Nasty Nazis, bold Brits

ONCE upon a time they made war movies the easy way. Good guys versus bad guys. Good guys lose a few good men, but they end up winning in the end.
There was none of this ambiguity of war. No talk of the tragic waste of lives in the name of politics, greed and empire building.
The Guns of Navarone is a film that is heavy on action and tension, but light on introspection and moral meanderings.
Made in 1961 and starring Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, the film sees a desperate squad of Allied soldiers sent to blow up giant German cannons that are pivotal to the outcome of World War II.
As usual for such films, the team is made up of “specialists”. Peck and Quinn are mountaineers, Niven the bomb maker, others are mechanical wizards or cold-blooded killers.
The action scenes are terrific for the time. There were no CGI effects in 1961, but it doesn’t detract from the tension during the many battle/escape/cliffhanger sequences. The climb up the cliffs on the island of Navarone is nail-biting stuff, while there are numerous close shaves with the Nazis that keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
Peck is Captain Mallory, the squad’s leader with an American accent who claims to be Anglo-Saxon, but was originally a New Zealander in the popular book by Alistair MacLean. With anyone else it would seem strange, but who would dare question the credibility of Gregory Peck?
Movies like Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and Gallipoli forced cinema goers of the ’70s and ’80s to question the heavy price paid by everyone involved in war. These films are brutal, sad and thought-provoking.
The Guns of Navarone doesn’t make the grey matter work too hard. Sure, they lose soldiers along the way, but the nasty Nazis lose more and they lose their guns. Those who made it home from the Aegean Sea showed no signs of post traumatic stress disorder – a stiff Scotch in the officers’ mess was all the therapy those lads needed.
Anyone looking for heroes, villains, knife-edge tension and a great plot should have a look in the “classic” section of their video shop. If The Guns of Navarone isn’t there, demand to know why not. Gregory Peck would.
– Danny Buttler