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John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger ... see more see more... , Richard Todd , Richard Burton , Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Mel Ferrer , Paul Anka , Sal Mineo , Roddy McDowall , Stuart Whitman , Eddie Albert , Edmond O'Brien , Fabian , Red Buttons , Tom Tryon , Alexander Knox , Tommy Sands , Ray Danton , Henry W. Grace , Mark Damon , Dewey Martin , John Crawford , Ron Randell , Nick Stuart , John Meillon , Kenneth More , Peter Lawford , Leo Genn , John Gregson , Sean Connery , Jack Hedley , Irina Demick , Bourvil , Jean-Louis Barrault , Christian Marquand , Arletty , Madeleine Renaud , Georges Rivière , Jean Servais , Georges Wilson , Curd Jürgens , Werner Hinz , Paul Hartmann , Hans Christian Blech , Peter van Eyck , Heinz Reincke , Richard Münch , Kurt Meisel , Patrick Barr , Michael Beint , Richard Beymer , Lyndon Brook , Pauline Carton , Howard Marion-Crawford , Eugene Deckers , Frank Finlay , Steve Forrest , Harry Fowler , Gert Fröbe , Daniel Gélin , Harold Goodwin , Ruth Hausmeister , Peter Helm , Michael Hinz , Donald Houston , Karl John , Simon Lack , Fernand Ledoux , Christopher Lee , Wolfgang Lukschy , Neil McCallum , Michael Medwin , Bill Nagy , Rainer Penkert , Leslie Phillips , Sian Phillips , Maurice Poli , Wolfgang Preiss , John Robinson (I) , Norman Rossington , Dietmar Schoenherr , Ernst Schroeder , George Segal , Allen Swift , Alice Tissot , Richard Wattis , Wolfgang Buttner , Trevor Reid , Françoise Rosay , Fred Durr , Til Kiwe , Vicco Von Buelow , Bryan Coleman , Robert Freitag , Heinz Spitzner

The Longest Day is a mammoth, all-star re-creation of the D-Day invasion, personally orchestrated by Darryl F. Zanuck. Whenever possible, the original locations were utilized, and an all-star internat... read more read more...ional cast impersonates the people involved, from high-ranking officials to ordinary GIs. Each actor speaks in his or her native language with subtitles translating for the benefit of the audience (alternate "takes" were made of each scene with the foreign actors speaking English, but these were seen only during the first network telecast of the film in 1972). The stars are listed alphabetically, with the exception of John Wayne, who as Lt. Colonel Vandervoort gets separate billing. Others in the huge cast include Eddie Albert, Jean-Louis Barrault, Richard Burton, Red Buttons, Sean Connery, Henry Fonda, Gert Frobe, Curt Jurgens, Peter Lawford, Robert Mitchum, Kenneth More, Edmond O'Brien, Robert Ryan, Jean Servais, Rod Steiger and Robert Wagner. Paul Anka, who wrote the film's title song, shows up as an Army private. Scenes include the Allies parachuting into Ste. Mere Englise, where the paratroopers were mowed down by German bullets; a real-life sequence wherein the German and Allied troops unwittingly march side by side in the dark of night; and a spectacular three-minute overhead shot of the troops fighting and dying in the streets of Quistreham. The last major black-and-white road-show attraction, The Longest Day made millions, enough to recoup some of the cost of 20th Century Fox's concurrently produced Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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85% liked it

41,050 ratings

Critics

92% liked it

12 critics

G, 2 hr. 59 min.

Directed by: Andrew Marton, Ken Annakin, Darryl F. Zanuck, Bernhard Wicki

Release Date: June 1, 1962

Keywords: war

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DVD Release Date: November 2, 1999

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Stats: 1,633 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,633)

