The Guns of Navarone: DO OR DIE!
Written: Dec 24 '00 (Updated Mar 03 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Peck, Quinn, Papas, Story, Photography, Special Effects
Cons: Abrupt editing at times
The Bottom Line: Quinn and Peck are a great pair in this well scripted andl photographed WWII adventure.
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| George_Chabot's Full Review: Guns of Navarone |
The Guns of Navarone (1961)
Starring Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn, this film put Alistair McLean on the map as a writer of gripping adventure novels. Later films written by McClean and adapted to the screen include Where Eagles Dare, Force 10 From Navarone, and Ice Station Zebra.
The Guns of Navarone takes place in WWII, where the British are fighting the Third Reich in the Aegean. Navarone is a small, rocky island near the coast of Turkey. The Germans have installed two of their biggest guns to guard the strait between Navarone and Chiros, a strategic island that the Germans are planning to invade. Chiros has 2,000 British troops who cannot be evacuated because of the radar-controlled guns. Gregory Peck is champion mountain climber Keith Mallory who is chosen to lead the commando team to scale the only unwatched part of Navarone - the South cliff, considered unscaleable and therefore left unguarded by the Germans. They have six days to neutralize the guns because the British are sending a fleet of destroyers to evacuate Chiros on the seventh day.
The team sets off in an ancient Greek fishing boat and fights a tremendous storm during the passage and ascent of the sheer cliffs. Once again on dry land, they are supposed to meet up with Greek Resistance fighters to help them reach the fortress and the guns. But, there is a traitor in their midst -- who is it? They have to find out before the mission fails.
The cast is stellar, including, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, as the indestructible Greek Andrea, David Niven, as the demolitions genius Corporal Dusty Miller, Stanley Baker as the knife-wielding mechanical genius Casey Brown, along with Anthony Quayle, as Major Franklin, James Darren, as the young Greek Papademos, Irene Papas and Gia Scala, as the Greek Resistance contacts. James Robertson Justice plays Commodore Jensen, the mastermind of the operation. All of the actors did excellent jobs, especially Quinn, Peck, Papas, and Justice. Niven was a trifle unbelievable as a low-life sapper, but still adequate. Gia Scala did probably the weakest performance, but still not bad. That's probably why she didn't appear in many more movies.
The story builds and maintains tension throughout. The photography and special effects are spectacular; the editing was a little abrupt in places and could have been better. The score, by Dimitri Tiomkin was decent. Authentic Greek folk music is also used in some scenes. Filmed on location on the island of Rhodes, using the Greek army and navy for the troops. Unfortunately, lots of American vehicles were in evidence, painted with German gray. The VHS tape is beautifully restored by UCLA and contains a short feature showing the filming of The Guns of Navarone
Viewers who like WWII commando movies will also like The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Where Eagles Dare, and Force 10 From Navarone.
Recommended:
Yes
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