D-Day

Must-watch D-Day movies: The 7 greatest films about the Normandy landing

While the event itself took place eight decades ago, the masters of cinematography ensured those involved will remain in our minds.

Calum Roche

Sports-lover turned journalist, born and bred in Scotland, with a passion for football (soccer). He’s also a keen follower of NFL, NBA, golf and tennis, among others, and always has an eye on the latest in science, tech and current affairs. As Managing Editor at AS USA, uses background in operations and marketing to drive improvements for reader satisfaction.

Update: Jun 5th, 2025 05:59 EDT

From blood-soaked beaches to the quiet dread before battle, these movies capture the scale, terror, and humanity of June 6, 1944. D-Day – the codename given the to start of the operation – has been filmed, refilmed, dramatized, and dissected... but a few titles rise above the rest.

These are, in my opinion (and that of my late father) the must-watch D-Day movies that best capture the fear, chaos, strategy, and sacrifice of the Normandy landings.

Saving Private Ryan (1998)

My list couldn’t start anywhere else. Spielberg’s opening 24 minutes - a relentless, handheld horror show of Omaha Beach – reset the war film forever. It’s not just spectacle, though. The mission behind enemy lines that follows gives space for quiet reflection, duty, and grief. But what an impact that opening has.

The Longest Day (1962)

Shot in black and white with an enormous international cast, this sweeping epic covers D-Day from multiple angles: American, British, French, and German. It’s old-school Hollywood storytelling, but historically meticulous and surprisingly tense.

Band of Brothers: Episode 2 – Day of Days (2001)

OK, you got me. It’s clearly not a film, technically, but this episode from the HBO mini-series deserves inclusion. The night drop behind German lines is chaotic and immersive, and Damian Lewis’s performance as Dick Winters adds emotional weight to the confusion and bravery.

Overlord (1975)

A lesser-known British gem. Blending archival footage with fiction, it follows a young soldier from training to the invasion. Stark and unsentimental, it’s quietly devastating – and far more experimental than most war films of its era.

The Big Red One (1980)

Samuel Fuller’s semi-autobiographical story of U.S. infantrymen charts their war path from North Africa to Normandy and beyond. The D-Day scenes are stripped-back and intimate – less bombast, more raw survival.

Storming Juno (2010)

A Canadian-made docudrama that gives long-overdue attention to Canada’s role in D-Day. It follows three men through the assault on Juno Beach. Low-budget but efficient, and grounded in real-life testimonies.

Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)

Focused on planning, not combat. Tom Selleck (filter out Magnum PI and one of three men with baby) gets the role of playing Dwight D. Eisenhower, balancing politics, egos, and pressure as he prepares the largest amphibious invasion in history. It’s mainly all meetings and maps – but oddly gripping.

My list could go on, given the multitude of perspectives provided over the years, but these are certainly among my favorites. From panoramic beach assaults to tense war-room strategy, these movies don’t just depict history... they make you feel it. Lest we forget.