Last week I posted about the war movie HELL IS FOR HEROES on the day after Memorial Day was observed. Since tomorrow is the anniversary of D-Day, it seemed appropriate to write something about THE LONGEST DAY this week.
This movie is overlooked only in the same sense that HELL IS FOR HEROES was, that is, I've never seen it until now. Don't ask me how that's possible, but it's true. I've seen other movies about D-Day, but not this one. As I'm sure most of you know, it's the sort of big, sprawling, epic production that Hollywood
There are little fictional scenes here and there, but for the most part THE LONGEST DAY is a straightforward historical retelling of the events of June 5 and 6, 1944, from the perspective of both the Allies and the Germans. From what I know of the history, it's pretty accurate, too.
John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, and Edmond O'Brien all play American generals. Peter Lawford's a British commando, Richard Burton's a pilot. Sean Connery has a couple of scenes as a Scottish sergeant, and although they're never on screen together, Gert Frobe, who a year later would be opposing Connery's James Bond as Auric Goldfinger, shows up as a somewhat inept German sergeant. In what's probably the movie's best scene, Red Buttons is an American paratrooper whose parachute gets hung up on a church roof, leaving him dangling helplessly over a courtyard full of German soldiers. And that's just a few of the people in this film, which was put together by three different directors and half a dozen writers.
I enjoyed THE LONGEST DAY, but the first half of it sure is slow. The invasion itself doesn't really get cranked up until the final third of the movie, but that saves the film from collapsing under its own weight. There's some spectacular stunt and special effects work, the photography is excellent, and the acting is solid all around. If you're a fan of war films and haven't seen it, you really ought to. I think I prefer a little more fiction mixed in with my history, but that's just me.
9 comments:
Another film that you might enjoy is THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE. Robert Shaw is excellent as the German tank commander. I've seen it several times and I'm always impressed by his performance.
I remember it as long too, maybe longer than that day.
Walker,
THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE is sitting on the shelf next to the TV waiting for me. I'll probably write something about it next week.
I quite like The Longest Day, even the early planning stuff. But then again I'm a bit of a WWII geek. Have you seen A Bridge Too Far? It's a nice follow-up to The Longest Day, as it's about Operation Marketgarden.
I saw A BRIDGE TOO FAR back when it first came out but don't remember much about it other than that I liked it. Probably ought to watch it again.
The Longest Day is probably my favorite WW2 movie. My favorite scene is the Assault on Quistreham; I love the long, sweeping aerial shot of all the Commandos rushing down the streets, Stens blazing, bodies falling, explosions everywhere. Looking back at my PMP posts a year ago, I see TLD was my featured posting on June 6th. Saving Private Ryan, eat your heart out...
A Bridge Too Far is also excellent, another "slow burn" war movie from the days when not everything needed eight hundred 'splosions and smash cuts to keep you interested. I know I've seen Battle of the Bulge, but it's been forever. Going to have to rectify that sometime soon.
Every year, me and my Grandfather would watch this movie on the 6th of June.
He was to young to fight in the war, even having to go so far as to lie about his age to get into the occupation forces afterwards.. And I think that always irked him.
I've always loved this movie and felt it was sort of the ideal War Film.
I liked that they even included Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
I've seen TLD many times and enjoy it more each time. If you like fiction mixed with your history, The Battle of the Bulge is for you. A better BotB movie is Battleground, one of the better WWII movies extant.
BATTLEGROUND is in my Netflix queue, hope to get to it before the summer is over.
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