IMDb > Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) (TV)
Ike: Countdown to D-Day
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Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004) (TV) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
7.1/10   1,087 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 7% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Lionel Chetwynd (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Ike: Countdown to D-Day on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 May 2004 (USA) more
Genre:
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. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmys. Another 3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
Producers Guild Nominations Announced
 (From IMDb News. 5 January 2005)

User Comments:
A Good Performance by Tom Selleck in a Tough Role more (37 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Countdown to D-Day (International: English title) (informal short title)
Ike (International: English title) (informal short title)
Ike: Thunder in June (USA) (working title)
more
MPAA:
Rated PG for mild language.
Runtime:
120 min (including commercials) | Brazil:88 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
1.78 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
D-Day was on the 6th of June 1944. This tele-movie marked the 60th Anniversary of D-Day as it was both filmed and first broadcast in 2004, sixty years after D-Day. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: In the scene where Eisenhower is holding the clip-board you can clearly see a laser scan bar code on the back. more
Quotes:
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Of course Overlord did not fail. How could it? With some many fine young men and women from all corners of the earth all determined to do their best to free a world gone half mad. more
Movie Connections:
Features Cover Girl (1944) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
14 out of 16 people found the following comment useful.
A Good Performance by Tom Selleck in a Tough Role, 9 July 2004
9/10

Dwight D. Eisenhower was the perfect choice for Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces that stormed French beaches on the one D-Day that indelibly evokes 6 June 1944. Having successfully commanded the forces that invaded North Africa and subsequently Sicily, Eisenhower was the right man at the right time, the indispensable molder of a coalition with perhaps too many headstrong generals and admirals. All these senior officers had combat command experience-Eisenhower never left the United States during World War I. He was a remarkably competent staff officer whose abilities were noted by, probably, the shrewdest judge of Army men in America, George Marshall. And Marshall elevated his protege from lieutenant colonel to General of the Army in a very short period.

The problem with portraying Eisenhower in the tense and confusing period before the actual invasion is that never-ending talk, not action - briefings, meetings, staff reports - were the basis for the Supreme Commander's decision to launch the invasion or postpone it. Weather issues were critical but The Weather Channel has much more excitement every night than that found in the calm, Scottish-accented reports RAF Group Captain Stagg, Eisenhower's meteorologist, delivered several times a day.

"Ike: Countdown to D-Day" has no battle sequences nor does it explore the emotional territory of the fighting men who would begin what Eisenhower termed "The Great Crusade," the title of his postwar bestselling memoir.

Tom Selleck, in an outstanding performance, captures the nuances of a general with high ideals and a simple but consummate love of his country. British generals and some American ones, including Patton, decried Eisenhower's lack of battlefield command experience and even his ability to grasp complex tactical situations. They were, to a certain degree, correct but what they missed was that his job was not to micro-manage combat but to hold together men of extreme temperaments and often mutual dislikes against the forces that might pull them apart and damage the coalition effort.

Selleck's Eisenhower is quiet, thoughtful and fully engaged in being an ALLIED leader and his gifts in that capacity are well reflected by this actor. Yes, some incidents are perhaps subject to challenge by the historically knowledgeable (including me) but in the main this is as accurate a movie dramatization of D-Day planning and decision-making as we're likely to get.

While Eisenhower's driver and confidant, Kay Summersby, an attractive Englishwoman in uniform, is present kudos go to the writers and director for not hyping up the film with an unnecessary romantic digression into the general's alleged extramarital affair with the winsome chauffeur.

This film might bore some but it's a fairly good capture of the tensions and issues preceding the issuance of one of the most momentous orders in the history of warfare: "Let's go!," Eisenhower simple command that translated years of preparation into a massive assault that presaged the liberation of Europe.

9/10

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Was Selleck Miscast?? gary_overman
Queen Elizabeth? QUEEN ELIZABETH ??? In 1944 ?? aldpany
Henry V film booyit
Mistake in Ike's uniform mmw-2
what was Patton chewed out for? hornacek
Great Movie for Memorial Day pmweiser
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