The Longest Day (released in 1962) - starring John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Sean Connery and many more - the attack on Normandy

What can you say about a war which killed and robbed the young men of their most valued possession, their future? The Longest Day is the story about that day where men and women gave their lives for peace. It tells you about the intrigues, planning, objectives, military strikes which leads to the ultimate Normandy landings to defeat the Germans.
Longest day is adapted from the book by Cornelius Ryan who did the screen play for the movie. Directed by a series of directors like Ken Annakin, Andrew Marton, Bernhard Wicki and Darryl F Zanuck, the movie boasts of a stellar cast of John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Robert Ryan, Sean Connery, Rod Steiger, Mel Ferrer, Robert Wagner, Eddie Albert, Edmond O'Brien, Richard Burton, Kenneth More, Peter Lawford, George Segal, Richard Todd, Red Buttons, John Gregson, Leslie Phillips, and many more.
The opening scene of the film shows us the young soldiers indulging in a play of cards and the camera pans to reveal the large number of them concentrated in the barracks ready for the fighting. Then you can see the German soldiers and officers debating the possibility of the attack. Many Germans do not anticipate the attack on Normandy. Then comes the scene where a German soldier distributing tea to the officers looks up to the horizon seeing almost five thousand ships and just gasps. And then the ships start firing.



The Paratroopers are airdropped into the enemy territory with of them stuck on a steeple forced to watch the battle from above. Long shots of French troops running in to battle with German planes mowing them down is one cinematic spectacle. There are real poignant situations where allied and German troops march side by side with out even knowing and the murdered and wounded in the streets of Normandy helped by the locals.
This movie also shows the German point of view, with their war preparedness as well as their Bureaucratic wrangles and indecisiveness. The Germans expecting an attack on Calais (Hitler was expecting an attack there based on a skilled program of deception), are caught unawares at Normandy. The film depicts the desperation of German officers like Rommel who understands that the war is fought and won on the beaches.
All the officers like General Eisenhower, Theodore Roosevelt Jr, Norman Cota, John Howard and all soldiers are almost accurately pictured. Another interesting feature is that all the soldiers speak their own mother tongue which is delivered to the audience through subtitles. I feel that this is more of an anti-war film because it does not show the battle but the men who sacrifice a lot through battle. At the end of the movie you are overcome with respect for the dead irrespective of the nationality for they did what you wouldn't do.
This movie is shot entirely in black and white to give you the stark picture of the war. It was one of the box office successes too. It won the Oscars for best cinematography and special effects. Also nominated for 5 other awards including the best picture it has raked up numerous other awards too. See it for the men who fought for to keep civilization from going under the rule of tyranny.

The Hustler (1961) - Starring Paul Newman - a huge hit, a modern classic

The Hustler (released in 1961) was a movie ostensibly about a pool game, about the efforts of a talented pool player to defeat the reigning pool champion, about the tribulations that he had to suffer in this process, including the losses. In reality, The Hustler is now defined as a movie defining the character of a person, the winning and losing that makes up the character. The movie is classified as a classic movie, continuing to rate positive reviews. The characters look like real characters, with their anguish, their weaknesses, their obsessions, and how they shrug off adversity in the face of an ambition. The movie also benefited the game of pool to a very high degree, since pool was declining in popularity for decades; but the movie had a big role to play in pushing the popularity of the game into reverse direction, making pool popular again. The movie is now compared with the later 'The Color of Money', but while the later movie is more smooth and polished, The Hustler is a much more raw look at human emotions, about what makes a person win or lose. The Hustler got a number of Oscar nominations, 9 in all, and won 2 (Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White (Harry Horner and Gene Callahan) and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White (Eugen Schüfftan)).
Newman was nominated for Best Actor role, but did not get the award, instead getting it decades later for a role that was a continuation of the movie, The Color of Money (with some critics calling the Oscar award as a recognition that he should have got the award for the Best Actor role for The Hustler).



The movie was based on the 1959 novel (of the same name) by author Walter Tavis, and the book was adapted by Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen for the movie, with Rossen directing the movie. The main stars of the movie are Paul Newman as Eddie Felson, Jackie Gleason as Minnesota Fats, Piper Laurie as Sarah and George C. Scott as Bert.
The movie is the story of "Fast Eddie" Felson (Paul Newman), who is traveling with his friend Charlie (Myron McCormick) chasing "Minnesota Fats" (Jackie Gleason), a famous pool player. He meets Fats at Fats home town, and they agree to play for money. Eddie is ahead, but gets carried away and refuses to quit even when Charlie asks him to quit; then a professional gambler Bert Gordon (George C. Scott) is called over by Fats, and he diagnoses Eddie as a loser, without character; and sure enough, by the time that everything is through Eddie has lost everything except for $200.
Eddie meets an alcoholic girl, walking with a limp, Sarah Packard (portrayed pretty well by Piper Laurie); she refuses to take him in initially, but after they meet again and again, she lets him into the house. Eddie continues to hunger to challenge Fats again, and Charlie and Eddie have a face-off and then separation. And then Eddie ties up with Bert, who agrees to back Eddie in return for a 75% take from the returns. And then Eddie will challenge Fats again, but at what cost to Eddie ?