maria Pappadimos), Gia Scala (Anna), James Robertson Justice (Narrator: Jensen), Bryan Forbes (Cohn), Allan Cuthbertson (Maj. Baker), Michael Trubshawe (Maj. Weaver), Percy Herbert (Grogan), Walter Gotell (Muesel), Tutte Lemkow (Nicolai); Written by: Carl Foreman; Cinematography by: Oswald Morris; Music by: Dimitri Tiomkin; Technical Advisor: Lt. Gen. Fritz Bayerlew, Lt. Col. P.J. Hands, Lt. Col. P.F. Kartemilides, Maj. N. Lazeridis, Maj. W.D. Mangham, Cmdr. John Theologitis, Brig. Gen. D.S.T. Turnbull. Producer: Columbia Pictures, Carl Foreman Productions. Awards: Academy Awards ‘61: Best Special Effects; Golden Globe Awards ‘62: Best Film—Drama, Best Score; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘61: Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director (Thompson), Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound, Best Original Dramatic Score. Budget: 6M. Running Time: 159 minutes. Format: VHS, Beta, LV, Letterbox.