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 #28 | 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...

---

Plot Keywords:

rescue mission | d day | normandy | world war two | army | 

---

Taglines:

The mission is a man.

---

Genres:

Drama | War

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Czech

Release Date:

24 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rescatando al soldado Ryan

Filming Locations:

Calvados, France

Box Office

Budget:

$70,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$30,576,104, 26 July 1998, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$216,540,909, 15 June 2012

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$481,840,909, 15 June 2012

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks,Paramount Pictures,Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

169 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Private Daniel Jackson kisses a Christian cross before going into battle. Nathan Fillion, who plays the "wrong" Private Ryan, later played Captain Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly (2002), a war veteran who did the same thing. But when his side lost the war, he also lost his faith in God.

---

Goofs

In the movie, you'll notice that all member from the 101st Airborne Division have an Ace of Spades on their helmet. During WWII, the only members from the 101st with an Ace of Spades on their helmet were those part of the 506th Regiment. The other Regiments in that division painted different card symbols on their helmets. We know that not every member of the 101st in the movie is from the 506th Regiment, because at one point, early in the film, Captain Miller and his men stop to talk to a member of the 506th Regiment as that was Ryan's regiment too. The fact that Captain Miller has been told to talk to this specific soldier, because he's from the 506th, implies that most, if not all, of the other men around the town are from separate regiments, yet they all have the Ace of Spades on their helmet. Towards the end of the film, when Captain Miller meets Corporal Henderson, he states that he is from the 501st Regiment, yet he has an Ace of Spades on his helmet as well, instead of a Diamond, which would be the correct symbol for a member from the 501st.

---

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

There are no opening credits after the title is shown.

---

Connections

Referenced in Dawson's Creek: Reunited (1999)

---

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.