Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writer:

Robert Rodat

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore

Top Rated Movies #25 | Won 5 Oscars. Another 74 wins & 75 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Captain Miller
Tom Sizemore	...	Sergeant Horvath
Edward Burns	...	Private Reiben
Barry Pepper	...	Private Jackson
Adam Goldberg	...	Private Mellish
Vin Diesel	...	Private Caparzo
Giovanni Ribisi	...	T-4 Medic Wade
Jeremy Davies	...	Corporal Upham
Matt Damon	...	Private Ryan
Ted Danson	...	Captain Hamill
Paul Giamatti	...	Sergeant Hill
Dennis Farina	...	Lieutenant Colonel Anderson
Joerg Stadler	...	Steamboat Willie
Max Martini	...	Corporal Henderson (as Maximilian Martini)
Dylan Bruno	...	Toynbe

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...

---

Plot Keywords:

rescue mission | year 1944 | d day | 1940s | world war two | 

---

Taglines:

There was only one man left in the family, and the mission was to save him.

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Steven Spielberg donated an undisclosed amount of money to build a theater at America's National D-Day Memorial in honor of his father, who flew Army Air Corps missions and was a radio operator in Burma during World War II.

---

Goofs

Throughout the movie American characters are shown saying "thunder" to identify friendlies, and waiting for the response "flash". But in actuality the challenge word was "flash", and "thunder" the response. The word order is important, as "thunder" was chosen as the password because of its "th" sound. (There is no such sound in German, thus a German soldier would likely be unable to hide his accent if he tried to answer the challenge.)

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Ryan's son: [running to comfort his father] Dad?
[flashback to D-Day]
LCVP pilot: [shouting out the soldiers on the raft] CLEAR THE RAMP! THIRTY SECONDS! GOD BE WITH YA!

---

Crazy Credits

The DreamWorks and Paramount logos play in complete silence.

---

Alternate Versions

In the German-dubbed version of the movie, they were unsure how to distinguish dialog between the German and the American soldiers, since they would all be speaking German. In the end, they decided to address all the American soldiers by their English titles, such as "Sergeant" and "Captain".

---

Connections

Referenced in True Grit (2010)

---

Soundtracks

Solitude
Music by Duke Ellington
Lyrics by Irving Mills and Edgar De Lange

User Reviews

Breathtaking

I have never been affected by a movie the way Saving Private Ryan affected me. That movie really took me out of my seat in the movie theater and practically had me believing I was really in the battle with John Miller. When somebody was dying in that movie, it felt as if you could almost feel their pain. Speilberg did an unbelievable job of putting realism into this movie with the camera-work and everything else. Simply amazing. An all time great.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Paramount Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Czech

Release Date:

24 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Saving Private Ryan

Filming Locations:

Calvados, France

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,576,104, 26 July 1998

Gross USA:

$217,049,603

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$482,349,603

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dreamworks Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

169 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1