Guns of the Longest Day

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winstonsmith

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Just finished The Longest Day . Great movie. First movie with a successful helicopter shot. The shot I speak of is when the French commandoes (oxymoron?) assualt the casino. So what did you guys think of this movie?

Lot's of vintage gun action in this one.

American small arms I saw:
-Thompson
-Bar
-Garand
-.50 Cal m2
-1911

British:
-Bren
-Sten
-Lee Enfield mk4
-Webley

German:
Mp40
M98k
Luger
Mg42

Did I miss anything?

Also, two questions. What was Lord Lovat's rifle? It could have been a Lee Enfield, but I was watching a worn out VHS copy and couldnt make it out. And also, what was that weird tube launched rocket launcher thingamabob the french commandoes were using on the bunker underneath the casino?
 
Been a LONG time since I saw the movie but I think Lord Lovat had a Mannlicher carbine.


The French guys I think had the British-made PIAT (Projector Infantry Antitank) which is spring-fired (makes a SPRONG! when it fires and recocks itself).
 
Watch for the inaccuracy when the German soldier shoots the U.S. paratrooper in the dark with a 98K. The G.I. snaps his "clicker" once and gets the 2 click reply which is of course the bolt of the 98K chambering a round. Two things:

1) Why would a German soldier be walking around in the dark with paratroopers all around without a round in the chamber?

2) When the German shoots, the sound is "Bang, bang" in rapid succession, WAY too fast to work the bolt on the 98K and fire another round.

My 98K won't make a very good 2 click sound as shown in the movie.
 
"My 98K won't make a very good 2 click sound as shown in the movie."

Well, alamo, you're just gonna havta hire a more creative Foley guy! ;) :neener:
 
I saw it when I was a kid. Seemed pretty cool, but after BOB & SPR, it's laughably bad.
 
There was one scene towards the end where one of the officers (can't remember who) is holding a break top revolver .. dunno what it was though .. anyone ?
 
If he was british, more than likely a webly topbreak, I think it was the webly-fosberry, sorry been a long time since I've played with brit handguns.
 
The Longest Day is one movie I will watch over and over. It is one of the best war movies I have seen. True, it does not gete as down-and-dirty as Saving Private Ryan, but I don't think that was it's purpose. It was meant to give an overview of what could truly be called the longest day in recent history yet still be viewed within one sitting. TLD is a pretty accurate history lesson that is easy and enjoyable to watch.
 
Great Kids Movie

I love this movie - it is fairly accurate (historically) and well made for its day. What makes is so good for me, is that it was made at a time when you did not have to see teh people blow-up to know they died. So . . . I can watch it with my kids and give a history lesson without worrying about F words and body parts flying. That level of reality can be saved for later.

And it has John Wayne in it :D

JPM

PS: Get a DVD!
 
the British-made PIAT (Projector Infantry Antitank) which is spring-fired (makes a SPRONG! when it fires and recocks itself).
Click to expand...

right weapon, correct way of firing, but...... that MoFo does NOT recock itself!! and was in fact a royal brass SOB to cock, the projector spring was near the same strength as that found on a jeep, and had to be compressed for each shot by the shooter/crew. the muzzle was placed on the ground, the person's feet on to two flanges by the muzzle, the padded butt of the weapon against the body of the shooter/cocker, grab the two bars sticking out on each side of the tube (may have been one single bar don't know) and haul, grunt, and strain till it clicks in place or you have a hernia.....
 
According to what I have read in British small arms books, the PIAT was supposed to be "self-re-cocking". I also remember reading that, for this to work, one had to have a VERY stiff shoulder when firing it, and that's rarely the case in battle. So, the operator had to manually recock the PIAT which was described as "looking like a bout of all-star wrestling".

It must have been fun trying to do this from behind low cover!!!!!!!!!!
 
I just caught the last 1/2 hour of it 2 nights ago, and I thought that I saw a soldier holding an M-1 carbine.

Great movie, one of the WW2 classics. My other favorites are:

Patton
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Battle of Britain
The Battle of the Bulge
Midway
The Sands of Iwo Jima

The following are not true classics, because they haven't been out long enough, but I liked them:

Saving Private Ryan
The Windtalkers
Enemy at the Gates (I love the scenes near the beginning where you see the war-torn skyline of Stalingrad, and when you see the waves of Soviet troops being forced by machine-gun toting NKVD troops to charge the German lines. It showed the desperation of the conflict and the barbarity of the Soviet system. I also like how Zeitsev used a common bolt-action M-N to pick off 5 Krauts near the beginning - and it is available for about $100 at most gun shows, which drives the anti-gunners absolutely NUTS.
 
To add to Sam Adams List:

A Bridge Too Far, also from a book by Cornelius Ryan.

Sir Richard was packing a .455 Webley top break, the .38/200 was more common, but the Brits were short on handguns. So short they issued the 1934 Barettas they captured in the Western Desert, before the Afrika Corps arrived, to many of their Intelligence people.

Geoff
Who watched TLD on cable last night, Red Buttons steals the movie from Henry Fonda, John Wayne and enough British Noblemen to form a round table!
Who also wants to know who played the Bloody Beachmaster, with Winston on a leash?
 
I just saw this movie at my school in history class. It took the whole week to see it. The part with the paratroupers landing in the town is sad/disturbing. The movie was great however and shows the bravery of the troups. The gliders are funny too.
 
Some other pretty good old WWII war movies that might be considered classics is:

Sahara - H. Bogart
The Cruel Sea - Jack Hawkins (Brit movie)
Battleground - Van Johnson
30 Seconds Over Tokyo - Van Johnson

These movies were more drama than action, and except 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, they are all fiction. All were made during or right after WWII.
 
Jeff Timm wrote:

Who also wants to know who played the Bloody Beachmaster, with Winston on a leash?

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Didn't catch his name in the credits but did you happen to notice one of the soldiers he was talking to in one of the scenes? It was Sean Connery before he was 007.

Then there's the classic scene of the British soldiers holding the bridge, waiting for the troops that hit the beach in the morning to relieve them ["Hold until relieved"]. When they're running low on ammo and things are looking grim, someone hears the bagpipes of the reinforcements.

Saw this in a couple of other movies, including "The Desert Rats" with Richard Burton. It's the British version of the cavalry coming in the nick of time. There is always the beleaguered British force, down to their last few rounds of ammo, can't hold off another attack. This looks like the end.
A Tommy looks up from his foxhole and says "Blimey, I think I hear the 'pipes". His mate says "Awww, you're balmy". "No, listen...." [faint sound of bagpipes......getting louder & louder]
 
If you look closely you see a German firing a Bren-gun looking thing. A BRNO ZB-30. Good eye for detail that they put that in.

That part where the soldier was shot after the German worked his rifle, making the "clicking" noise...there's a story coming out of D-Day that that actually happened. Same for the poor guy that was stuck on the bell tower and had hearing loss, and the REALLY poor guy that managed to parachute right into a well.
 
The History Channel had a "Hollywood vs. History" show on "The Longest Day". I recall they had a problem with the paratroopers shooting their Thompsons as they parachuted into the German held city [St. Mere Eglis]. Don't recall specifically what the complaint was, maybe someone else does.
 
Best line in The Longest Day...

Robert Ryan as General James Gavin, 82 ABN, addressing the Army Pathfinders:

"Remember, when you land as Normandy you'll only have one friend.....God."

(then reaching down)

"And this."

Holding up and operating the bolt on an M-1 Garand rifle.
 
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