| The Guns of Navarone | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | J. Lee Thompson |
| Screenplay by | Carl Foreman |
| Based on | The Guns of Navarone byAlistair MacLean |
| Produced by | Carl Foreman |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Oswald Morris |
| Edited by | Alan Osbiston |
| Music by | Dimitri Tiomkin |
Production company | Highroad Productions |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 157 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6 million[1] |
| Box office | $28.9 million[2] |
The Guns of Navarone is a 1961actionadventurewar film directed byJ. Lee Thompson from a screenplay byCarl Foreman, based onAlistair MacLean's1957 novel. Foreman also produced the film, which starsGregory Peck,David Niven andAnthony Quinn, along withStanley Baker,Anthony Quayle,Irene Papas,Gia Scala,Richard Harris andJames Darren. The book and the film share a plot: the efforts of anAlliedcommando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable Germanfortress that threatens Allied naval ships in theAegean Sea.
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In 1943, theAxis powers plan an assault on the island ofKeros, where2,000 British soldiers are marooned, hoping to convince neutral Turkey to join them. Rescue by theRoyal Navy is prevented by two enormousradar-directedlarge-calibre guns on Navarone Island. Aerial bombing fails to destroy the guns and Allied Intelligence assigns acommando unit to infiltrate Navarone and destroy the guns. Led by Major Roy Franklin, the team is composed of Captain Keith Mallory, an ex-spy and an officer with theLong Range Desert Group; Colonel Andrea Stavros from theGreek Army; Franklin's friend Corporal Miller, an explosives expert and chemistry professor;Greco-American Spyros Pappadimos, a native of Navarone; and "The Butcher of Barcelona" Brown, an engineer and knife fighter.
Disguised as Greek fishermen they cross theAegean Sea and overwhelm the crew of a German patrol boat. Mallory confides to Franklin that Stavros has sworn to kill him after the war, because Mallory was inadvertently responsible for the deaths of Stavros's wife and children. After being shipwrecked on the coast of Navarone, Mallory leads the team up the cliff and Franklin injures his leg. Mallory stops Franklin's attempt to kill himself, and lies that their mission has been scrubbed in favour of an amphibious assault. They rendezvous with two resistance fighters, Spyros's sister Maria and her friend Anna, who had been tortured by the Germans before escaping.
The group is captured trying to find a doctor for Franklin'sgangrenous leg. They overpower their captors and escape in German uniforms, leaving Franklin behind to receive medical attention. Franklin is injected withscopolamine and repeats Mallory's misinformation. The Germans redeploy forces from the fortress, to counter the anticipated coastal landing. In the village of Navarone, Miller discovers his explosives have been sabotaged by Anna who confesses the Germans recruited her in exchange for her release. Maria shoots her dead before Mallory can execute her.
Mallory and Miller infiltrate the gun position while Stavros and Spyros create distractions in town. Maria and Brown steal a boat for their escape. Spyros dies in a shootout with a German officer, and Brown is stabbed during the boat theft. Mallory and Miller plant explosives on the guns and prepare a booby trap on the track of anammunition hoist. The Germans force entry into the gun emplacement and defuse the explosives planted on the guns as Mallory and Miller escape down the cliff and into the stolen boat. A wounded Stavros is helped aboard by Mallory, resolving their feud.
Allied destroyers approach to rescue the trapped British troops and the Germans open fire on them. When the hoist reaches Miller's booby trap, the hidden explosives blast apart the fortress and the guns are silenced. Mallory's team is rescued by the British convoy. Stavros has fallen in love with Maria and returns to Navarone with her. Mallory and Miller observe the aftermath of their success from a destroyer.
Lt. General Fritz Bayerlein as Technical AdvisorPeter Grant, futuremusic manager ofthe Yardbirds,Led Zeppelin andBad Company, played an uncredited British commando.
The film was part of a cycle of big-budget World War II adventures that includedThe Bridge on the River Kwai (1957),The Longest Day (1962),The Great Escape (1963) andWhere Eagles Dare (1968). MacLean's novel had been abestseller and was read byMike Frankovich, head of Columbia Pictures, who became excited as to its cinematic possibilities. He showed it to Carl Foreman, who had writtenBridge on the River Kwai and had a producing deal with Columbia, who was not as enthusiastic at first, in part because he knew how difficult making such a movie version would be. Foreman eventually changed his mind and agreed to make the movie.[4] The novel had been inspired by theBattle of Leros, during theDodecanese Campaign ofWorld War II, but the guns on Leros were 152 mm (6 in), not the huge guns described in the book and the film.[5] However, they may have been inspired by the four naval 305mm (12 inch)Obukhovskii 12"/52 Pattern 1907 guns, which were 15.85 metres long and installed by the Germans at theBatterie Mirus on the German-occupied island ofGuernsey in 1942. The screenplay, adapted by producerCarl Foreman, made significant changes from the novel; these included changing the gender of the local resistance fighters and inventing a conflict between Mallory and Andrea.
Foreman wanted to direct as well, but Columbia refused, insisting on a British director. The job went toAlexander Mackendrick (director ofThe Sweet Smell of Success), who said he "wanted to take what was essentially a typical, action-packed wartime melodrama and give it some pretentious overtones."[6] Mackendrick left the production in March 1960, a week before shooting started, due to an alleged severe back ailment.[7] It was later suggested he was fired by Foreman due to "creative differences".[8] He was replaced byJ. Lee Thompson, in part because star Gregory Peck was impressed byNorth West Frontier.[6]
The role played by Niven was originally intended forKenneth More.[9] Foreman had written the part for More, but the head of Rank, John Davis, refused to lend More out for the film.[10]
Richard Todd claimed that Foreman offered him a role, but Todd turned it down, as he felt the story was "far fetched" and he did not want to be cast in war movies[11] although he had notably appeared asGuy Gibson inThe Dambusters (1955) and would go on to play MajorJohn Howard inThe Longest Day (1962).
