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.
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 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.
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.