The Longest Day - 1962 - Five Directors, Every Actor in Hollywood

I recently saw the war movie "Fury" on DVD. It was a total piece of crap - a film for war mongers. Also, I don't know whether to believe that a tank crew in World War II really might have treated each other as that tank crew did. Based on all the World War II documentaries and films and TV shows I have seen, US guys in World War II tended to cooperate with each other better than in Fury. I tend to think that all recent war movies have been influenced by narratives that came out of the Vietnam War concerning totally dysfunctional men and units partly at war with each other while fighting a common enemy for unknown or unjustifiable reasons.

Well, let's go back to the early 1960s and see the mythology that was created around World War II. This is a highly organized effort where the men treat each other with respect and there is 100% cooperation. Fury and The Longest Day are probably two extremes in the portrayal of combat in WWII.

Five different directors worked to make this film and probably every actor in Hollywood at the time was in this film. The funniest thing is that they chose macho-man John Wayne to play General James Gavin of the 82nd Airborne Division. Gavin was a scholar as well as warrior - not sure the casting was really perfect for this film.