Saving Private Ryan

Year:

1998

Duration:

169 min

Genres:

Action | Drama | War

IMDB rate:

8.6

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Awards:

Won 5 Oscars. Another 70 wins & 60 nominations

Details

Country: USA

Release Date: 1998-07-24

Filming Locations: Calvados, France

Earnings

Budget: $70,000,000

Opening Weekend: $30,576,104 (USA) (26 July 1998)

Gross: $216,540,909 (USA) (15 June 2012)

Cast

Actor

Character

Giovanni Ribisi

Saving Private Ryan

Tom Hanks

Captain Miller

Tom Sizemore

Sergeant Horvath

Edward Burns

Private Reiben

Barry Pepper

Private Jackson

Adam Goldberg

Private Mellish

Vin Diesel

Private Caparzo

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

Dylan Bruno

Toynbe

Daniel Cerqueira

Weller

Demetri Goritsas

Parker

Ian Porter

Trask

Gary Sefton

Rice

Julian Spencer

Garrity

Steve Griffin

Wilson

William Marsh

Lyle

Marc Cass

Fallon

Markus Napier

Major Hoess

Neil Finnighan

Ramelle Paratrooper

Peter Miles

Ramelle Paratrooper

Paul Garcia

Field HQ Major

Seamus McQuade

Field HQ Aide

Ronald Longridge

Coxswain

Adam Shaw

Delancey

Rolf Saxon

Lieutenant Briggs

Corey Johnson

Radioman

Loclann Aiken

Soldier on the Beach

John Barnett

Soldier on the Beach

Maclean Burke

Soldier on the Beach (as MacLean Burke)

Victor Burke

Soldier on the Beach

Aiden Condron

Soldier on the Beach

Paschal Friel

Soldier on the Beach

Shane Hagan

Soldier on the Beach

Paul Hickey

Soldier on the Beach

Shane Johnson

Soldier on the Beach

Laird Macintosh

Soldier on the Beach (as Laird MacIntosh)

Brian Maynard

Soldier on the Beach

Martin McDougall

Soldier on the Beach

Mark Phillips

Soldier on the Beach

Lee Aaron Rosen

Soldier on the Beach (as Lee Rosen)

Andrew Scott

Soldier on the Beach

Matthew Sharp

Soldier on the Beach

Vincent Walsh

Soldier on the Beach

Grahame Wood

Soldier on the Beach

John Sharian

Corporal

Glenn Wrage

Doyle

Crofton Hardester

Senior Medical Officer

Martin Hub

Czech Wehrmacht Soldier

Raffaello Degruttola

Goldman

Nigel Whitmey

Private Boyd

Sam Ellis

Private Hastings

Erich Redman

German #1

Tilo Keiner

German #2

Stephan Grothgar

German #3 /

Stephane Cornicard

Jean

Michelle Evans

Jean's Wife

Martin Beaton

Jean's Son

Anna Maguire

Jean's Daughter

Nathan Fillion

Minnesota Ryan

Leland Orser

Lieutenant DeWindt

Michael Mantas

Paratrooper Lieutenant

David Vegh

Paratrooper Oliver

Ryan Hurst

Paratrooper Mandelsohn

Nick Brooks

Paratrooper Joe

Sam Scudder

Paratrooper #1

John Walters

Old French Man

Dorothy Grumbar

Old French Woman

James Innes-Smith

MP Lieutenant

Harve Presnell

General Marshall

Dale Dye

War Department Colonel

Bryan Cranston

War Department Colonel

David Wohl

War Department Captain

Eric Loren

War Department Lieutenant

Valerie Colgan

War Department Clerk

Amanda Boxer

Mrs. Margaret Ryan

Harrison Young

Ryan as Old Man

Kathleen Byron

Old Mrs. Ryan

Rob Freeman

Ryan's Son

Thomas Gizbert

Ryan's Grandson

John de Lancie

Letter-Reader (voice) (uncredited)

James Embree

German Paratrooper

Declan Geraghty

Soldier (uncredited)

Derek Lea

Bangalore Assistant (uncredited)

Taylor Murphy

Sergeant Blaine

Abbe Muschallik

Ryan's Granddaughter

Nina Muschallik

Ryan's Granddaughter

Paul Sacks

Soldier Signalling to Relief Column

Mac Steinmeier

Waffen SS Soldier

Leo Stransky

German Sniper (uncredited)

Vincent Ventresca

Soldier on Beach (uncredited)

Did you know?

