Action on the Beach

The D-Day invasion scene in The Americanization of Emily (1964) lasts approximately 3 minutes on the screen. However, it took four months of setup work to prepare the location for shooting. This short shows how the production crew handled the various challenges they faced. The scene was filmed on an unidentified California beach. Sand had to be dredged; special scaffolding had to be built to accommodate the cameras and sound equipment; and explosives had to be placed properly (and safely) to simulate shelling by German troops.