History Literature / TheGunsofNavarone

** In the book, the saboteurs, who are posing as Greek fishermen, are confronted by a German caique. When the Germans tell them in English to lower the sails, Captain Mallory is terrified that the captain of their fishing boat and youngest member of the group, Lieutenant Andy Stevens, will fall for it and reply, because the fishermen they are poising at would not know English. Not only does Stevens stare at the German in utter incomprehension, when the man continues to give orders in English, the Lieutenant has the cheek to tell him (in Greek) that he doesn’t understand German and asks him to speak in his language.

* PullingTheThread: Miller does this excellently to relate who TheMole is. It all culminates in him pointing out that [[spoiler: no one has ever actually ''seen'' the whips on her back Ana claims to have]].

* CoolGuns: The group use Sten guns.

Also notable around these parts for being one of the films that Silas S. Warner and Creator/HideoKojima, the respective creators of ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', have cited as a source of inspiration for their games.

** Averted in the film. The team consisted of an American (Mallory), two Brits (Franklin and Miller), two Greeks (Stavros and Pappadimos) and one person of unknown nationality ("Butcher" Brown, played by Welshman Stanley Baker).

* AirstrikeImpossible: Subverted because the airstrike really is impossible.

* AmericaWonWorldWarII:

** Actually {{zigzagged}}, as in the book Mallory was from New Zealand (and based on the real world George Mallory, a Brit who died in 1924 while trying to conquer the Everest) and Miller was the American. The film kind of falls in this trope as it has the higher-ranking character switched to American.

** When the party arrives at the monastery Maria speaks to the priest in Greek.

* MutualKill:
** [[spoiler:While attempting to steal a boat, Brown and the German sailor on guard duty stabs and kills each other]].

-->'''Mallory:''' You've got me in the mood to use this thing, and by God if you don't think of something I'm going to use it on you!

* AvengersAssemble: A ''Series/MissionImpossible'' style examination of photographs.

* DeadpanSnarker: Miller, played by David Niven.

* DemolitionsExpert: Corporal Miller.

* DressingAsTheEnemy: After turning the tables on their interrogators.

* EmergingFromTheShadows: Maria.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Used figuratively in the film.

* GenderBlenderName: Andrea Stavros

* GentlemanAndAScholar: Miller in the film version.

* IronicEcho: Miller deliberately uses Mallory's "three choices" speech.
* IWillFightNoMoreForever: The knife-wielding "Butcher" Brown. It ends badly for him.

* TheLastDance: Andy Stevens in the Devil's Playground, no longer afraid.
* LiteralCliffhanger: Captain Mallory while climbing the cliff.

* TheMole: [[spoiler:Anna.]]

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Muesel.

* NonActionSnarker: Miller as played by David Niven.

* OfficerAndAGentleman: Deconstructed with Mallory. Miller even calls him out on it.

* OpeningMonologue

* PunchClockVillain: Lt. Muesel.

* ReluctantWarrior: The film's Miller, by and large.

* SameCharacterButDifferent: Mallory, Miller, Andrea Stavros.

* ShootTheDog: Captain Mallory, Anna, and Maria Pappadimos.

* StealthHiBye: Keith Mallory in the book.

* SuicideMission

* TemptingFate: Major 'Lucky' Franklin jokes about his famous luck before the mission.
* ThatsAnOrder: Both Major Franklin and Captain Mallory use it in the film.

* TravelMontage: In true ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' style!

* TheVoiceless: [[spoiler:Anna]], after [[spoiler:she]]'s discovered to be TheMole.

* YouAreInCommandNow: Captain Mallory after Major Franklin is injured.

* YouShallNotPass: In the book with Andy Stevens.

* CantKillYouStillNeed You: In the film, Mallory is indirectly responsible for the deaths of Andrea's wife and children, and the latter has sworn to kill him after the war is over. When Major Franklin suggests that Andrea might not wait until the end of the war, Mallory says that Andrea is willing to hold off as long as Mallory helps him kill Germans.

** In the novel): Captain Muesel is suspicious of the wounded Andy lying underneath blankets, and carefully approaches him and yanks off the covers to make sure he isn't concealing a weapon.

* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: Only about shooting a prisoner instead of sex - but with some sexual allusions in the scene because she's just had her dress torn apart and is sitting on the ground nervously trying to hold it up to keep herself covered.

