The Longest Day (1962)

The Longest Day is Hollywood's definitive D-day movie. More modern accounts such as Saving Private Ryan are more vividly realistic, but producer Darryl F. Zanuck's epic 1962 account is the only one to attempt the daunting task of covering that fateful day from all perspectives. From the German high command and front-line officers to the French Resistance and all the key Allied participants, the screenplay by Cornelius Ryan, based on his own authoritative book, is as factually accurate as possible. The endless parade of stars (John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, and Richard Burton, to name a few) makes for an uneasy mix of verisimilitude and Hollywood star-power, however, and the film falls a little flat for too much of its three-hour running time. But the set-piece battles are still spectacular, and if the landings on Omaha Beach lack the graphic gore of Private Ryan they nonetheless show the sheer scale and audacity of the invasion. --Mark Walker Amazon.com

Overrated and dated, but still a great subject

I've just been listening to a BBC program called "And The Academy Award Goes To..." when I heard a film reviewer make a sacrilegious statement, "The Longest Day is not a very good movie". I've felt that for years. The first weekend The Longest Day opened, my buddy & I rode the bus 14 miles into Seattle to see this. We were thrilled, but since we were watching through our clear 10 year old eyes, we could spot a "fakey" movie when we saw it. The use of Messerschmidt bf-108's was glaring, and of course most of the cast was too old, like John Wayne as Gen. James Gavin(no wonder his ankle broke, the Duke weighed about 500 pounds), or was too phoney, like Paul Anka. Still, at least this was not "woven around the love of a man and a woman", and this is a decent interpretation of the events around the D-Day invasion. The scenes of Omaha & Utah beaches were too wide open, the weather too good. The cinematographer should have concentrated on quality of image, rather than always going for sweeping views of the beaches, where the 2- or 3 thousand extras were swallowed up by the vastness of the undertaking. I feel the best battle scenes are around the fortified casino in Ouistreham. The contribution of the Brits, Commonwealth Forces, and French were overexpanded, everyone knows the US did this alone. HEY, I am KIDDING about that- I'm sick of war flicks where so-called artistic license is taken to overemphasize, maximize, or invent the American contribution, such as in the equally overrated "The Great Escape", and "U-571". At least this isn't colorized, which some people think would enhance this film. Personally, when I think of the war in the Pacific, I think in color, for the ETO, it's black & white, "The Great Escape" notwithstanding. The bottom line: this isn't a "great" movie, only a fair one, but the events depicted are pivotal to civilization. If the panzer reserves were closer to the beaches, if the weather was worse, or too fine, the Allies could easily have been thrown back into the sea. Like the Battle Of Britain, El Alamein, the Coral Sea, Midway, the Normandy invasion plays a pivotal role in the recovery and preservation of a free Western Europe. And "The Longest Day" played a pivotal role in the preservation of 20th Century Fox, make Fox safe for reality TV September 14, 2008

My favorite war movie

Other than the James Bonds, this is my favorite film and my favorite war film. I remember seeing it at my local theater at age 13 in 1963, a year after its first run reserved-seat engagement on Broadway. I watch it every June 6th. and have yet to tire of it.
Starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Richard Burton and a pre-Dr. No, Sean Connery, among numerous others. (The only film I can think of with a better cast is probably "How the West Was Won.) The film had three directors and the massive action sequences are still breathtaking: The 82nd. airborne division disasterous drop in German-occupied Ste. Mere Eglise, the 2 Luftwaffe plans strafing the 2 British beaches, the Ranger division's incredible attack of the German-held Pointe du Hoc and especially, the French Commando raid on the french town of Ouestram with one long several minute helicoptor shot that has to be seen to be believed. (Like other films of this period the end-credits are shockingly short. Today the credits on a film of this size would last ten minutes.)
I have this film on video and DVD. While it was nice that they added a few extra features on its most recent DVD release, I truly wish they could have located a few deleted scenes. (You can see a scene not in the film briefly in the trailer included.) In 1994, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, a colorized version of this film was released on video, (the film is in black and white.) The colorized version was pretty good and should have been included with the recent DVD and blu-ray release.
This film lost the best picture Oscar to "Lawrence of Arabia" and amazingly only won 2 technical Oscars. While Lawrence is a great film also, "The Longest Day" is a greater and more important achievement and it continues to annoy me to this day that it did not win the best picture Oscar. If you have never seen this incredibly epic and well-made film, you should grab the DVD or blu-ray as soon as possible, you won't be dissappointed. September 6, 2008

Action war movie with all star cast.

Enjoyed this War movie, but it is in black and white. It does have an all star cast. It has great action and fine actors through out the movie. It is on blu-ray with great picture detail but sound is not quite 5.1 nor is it colorized. I think it should be remastered with color (colorized) and with 5.1 sound added. Thus it is why I rate it at 3 out of 5. August 30, 2008

Why oh Why is this Region Locked

I find it incredible that a film that was made in 1962 and is about how our two country's came together in battle has been released with the Region locked, what justification can there be, that the US gets the film, but we in Europe can't buy it, I can understand if it was a new film but come on, made in 1962, a film about europe, stars many european stars of the day, a conflict we shared but I can't buy it in the UK, this stinks, so much for investing in Blue-Ray at least HDDVD was region free. August 18, 2008

the longest day

This is a great film for the events that happened on D-Day. I wish they had John Wayne in the 101st, oh well still a great movie July 8, 2008

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