Very well executed

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

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.

Real Art of making a film is on display in this one. The war fiction novel by Allistair MacLean proved to be a very great source to fashion a first quality script. The filmmakers then opened the film by simulating an actual World War 2 Documentary about Navarone in black and white which gives the opening such a feel of reality that a viewer would have to know this is fiction in order to realize it is not a documentary about the war.The cast for this could not be crafted any better. Gregory Peck is very good here. This might be David Niven's best film role and this is one of the very few times Anthony Quinn and Anthony Quayle are together in one movie. Both of them did a lot of solid films but rarely are they any better than in this one. James Darren, later to become a teen idol during the 1960's is here. Irene Papas has an important role along with Gia Scala though the ladies are not the main characters. Gia is important because her being Greek in a story set in Greece helps get the feel of reality.This film was important because not only was there sequels launched by it, but the concept of this film was used in several other films as well in the 1960's. Never were any done better than this one here. This one with a mission that seems impossible, yet so real in it's goal to secure the straight by the island of Navarone so that many ships in the royal navy are not sunk by these huge guns feels right in every aspect to a first time viewer.This movie does present the Nazi's as a very intelligent and capable foe. Their spy network seems to be ahead of the team every step of the way until very late in the movie. There i a very credible storm sequence that nearly derails the mission which is sort of a mini event that later would be expanded into the disaster type films of the late 1960's and beyond. This film has everything you would expect in a real story. Nothing is made too easy for accomplishing this mission for the team. Later films trying to duplicate this effort come close but never quit achieve the quality of this film.J. Lee Thompson, the director would go on to direct Cape Fear, the now classic film with Peck and Robert Mitchum the very next year is at the height of his career as these 2 films are his best efforts by far. Because these 2 films are his best, he is not as well remembered as a director as other ones because he only really has thee 2 films as crown jewels in his career. What a jewel this one is. After doing these 2 films back to back, no others would quite reach this one.The mountain blasting sequence in this one is one of the better special effects sequences of war films. The story and the cast plus the locations used pull the viewer into this solid film.

Direction is great..story is real..acting is outstanding...more i see this movie more I understand about reality of ground...Leadership quality team work dedication towards results movie picturization is also a Top class. I have seen saving private ryan but this war movie is all about team play. Such type of movie comes after long time..such type of great events happens very rare..such real hero comes after long time...It is really a great movie to know about such heros...it is not sci fi movie it is movie which above then many standards...After seeing this movie there is no need of seeing another movie...searching such story making great movie to wonderful picturization is not that much easy the way happened in this movie..everything was great standard.....