Also notable around these parts for being one of the films that Silas S. Warner and Creator/HideoKojima, the respective creators of ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}'' and ''Franchise/MetalGear'', have cited as a source of inspiration for their games.

* BluffTheEavesdropper: the team is going over the plan when one of the main characters hands to the other a note that reads keep talking. The rest of the team keeps talking while Stavros sneaks over to the door catching the eavesdropper and pulling him into the room. It's the first sign that things may not be going as planned. In a darker variant, Mallory feeds disinformation to the loyal but badly injured Franklin, knowing that when Franklin is captured the Germans will extract the disinformation and be decoyed.
* BoobyTrap: Realising the Germans will find the bombs he's placed on the guns, Miller leaves a final bomb designed to go off when the shell hoist is used. It's [[RuleOfThree used twice before the hoist is lowered enough to set off the charge.]]

* ClusterFBomb: The Australian squadron commander repeatedly uses the word "bloody".

** CunningLinguist: Also Mallory, who can "speak Greek like a Greek and German like a German", and is seen using both languages.

** When the German ship commander orders Mallory to "lower your sails", Mallory gives the order to do so in Greek while making a downward gesture.

* MakingTheChoiceForYou: Its clear that The Mole must be killed if the operation is to succeed. Despite this Captain Mallory is reluctant to do so, but The Mole [[spoiler:is killed by Maria before he can execute her.]]

** In the book it's Stevens who gets dragged along with a broken leg; in the movie Franklin has the dubious honour.

* PermissionToSpeakFreely: In the movie Corporal Miller uses it with Major Franklin.

* ShootTheDog: Captain Mallory, Anna and Maria Pappadimos.

* SoundOnlyDeath: Mallory tells the others how Andrea Stavros killed a roomful of Germans — entering disguised as a collaborator, breaking the lightbulb, then after the shots and screams had died he comes out the door covered in blood.

* TanksButNoTanks: The Germans use US tanks, half-tracks, armored cars and howitzers (presumably belonging to the American-supplied Greek military).

* ThrowABarrelAtIt: During the battle at sea Andrea throws a barrel at a German sailor.

* ExpositoryThemeTune. However, only the briefest snatch of the lyrics is heard. You can find them here [[here https://www.songlyrics.com/dimitri-tiomkin/the-guns-of-navarone-mitch-miller-sing-along-chorus-lyrics/]].

* ArmorPiercingSlap: When Maria meets her brother Spiro (who had been in America for many years), she slaps him as a reminder to write more often.

* ExpositoryThemeTune

** Andrea tells Oberleutnant Muesel he's just a fisherman who was captured by the others; meanwhile Muesel is flicking through some German intelligence photos showing the entire team, including Andrea in his colonel's uniform.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/image_7226.jpeg]]

''The Guns of Navarone'' is a novel by Creator/AlistairMacLean, published in 1957, and [[AdaptationDisplacement more famously]] a classic 1961 film adaptation written by Carl Foreman and directed by J. Lee Thompson. The events depicted take place during UsefulNotes/WorldWar2 but are [[HistoricalFiction entirely fictional.]] A contingent of British soldiers are stranded on an island in the Aegean Sea and rescue by ship is impossible due to the large battery of anti naval guns located at the cliffs of Navarone. Due to the embedded position of the guns in the cliffs, destroying them by air strikes proves impossible. A British major (Anthony Quayle) assembles a commando team and convinces a reluctant captain (Creator/GregoryPeck) to join. The movie chronicles the squad's attempt to sneak into Greece and blow the guns. Also stars Creator/DavidNiven and Creator/AnthonyQuinn.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: It rates a 3, because there's some very small amounts of blood and a German is briefly shown covered in flames during the confrontation with the Nazi patrol boat.

* CollapsingLair: The German fortress after the Guns are destroyed.

%%* DuringTheWar

* DuelingMovies: Although not said or confirmed, it can possibly be noted that this film outperformed and beat Walt Disney’s ''WesternAnimation/OneHundredAndOneDalmatians'' and became the highest grossing film of 1961. Despite all this, 101 Dalmatians still proved to be a box office success to keep the Disney Studio alive and remains the tenth highest grossing film of 1961.

-->'''Sessler:''' I want an answer ''now''! Otherwise I shall [[DeadlyEuphemism personally rearrange this officer's splints]]!

* ColdSniper: Andrea calmly uses a sniper rifle to shoot the commanding officer of the troops following them, then every soldier he sees taking command afterwards.

* DuringTheWar