Saving Private Ryan (1998)
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(6 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5) 
Loading ...Earn this.
There are your standard-issue war movies. And then there are epic masterpieces such as Saving Private Ryan which should be the gold standard to measure all others against.
It is primarily the story of Captain Miller (Tom Hanks) and his squad of soldiers as they survive the hellish D-Day invasion, and are tasked with the mission of bringing one Private James Ryan home, as his three other brothers had been KIA in the war to date.
In true war-movie fashion, Private Ryan is more-or-less episodic in nature, with each episode illustrating the war (and war in general) in various lights, none of them particularly pleasant.
Sure its a bit on the bloody and dirty side. It has to be. That's how it is. And, yes, it does get a bit cliched at times, but I don't think it can be helped.
Of great importance also is the side-story role of Corporal Upham, the idealist office-boy translator who learns a hard lesson about the truth of war.
However, all that being said, the true "meaning" of Private Ryan is not any of that. We should *all* put ourselves in the shoes of the young Private Ryan, as Captain Miller utters his dying words, "Earn this." We should all remember that message....
That ordinary people were (and continue to be) called upon to perform extraordinary and terrible duties for the greater good of all of us.
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Description
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN D-DAY 60TH ANNIVE - DVD Movie
When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome the almost insurmountable odds. A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance. The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. --Doug Thomas
DVD Information
Binding: DVDAspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Brand: DreamWorks
Manufacturer: Dreamworks Video
Original Release Date:
Actors:
- Tom Hanks
- Matt Damon
- Tom Sizemore
- Edward Burns
- Barry Pepper
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