Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by mochnoor, May 23, 2012.

  1. mochnoor

    mochnoor Junior Member

    This film is really Fantastic. Must watch this film. :)

    [​IMG]
    Storyline

    Opening with the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, members of the 2nd Ranger Battalion under Cpt. Miller fight ashore to secure a beachhead. Amidst the fighting, two brothers are killed in action. Earlier in New Guinea, a third brother is KIA. Their mother, Mrs. Ryan, is to receive all three of the grave telegrams on the same day. The United States Army Chief of Staff, George C. Marshall, is given an opportunity to alleviate some of her grief when he learns of a fourth brother, Private James Ryan, and decides to send out 8 men (Cpt. Miller and select members from 2nd Rangers) to find him and bring him back home to his mother...

    Cast:

    [​IMG] Tom Hanks ... Capt. John H. Miller
    [​IMG] Tom Sizemore ... Sgt. Mike Horvath
    [​IMG] Edward Burns ... Pvt. Richard Reiben
    [​IMG] Barry Pepper ... Pvt. Daniel Jackson
    [​IMG] Adam Goldberg ... Pvt. Stanley Mellish
    [​IMG] Vin Diesel ... Pvt. Adrian Caparzo
    [​IMG] Giovanni Ribisi ... T-5 Medic Irwin Wade
    [​IMG] Jeremy Davies ... Cpl. Timothy P. Upham
    [​IMG] Matt Damon ... Pvt. James Francis Ryan
    [​IMG] Ted Danson ... Capt. Fred Hamill
    [​IMG] Paul Giamatti ... Sgt. Hill
    [​IMG] Dennis Farina ... Lt. Col. Anderson
    [​IMG] Joerg Stadler ... Steamboat Willie
    [​IMG] Max Martini ... Cpl. Henderson (as Maximilian Martini)
    [​IMG] Dylan Bruno ... Toynbe

    It gives a million reason why no one should go to war and one very powerful reason to go to war. It is a soul numbing realistic depiction of what our grandfathers, fathers, uncles, brothers and sons have faced in humanities darkest moments. Not just in WWII but in any war. No one can see this movies without being altered in some way. No one should miss it with the EXCEPTION of those war veterans that have already been there. The surround sound puts the audience in the middle of the battle.

    Steven Spielberg has out done himself and effectively held up a mirror to civilization for events to which we should all be ashamed of, rather than appalled at the movie for its real life depictions. I suggest that this movie be made standard view for congress as well as the President each and every time the question of war comes up. This movie would not stop future wars but I would hope the objectives would be much more clearly defined. I say this as a US Marine.
     
  2. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    I'd watch it for the first hour or so. Fantastic start to a film.
     
  3. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Thumbs down from me, but I'm definitely in the minority.

    Dave
     
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  4. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Thumbs down from me, but I'm definitely in the minority.

    Dave
    Apart from the 1st hour, actually more like the Beach scene, I find its more akin to an episode of "The A-Team" especially the defence of Remelle :mad:
     
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  5. ritsonvaljos

    ritsonvaljos Senior Member

    Welcome to the site, Mochnoor, and your reflections about the film "Saving Private Ryan".

    As you are probably aware, although "Saving Private Ryan" is a tale of fiction it is loosely based upon the story of the four Niland Brothers serving in the U.S. Army during WW2. Two of these brothers, Preston and Robert, are buried side by side in the American War Cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer adjacent to what was Omaha Beach (see attached photographs).

    In the photograph of the headstones, Preston Niland's headstone is the one seen centre left. Robert Niland's headstone is immediately to the right as you look at the photograph.

    If one needs a reason for nations not to go to war with each other, a visit to the American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-mer should suffice. Here, one can see row after row of headstones above the mortal remains of young men (and a small number of young women) whose lives were cut short by war. The headstones face towards the west - America, their family and home.

    Since the war, what was known as "Omaha Beach" has largely returned to what it should always have been - a place of peace and relaxation.

    Much as I appreciate some features of "Saving Private Ryan", personally I regard Darryl F. Zanuck's "The Longest Day" as a more balanced and objective film of the D-Day Landings. While this may not actually depict everything that happened on D-Day, 6 June 1944, it might perhaps show how it should have been. The year 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of "The Longest Day".
     

