How about a better, less corny script? 
I found the movie quite good but not the best world war two movie
I like saving private ryan,. very touchy and beautiful movie,.
however you go to bookstore if you looking for a historical facts
wife and I saw at the theatre. there were people getting up and walking out during the 1st 25 mins. they all stopped eating to. it was a horific scene. is a shot like this really possible???
http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q153/JPD1963/videos/?action=view¤t=0f9c1451.flv
There are several schools of thought on that. The Mythbusters tried to replicate the shot but never could, they say it’s not possible, but Gunnery Sgt. Carlos Hathcock did it in Vietnam for real…so maybe it’s like the bumblebee…scientists have proven that a bumblebee can’t fly, given it’s size and wing span but it keeps on doing it anyway.
It’s definatly possible, just highly unlikely, even for a sniper. There are rarely certainties in experimental physics (of which this experiment would be a subsection), just probabilities.
I’m not really sure of Pvt. Jackson was really going for the German’s eye. He most probably was going for a headshot, and it happened to go through the German’s scope and into his eye. As it is, I don’t think the Springfield’s scope can even zoom in close enough for the user to clearly see the German’s eyes.
That was a movie, they were trying to show how good a shot Jackson was.
This is the real thing:
In one incredible incident an enemy sniper was killed after a prolonged game of “cat and mouse” between Carlos, with his spotter, and the NVA sniper. The fatal round, fired at 500 yards by Hathcock, passed directly through the NVA sniper’s rifle scope, striking him in the eye.
It’s possible by random I guess. But it fits a Hollywood movie perfectly. Man, I just imagine me trying to hit something with a pistol from a distance of 30 feet…
i agree it was too corny. I don’t find it heroic that they stayed behind rather than just taking Ryan and go home and then they all get killed except for Ryan and that guy with the BAR.
Im with you on this one , i like the film but beginning too long.I think i fast forward some of the beginning. cheers
In SPR does the US sniper fire from his left shoulder at all times? In reality would US Army training have forced a soldier to fire from his right so as to reload a weapon like the Springfield efficiently? Also this was an era where schools discouraged (harshly)writing with the left ???
A WW2 British Army vet told me this was how they were trained in basic training (only fire from the right) due to the Lee Enfield, however there is a photo of British troops in a trench at Caen with one bloke firing from his left - confused ???
It’s an incredible film ; and the opening alone get’s it in any discussion of war movies. However, I too find the film incredibly corny and silly at times. The letter at the beginning. The mission to rescue him - which of course didn’t happen in real life. The guy was brought home, for propaganda, but they didn’t wastefully send a bunch of guys to get him. Great war film? Yeah. But by no means the best (although I know many people disagree with me).
I prefer The Longest Day.
It was a work of fiction, based on the Sullivan brothers.Are you implying it actually happened?
No, the German that Upham smoked at the end was "Steamboat Willie’, the guy from the Machine gun nest, not the soldier that killed Mellish.See below for picture comparisons.
the latter of the two being an SS officer as per the SPR online dictionary
Old Ryan is actually another actor named Harrison Young
Originally Posted by KEYSTONE TWO-EIGHT:
It was a work of fiction, based on the Sullivan brothers.Are you implying it actually happened?
Actually it was based on the Niland brothers, not the Sullivans, the Sullivans were the reason brothers/relatives were no longer posted together on ships in the NAVY.
Thanks hawkeye! your name suits you! I had never heard of them before!
It seems that some non-American people have some misconceptions, hell almost an inferiority complex, about how Americans view our role in WW2. For the most part, particularly those who are students of history, we don’t believe that the US single handedly won the war. If anything, from viewing this and other message boards, many non Americans downplay the US’s role. Sure we came in 2 years later than the UK. But when we did arrive we came in full steam.
I don’t see how anyone can view SPR and come away with the idea that Americans believe we won the war on our own. The squad in the movie suffered 75% casualties, and would have been wiped out if not for the very timely arrival of the P51’s. I wonder if some go into this and other movies expecting that, and see things that just aren’t there in order to confirm a self-fulfilling point of view.
And as for complaints that other Allied forces weren’t featured, well no one complains about American soldiers not being featured in Stalingrad, oh wait, it’s because they weren’t there!! SPR is a movie focusing on one small rifle squad dealing only with other US troops over a span of a few days, not about super-soldiers marching into Berlin and slitting Hitler’s throat.
Just came across this thread. For me, “Saving Private Ryan” is a very good war movie. It looks right, and works hard at looking right. There are some goofs and improbabilities, but these things happen. The plot may have been a bit sentimental but, after all, this is a drama, not a documentary. I notice that some have problems with the opening scene. I actually found this very impressive as a well-sustained battle scene, notwithstanding that one or two little goofs crept in at this point. I would have few reservations in recommending SPR to somebody who wanted to see a good, reasonably authentic war movie; a lot more than I could say for many other WW2 movies. Best regards, JR.
Anything to do with the actual location? 
There was a joke about that, don’t remember it but the basic idea of it was Wexford Coast wasn’t chosen because of the Normandy similarities but because Wexford villages were still in 1944.
It’s a good all around WW2 action film, the story is loosely based on brothers serving in WW2 but in the real story two of the brothers survived.
Interestingly, for much of the younger generation this was our first “war movie”. Definitely something that sticks with you for a long time.