LGM Film Club, Part 277: The Longest Day
By 
Although I’ve seen a lot of World War II movies, I had never sat down and watched The Longest Day, Darryl Zanuck’s dream project. So I finally did. You know, it’s alright. It’s a classic 6/10 film. The battle scenes are pretty good. A lot of big stars sleepwalk through their roles. John Wayne is ridiculous as usual. Richard Burton and Henry Fonda pop in for no apparent reason. The action moves ahead appropriately, though to get all of it you do have to know a bit about the details of the invasion ahead of time. I had to look some things up as I went, for instance. I really thought the Germans had the best roles here because there was no need to find a place for 25 stars and so Curd Jurgens could glower his way through the film. I can’t see ever needing to watch this again. But I am glad I finally did. One of these days, I will read the Cornelius Ryan book it is based upon.