  • moonrivers
    October 23, 2011
    moonrivers
    Star-studded, near propaganda piece that gives an idea of just how immense the gargantuan enterprise of the Normandy invasion turned out to be. While Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan is certainly more visceral, the scope here is larger and more inclusive of all the nations involved.
  • deano
    March 21, 2011
    deano
    This 1962, nearly three-hour, black-and-white battle epic holds up magnificent. Yes, the chest-beating and sentimental dialogue can seem clumsy and the endless star cameos - from Robert Mitchum, Sean Connery, Robert Wagner, Rod Steiger, Sal Mineo, Curt Jurgens and more - make thi... read mores a symbolic show rather than a character-driven drama. Still, the lavish recreation of the Allied forces' 1944 landing in Normandy is still eye-popping. The film is based on Cornelius Ryan's book of the same name.
  • Saxia
    October 27, 2010
    Saxia
    Since watching Band of Brothers, I'm a little more into war movies because I understand the psychology a little better. Still not my favorite genre, but this was interesting enough.
  • flixsterman
    July 6, 2009
    flixsterman
    Old fashioned Hollywood style war film with lots of shooting and dramatic (bloodless) deaths. There's nothing quite like watching Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum and Sean Connery storm the beaches at Normandy!
  • rayman0071
    July 18, 2008
    rayman0071
    Both timely and timeless at the height of its release in 1962. It was the sort of achievement that was to be marveled.
    Darryl F. Zanuck's production of "The Longest Day" was the most authentic depiction of the Invasion of Normandy during World War II ever seen in the history of... read more cinema. Brilliant production values and fantastic action sequences and with an international cast of stars,this was absolutely astounding piece of grand entertainment.
  • Chiefilms
    March 3, 2008
    Chiefilms
    Good film, best analyzing D-day before Saving Private Ryan.
  • sainttom93
    October 23, 2007
    sainttom93
    A great movie on the "Cecil B. DeMille scale -- Not always the best acting -- and we know the ending --
  • garyX
    February 19, 2007
    garyX
    Classic Hollywood war stalwart peppered with big names and an interestingly factual take on the D-Day landings. Perhaps a little overly ambitious as it's sprawling 3 hour length can seem like an eternity in places, but a solid war film nonetheless.
  • crossbladezero
    April 1, 2012
    crossbladezero
    A day with this film on has got to be the longest day. Don't get me wrong, I love a good war movie, and almost all of these films' long lengths work, but seriously people, I don't know how many times we have to watch people walk around and blow each other up here and there for th... read moreree hours. One can only imagine how long the war film that actually covers the highlight of an entire war would be. If it's just highlights, then it would probably be shorter, because these war films that we do actually have run about the span of an entire war. Hey, if that's the case, then hand me my rifle and send me back to the trenches, because I'm hooked on the thrills of war... movies. I don't know why I would need a rifle; maybe it would just be for my suicide plan, just in case the war movie they show is "The Thin Red Line", because although I liked the film, well, seriously Terrence, that's too much of a snoozefest... I said having made plans to watch the film a third time somewhere down the "line" (Sorry, but pun definately intended). Still, even though that film was a mess, it's still certainly better than this film, which isn't to say that this film is bad, though it is to say that it is more of a mess.

    Running 178 minutes with limited material, padding with superfluous, excess material is to be expected, yet padding is least of this film's worries when it comes to tightness, even though you know that they would have pump an extra large dose of excess material in this film to even out the many rushed spots. With all of these many subplots and characters in this massive, star-studden cast, few, if any are developed, and almost all of them are rushed past points of exposition at one point or another. Actually, come to think of it, nevermind the few in "few, if any", because if they were to extensively develop one subplot, then they'd pretty much be setting up everyone's, seeing as these stories are all so very similiar, with only enough distinctions for you be thrown off when the stories transition into each other jarringly. Still, what might bother me the most about this film is that it's just so slow, quiet and dry in atmosphere, lacking enough of the oomph and intrigue in the substance to sustain your attention for the mammoth runtime. It's all so very messy, underwhelming and borderline boring, with ambitions going squandered in many regards, and that's enough to make a film like this mediocre, at best. However, this is an ultimately better film than that, and I'm not just saying that because I keep believing in the immortal concept of "Three hours, I better like it". The film leans closer to failed ambition and successful, but the film knows how to pick the right compontents to supplement that ambition to where every slip up finds its fall broken, whether it be through the writing or production.

