Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) (TV)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Robert Harmon

Writer (WGA):

Lionel Chetwynd (written by)

Release Date:

31 May 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

IKE: COUNTDOWN TO D-DAY depicts the tense 90 days leading up to the D-Day invasion and how Dwight Eisenhower, against all odds, brilliantly orchestrated the most important military maneuver in modern history.

Plot Keywords:

D Day | Military | Major | WWII | Corporal

Awards:

Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Tom Selleck	...	Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower
James Remar	...	Gen. Omar Bradley
Timothy Bottoms	...	Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith
Gerald McRaney	...	Lt. Gen. George S. Patton
Ian Mune	...	Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Bruce Phillips	...	Gen. Bernard Law Montgomery
John Bach	...	Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory
Nick Blake	...	Air Marshal Arthur W. Tedder
Kevin J. Wilson	...	RAdm. Bert Ramsay
Christopher Baker	...	Group Capt. Maj. James Stagg
George Shevtsov	...	Gen. Charles DeGaulle
Gregor McLennan	...	Capt. Chapman
Paul Gittins	...	Maj. Gen. Henry Miller
Craig Hall	...	Cpl. William Hayes
Stephen Brunton	...	Cpl. William Younger

Also Known As:

Ike: Thunder in June (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild language.

Runtime:

120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:88 min

Country:

USA | New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:PG | Brazil:14 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Ardmore Airport, Airfield Road, Ardmore, Auckland, New Zealand

Company:

Film Factory New Zealand Limited

Trivia:

Tom Selleck, a non-smoker, temporarily took up the habit to play Dwight Eisenhower, who was, according to Selleck in the DVD's bonus feature, a four-pack-a-day smoker at the time. In 1949, Eisenhower was advised by his doctor and friend, Howard Snyder, to cut down on the cigarettes to one pack per day. Eisenhower initially did so, but after a few days, he decided that counting cigarettes was worse than smoking and quit permanently in 1949. He never smoked again.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the scene where Eisenhower is holding the clip-board you can clearly see a laser scan bar code on the back.

Quotes:

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Dearest Mimi…
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: …at last the days grow longer and we will soon be in it, I face that with neither dread nor joy. How I wish this cruel business of war could be completed quickly. It leaves me heart sick to think of sending so many young men against Hitler's Atlantic wall...

Movie Connections:

Features Cover Girl (1944)

Selleck Gets the Job Done

I have to say I think this may be Tom Selleck's best acting performance. He doesn't necessarily deserve an Emmy, but I'm also not being sarcastic; this is definitely a quality performance, not because it is some scene-chewing piece of grandstanding, but because it is subtle, honest, and to the point. The way Selleck shows Ike's moments of anguish over his awful responsibility are understated but no less compelling, and actually give some sense of what the actual man had to go through.

Although there are some inaccuracies in the film (Ike visits the paratroopers in the DAYTIME on June 6th? Those guys had dropped into France some 12 hours earlier!), I think we still get a good sense of how things were happening around Ike before D-Day. And contrary to some other opinions, I thought the portrayals of Churchill and Montgomery were both well-done and totally fair.