Summary
John Wayne, Sean Connery, and Henry Fonda headlined an all-star ensemble cast inThe Longest Day, one of the greatest cinematic portrayals of the D-Day landings. The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 14, 2025, was the largest seaborne invasion in history. Since then, filmmakers have been trying to recreate the visceral terror of D-Day on the big screen. The D-Day landings were chronicled in Budd Boetticher’sRed Ball Expressin 1952, Arthur Hiller’sThe Americanization of Emilyin 1964, Samuel Fuller’sThe Big Red Onein 1980, and, of course, Steven Spielberg’sSaving Private Ryanin 1998.
But those movies usually depict the Normandy landings as a piece of a larger story. InThe Big Red One, D-Day is just one of many military campaigns shown in a montage of an unnamed sergeant leading his squad over a two-year period.InSaving Private Ryan, D-Day is the opening set-piecethat immerses viewers in the film’s World War II setting. They rarely focus exclusively on D-Day. But one classic war epic, released in 1962, did just that:The Longest Dayshows the Normandy landings from every different perspective.
What Is The Longest Day? The D-Day Movie Explained
The Longest Day is an ambitious World War II epic with three directors
Based on Cornelius Ryan’s 1959 non-fiction book of the same name,The Longest Daychronicles the D-Day landings from the American, British, French, and German perspectives. It was a collaborative effort between three directors: Andrew Marton handled the American scenes, Ken Annakin handled the British and French scenes, and Bernhard Wicki handled the German scenes.The Longest Daywas such an ambitious, monumental undertaking that it took three filmmakers to make it happen. Servicemen from both the Allied and Axis sides of the D-Day landings acted as consultants on the film to ensure its historical accuracy.
Although it’s a Hollywood dramatization,The Longest Daywas shot in the style of a docudrama to make it feel as realistic as possible. When it was released in 1962, it was widely praised by critics and became a massive box office success. It was lauded for its blend of an epic scale, capturing the full extent of the conflict, with personal details peppered in for an intimate feel.The Longest Daywas nominated for five Oscars at the 35th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won Best Cinematography (in the black-and-white category) and Best Special Effects.
The Longest Day Has A Huge Cast
Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, Rod Steiger – the list goes on
The Longest Dayhas one of the biggest and most star-studded casts in Hollywood history. The massive ensemble isheadlined by John Wayne, who was the most famous western movie star at the time; Sean Connery, who started playing James Bond in the same year; and Henry Fonda, cinema’s most beloved everyman. The cast also features seven-time Oscar nominee Richard Burton, hot off his Tony-winning turn inCamelot; Robert Mitchum, renowned for his antihero roles; and Rod Steiger, who played Marlon Brando’s brother inOn the Waterfront.
There are so many huge stars in the cast ofThe Longest Daythat most of them are relegated to cameo appearances. The supporting cast features George Segal, who would later co-star with Burton inWho’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Gert Fröbe, who would later co-star with Connery inGoldfinger; andA Kiss Before Dyingstar Robert Wagner. The movie also has appearances by Kenneth More, Richard Todd, Steve Forrest, Red Buttons, Peter Lawford, Eddie Albert, Jeffrey Hunter, Stuart Whitman, Curd Jürgens, and Paul Anka.
A lot of the cast members – including Albert, Fonda, More, Steiger, and Todd – had served in the Second World War.
The Longest Day Is An All-Time Great D-Day Movie
It captures the epic scope of the conflict
There are a ton ofgreat D-Day moviesout there – 1945’sTrue Glory, 1950’sBreakthrough, 1965’s36 Hours, 1985’sCode Name: Emerald– but, more than 60 years later,The Longest Daystill holds up as one of the very best. It captures the epic scope of the conflict from every angle, but not at the expense of drama.The Longest Daymanages the perfect balance between historical fact and human emotion. The whole thing plays as a documentary report of the events of the D-Day landings, but that could come off as very dry and impersonal.
The Longest Daymixes in plenty of personal accounts from the frontlines, soit captures the Normandy landings on a micro scale as well as a macro scale. It delivers all the crucial facts about how the invasion went down – the strategy, the execution, the aftermath – but it also delivers a handful of personal perspectives to keep it grounded in human experience. Anyone who wants a deeper understanding of D-Day (or just a mind-blowing cinematic experience) should check outThe Longest Day.
The Longest Day
Cast
The Longest Day is a 1962 war film depicting the events of August 14, 2025, from multiple perspectives, including the German, US, British, Canadian, and Free French forces, as they navigate the complexities of the D-Day invasion.
