The Guns of Navarone was made in 1961 by Columbia Pictures - directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn (LOVE) and David Niven. The Guns of Navarone were actual guns that were positioned on a cliff in Greece overlooking the Aegean Sea - their location enabled them to sink Allied ships while maintaining a spot which was heavily protected and fortified. Peck, Quinn and Niven were part of a selected group of soldiers sent on a near impossible mission to destroy the guns. As the guns were positioned on the edge of a cliff, the beginning and end of their mission involved scaling the straight up and down face.
I love Gregory Peck as much as any woman with a brain but I'm not sure military roles are really his strong suit. He has a very signature look on his face all the time - like he is amused....or smug? How do I describe it? He always looks like such a nice guy - it works great if you are playing Joe Bradley or Atticus Finch but I'm not sure it's quite as convincing as a military commander. All I see when I look at David Niven is the Pink Panther so that took him out of the game - and Anthony Quinn, well, I just love him. I also saw him in Lawrence of Arabia but I have to admit, and I am NOT ashamed to say, that I FIRST saw him in A Walk in the Clouds. Yes, thank you.
The Guns of Navarone won an Oscar for Best Special Effects but was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Sound and Best Screenplay.
Anthony Quinn - excellent actor. Gifted painter, too. Without looking it up, can you guess his nationality of birth? I've seen him play Native American, Greek, Mexian, Spanish, Italian and plain old American gangster many times. A talented chameleon.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, I would say Spanish or Mexican? He's so great, I would love to see some of his paintings. Robert Osborne was talking to Alec Baldwin before the movie started and they were describing Quinn as not real good looking and although I agree he's not stereotypically handsome, I think he has a very intriguing (sp?) look to him!
ReplyDeleteA Walk in the Clouds?! Le sigh! I thought I was the only one to have ever seen that movie!! Glad to know I am not alone! :)
ReplyDeleteYes, Quinn is Mexican. I thought he was very good looking in his early years. Oh, yeah - in Back to Bataan, he played a Philippino. Very international! Always very macho roles.
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