The great war movie you ever saw.. xxzero: i agree..also the opening..the most intense 20 minutes in the history of cinema..those who think war is "cool" should watch that movie..  Koalemos: What is wrong here? What about the first matrix? Saving private ryan was good (although band of brothers was better) but the concept of matrix is so dense you will need a chainsaw to cut that cookie  miss gege: OMG i am so glad that so far people agree with Saving Private Ryan....it is one of my favorite and the first 21 mins, absolutely heart wrenching. However i give kudos to - Big Red One - In Harms Way (very hollywood) tv series the Pacific sorry Zero you mentioned the 1st 20 mins also, i saw it alone mid day, it was .... there are no words to Koalemos WAR movie, not science movie  StuckInTheSixties: That intense first Omaha Beach battle segment of Saving Private Ryan gets all the attention, and with good reason. No one had ever done anything remotely close to that before. But having viewed the movie multiple times, I find myself being taken more by other, more personal parts of the film: There's the very opening of the movie, when Ryan, later in life, is hobbling into the cemetary with his family above Omaha Beach, including his grandchildren. He finds the gravestone of Captain Miller, and Ryan's legs buckle, he collapses to his hands and knees, sobbing as his stricken family comes to his aid ... Jeez, just thinking of that scene is doing a job on me right here and now as I type ... Later in the film ... Private Ryan's mother is in the kitchen of her Iowa(?) farmhouse, washing dishes. She glances up and back down momentarily, just in the process of doing the dishes there at the sink, and her eyes go back up, looking through the window, seeing, off in the distant corn fields, an auto, colored military drab khaki, coming down the dusty country road. She's puzzled for a moment, but then, the reality of what she's looking at invades her consciousness, and her face shows dread. She knows what's coming. They're coming to her house. They're going to tell her what she dreads. And as she walks out onto the porch, the car pulls up. The door opens, and an officer, in his crisp, clean dress uniform steps out, followed by a minister with his clerical collar, Bible in hand. She's crushed, and falls to her knees on the porch. The film audience is crushed, knowing what Mrs. Ryan doesn't: She'll not be told about the death of a son, but rather, the death of three sons. That entire scene conveys all of that and far more, without a single word being uttered. In the French countryside, Captain Miller has made a decision that the soldiers searching for Ryan will deviate from their mission, and attack a German fighting position they have stumbled across. Miller reasons that they were lucky to discover it without the Germans detecting them, and they can't detour around it when they know that the next American soldiers are likely to be ambushed here. So they attack, and in the process of overrunning the Germans, their medic has taken a gutshot. After the fight is over, they assess his condition, and as he writhes in pain, they describe the medic's wounds to him. His liver has been destroyed, and he knows, they know, he won't live. So they put him out of his misery with multiple injections of morphine. Miller's troops are distraught, and nearly in mutiny over this turn of events. Eventually Captain Miller finds a moment to walk a short distance away, to get a precious solitary moment for himself. He sits down. His hands are shaking uncontrollably, and then he loses control of his emotions, breaks down, and begins crying, sobbing for a minute or two before gathering himself, and getting back to his men and the job at hand. Finally, at the end of the film, Ryan is back on his hands and knees, at Miller's grave above Omaha Beach, crying. His wife is next to him, distraught for her husband, as the family stands by in shock. His eyes wet and red, Ryan looks into his wife's face, and remembering Miller's dying words to him, beckoning the young private to "earn this ...", to make something of his life that almost all of those men gave their's to save ... "earn this," he said ... Ryan says to his wife, "Tell me I've led a good life." She's confused, and mutters, "What?!?" Ryan insists, "Tell me I'm a good man ..." Love and compassion replaces the anguish in her face, and she answers, "You are ..." Those are all "Spielberg" moments. Director Steven Spielberg is SOOOOO good at making those moments in a film, where the humanity of the characters magically leaves their faces and pierces your heart. Koalemos: Ups! yea sorry, my bad. either way I prefer a movie called THE DOWNFALL, its a german movie showing the last hours of Hitler, i found it so true. And the actor how do Hitler... wow. That movie doesnt have heavy fighting scenes, but have a strong message in my opinion... miss gege: cool K, will have to look for it and SITS amen, the part where Pvt Oppman convinces all to let the german go, and then he himself has to kill the "freed german" was great Koalemos: Yes miss, thats the only reason i didnt completly hate that pvt oppman dude. Very good scene.  davidk14: #1 Saving Private Ryan #2 A Bridge Too Far #3 12 O'Clock High (Gregory Peck) #4 Run Silent, Run Deep miss gege: get picks all i wish i could remember the one about the 2 snipers 1 from each side w'joseph finnes  IamEggman: Having seen both movies several times now, i coming to the conclusion that Thin Red Line is a better movie than Saving Private Ryan. Also Paths Of Glory should get an honourable mention. StuckInTheSixties: I thought The Thin Red Line was about an hour too long, but it was an excellent film. KrAsH: Apocalypse now along with the others all mentioned above were great in their own ways.. Ive always liked this one though.. StuckInTheSixties: Apocalypse Now is a classic! And that "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" scene ... a classic! KrAsH: I could never get bored watching apocalypse now.. I think in a lot of ways that movie influenced a lot of war movies to follow Koalemos: Right on sixties.. And Well, that scene in full metal jacket when leonard shot himself in the bathroom after saying The Rifleman's Creed... wow... miss gege: Schlinder's list, an impressive cinematography, acting, directing and if you think about it Diary of Anne Frank and shelley winters performance | Movies Chat Room Similar Conversations |
