Blacklisted Carl Foreman (High Noon, The Bridge On The River Kwai) was determined to re-establish both his name and credibility after spending most of the '50s working in anonymity. To accomplish this, he decided to bring Alistar Maclean's best-selling novel, The Guns Of Navarone, to the screen. Supported by an all-star cast and produced on a grand scale, the film was an enormous success, receiving seven 1961 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture) and winning for Best Special Effects. Although Foreman achieved his goal, it was Maclean who would wind up the true beneficiary; his novels became the source for many high-adventure screen epics, including Ice Station Zebra and Where Eagles Dare. However, it is The Guns of Navarone that remains not only the best of the Maclean adaptations, but one of the greatest action/adventure spectacles ever produced."