History Literature / TheGunsofNavarone

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The guns are destroyed, the men on Kheros will be saved, and Andrea has forgiven Mallory. However, Brown and Spyros are dead, Franklin is crippled and a POW, and the people of Navarone will suffer for the team's success.]]

* BilingualBonus: In the film, several times characters speak untranslated German, Greek, and Kurdish.

* RatedMForManly
* TheFilmOfTheBook has many scenes where characters speak in non-English languages with no translation.
** Captain Mallory talks on the phone in German with the Nazi guard commander while pretending to be a Nazi sentry.
** When the Nazi E-boat stops the fishing boat the protagonists are on, Captain Mallory pretends to be the skipper and speaks in Greek to both the E-boat captain and his own crew.
** The wedding scene
*** The waiter speaks in Greek to one of the German soldiers.
*** A German soldier speaks in German to his comrades.
*** Spyros Pappadimos sings a Greek wedding song in Greek.
** When the party arrives at the monastery Maria speaks to the priest in Greek.
** When the group pretends that their vehicle is broken down so they can steal another one, Captain Mallory talks to the soldiers in German.
** In the scene where the Germans are interrogating Major Franklin, the Commandant and Sessler speak to each other in German. Later on, the surgeon who will operate on Franklin speaks in German to the Commandant.
** In the scene where Captain Mallory kills the two sentries, the sentries talk to each other in German several times.
** When the Commandant receives the message that the Guns have been captured by the saboteurs, he and his officers speak to each other in German.
** The officers and personnel searching for and removing the saboteurs' planted explosives are all speaking German.
** The scene of the Guns being prepared and fired has the commander's instructions to the gun crews given and passed along in German.

* 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.

* BilingualBonus: In the film, several times characters speak untranslated German.

* IWillPunishYourFriendForYourFailure: When Mallory refuses to tell the Germans where the explosives are, and Andrea feigns ignorance, Sessler notices the injured Franklin. Seeing how worried Mallory is about him, he threatens to beat Franklin's wounded leg if they don't talk.

* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The German patrol boat lieutenant gets skewered with a piece of wreckage from his own ship in the book.

* DirtyCoward: Andrea pretends to be this when captured, so the Germans will let their guard down around him.

* CoolGuns: The group use Sten Guns.

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

** 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.

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

%%* BadassCrew
%%* BadassMustache: Miller.

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

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The guns are destroyed, the men on Kheros will be saved, and Andrea has forgiven Mallory. However, Brown and Spyros are dead, Franklin is crippled and a POW, and the people of Navarone will suffer for the team's success.]]

--> ''Miller:'' Colonel Stavros...
--> ''Stavros:'' Andrea.

* 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.]]

** Comes up twice. First when Franklin gets a broken leg and the team must decide whether to execute him so he doesn't slow them down or get himself captured and interrogated. Later, when TheMole is revealed, Miller argues that their only chance of finishing the mission is to kill [[spoiler: her. They do.]]

-->'''[=Muesel=]''': You wouldn't hesitate to kill me for any number of reasons. But not this one.

-->'''Mallory:''' [''to Baker''] I just saved your life.

-->"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!"

--> '''Mallory:''' I think you should all know that Mr Stavros is ''Colonel'' Stavros of the Greek 19th Motorized Regiment. In other words, he outranks us all.
-->'''Stavros:''' It is of no consequence, the 19th regiment no longer exists.
--> '''Miller:''' Colonel Stavros...
--> '''Stavros:''' Andrea.

* WhatHaveIDone: Miller has this expression when, [[spoiler: after goading Mallory to kill Anna, Mallory nearly does it, and Maria actually does. Maria herself is seen to stagger for a moment in shock after killing Anna.]]

* RedHerring: The mission isn't blown by the spy they catch while at the British base, but by [[spoiler:TheMole.]]

* YouJustToldMe: 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.

* DemolitionExpert: Corporal Miller.

* ShowdownAtHighNoon: The gun battle between Spyros Pappadimos and a German officer.

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

Also notable around these parts for being one of the films that Creator/HideoKojima, creator of the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' franchise, has cited as a source of inspiration for his games.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Creator/GregoryPeck is playing an Englishman, but speaks with his normal voice.

Also notable around these parts for being one of the films that HideoKojima, creator of the ''Franchise/MetalGear'' franchise, has cited as a source of inspiration for his games.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: GregoryPeck is playing an Englishman, but speaks with his normal voice.

* TheLawsAndCustomsOfWar: Mallory gave a safe conduct pass so some Germans could take their wounded to a hospital. They wanted Andrea so badly that they shot their wounded, went to his house and blew it up, killing Andrea's family. Andrea holds Mallory responsible, and is only refraining from killing him while he's useful in killing Germans. Muesel however shows there are some German soldiers who do believe in rules.
-->'''[=Muesel=]''': We don't make war on wounded men. We are not all like Hauptmann Sessler.
** The General in command of the Navarone installation also appears to be an honorable officer. In his first appearance he is visibly disgusted with Sessler's physical torturing of Franklin (and whatever he says to Sessler seems to confirm that). As the General interrogates Franklin (who is under the influence of the Scopalimine that the General has ordered), the General ceases his interrogation as the surgeon who is about to amputate Franklin's leg indicates that they must begin surgery with no further delay if Franklin's life is to be saved. Next, the General is in the front lines on the beach with his troops prepared to repel the (fictional) amphibious landing. Finally, the General is in the plotting room for the Guns when Miller's booby-trap is finally triggered, and he dies with his men. Like Muesel, the General fought honorably for a dishonorable cause.

* RealityHasNoSubtitles: It happens in multiple scenes.
** Captain Mallory talks on the phone with the Nazi guard commander while pretending to be a Nazi sentry. The entire dialogue between them is in German with no translation (but from their facial expressions and intonations you can generally figure out what they're saying).
** When the Nazi E-boat stops the fishing boat the protagonists are on, Captain Mallory pretends to be the skipper and speaks in Greek to both the E-boat captain and his own crew. Again, he uses gestures and facial expressions to make his meaning clear to the audience.

[=MacLean=] wrote a lesser-known sequel (to the movie adaptation, not the original novel), ''Film/ForceTenFromNavarone'', published in 1968. A film version, starring Robert Shaw, HarrisonFord and Edward Fox, was released in 1978.