    For the time, this action was something to behold, and to this day, it remains impressive, because it's during those moments where this ensemble of directors really wake up and deliver on tension and thrills by manipulating the dynamic staging of the action, as well as the fine production designs and handsome cinematography to produce classic action composed of both style and substance that manages to hold up today. Of course, although this film is so much D-Day, the story substance remains more prominent, and if you're story is going to be overlong and messily-executed, it still better be a worthy one. Well, sure enough, this script, while plagued, is extremely original in its concept of multiple story angles in the midst of war alone. Still, that's not the only inventive concept within this story, because where most war epics tell us of the tales on the battlefield, and almost always the American side of it, this film explores the sidelines, studying on the verbal tension that determines most every battle and stage during wartime, and does it all while showing us every side of the battlefield, without bias and with intellegence, which isn't to say that you don't get plenty of intimacy with the poor suckers going out there to die for their country. I really wish that the story was used to its full potential, yet it's still very worthy and inventive, and if you see this film for no other reason, see it for its refreshing concepts, if not its using a star-studded cast of classic actors, for the most part, to good use. From John Wayne - who's playing himself again, but still doing is pretty well - to Sean Connery - who showed up... somewhere -, the film is pumped with star after star and they all charm, if not impress a little bit here and there. The cast is broad and colorful, showing you why most every person in it was then or went on the be the classic stars that they are today, and while the massive cast seems to further bloat the film out of proportions, they also serves as key components to its ultimately being generally watchable, through all of its many faults.

    At the end of the indeed long day, expected padding plagues the film, though not as much a rushed moments that dilute exposition, as well as the compellingness already tainted by dry storytelling, yet what raises this film well above its potential mediocrity is its sharp production, worthy and highly unconventional storyline, as well as a massive cast of across-the-board charmers or classic stars, ultimately leaving "The Longest Day" a fairly watchable dramatisation of D-Day, both on and off the battlefield and American grounds.

    2.5/5 - Fair
  • simeondeutsch1
    April 2, 2011
    simeondeutsch1
    Take that one battle scene in the 1929 version of All Quiet on the Western Front and make it 3 hours long. The only word to describe The Longest Day: epic. It does what Saving Private Ryan tries to do, and succeeds in making it's message without blunting the emotional impact with... read more sappy cliches and without over-gorifying the action. 95/100

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Critic Reviews

Peter Canavese
June 1, 2008
Peter Canavese, Groucho Reviews

Though the film makes a few egregious historical changes for dramatic effect, The Longest Day pretty much lives and dies by its scale. [Blu-Ray] Full Review

Emanuel Levy
January 24, 2007
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

Produced by Zanuck, this WWII epic is the joint effort of 3 directors, no less than 5 writers, and numerous stars, including John Wayne. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
January 19, 2006
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Longest film imaginable at three-hours, which proves to be a hinderance. Full Review

Bob Bloom
March 25, 2005
Bob Bloom, Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

The longest movie; the stunt of too many great actors in small roles wears thin. Saving Private Ryan did it better and in much less time.

David Cornelius
December 7, 2004
David Cornelius, Hollywood Bitchslap

It is, and will most likely always remain, the definitve D-Day picture. Full Review

June 6, 2001
Empire Magazine

A far cry from the gore-drenched Saving Private Ryan, legendary producer Darryl F. Zanuck's heartfelt recreation of the D-Day landings is, in its own way, every bit as memorable. Full Review

Christopher Null
January 1, 2000
Christopher Null, Filmcritic.com

Aside from a great war tale, Day also marks what must be the only film where you can see John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Fabián, Sal Mineo, Eddie Albert, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, and Sean Connery all figh... Full Review

September 10, 2008
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Bosley Crowther
May 20, 2003
Bosley Crowther, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Carol Cling
January 23, 2004
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal

No review available.

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    • Brig. Gen. Norman Cota: 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.
    • Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt: The reinforcements will have to follow us wherever we are. We're starting the war from right here. Head inland. We're going inland.
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The Longest Day Trivia

  • Identify the film from the quote: "You remember it. Remember every bit of it, 'cause we are on the eve of a day that people are going to talk about long after we are dead and gone."  Answer »
  • True or False....Sean Connery had a minor role in the film, "The Longest Day" starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and Robert Mitchum.  Answer »
  • Which Movie has a all star cast, based on a famous event in the history of the world?  Answer »
  • Name the movie from this antonym. The Shortest Night   Answer »
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