Final Draft

The never ending appeal of war films with a critical comparison between The Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan.

Over the years there have been many attempts to capture the events of D-

Day on the 6 th of June 1944 such as D-Day the sixth of June (Koster,

1956), Overlord (Abrams, 2018) and many others but no films do it like

Saving Private Ryan (Spielberg, 1998) and The Longest Day (Annakin,

1962). This essay with show the appeal of the war film genre and critically

compare these master pieces of cinema.

"Its a war that never ends cinematically speaking"(Pulver, 2020) which

perfectly describes the thought of war in cinema meaning the genre could be

loved or hated from a certain point of view. The appeal of war films is

something that could be instant or nurtured over time .The style of war

 shown that would be prefer by at the general movie going audience is a

big part of the appeal and weather you prefer the "varnished version of

the truth" (The National, 2020) from the 1950s to 60s or the physiological

thrillers of the late 1970s to present day. It is said that "Humans by nature

are inquisitive and seek knowledge to assist in the understanding of

life , its complexities , virtues and horrors"(Russell, 2020) so naturally

we should be drawn to war films in our pursuit in knowledge

and excitement which is what the war films of an older generation where

like showing brave and daring soldiers "fighting a just, righteous battle

against the forces of evil"(The National, 2020) whilst educating you on

events and people of the second world war. But then we venture into the

late 1970s into 80s and carrying onto present day where war films shifted

from showing glorified victory into loss and despair where films

start showing the repercussions and the harsh truth the allies lost a great

amount of battle and suffered heavy losses showing a darker and more

depressing representation which matured with its audiences and

thrilled audiences with its new darker tone.

The evolution is shown well between The longest day (Annakin,1962)

representing the light hearted patriotism from the 60s to 70s and Saving

Private Ryan (Speilberg,1998) which depicts the horror of war and its

serious tone and nature related with war films of the 1980s to present day.

Both these films depict the Normandy beach landings on June 6th 1944 but

from very different perspectives shown by a directors unique vision. The contrast is as a heroic affair whilst the

other shows hell on earth and a dark horrific massacre. This shows the

evolution in the genre and how audiences have also changed wanting a

more realistic, gritty account of war, similar to the effects of New Hollywood movement

in the 60s where audiences were tired of seeing a hyper realistic view of the

world currently favoring the dark gritty realistic adaptations of war

currently in cinema which depict the serious repercussions of war and the

effects on the brave men who have fought through out time in these

conflicts. The evolution is staggering due to how war has been changed

through cinema in a short amount of time. Some could say this is because

audience’s have become decensorcised to violence. The intentions of this

movement was to “re-work and re-imagine some of holly woods classic

genres – such as the crime, the war film, and the western- and by

doing so, presented a more critical view of America” (Hitchman, 2013)

and by doing so brought in a “level of realism and intensity”(Hitchman,

2013). One of the most popular films that started this movements was The

Wild Bunch (Peckinpah, 1969) with its violence and dark themes related

and hit audiences with surprising dark realism and violence labelled to be a

“slow motion blood bath” (Mathews, 1994) and when the movement

became popular it bleached into other genres and directors style which set

trends and created classics.

The longest day depicts the Normandy landings as a brave operation with a

cast of iconic actors such as John Wayne Henry Fonda and Sean Connery

this version of the event described as the "definitive classic" (Jones,

2020) which depicts heroism on behalf of the allies where in (Figure 1) a

scene of an American ranger that is climbing up the cliffs at (footer 1) pointe

du hock where he notices that one of the ropes next to him is falling and if it

falls the other man climbing up will be killed so he is holding himself up and

carrying another man up himself  showing the brute determination bravery

and heroism of soldiers in war in the 60s. As well as if I was to look at the

Omaha beach landings where the setting is a lot more calming and relaxed

than the modern-day counterpart of Saving Private Ryan because after

leaving the landing craft the troops are not being shot at and some extras in

the back are borderline smiling. Also, before they even reach the beach the

soldiers are calm and relaxed where as in Saving Private Ryan the soldiers

are petrified throwing up and praying to god for their safe return to their

families and country (Figure 2 and 3).

