Guns of Navarone

I went to the local family theatre and went to their "Cinema Classics Series" which was playing "Guns of Navarone" to a decidedly senior citizen audience. My brother and I were the only people there not old enough to be on Medicare. So, we felt out of place.

Then the movie starts and it's not a 35mm print. They're projecting a DVD onto the largest screen in the valley. Needless to say, it was a bit pixelly.

Anyhow, the movie is amazing. They just don't make movies like that anymore. It's simple and fun, it's the kind of "mindless" action movie I could go see every week. But now, mindless action movies really are just that. Heartless, too. They have even less heart than they do smart.

Anyhow, what I'm getting at is that even though the presentation wasn't that great and it was a 10:00 am showing, the movie was amazing and I would encourage everyone to give it another look. Filmmakers especially need to give it another look because it's an excellent example of how to take your time and build your sequence of events very carefully. None of the ridiculous fast cutting and inciting incidents on page 10 here. You get told what the mission is, you're introduced to the team and you watch as they fail or succeed as only they can.

And the monologues David Niven gets. That guy is good. And Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn are just fun to watch. They don't make men like that anymore. They kick ass without having to be robbing a bank or firing off snappy one-liners. They have class and they don't relish killing. They can be gentle or cunning within a moments notice. And they don't seem as though they have to impress anyone.

I just love movies like this. People should make more like them. It beats the hell out of remakes of old TV shows.