The World War II film The Longest Day was released in 1962.
Directed by Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, and Bernhard Wicki, the film dramatizes the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, commonly known as D-Day. Its title refers to the enormous scale and pressure of that day for both Allied and German forces.
The production was notable for its international cast, including John Wayne, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Richard Burton, Sean Connery, and Gert Fröbe. Different directors handled portions of the film, reflecting its multinational perspective and large battle scenes.
The Longest Day was adapted from Cornelius Ryan’s 1959 nonfiction book of the same name. It received five Academy Award nominations and won for cinematography and special effects. It is sometimes confused with later D-Day films such as Saving Private Ryan, but the two movies were released more than three decades apart and use very different storytelling approaches.