Save Private Ryan
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Save Private Ryan
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This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2014.
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 In the last great invasion of the last great war, the greatest challenge for eight men... was saving one.
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Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war and for the intensity of its second scene of 23 minutes, a depiction of the Omaha Beach assault during the Normandy landings. The film follows United States Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad (Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Adam Goldberg, and Jeremy Davies) as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), the last surviving brother of a family of four, with his three other brothers having been killed in action. The film was a co-production between DreamWorks Pictures (not to be confused with the more famous DreamWorks Animation), Paramount Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Mutual Film Company. DreamWorks distributed the film in North America while Paramount released the film internationally. The film was released on July 24, 1998.
The film has been preserved in the National Film Registry since 2014.
Plot
During the invasion of Normandy, US Army Ranger Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks) takes his men behind enemy lines to find Private James Ryan, whose three brothers have been killed in combat. Surrounded by the brutal realties of war, while searching for Ryan, (Tom Hanks) has been ordered to find 101st Airborne paratrooper Private James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon) so he could be brought back home; Ryan is the only survivor of four brothers, three of which have been killed in action. He brings six of his fellow Rangers and a 29th Infantry soldier, Corporal Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies) along with him for the mission. each man embarks upon a personal journey and discovers their own strength to triumph over an uncertain future with honor, decency and courage.
Why It's the Best World War II Movie
- Resurged American interest in World War II history 53 years after World War II ended.
- Dramatic and excellent acting performances from the cast. The best example are Tom Hanks (Miller), Edward Burns (Reiben), Matt Damon (Ryan), and Tom Sizemore (Horvath).
- Big scale yet frantic, disturbing, and very bloody realistic battle scenes. The Omaha Beach and Ramelle battle scenes are great examples.
- Excellent and intense cinematography, even for Steven Spielberg movie.
- Amazing and well-written characters, such as John H. Miller, Richard Reiben, James Francis Ryan and Technical Sergeant Mike Horvath.
- Incredible soundtrack by John Williams.
- Steven Spielberg earned critical acclaim for his directing on the film and would later win his second Academy Award for Best Director.
- A lot of the scenes are very realistic and authentically replicated on what really happened in WWII.
- The uniforms used are all authentic, along with most of the vehicles barring a few German armored vehicles.
- Seeing Ryan as an old man at the beginning (and ending) and when he was younger in the flashback is really amusing.
- The opening and closing scenes with the American flag blowing in the wind was really nice.
- Well-paced for a 169-minute movie.
Bad Qualities
- Lots of shaky cam and desaturated colors have since been imitated in many films and video games.
- Has been criticized for making plenty of historical liberties.
Reception
Saving Private Ryan received acclaim from critics and audiences for its performances (particularly from Hanks), realism, cinematography, score, screenplay, and Spielberg's direction, and was placed on many film critics' 1998 top ten lists. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 8.60/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Anchored by another winning performance from Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg's unflinchingly realistic war film virtually redefines the genre.". Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 91 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert gave it four out of four stars and described the film as "a powerful experience". Gene Siskel also awarded the film a four stars and stated in his review "In a summer of films with lot of explosions and firepower, "Saving Private Ryan" is the only one with ideas."
Box Office
The movie is also a commercial success, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1998 in the United States with $216.8 million domestically and the second-highest-grossing film of 1998 worldwide with $481.8 million worldwide against its $70 million budget. Additionally, it grossed $44 million from its release on home video in May 1999.
Awards and nominations
The film has won five Academy Awards (Best Director for Spielberg, Best Cinematography for Janusz Kamiński, Best Sound Mixing for Gary Rydstrom, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, and Ron Judkins, Best Film Editing for Michael Kahn, and Best Sound Effects Editing for Gary Rydstrom and Richard Hymns); it losing the Best Picture Award to Shakespeare in Love has been criticized.
The film has also won the Saturn Award for Best Action or Adventure Film, the Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Drama and Best Director for Spielberg, the BAFTA Awards for Best Special Visual Effects and Best Sound, the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition Written For a Motion Picture for John Williams, and the Empire Awards for Best Actor (Tom Hanks) and Best Director (Spielberg), among many others.
Videos
Trivia
- Quentin Tarantino admired the film and cited it as an inspiration for Inglourious Basterds.
- The main cast of the film - including Tom Hanks, Barry Pepper and Vin Diesel - participated in an intensive 10-day boot camp. In addition to going on marches, living in tents and eating MREs (meals ready-to-eat), the actors also received tactical training for field combat situations and learned how to clean, assemble and fire period-appropriate weapons.
- Due to filming restrictions at the actual beaches of Normandy in France, the opening D-Day sequence was shot at Ballinesker Beach in Ireland. The production recruited more than 2,500 Irish Reserve Army troops to portray the Allied forces storming the beach.
- Costume designer Joanna Johnston and her team created 3,500 custom-made military uniforms for the film, as well as 2,000 weapons for the D-Day sequence alone - 500 of which could shoot blanks.
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