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 #26 | Won 5 Oscars. Another 74 wins & 74 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...

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

The mission is a man.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was blocked by the Censor Board of India for too much violence. The Board demanded cuts that Steven Spielberg declined to make and instead, he decided not to release the movie in India at all. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the then Home Minister of India saw the movie himself and, impressed, ordered it to be released uncut.

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Goofs

When Upham is recruited by Captain Miller, Upham grabs his typewriter case and drops the case and the type writer. When he then goes to return the German helmet to the shelf he suddenly has the empty case back in his hands.

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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!

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Crazy Credits

There are no opening credits after the title is shown.

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Alternate Versions

Differences between theatrical version vs. DVD

• on the beach in Normandy Tom Hanks orders his men to take out the sniper that has them pinned down. Soldier after soldier die as they go around the corner while they have covering fire. There is a scene that was cut where he is telling a soldier (after soldier baulks) that they will both go out together. Tom counts down and fakes going out and the other soldier goes out and is gunned down.
• Scene where they let the two German soldiers walk away - DVD version does not show them shot in the back as they are down the road.

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Connections

Referenced in Call of Duty: World at War (2008)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Hard to Rate ... been there

The first 23 minutes of this film is rated at a 12.

My good friend and I took our sons, 17 at the time, to see this in a theater. I am a senior military officer who experienced combat in 1967 - 68 - 69. We wanted the boys to see the horror of war, the slaughter.

I have had to pack up the personal effects of my comrade to send back to his mother after he was killed in the Viet Nam war. Those of you who have not done this cannot even comprehend.

After the opening combat scenes the film was an 8. Well done.

War is hell and to those of us who have been there ... well I don't know what to say.

Neither of our sons joined the military ... thank God.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

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, 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