    Attached Files:

  6. Gage

    Gage The Battle of Barking Creek

    Film's too long. The first and last half hours are the best.
     
  7. Jakob Kjaersgaard

    Jakob Kjaersgaard Senior Member

    I agree. A great film!

    Here's a few photos from my trip to Colleville in 2011 along with two closeups of the Niland brothers' headstones and a photo overlooking Omaha beach.
     

    Attached Files:

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  8. James S

    James S Very Senior Member

    A good story but one which has rather too many holes in it, good characters , Tom Sizemore's character was the best in the movie IMO.)
    Movies like "Saving Private Ryan" are good to watch and if hey make people aware and interested enough to want to look at the history of D-Day / Normandy that is 100% by me.
     
  9. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    It is an uneven movie. The combat scenes are convincing, but some of what comes between them is not and the basic plot mechanism is corny. Like all of Spielberg's pictures, it suffers from an underlying sentimentality that I don't think he will ever get rid of. However, the actors are good, especially Hanks.

    The best part, by far, is the Omaha Beach assault, which never fails to stun me when I see it. I think it may be the best 10 minutes Spielberg ever shot, and it is certainly one of the best combat scenes on film. I taught a class on WWII, and I always began it by showing that sequence. It woke the kids up and told them the subject was serious; WWII was not a game.
     
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  10. Swiper

    Swiper Resident Sospan

    The best part, by far, is the Omaha Beach assault, which never fails to stun me when I see it. I think it may be the best 10 minutes Spielberg ever shot, and it is certainly one of the best combat scenes on film. I taught a class on WWII, and I always began it by showing that sequence. It woke the kids up and told them the subject was serious; WWII was not a game.

    And no doubt distorted their opinion of the entirety of WW2. Beach assaults were uncommon to say the least ;)

    Seriously, if I meet another undergrad who is convinced that the fighting in NWE was decided on D-Day then I will cry.

    As a film its great, despite is massively massages British involvement on those beaches, and also dismisses Monty totally. Its a gung-ho film that is a great romp but ultimately light on the reality of the fighting, bar the Omaha sequence (but then again... I don't know that much on Omaha compared to other events). Showing a film to make a subject 'serious' doesn't work, the students have to enjoy the subject matter. Show them some authentic footage as well and give them a broader understanding than just pinning it on that footage. My class rejected SPR, I bet many others do to.

    D-Day was the sides walking on the football pitch and sizing each other up. What followed is the REAL story.
     
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  11. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    And no doubt distorted their opinion of the entirety of WW2. Beach assaults were uncommon to say the least ;)


    I don't think it distorted their opinion, no. I showed the clip less because it showed a particular kind of combat than because it showed the savagery of ALL combat. During the balance of the course, I discussed combat of all sorts and in all areas--Russian winters, New Guinea jungles, Italian mountains, the air, the Atlantic, etc.

    Nor were beach assaults as uncommon as you think. For American servicemen, they were quite common. A third of the US Army and all the USMC fought in the Pacific, where there were many beach assaults. In the ETO and MTO, US forces had beach assaults in Torch and Sicily, at Salerno and Anzio, in Normandy and in Southern France.

    When I discussed the NWE campaign, I did say that D-Day was the relatively easy part for the Allies and that the real hard work of destroying the German armies took another two months. Yet D-Day was a LOT more than the two armies sizing each other up. The best (and indeed the only)chance the Germans had of winning in Normandy was to destroy the Allies on the beaches, as Rommel said. The Germans failed to do that on 6 June, and once the Allies got ashore in strength and established a solid beachhead the end result was simply a matter of time.
     
  12. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Nor were beach assaults as uncommon as you think. For American servicemen, they were quite common. A third of the US Army and all the USMC fought in the Pacific, where there were many beach assaults. In the ETO and MTO, US forces had beach assaults in Torch and Sicily, at Salerno and Anzio, in Normandy and in Southern France.

    True. In the PTO, there were nearly 80 landings on Japanese held beaches. Granted, many were small affairs, comprising brigade*, regiment* or smaller sized units, but there were also large assaults, such as Okinawa, where four divisions landed abreast. Those 80 assaults do not include such landings as were conducted along the northern coast of New Guinea, where 10 or 12 separate battalion and regimental-sized landings were conducted, but were counted as one landing in the total of 80.

    *US brigades and regiments as existed in WWII.
     
