Guns of Navarone. Dimitri Tiomkin

The year is 1943, and 2000 British soldiers are holed up on the island of Keros in the Aegean. Rescue by the Royal Navy is impossible because of massive guns on the nearby island of Navarone. Led by Major Roy Franklin (Anthony Quayle), they are Capt. Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck); Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn), a Colonel in the defeated Greek army; Corporal Miller (David Niven), an explosives expert; Greek-American street tough Spyros Pappadimos (James Darren); and "Butcher" Brown (Stanley Baker), an engineer and expert knife fighter.Time is short, because the Germans are expected to launch an assault on the British forces, to draw Turkey into the war on the Axis' side.

This crackerjack World War II adventure shows not only to the power of the score, but also to the talent behind Tiomkin’s bold, and occasionally over-the-top, music. The militaristic tone of the score’s memorable main theme gives the score energy, while the mandolin gives the music a proper Grecian flavor.

[nedland]

This Tiomkin classic and "El Cid" (a Rozsa classic) were the two best scores of that year but both were also-rans to "Breakfast At Tiffany's" by Henry Mancini.