11 Best D-Day Movies and Shows to Watch

D-Day 360 (2014)

This one-hour PBS documentary, produced for the 70th anniversary of the invasion, deploys forensic laser scanning, 3D computer modeling and eyewitness interviews to shed new light on Gen. Omar Bradley’s invasion of Omaha Beach and the decisive turning point in the war.

Watch it: On PBSLearningMedia.org

Eye of the Needle (1981)

Donald Sutherland, 88, stars as a German spy, nicknamed the Needle for his ruthless way of killing people, who goes to great lengths to learn of the Allied invasion plans for D-Day — including seducing a lonely woman (Kate Nelligan, 74) on an isolated island where he’s washed up in a failed rendezvous with a Nazi submarine. This is a decidedly darker, morally ambiguous spin on the D-Day story, as we ponder what actually drives this German expat.

Watch it: On Prime Video

Tom Selleck in "Ike: Countdown to D-Day."

A&E/Courtesy Everett Collection

Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)

Tom Selleck, 79, with a shaved head (and mustache), is almost unrecognizable in this Emmy-nominated TV movie about Gen. Dwight Eisenhower’s preparations for Operation Overlord and the fateful invasion of Normandy. He delivers an understated, brooding performance as the under-pressure military leader that offers an interesting counterpoint to the Oscar-winning turn by Gary Oldman, 66, as Winston Churchill in 2017’s Darkest Hour.

Watch it: On Sling, Prime Video

The Longest Day (1962)

Until Saving Private Ryan, this epic Darryl F. Zanuck production was considered the definitive look at D-Day. This is old-fashioned Hollywood moviemaking on an epic scale, featuring a star-studded cast that includes Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, John Wayne, Rod Steiger, Richard Burton, Peter Lawford, Robert Wagner and even a pre-James Bond Sean Connery. (The cast also features several D-Day veterans, including British actor Richard Todd, seen wearing the same beret he wore on the actual day.)

Watch it: On Apple TV, Prime Video

Overlord (1975)

This award-winning black-and-white film from American director Stuart Cooper, 82, offers a more somber, post-Vietnam take on D-Day — focusing on a 20-year-old British everyman (Brian Stirner) from his recruitment to his fateful arrival on Normandy’s Sword Beach. Cooper seamlessly incorporates actual archival footage into his action sequences, producing a gripping account of the battle while also suggesting that the war itself was a machine willing to sacrifice countless individual human lives to achieve its overarching goals.

Watch it: On the Criterion Channel

Patton (1970)

Franklin J. Schaffner’s seven-Oscar winner covers more than just the Normandy invasion. But by focusing on George C. Scott’s larger-than-life portrayal of Gen. George S. Patton, the film produces a remarkable broad look at the entire European campaign by the Allied forces and the enormous human and psychological cost of every one of his military decisions.

Watch it: On Prime Video, Apple TV

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Clint Eastwood, 94, made two of the best WWII films of all time — 2006’s Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, telling the notorious Pacific-theater battle from both the American and Japanese perspectives. But long before, he made a memorable turn as a U.S. Army Ranger who joins a British mission (led by Richard Burton’s major) to rescue a captured U.S. general before he can divulge the secret plans for the Allied invasion on the Western front. The film features first-rate action scenes — and a truly unexpected plot twist.

Watch it: On Prime Video