The Longest Day

"THE INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIMED HIT JUST AS IT WAS SHOWN IN THE MAJOR CAPITALS OF THE WORLD!"

1962 2h 58m EN

🙌

7.6

BANGER

★7.6TMDB · 1,058

WarDramaHistory

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French. Marshall Erwin Rommel, touring the defenses being established as part of the Reich's Atlantic Wall, notes to his officers that when the Allied invasion comes they must be stopped on the beach. "For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day"

“THE INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIMED HIT JUST AS IT WAS SHOWN IN THE MAJOR CAPITALS OF THE WORLD!”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Where to watch · US

Amazon VideoRent

Apple TV StoreRent

Google Play MoviesRent

Google Play MoviesBuy

YouTubeBuy

Fandango At HomeBuy

Cast

John Wayne
Lt. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort
Robert Mitchum
Brig. Gen. Norman Cota
Henry Fonda
Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr.
Richard Burton
Flight Officer David Campbell
Sean Connery
Pvt. Flanagan
Leslie Phillips
RAF Officer Mac
Robert Ryan
Brig. Gen. James M. Gavin
Paul Anka
U.S. Army Ranger

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ken Annakin
Writers: Cornelius Ryan, Romain Gary, James Jones
Languages: English, German, French
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 178 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

64 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

248+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ken Annakin, shot by Jean Bourgoin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Samuel E. Beetley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ken Annakin directs. Jean Bourgoin behind the camera. Maurice Jarre scores. Samuel E. Beetley cuts. A long sit — settle in. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, German, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 178 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Made its money back 5.0× over at the box office.
364 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, German, French.
5248+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Ken Annakin, shot by Jean Bourgoin. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Maurice Jarre. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Samuel E. Beetley shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9John Wayne and Robert Mitchum and Henry Fonda carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "THE INTERNATIONAL ACCLAIMED HIT JUST AS IT WAS SHOWN IN THE MAJOR CAPITALS OF THE WORLD!".
11IMDB entry: tt0056197 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 12 themes, including "steel helmet", "resistance", "allies", "world war ii".
13Released under 15 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jean Bourgoin
Original score: Maurice Jarre
Editing: Samuel E. Beetley
Runtime: 178 min · 2h 58m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $50,100,000
Return: 501% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: The Longest Day (1962)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White
Silver nugget for the best foreign film
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
National Board of Review Award for Best Film
Academy Award for Best Special Effects

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ken Annakin

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-06-22
★ 8/10
For the Allies as well as the Germans, it will be the longest day. The events of D-Day, told on a grand scale from both the Allied and German points of view. The retelling of June 6, 1944, from the perspectives of the Germans, US, British, Canadians, and the Free French gets an all star production. One of the great war movie epics, it has all the requisite blunderbuss spectacle and heroism as the Allies invade Normandy. It's not hard to see why it was such a box office winner, sure it's a touch too long given that a lot of characters don't really have much to do, but performances are strong and the slices of humour off set some of the national stereotypes on show. One has to marvel at the ambition of the production, Fox Studios boss Darryl F. Zanuck spent $10 million to get it onto the big screen, and it shows. Narrative is split into three parts, the preparation, the operations on land and sea in readiness for the Normandy assault, and then the landings in all their powerful glory. For sure we have seen more authentic war movies post The Longest Day, but it undeniably deserves its place as a template movie whose power to entertain in any era forever holds firm. 8/10
CinemaSerf2024-06-03
★ 7/10
John Wayne may have featured just slightly more than anyone else in this drama, but it's very much an ensemble effort that delivers a film with a great deal of authenticity to it. It's all set around the day of the D-Day landings in 1944. The weather on England's south coast was, in the words of their meteorologist, "akin to mid-winter". Delay meant more frustrations for everyone so off they go using just about every form of transportation available - gliders, planes, tanks, landing craft - you name it, as a quarter of a million men (plus lots of sparkling "Tommies") headed to Normandy. Meantime, we also see a fairly plausible perspective from the Nazi side of the channel. They've been preparing for an invasion for a while, but are unsure where and when it will come and the apprehension is beginning to take it toll. What's also clear is that the High Command are, themselves, losing faith with the battle tactics of the Bohemian corporal and much less afraid to let it be known. It's now that the story picks up the pace as troops land by sea and air and face the entrenched enemy who are determined to stop the establishment of a beach-head. With bullets flying and explosions everywhere the cinematography, stunt arranging and pyrotechnics really do give us a sense of the dangers the men faced trying to secure a few miles of sand. There's a lovely, short, cameo from Bourvil as the mayor of a small town so delighted to see them that he turns up, suitably sashed and armed with a bottle of champagne to celebrate as the shells drop all around them! Gert Fröbe also finds his milk round become just a touch too perilous too, allowing just a little humour to creep into the story of precision logistics that didn't always go to plan. It's effectively and tightly edited and the momentum drives itself as we see but this one day - no conclusions, not even the end of the end of the beginning. It's lengthy, but each beach has it's own story to tell and the four creative brains behind this project keep it enthralling, for the most part, for a watchable three hours of horror and hope.