The Longest Day [1962)

Two lines from Verlaine.

Fake them out so many times that they become crazy.

Now do you understand QAnon?

Be on the precipice of all out attack.

Call it off.

Ike did.

82nd.

101st.

Resist.

Vive la France!

Who will save us?

We are the resistance.

We are digital soldiers.

Rubber dummies.

Gliders.

Loveless.

My bloody Valentine.

You must defy all logic to win.

Logical thinking.

Our enemy is evil.

But they aren’t stupid.

When the CIA was headed by military.

Walter Bedell Smith.

Teddy Roosevelt Jr. on Utah Beach.

His son Quentin Roosevelt II on Omaha Beach.

Teddy made it a month more after the Utah landing.

The only general on D-Day to land by sea.

Age 56.

The oldest man in the invasion.

Had a heart attack one month later and died.

Quentin lived four more years.

Till 1948.

Plane crash in Hong Kong.

He was 29.

Robert Mitchum heading up (assistant) the 29th Infantry Division with his cigar.

Fort Belvoir.

Omaha.

Norman “Dutch” Cota.

Neptune.

Normandy.

It’s not where you think it’s gonna be.

It’s not the easy route.

It’s not the obvious point.

It’s the most difficult length.

It is different from previous modus operandi.

Robert Ryan heading up (assistant) the 82nd Airborne.

James M. Gavin.

But nothing beats the voice of The Duke.

A true American patriot.

Now being cancelled by the communist Left in the United States.

505th Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne.

Fort Bragg.

2nd Ranger Battalion.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

75th Ranger Regiment.

Fort Benning.

Jeffrey Hunter.

With the torpedoes.

Richard Beymer.

Must have missed him.

Red Buttons gets hung up.

Deafened by the bells.

A bit of comedy.

Sal Mineo.

4th Infantry.

Fort Carson.

Paul Anka.

Fabian.

Tommy Sands.

Bernard Montgomery.

Colin Maud with his dog.

Richard Burton is equally magnificent as John Wayne in this film.

Sean Connery is conspicuous.

Irina Demick brings us our only true beauty.

Using breasts as weapons.

As Louise Boitard.

Arletty.

Must have missed her.

Jodl wouldn’t wake up Hitler.

Who had taken a sleeping pill.

Lost time moving panzers.

Attack just after midnight.

Hitting beaches at 06:32.

Curd Jürgens knows the war will be lost.

Because Hitler took a sleeping pill.

Walter Gotell.

Must have missed him.

Heinz Reincke has good reason to be pissed.

Because the assets were in the wrong place.

Only two planes.

To counter 5,000 ships.

Peter van Eyck is annoying as fuck.

Pluskat suddenly sees 5,000 ships.

And it is too late.

Gert Fröbe will not be bringing any more coffee.

It’s too late.

This is not a masterpiece.

But it is essential viewing.

To understand the planning.

And the execution.

To have a great plan.

And things still go wrong.

Nothing will ever work out quite as you have planned.

And sometimes you have to attack during a storm.

-PD

The Spy Who Loved Me [1977)

I hate to be a downer, but this one just doesn’t cut it.  It is as bad as You Only Live Twice.  It even shares the same essential plot as that clunker.  The common theme between these two films is the director:  Lewis Gilbert.  The sad conclusion is that Gilbert did not have the auteurist touch of Guy Hamilton or Terence Young.

At least there’s the ski jump (with Union Jack parachute).  At least Jaws (Richard Kiel) is magnificently creepy.  At least there is Barbara Bach (though her acting doesn’t register as highly as her physique).  Curd Jürgens is a snoozer villain.  Don Knotts might have been scarier.

Perhaps the best part of the movie is the song.  It is genuinely great!  “Nobody Does It Better” was written by Marvin Hamlisch and sung by Carly Simon.  Sadly, it’s all down hill from the opening credits.

 

-PD