The Greek island ofRhodes provided locations — the unit was based there from April to July 1960. Quinn was so impressed with the area that he bought land nearby and later received additional land from the local government in gratitude for making the island famous - today the place is called Anthony Quinn Bay.[12] Some further scenes were shot on the islands ofGozo, nearMalta, andTino, in theLigurian Sea. One of the warships in the film, thedestroyer escortUSS Slater, then a training ship in theHellenic Navy known asAetos (D-01), is preserved as amuseum ship inAlbany, New York.[13]
As described by director Thompson in the DVD commentary track, David Niven became severely ill after shooting sequences in a dirty pool of water underneath the cave elevator and could have died from a serious infection, remaining in the hospital for some weeks as the crew completed other portions of the cave sequence. Since key scenes with Niven remained incomplete, and it was doubtful whether he would return to finish the film, the entire production was in jeopardy. Reshooting key scenes throughout the film with another actor and abandoning the project to collect the insurance were contemplated. Against medical advice, Niven felt obligated to complete his work and agreed to shoot and complete his scenes. However, he relapsed and did not recover for another seven weeks.
A complication arose when it was found that Gregory Peck, whose character was supposed to be fluent in German, could not speak the language convincingly. Voice actorRobert Rietty dubbed all of Peck's German dialogue for the film.[14] The film's maps were created byHalas and Batchelor, a British team best known for their animated films. Although the island of Navarone is fictional, a map depicted in the film purporting to show the island of Navarone shows it as the real island ofAntikythera. Several members of theGreek royal family visited the set the day the Mandrakos cafe scene was filmed and appear in the background as extras.[15]
The film's score was composed byDimitri Tiomkin and featured arrangements of several traditional songs.
Tiomkin's theme song featured on the soundtrack album with lyrics recounting the film's plot. His theme became a popular instrumental with severalcover versions includinga 1965 version byThe Skatalites. Other cover versions were performed byJohnny Griffin,Al Caiola and theHollyridge Strings.
The Guns of Navarone had its Royal World Premiere in aid of theEdwina Mountbatten Trust and in the presence of Her Majesty QueenElizabeth II and His Royal HighnessPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on 27 April 1961, at theOdeon Leicester Square inLondon's West End. The film grossed $28.9 million at the box office[2] generatingtheatrical rentals of $13 million in the United States and Canada and was thesecond top-grossing film of 1961.[16] It earned worldwide rentals of $25 million.[1]
Reviews were mostly positive;Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times called the film "one of those muscle-loaded pictures in the thundering tradition ofDeMille, which means more emphasis is placed on melodrama than on character or credibility." He added that while the film was predictable, "for anyone given to letting himself be entertained by scenes of explosive action and individual heroic displays, there should be entertainment in this picture, for there is plenty of all that in it."[17]Variety wrote that the film was "the sort of spectacular drama that can ignore any TV competition and, even with its flaws, should have patrons firmly riveted throughout its lengthy narrative. With a bunch of weighty stars, terrific special effects, several socko situations plus good camerawork and other technical okays, Foreman and director J. Lee Thompson have sired a winner."[18]Harrison's Reports gave a grade of "Excellent," stating: "The script, direction, acting (by a brilliant cast) and photography are all prizeworthy."[19]Richard L. Coe ofThe Washington Post called the film "a magnificently detailed cliff-hanger of spectacular settings and deeds of impossible derring-do ... What makes this one of the good ones is superlative photography of the storied Grecian isles, a crackerjack cast and a yarn about WWII in which unlikely incident succeeds unlikely incident with rare largesse."[20]
John L. Scott of theLos Angeles Times called it "the best adventure movie to hit the screen this year," adding, "Some viewers will deplore a lack of character motivation—the origins of the six heroes are passed by rather quickly at the beginning—and women may yearn for more romantic passages in the film—but most of us, I am sure, will be satisfied with the epic suspense and sweep of this highly pictorial adventure."[21]Brendan Gill ofThe New Yorker called it one of those movies "that are no less thrilling because they are so preposterous ... Let me also confess that I was held more or less spellbound all the way through this many-colored rubbish".[22]The Monthly Film Bulletin thought the film fell well short of its ambitions, finding that Foreman's script had "too much diffusion, too much talk, and too many themes raised and dropped, so that the adventure story is not lifted to another plane but overstretched, robbed of the tight narrative concentration needed for a mounting tension." The review also criticized director Thompson for lacking "the ability of the Hollywood veterans to hold a long picture together" and instead of moving the action forward "in a series of jerks."[23]Stanley Kauffmann ofThe New Republic wrote, "The Guns of Navarone is a lively adventure picture full of vivid action, obviously contrived but effective suspense."[24]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 92% of 25 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Bolstered by a cast of memorable stars and an impressive sense of scale,The Guns of the Navarone fires with vivid characterization and entertaining spectacle."[25]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 72 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[26]
The film is recognized by theAmerican Film Institute in the following list:
In 1968, author Alistair MacLean reunited Mallory, Miller, and Stavros in the best-selling novelForce 10 From Navarone, the only sequel of his long writing career. That was in turn filmed as the significantly differentForce 10 from Navarone in 1978 by British directorGuy Hamilton, a veteran of severalJames Bond films. The cast includedRobert Shaw,Harrison Ford andEdward Fox. Though the sequel was a modest success, it did not match the original critically or commercially.
