The Longest Day (1962)

by Barb Lentz.

 

The five movies Bob provided for me from which to choose were these:

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof  (1958)

How Green Was My Valley  (1941)

The Longest Day  (1962)

Rashomon  (1950)

The Sugarland Express  (1974)

 

I chose The Longest Day from this list as I have not picked a war movie previously.  I was also interested in the cast, and how it depicted the Normandy invasion during World War II.

Lt. Col. Vandervoort (John Wayne) confers with General Gavin (Robert Ryan).

The movie perceptively depicted the boredom and frustration that the men experienced waiting for the orders to start the invasion.  It showed the men trying to relax, by gambling, playing cards, sleeping, waiting.  They were killing time.  The movie also showed the different men who were in charge of segments of the soldiers, and how they were rethinking their strategies, like where they should land when they dropped silently from the sky.  I felt it did a good job showing how they were coping with the interminable wait to invade.

The movie also showed several different groups of people who were helping the Allies.  They listened to the broadcasts for the code words so that they knew when to take their assigned actions to help the Allies.

The German officers meet "Rupert."

The Germans were also depicted.  They guessed at Eisenhower’s strategy, but didn’t think that he “had the guts”.  Many of the ranking officers were returning to Berlin to practice maneuvers as the invasion began.  By the time the Allies landed on several beaches in Normandy, most of the officers were not in the vicinity.  When the Germans realized that the invasion was in full swing, they requested authority to order the reserve tanks and planes to be rerouted to battle at the site of the invasion.  But only Hitler could give the authorization, and he was asleep and was not to be disturbed.  The result was that the Allies made great inroads in making a significant stride toward turning the tide of the war.

My top five moments of the movie are:

1.  When Lt. Col. Vandervoort (John Wayne) proposes changing the drop zone.  When he is told that they have been given the order to invade, he drops his objection, saying where they had planned to drop was just fine.

The Allies finally break through on Omaha Beach.

2.  When General Cota (Robert Mitchum) takes charge and rallies the troops to advance from Omaha beach, where they have been stalled.

3.  When Private Steele (Red Buttons) lands in the drop zone and whose parachute traps him on the side of the church, where he had a perfect view of the slaughter of his comrades.  You feel the sorrow through Red Buttons’ acting.

4.  When Lt. Col. Vandervoort heard and saw what his men went through as missing the drop zone made them easy targets for the Germans.   In that scene John Wayne showed such empathy and sadness.

5.  When the soldiers finally break through the concrete wall blocking Omaha Beach. The engineer, Sergeant Fuller (Jeffrey Hunter), who allowed General Cota to make inroads off the beach so that they could advance, was very heroic, especially under such heavy fire.

Is The Longest Day a classic?  Yes.   It shows the magnitude of the preparation, the waiting, and the emotion of waiting to engage in battle, as well as their engagement when they get the orders to invade.  It does a fine job of using the different big name stars to develop characters in an effective way.  It is a meaningful and important film, and shows effectively this important historical moment.

BRL  29 March 2014.

 

The Longest Day  (October 4, 1962)  20th Century-Fox.

Directed by Andrew Marton, Ken Annakin and Bernhard Wicki.

Produced by Darryl F. Zanuck and Elmo Williams.

Screenplay by Cornelius Ryan, based upon his book.

Additional scenes by Romain Gary, James Jones, David Pursall and Jack Seddon.

Principal Cast (character, performer):

Colonel Thompson                                              Eddie Albert

U. S. Army Ranger                                             Paul Anka

Madame Barrault                                               Arletty

Father Louis Roulland                                          Jean-Louis Barrault

Private Dutch Schultz                                          Richard Beymer

Major Werner Pluskat                                          Hans Christian Blech

Mayor of Colleville                                              Bourvil

Flying Officer David Campbell                               Richard Burton

Major General Doctor Hans Spiedel                        Wolfgang Buttner

Private John Steele                                             Red Buttons

Private Flanagan                                                 Sean Connery

Captain Frank                                                     Ray Danton

Janine Boitard                                                    Irina Demick

U. S. Army Ranger                                              Fabian

Major General Robert Haines                                 Mel Ferrer

Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr.                Henry Fonda

Captain Harding                                                  Steve Forrest

Sergeant Kaffekanne                                           Gert Frobe

Brigadier General Edwin P. Parker Jr.                     Leo Genn

General Dwight D. Eisenhower                               Henry Grace

British Padre                                                       John Gregson

Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt                           Paul Hartmann

Field Marshal Edwin Rommel                                 Werner Hinz

Sergeant John H. Fuller                                         Jeffrey Hunter

Major General Gunther Blumentritt                          Curt Jurgens

Major General Walter Bedell Smith                          Alexander Knox

Lord Lovat                                                           Peter Lawford

Commander Philippe Kieffer                                    Christian Marquand

Private Morris                                                      Roddy McDowall

Private Martini                                                      Sal Mineo

Brigadier General Norman Cota                               Robert Mitchum

Captain Colin Maud                                                Kenneth More

General Raymond D. Barton                                    Edmond O’Brien

Joe Williams                                                         Ron Randell

Mother Superior                                                    Madeleine Renaud

Private Clough                                                       Norman Rossington

Brigadier General James M. Gavin                             Robert Ryan

U. S. Army Ranger                                                 Tommy Sands

Destroyer Commander                                             Rod Steiger

Major John Howard                                                  Richard Todd

Lieutenant Wilson                                                    Tom Tryon

Lieutenant Colonel Ocker                                          Peter Van Eyck

U. S. Army Ranger                                                  Robert Wagner

Lieutenant Sheen                                                    Stuart Whitman

and Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Vandervoort              John Wayne

178 minutes.  B&W.  Widescreen (2.35:1).  Rated G.

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