Trivia

Billy Bob Thornton turned down the role of Sergeant Horvath because he did not want to film the Normandy beach scenes due to a phobia of water.

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As the German soldier stabs Mellish to death, he says: "Gib' auf, du hast keine Chance! Lass' es uns beenden! Es ist einfacher für dich, viel einfacher. Du wirst sehen, es ist gleich vorbei." This translates: "Give up, you don't stand a chance! Let's end this here! It will be easier for you, much easier. You'll see it will be over quickly." The words are spoken in accent-free German.

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40 barrels of fake blood were utilized in the opening battle scene.

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Goofs

During the Ramelle battle, Cpl. Henderson and Pvt. Mellish are firing through a hole in the wall of a room at advancing German soldiers. Mellish is armed with an M1 Garand. Just before the scene where Henderson fires his Thompson through the wall at the sound of footsteps on the stairs, Mellish proclaims that his rifle is jammed. He is not seen clearing it. After Henderson fires through the wall and kills a soldier on the other side, gunfire burst back through the wall and hits Henderson in the neck, mortally wounding him. A 2nd German on the other side of the wall holds his machine gun through the door and fires. Mellish ducks, then fires a last round from his Garand, which ejects the magazine clip. The shot kills the 2nd German. The gun would not have been able to fire if the gun was jammed only moments earlier.

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After you see Mellish yelling for Upham to bring him ammo in the building with the hole in the wall, the scene switches to Upham sitting against a wall. He then gets up and runs across the street past Captain Miller to go to the building Mellish is in, stops against the wall and sees about five Germans running into the building. They would have had a perfect shot on Miller since he was just sitting in the middle of the street.

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When Cpt. Miller picks up Cpl. Upham in the beginning of the movie, Upham says his German "is clean" and had "a touch of the Bavarian". But actually there's nothing like a Bavarian accent in Upham speaking German. Though he speaks it very well and he certainly does not have a strong American accent (judging by the few lines he says in German), you can definitely hear that it is not his mother tongue.

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Quotes

Gen. George C. Marshall: My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.

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Captain Miller: [to the squad while pointing at Caparzo's dead body] THIS is why we don't pick up children!

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Private Ryan: Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard.

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Faq

Q

Why does Upham finally kill 'Steamboat Willie'?

A

Although he pleaded for Willie's life earlier in the movie, Upham saw Willie back on the front with his comrades, and they were all shooting to kill. Some viewers say that Upham kills Willie because he witnesses Willie killing Miller. That is unlikely, however, given Upham's position in relation to the German's fire. All the rifleman were shooting simultaneously. Without sharing their line of sight, it would be almost impossible to deduce whose bullet targeted who. After Miller is shot, the camera does pan back to Upham's bewildered face, implying that he witnessed Miller's death. Consequently, the most likely reason Upham executes Willie is because seeing Willie again with his fellow riflemen revealed Willie's lack of honor, contrary to the qualities that Upham claimed when he was trying to spare Willie's execution, and for the first time, Upham is able to fire on the enemy,

Q

What was the name of the beach on which they landed at the beginning of the movie?

A

It was code-named "Omaha Beach" for one of the principal landing points of the Allied invasion of France in the WWII Normandy landings on June 6, 1944. The beaches at Normandy were further divided into "sectors" for specific units to approach; Miller and his team land at "Dog Green" Sector where some of the fiercest fighting occurred..

Q

Why didn't Wade carry a gun?

A

During WWII the Geneva Conventions (the rules settled upon by both sides in the war) stipulated that if Medics were not to be fired upon during combat then they were not permitted to carry any sort of weapon.

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