The Longest Day

This epic film has a lot going for it, including a huge budget, an all-star cast and masses of military co-operation. It also has the clever idea of providing a composite picture of D-Day from multiple national viewpoints, while the use of black-and-white photography conveys a sense of newsreel authenticity. The film holds its three-hour length well and is far from gung ho in highlighting the errors and miscalculations on both sides. The battle scenes are memorably staged and the major Hollywood stars (led by John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Robert Mitchum) fit in particularly well, but it's let down by overacting from many of the European players, some crude characterisation and pretentious vignettes.