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is a critically acclaimed award winning masterpiece

(figure 4) directed by Steven Spielberg known for its “gritty realistic

recreation” (Jones, 2020). The films is mainly a fiction film but with

important aspects of truth such as the epic opening and the overall plot of

sending a man home due to loss of three brothers all killed in combat

throughout the war. The darker elements of this film can be seen in a scene

in the beginning of the film where in the beach landings after they push up

the beach which is brilliant for two reasons first the scene shows two German

surrendering when two American solders gun then down when they are

unarmed and scared. The reason this scene is praised is because it shows

the fact the Americans committed atrocities the same as the Germans and

 secondly the scene shows its realism with what the German says as the audience you dont know because you think there speaking German so

you assume but the real translation was "please dont shoot me I am

not German I am Czech I didnt kill anyone I am Czech" (Robert

rodat 1998)this shows that he is scared and docent want to fight in a war

that has nothing to do with him this scene shows true realism in war and

the horrors that go with it. Saving private ryan is mainly known for its dark

and violent themes but it is known much for its “traditional” themes of

“loyalty, courage ,self-sacrifice”(denby, 2020). A good example of this is

during a scene when the team comes across an American held town where

a member of the squad (vin diesel) tries to reunite a child with his family

and is caught out in the open and killed. This scene shows the

determination of the Americans by trying to undo the damage and

destruction by the Germans. Saving Private Ryan broke the mold and set

extremely high standards for films to follow making this film a must watch

for war enthusiasts and film lovers.

Saving private ryan and the longest day both try to represent the events of

D-Day both show this event from the same perspectives as the Americans

but in very different ways. Such as the longest day is a more relaxed take

of the events compared to saving private ryan which is an edge of the seat

bloodbath thriller. Despite the fact they are retelling the same event it is

shown to be different in ways the longest day shows more large scale

conflict showing the other allied landings by the British and French

involvement in this campaign who were described as “gallant” (denby,

2020) where on the other hand Saving Private Ryan is showing only the

Americans breakout into Europe and mainly on a seemingly unrelated side

plot. Another difference is shown with the pre landing attitudes of the

soldiers, in The Longest Day the soldier aboard the landing craft are calm

relaxed and seemingly prepared for what is to come as seen in (figure 5)

but as seen in (figure 2 and 3) the soldiers are petrified, being sick, praying

to god with shacking hands showing they are nervous and fear for their

safety.

Another difference between these films is after the departure of the landing

craft the amount of resistance they meet form the German forces is very

different such as in the longest day they have very little resistance because

even though you see scenes of the Germans preparing their defences and

getting in position ready for the allies landing but when it cuts to the allies it

is as if they are not there because when the allies rush up the beach there is

very little gun fire and when they pan out to show the whole beach there

are very little casualties as well as the extras in the back of some shots are

border line smiling and enjoying themselves which releases the tension of

the moment slightly and does not make it as realistic as it should be.

Compared to Saving Private Ryan known as the most violent and realistic

scene put to cinema in a second world war drama. In the beach invasion

shown by Saving Private Ryan the contrast is massive the second the allies

debark they are met by hailstorms of machine gun and mortar fire

slaughtering the allies. The scene in question is very graphic showing

horrific scenes of men with their guts hanging out lost limbs and the

attitudes of the soldiers is different compared to a smirk and happy attitude

the man a screaming in agony and despair calling out for their mothers to

save them. This scene is one of the most accurate and horrific scene put to

cinema and will be hard to top for the coming years.

In conclusion the appeal of war films is there if willing to accept it and as

proven can show some of the most grueling and dark scenes put to

cinema. It was even said that a “true war story is never moral it does not

instruct, nor encourage virtue” (O’Brian 1990). The goal of this essay

was to compare to accounts made my different people of the same event in

different time periods to show the evolution of the genre and quality

of the genre. The films in question where The Longest Day and Saving

Private Ryan made 40 years apart showing and by two completely different

visionary's this shows the evolution of light hearted relaxed patriotism of the 1960s to

70s and the dark threatening tone of the war genre from the 1980s to

present day whilst showing the physiological effects on a soldier and how

the audience will have matured over the years know accepting this darker

ideology of what war is and now seeing that the audience can accept this

meaning that they can now accept and evolve with a genre with the genre

showing its never ending appeal also showcasing the upgrade in quality

over a small amount of time it is amazing to think what the genre will

look like in another 60 years from now and where the genre could go and

expand to and weather it will keep with the dark and depressing tone of

today revert to the traditional patriotic version from the 1960s or weather

audiences will turn on the genre like the westerns of old and who knows

what the war film will look like in the future and weather there will be any

more content to create by that time or weather humanity has another mass

loss of life through conflict and weather that is warranted to be documented

through film.


Overall Footer

 1 Pointe Du Hock - "La Pointe du Hoc is a promontory with a 100-foot cliff overlooking the English Channel on the northwestern coast of Normandy in the Calvados department, France. During World War II it was the highest point between the American sector landings at Utah Beach to the west and Omaha Beach to the east."

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

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Robert Rodat, Saving Private Ryan Published manuscript 1998 (scene… line… act..)