Never Surrender: World War Two In The Movies - The Longest Day (1962)

Longest Day, The - (Original Trailer)

An all-star cast including John Wayne and Henry Fonda in a re-creation of the D-Day invasion on The Longest Day (1962).

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) We Keep Getting Fewer

First appearance for Richard Burton of course as the solitary Brit flyer entering the HQ tavern, just managing a joke about the brew when he’s approached by fellow Donald Houston, and shares word of a lost colleague, beginning another story-line, in producer Darryl F. Zanuck’s D-Day epic The Longest Day, 1962.

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Request Reluctantly Approved

Peter Lawford as Lovat, (Scottish-born British aristocrat Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, a real person) minimizing his oratory en route to the D-Day invasion, then Edmond O’Brien as Gen. Barton, and Henry Fonda (then 56, the same age as his character) finally appearing 90 minutes into the picture as Gen. Teddy Roosevelt Jr., dramatizing a famous actual event, in The Longest Day, 1962.

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Maybe I Was Wrong About Rhoda

First appearance of Rod Steiger as a fictional American navy destroyer commander, joining in the overnight assault in the early hours of June 6 , 1944, then on the deck Jeffrey Hunter as fictional Fuller, Joseph Lowe as “Sparrow,” Peter Helm as Mac, more anecdotes as producer Darryl F. Zanuck builds toward the D-Day invasion, in The Longest Day, 1962.

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Open, London Calling

Opening and scene-setting for producer Darryl F. Zanuck, hard to say which of his directors (Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki) might be working here, the first introduced characters are Paul Hartmann as a German officer, and Zanuck’s paramour Irina Demick as a French partisan, in the expansive D-Day epic The Longest Day. 1962.

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Why'd He Have To Mention Fort Bragg?

In an airplane hangar in England converted to barracks, we’ve just met Red Buttons as American G.I. Steele and Richard Beymer as Schultz, having something of a personal reckoning, observed by buddy Martini (Sal Mineo), awaiting D-Day, in producer Darryl F. Zanuck’s The Longest Day. 1962.

Longest Day, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Send 'Em To Hell

Robert Ryan as (the real) Gen. Gavin seems to be loving this bit with the flashlight, then Jack Hedley as an RAF officer briefing the men on a (real!) tactical gag, then John Wayne again as Col. Vandevoort (also a real person) with another (factual!) gimmick, and grim appraisal, building toward the event in Darryl F. Zanuck’s D-Day behemoth The Longest Day, 1962.