Tonight's Movie: Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004)

Independence Day weekend is always a good time to watch a patriotic film of any kind, and so I decided to watch IKE: COUNTDOWN TO D-DAY (2004), in which Tom Selleck stars as General Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower.

I bought this film in a sale several years ago but as so often happens, hadn't caught up with it yet simply due to so many viewing options. I lent the DVD to my late father in 2019, who commented "Very high recommendation on this film. Selleck was excellent."

My interest in seeing the film right now was sparked in part by my enjoyment of the new film PRESSURE (2026), as well as a D-Day revisit of THE LONGEST DAY (1962) last month.

IKE: COUNTDOWN TO D-DAY is a TV-movie which originally aired on cable's A&E Channel.

Written by Lionel Chetwynd and directed by Robert Harmon, the film traces General Eisenhower's decision-making process in the weeks and days leading up to D-Day on June 6, 1944.

Following the factual outlines of history means that IKE unfolds fairly similarly to PRESSURE, although in that case the focus was not just on Eisenhower (Brendan Fraser) but meteorologist James Stagg (Andrew Scott). In IKE Stagg is a supporting character in several scenes, played by Christopher Baker.

I found the contrasts between Selleck and Fraser's portrayals of Eisenhower interesting, having seen them spaced about a month apart. Selleck portrays Eisenhower as more confident and less emotional than Fraser's more hot-tempered Ike; Selleck's relatively calm and buttoned-down persona is more in line with my mental images of Eisenhower. He insists to Churchill that he must have full command; he receives data from his many colleagues but is then firm and decisive.

That said, Ike does lay into his colleagues when it's needed. In that vein, my husband felt the movie didn't do right by General Patton (Gerald McRaney), turning him into too much of a cartoon in his single scene, which I felt was a fair criticism.

Otherwise, I found it quite an engrossing 89 minutes which I enjoyed very much; it's not often I wish a film were longer, but I would have been happy if it ran closer to the 100 minutes of PRESSURE, just because I found it a very engaging and interesting watch.

One of the scenes I especially enjoyed was General Eisenhower presenting the D-Day plans to King George (Mick Rose) and Queen Elizabeth (Carol Seay), a bit of history with which I hadn't previously been familiar.

The supporting cast includes Ian Mune as Winston Churchill, Timothy Bottoms as Walter Bedell "Beetle" Smith, Bruce Phillips as General Montgomery, James Remar as General Omar Bradley, and John Bach as Air Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory.

The movie was filmed by David Gribble.

A curious note: Ike is seen watching the Technicolor film COVER GIRL (1944), but it's projected for the soldiers in black and white.

IKE: COUNTDOWN TO D-DAY would make a good double bill with DARKEST HOUR (2017), which focuses on Churchill during the earlier years of the war. It would also play well with THE GALLANT HOURS (1960), another film which focuses on high-level decision making by military leaders during the war, in that case Fleet Admiral Halsey (James Cagney.

The IKE DVD includes a commentary track with Selleck plus the writer and director, as well as a featurette. Optional English-language captions are provided.

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