The Longest Day 1962

     In 1944, the U.S. Army and Allied forces planned a huge invasion landing in Normandy France.  Despite bad weather, General Dwight D. Eisenhower gave the okay and the Allies landed at Normandy.  General Norman Cota travels with his men onto Omaha Beach.  With much effort and loss of lives, they decide to get off the beach and they travel deep into French territory.  The German military due to arrogance, ignorance and a sleeping Adolf Hitler delay their response to the Allied landing with crippling results.
 
     The use of over 43 actual star names in bit and pivotal roles helps keep up the aura of fictionalized documentary.  But it is the action, time, place and the actual machinery of war, that are the important things.  The battles are coordinated by associate producer Elmo Williams ably take their places among some of the best ever shown on the screen.  A German is strafing the beach, Yanks scale a treacherous cliff only to find that there is no big gun there and British commandos take a bridge.  Yanks are blowing up a big bunker, the French are taking a town, all are done with massive action involved.  The black and white and CinemaScope screens help keep the focus on the surge and movement.

     The Longest Day is a black-and-white docu-drama and it is a predominantly an accurate depiction of D-Day, June 6, 1944.  This is the date when Allied troops invaded German-occupied Europe via the western coast of France.  This film takes place over one 24-hour period and it uses three distinct points of view.  American, English and German (with subtitles) to tell the story.  The first two hours reveal the preparations and initial skirmishes that set up the final hour.  There is a depiction of the massive air and sea battles that launched the Allies' assault on Omaha Beach in Normandy.  Combat is almost continuous.  Men are gunned down, lifeless bodies are seen on the beach and some dead hang from trees.  Despite that both graphic violence and brutality are kept to a minimum and the camera does not dwell on the human destruction.  An effort is made to show German officers in a balanced way, though some are buffoonish and wrongheaded to the extreme.  This was a momentous achievement when it was released, filmmakers didn't have special effects and computers to rely on.  This film retains the historical and emotional impact that was intended.  Some smoking, drinking and a few "hell" and "damn" are used.  5 1/2* (this is an excellent movie)

     This movie is based on a novel written by Cornelius Ryan. Eddie Albert, Paul Anka, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Fabian, Mel Ferrer, Henry Fonda, Peter Lawford, Roddy McDowall, Sal Mineo, Robert Mitchum, Edmond O’Brien, Robert Ryan, Tommy Sands, George Segal, Rod Steiger, Robert Wagner.

178 min Action directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Gerd Oswald, Bernhard Wicki, Darryl F. Zanuck and written by Cornelius Ryan, Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall, Jack Seddon.

Note:  Imdb 7.8* out of 10* with 52,381 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 87% with 23 critic reviews 90% audience scores with 25,000+ audience scores, Metacritic 75 out of 100 with 7 critic reviews 7.3 out of 10 with 7 user scores, Eye for Film 3* out of 5* Scott Macdonald, Common Sense Media Renee Schonfeld, 4* out of 5*, age 12+, 1* language, drinking, drugs & smoking 4* positive messages, role models, violence, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 5445 reviews.