The longest day

[ElvisFan]

Just make sure you watch "A Bridge Too Far".

It is, without a microscopic particle of doubt, the greatest war film ever.

That film, and "The Longest Day" were both based on books by Cornelius Ryan. Both are sitting on my bookshelves.

 

[Jokester]

please tell me your joking, Schindler's list fully falls into the 'War Film' category

The Holocaust wasn't reliant on World War 2, it would have likely happended regardless if Hitler hadn't invaded Poland. Jews were being persecuted by the Nazis long before the start of the war, the fact that the worst atrocities happened during the war for me doesn't make it a war film, but just a historical drama.

I've always found The Longest Day to be a bit disjointed.

 

[Squark]

Just make sure you watch "A Bridge Too Far".

It is, without a microscopic particle of doubt, the greatest war film ever.

That film, and "The Longest Day" were both based on books by Cornelius Ryan. Both are sitting on my bookshelves.

A Bridge Too Far is easily one of my favourite films, a fantastic cast and a great story with some amazing paradrop scenes, plus Gene Hackman's Polish accent adds some comedy



The longest day is a very good film too, haven't watched it for quite a while though.

 

[physichull]

The longest day is probably the most historically accurate film account of the events on D-Day. It doesn't just concentrate on Omaha beach (though there was a lot of fighting there so it does feature prominently), there is also good accounts of the Free French at Ouistreham Casino and Pegasus bridge (Richard Todd, who actually fought at Pegasus bridge, plays John Howard).

The scene at the Ouistreham Casino in The Longest Day is actually the only thing that lets the film down. It was shot in the town of Port en Bessin which is between Gold and Omaha and featured the famous Casino fight you speak of. The casino itself was actually thoroughly demolished down to the basement levels when it was converted into a bunker, as seen in the image below:

 

[Tombstone]

The Longest Day is a great film, do bear in mind that it was made in the early 60s so dont be expecting the kinds of special effects and "adult" content of a modern film.

Nevertheless its a very good film depicting the events of that period. I remember reading an article once which talked about the way the film was made and mentioned that the Germans filmed the german parts, the americans filmed american parts and the british filmed the british parts and then all the parts were pieced together at the end. If that was true thats a brilliant way to do it imo.

 

[Pigeon_Killer]

Great film that's only slightly older than this thread.

 

[qqg3]

Lookup the definition of war in a dictionary, it pretty much does mean fighting or conflict at any rate. I don't know why imdb have included it as a war film, but they've also included Casablanca, probably the greatest romance film ever too - are you going to recommend that to the OP as well? Just because a film is set during a war does make it a "war film".

What about the Cold War, 30 plus years of history and not by any stretch did it primarily revolve around fighting or conflict. Just sayin'...

Both films are fantastic and awesome (in the true sense of the word) in their seperate ways.

 

[Cosimo]

Great film that's only slightly older than this thread.

One of my favourite war films and one of those films that doesn’t age.