Hey! Watch Where You Point Those "Guns of Navarone"!

In the still above, Gregory Peck (as Mallory) an Allied officer of non-descipt nationality, and David Niven (as Sgt. Miller) lead a small group of daring-do guys and gals to help the Royal Navy pull off a desperate mission. There's a need to destroy two of the German Army's phallic-overkill cannons in the film of Alister Mac Lean's "The Guns of Navarone". Niven by the way was a real-life commando in WWII and perhaps the first of the British stars in Hollywood to go back home and "re-up" after war broke out in 1939.
A funny thing happened when I went looking for the theme from the classic war-action film, "The Guns of Navarone". It turns out that the overture for this film has been a standard with major Ska bans like the Skatalites and all sorts of other bands for the past forty years. Who the heck knew? (The version offered above is by The Specials.) Even a Japanese Ska band has a version of this on You Tube.
Now I'll never be able to watch this old gem without imagining the principal cast of roughnecks like faux-Greek Tony Quinn, real Greek Irene Papas, Stanley Baker and all the other desperate Yanks, Brits, and assorted "Jerrys" on the cliff-carved gun emplacement, dancing to the revamped tune in a giant conga line as startled British sailors stare agape at them from the deck of their fast-moving battleships.
"Guns" makes for great entertainment in my book, in part because of Academy-Award winner Dimitri Tiomkin's evocative, exciting score and the stoic forcefulness of Peck, the charm and grit of Niven and the no-holds barred histrionics of the Mighty Quinn.
No, the film is not altogether plausible in all matters military perhaps, but if you take it as cinematic bravura mixed with a dose of cynicism and action, it won't disappoint if you haven't seen it yet.
Hope Mr. Tiomkin enjoyed the royalties he got from all from the fine Jamaican and British bands who recorded this wonderful theme with a rock and reggee beat. I include a link to the original Tiomkin score below:
http://www.youtube.com/v/rvM4q0Vbsy0&rel=1