The Longest Day (1962) – Encore Review 2

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Allied forces landing in Normandy on D-Day, so I decided to watch 6 movies about that historic day that were each made in different decades which give a slightly different perspective on the events of that fateful day.

Here is the review of the 1st film that I watched.

Enjoy!

{This review is being posted at exactly 00:00 GMT+2 to coincide with the beginning of the fateful day that began 75 years ago}
“I don’t have to tell you the story. You all know it. Only two kinds of people are gonna stay on this beach: those that are already dead and those that are gonna die. Now get off your butts. You guys are the Fighting 29th” – Brigadier General Norman Cota

Number of Times Seen – Between 5-10 times (Cable, DVD, 18 May 2000, 1 Oct 2014, 27 Feb 2018 and 4 Jun 2019)

Link to original review – Here and Here

Brief Synopsis – An epic recreation of the Normandy invasion by the Allied forces on the 6th of June 1944 – D-Day.

My Take on it – This is a film that I saw years ago and have been entranced by it ever since.

It is one of the greatest epic films ever made and they manage to find a way to take a story that is so grand and epic in and of itself and present it in a very coherent fashion.

The 6th of June, 1944 will go down as one of the most historic days in history and the fact that they were able to recreate the events of that day that feature thousands of characters in various locations still amazes me.

The story doesn’t focus on any of the characters and instead tries to tell a much grander story revolving around the events and not the specific people involved.

The forces that put this film together did an amazing job keeping the story focused on the events and not any of the characters.

The cast of this film is superb and although many people believe that this film is filled with a parade of cameos, it is in actuality a true ensemble cast filled with lots and lots of recognizable and popular stars who wanted to take part in such an epic tale. even if they were delegated to short scenes because as I stated earlier the main character is the story and not the individuals.

Having so many characters and events taking place simultaneously make things a bit complicated, but if one pays close attention, it all fits right into place and it’s easy to see why this was such an epic day being films epically.

The choice to use 3 different directors on this film, one for the British scenes, one for the American scenes and one for the German scenes works really well in keeping the camera focused during each of these various nationalities without feeling any biases between them.

The musical score has become quite classic and is a great undertone for the story that unfolds.

It’s also quite catchy and even after 36 hours, it’s still stuck in my head.

This is 3 hours long and I’m sure it wasn’t easy cutting down so many events to such a relatively ‘short’ run time.

Despite this, they are able to tell a very comprehensive story quite well and are able to deliver a very epic depiction of the events of that day.

Can’t wait to watch this one again… soon…

Bottom Line – Such an amazing film that manages to capture the epic nature and grandeur of one of the most historic days in history. The ability to recreate so many actions involving hundreds, if not thousands of main characters says so much about the forces that but this film together. The cast is superb and although it may be seen by some as a parade of cameos, it is much more than that since it is able to make a true ensemble cast without anyone being the main focus of the story in place of the events of that day which is the main character. The film has so many characters and events that it’s sometimes a bit hard to follow all of them but if one pays close attention, it’s easy to see how the story plays out in the various locations all at once in order to create one of the most spectacular films ever made. The choice to use three different directors is a great one since it allows them to focus on the British, American and German viewpoints of things without having a bias all the way through. The music is classic and is still stuck in my heart more than 36 hours after having watched it. The film is 3 hours long and even that was probably quite a chore cutting it down to such a run time. Despite this “short” run time, they manage to keep the story quite comprehensive and are able to deliver a truly epic depiction of the events of that day. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – To give an idea of the scale of this film, producer Darryl F. Zanuck effectively commanded more “troops” than any of the generals during the actual campaign. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (10/10) (no change from original review)