fbpx

Fanspot
Landing beach

Movie The Longest Day Darryl F. Zanuck (1962)
The first major film to tell the story of the hell of the Allied landings in Normandy, The Longest Day has left its mark on the memories of the inhabitants of the island of Ré, where part of the filming took place. It is here, on the south beach of Rivedoux-Plage that the director Daryl F. Zanuck filmed one of the most important sequences, namely the landing.
Beach of Sablanceaux
Sablanceaux beach by ile-de-re. Wikimedia.

There are only two kinds of men who will remain on that beach: those who have already been killed and those who will be killed.

Brigadier General Norman Cota (Robert Mitchum)

Usually, life goes on peacefully in Rivedoux-Plage. On this day in 1961, however, the beach at Sablanceaux was certainly agitated. The film crew of The Longest Day, a $10 million American blockbuster, is busy on the long strip of sand re-enacting the landing of Allied troops in Normandy on 6 June 1945. Director Darryl F. Zanuck chose this beach for several reasons. The site allows to take advantage of a rather mild climate and is thus favourable to a serene shooting. The natural light is also magnificent. The presence of German blockhouses also anchors the location definitively in history and saves the production precious dollars in its re-enactment endeavors.

In order to recruit extras, Darryl F. Zanuck mobilized 1500 soldiers from the Arpetee promotions of the Saintes 722 air base near Rochefort. To thank them, he will even offer a cinema to the base. Cinema for the occasion called The Longest Day. Nevertheless, the logistics are important and the filmmaker has to shoot the sequence six times before having usable images in the final cut. It is on the beach of Sablanceaux that the general views of the landing are produced.

Fifty years later, the former soldiers who played in the film met again on the same beach for a commemorative ceremony. The opportunity for them to remember this intense day of shooting. Jean-Claude Galloyer, the president of the EAMAA association, class of 1961, recalled: “It was an unforgettable moment,” he adds. If you watch the film carefully, some details may seem amusing. We were all wearing French or English helmets, not American ones. We also realize that the fatigues have zippers which was not the case on the actual landing day. Another peculiarity in the film is that there are soldiers running on the beach with a gun in their hands. In reality, they are all wooden rifles carved from 8mm plywood.

2000

2000 real soldiers were hired by the production of The Longest Day to act as extras.

The longest day
The longest day. All rights reserved: 20th Century Fox

Sablanceaux

Rivedoux-Plage is the first town on the island of Ré to present itself to visitors from the mainland. The beach of Sablanceaux, located in the south, faces La Rochelle and the island of Aix.

Considered as the cradle of modern oyster farming, the commune of Rivedoux-Plage has several tourist sites of interest such as its famous bridge, its small harbor, on the north coast, the Chauvreau lighthouse, the Redoubt, a fortification built by Vauban in 1674, the House of the Count d’Hastrel and the tide mill. Frequented by swimmers and bathers, the south beach is also a famous surf spot. The blockhouses of the Second World War, once present, have since been destroyed. The site remains popular for having hosted the filming of The Longest Day in the early 1960s.

Go there
Thank you for respecting the privacy and tranquility of the occupants of this place whose address is taken from the public data available on the Internet. If you are the owner and want us to remove your address, please contact us at site [@] fantrippers.com

The Fantrippers Buying Board

New York's guide to the 100 cult places for 2019 films, series, music, comics and novels

Guide New York to 1000 cult movies, series, music, comics and novels locations (French Edition)

Guide New York to 1000 cult movies, series, music, comics and novels locations NEW EDITION Discover New York differently with our best seller in a new edition enriched with many new places of worship, thirty courses, new photos and anecdotes in 640 exciting pages. The barracks of Ghostbusters,the famous bridgeOnce upon a time in America,the Katz Delicatessen of When Harry met Sally…,the building of Friends, Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment in Sex and the City, Superman’s Daily Planet, Leonard Cohen’s Chelsea Hotel, the subway station of the legendary music video Bad by Michael Jackson, the places evoked in the novels of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Auster, Marc Levy, Guillaume Musso… DISCOVER NEW YORK IN A NEW AND ORIGINAL CONCEPT

Fantrippers' opinion
Content quality

Interest for fans

Value for money

Discover all the places The Longest Day on our map


Facebook Twitter Instagram

By Gilles Rolland

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Passionné de cinéma, de rock and roll, de séries TV et de littérature. Rédacteur de presse et auteur des livres Le Heavy Metal au cinéma, Paroles de fans Guns N' Roses, Paroles de fans Rammstein et Welcome to my Jungle : 100 albums rock et autres anecdotes dépareillées. Adore également voyager à la recherche des lieux les plus emblématiques de la pop culture.

Let's discuss this fanspot

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Commentaires
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments