Probably my favorite movie about World War 2, after Band of Brothers. The Longest Day tells the story of the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944 -- starting about 12 hours before. It's not as graphic as the much-praised opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, but the B&W film has a documentary feel that makes it seem more real. The battle scenes are very effective.

What I like about this movie is how we see the battle from the point of view of French resistance fighters, German Generals, and British, French, and American soldiers of all ranks from the lowest private all the way to Bradley, Montgomery, and Eisenhower themselves.

It loses half a star because some of the acting is embarrassing -- especially from John Wayne early in the film. But I love it all.

Also, I just remembered that I love Patton more than either this movie or Band of Brothers. But still. . .

Just watched this one for the first time, at work

Personally I don't find D-day films that fascinating, but this must be the definitive one, for sure. There's good things here. Worth noting in particular, is a brilliantly shot scene in which French forces occupy a small town just inland. It was filmed from helicopters, lasted a minute or two, and does everything right.

And, btw, when the Americans had Henry Fonda in charge at one beach, Robert Mitchum at another and John Wayne somewhere in between - it's no wonder they won.

Much more historically accurate the Saving Private Ryan and can be viewed accordingly.Richard Todd who plays Major Howard at Pegasus Bridge actually met on the bridge after initial invasion.

This could also be called the The Longest Movie, but it has every male movie star alive at the time and tells the story faithfully. The movie really captures the monumental effort and history changing events surrounding D-Day. It captures the human element and sacrifice of that important day.

saving private ryan type war film... Epic Omaha beach scenes

This is a quality war tale that is never boring despite its 3 hour length as you see D-Day from the various countries involved and there are plenty of interesting characters to watch. The action scenes are still fine to watch even today. And what an incredible cast.

Just watched this one for the first time, at work

It might not be Saving Private Ryan but this is still a fascinating account of the D Day landings from various sides of the conflict. A number of cameos from the likes of Sean Connery and Richard Burton make for interesting watching.

Possibly the greatest war movie ever made.

I'm not sure that this really is a good film, but I enjoyed the view of what happened on D Day from all sides, and that we heard Germans speaking German, the French speaking French, and so on. There was of course an element of "the Americans won the war" but that idea wasn't as intrusive as it is in some films which have the war starting at the end of 1941, a mistake The Longest Day didn't make, and some of the characterisation was a little flat, but this is a long film which didn't drag.