by Bret W.
It’s June, 1944, and the greatest battle of World War II has begun. Where Saving Private Ryan tried to insert a human interest story into the D-Day invasion, The Longest Day perceives the invasion as THE story, and wraps up all the little substories into one glorious three-hour adventure.
The Longest Day depicts the heroism and the desperation the humanity of war. It’s not a pretty war film, and it’s certainly ahead of its time in its realism and depiction of death and futility in the heat of the battle. This is one of the finest war films ever made, and certainly one of the most star studded. The battle scenes are very realistic and show how the invasion stalled on some of the beaches where others broke through only to face further adversity inland. The glory of this film is that in three hours, it appears to capture every single second of the longest day of the war.
Fans of war films will love this film, and its even enjoyable the second and third time. Even by today’s standards, it’s a terrific film, although it’s devoid of much of the blood and gore of modern war films. Regardless, if you want to see history in the making, watch The Longest Day.
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