A group of commandos, made up of Allied and Greek soldiers, each with a specialist talent, is assembled by British intelligence in an attempt to achieve the impossible - destroying the semmingly impregnable German artillery cannons concealed deep within solid rock on the Greek island of Navarone. The six-man commando team consists of mountaineer Captain Mallory (Peck), humanitarian explosive's expert Corporal Miller (Niven), Greek resistance fighter Andrea Stravos (Quinn), British Major Franklin (Quayle), young marksman Private Pappadimos (Darren) and ruthless killer CPO Brown (Baker). Meeting them along the way are resistance leader Maria (Papas), who is Pappadimos' older sister, and Anna (Scala), a beautiful Greek girl who was reportedly tortured by the Germans. Although they are captured by the Germans, they manage to escape, and disguised in stolen Nazi uniforms the group finally arrives at the town of Navarone to carry out the mission.

A rip-roaring adventure yarn which includes bloody hand-to-hand conflicts between the good guys and the Nazis, and enormous tidal wave, and our heroes scaling treacherously steep cliffs, most of it spectacularly filmed on Rhodes in the Aegean Sea. This made The Guns of Navarone a tremendous box-office hit and it remains one of the best films of its type. The action spoke louder than words, although Carl Foreman's script had a great deal to say about the various loyalties and motivations of the assorted characters played by a terrific cast with Niven almost stealing the show as a cynical and cowardly commando. The film led to many imitations including an inferior sequel called Force Ten From Navarone (1978).