The Making Of The Guns Of Navarone (The Magnificent 60s)

History tells us that the film of The Guns Of Navarone (1961) was a huge critical and box office success. But for most of the filming and the run-up to release it didn't look that way. Carl Foreman, a victim of the McCarthy anti-communist witch-hunt in the US in the early 1950s, lost his scriptwriter (thriller writer Eric Ambler), preferred cast (William Holden and Cary Grant), director (Alexander Mackendrick who had made The Ladykillers) and two leading ladies. David Niven nearly died during shooting. Star Gregory Peck turned into a liability after the disastrous box office of Beloved Infidel, in which he played writer F Scott Fitzgerald. Calling on new research material, Brian Hannan takes a fresh look at an old favourite, creating a snapshot, movie-wise, of the period.

From the author of The Making Of Lawrence Of Arabia, Hitchcock's Hollywood Hell, Darkness Visible: Hitchcock's Greatest Film and Out Of This World: Spielberg's Greatest Film.

Cover design by Sara Tellez Garcia