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  13. DoreenC

    DoreenC Member

    Like all of Spielberg's pictures, it suffers from an underlying sentimentality

    Thank you. You're more tactful than I, as I refer to his movies as "sappy" and extremely manipulative.

    The depiction of all German soldiers as faceless, inhuman killing machines who deserve to be gunned down in cold blood is also very distasteful. Just my humble opinion of course.
     
  14. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    I look at movies as this: They are just movies. Even when a flick tries to show what actually happened, it still is influenced by the thoughts, prejudices, beliefs, etc of those who made the movie.

    I don't think there will ever be a theatrical release that does not have errors, egregious or otherwise. I watched Sink The Bismarck! a few nights ago for the first time since I was a lad. I was surprised by the great number of inaccuracies and misrepresentations in it, excluding the war room storyline which was intentially fabricated. One of the very first things I noticed was the disposition and maneurvering of the ships during the scenes depicting the Battle of the Denmark Strait. The opposing ships were reversed in the direction they trained their guns and how they maneuvered. There were many others.

    I could grouse about other errors, including one that slights a critical US involvement in the search for the Bismarck, but as it obvious to all, this was a British affair just as the immediate fictionalized historical events portrayed in SPR were a US affair.
     
  15. TTH

    TTH Senior Member

    The depiction of all German soldiers as faceless, inhuman killing machines who deserve to be gunned down in cold blood is also very distasteful. Just my humble opinion of course.

    It may be distateful to you, but I am sorry to say that is often how soldiers of all armies do view the enemy in the heat of action, and I think in showing that side Spielberg is being true to reality. In combat, men are not detached; the other man shooting at them is not human, he's just a bastard to be exterminated as soon as possible. When fighting is desperate and at close quarters--as it often was in Normandy--men lose their heads and their humanity. As one 50th Division veteran put it, "you're shoutin' all kinds, you're doin' all kinds."

    The incident in the film in which some US troops at OMAHA shoot down some Germans when they are trying to surrender is psychologically accurate, and on that account is one of the most honest things in the whole picture. In my research, I came across a very similar incident that actually happened at La Riviere on GOLD Beach.

    Of course, such ferocious feelings did not prevail among Allied combat troops all the time; if they had, no German prisoners would have been taken at all. That issue has been discussed on other threads, however.
     
  16. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Thank you. You're more tactful than I, as I refer to his movies as "sappy" and extremely manipulative.

    The depiction of all German soldiers as faceless, inhuman killing machines who deserve to be gunned down in cold blood is also very distasteful. Just my humble opinion of course.

    I don't follow this. Could you elaborate more?

    I thought the portrayal of "Steamboat Willie" was anything but faceless, although he could have done with some more hair.

    The two killed up on the bluffs near the end of the beach assault were not speaking German as they surrendered. I think that scene was added intentionally to show that US forces could also kill when they should not.
     
  17. DanielG

    DanielG Senior Member

    What got me about 'Saving...' was the premise of the whole thing. If the story is what Ryan is remembering at the grave site then he would know nothing of what happened on the beaches. The story should have been told from Hank's character's view (even if it meant letting him live!)
     
  18. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I don't follow this. Could you elaborate more?

    I thought the portrayal of "Steamboat Willie" was anything but faceless, although he could have done with some more hair.

    The two killed up on the bluffs near the end of the beach assault were not speaking German as they surrendered. I think that scene was added intentionally to show that US forces could also kill when they should not.

    I haven't watched this one since it was first came out in the theater so my memory is foggy. Is Steamboat Willie the guy who seemed to be tenderly rubbing some guy's neck as he gutted him like a fish? I just didn't get that scene.

    This one and Pearl Harbor are about the only WWII flicks that I won't give a pause to while channel surfing.
     
  19. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Old Hickory Recon

    Steamboat Willie was the one captured at the radar facility and was forced to dig his own grave. He was set free by Capt. Miller, an action that precipitated a major confrontation between some of Miller's men and Sgt Horvath.
     
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  20. ethan

    ethan Member

    Really? I was under the impression that getting thrown back into the sea in the first day or so was the only way the western allies could have lost- once they got a firm foothold it was all over, and all the hardship of the Normandy campaign couldn't change the final outcome.

    But perhaps I've been reading the wrong books?
     

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