57 years On a Sunday afternoon 2 cars Pull-down my parents driveway TWO United State Marine Corps captains and my pastor Came to tell my mother that my brother did not make it home from Vietnam He was 20years old I was 9years old years. 🌹WE WILL NEVER FORGET 🌹 .YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB ❤
Mark, I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your brother. I served two infantry combat tours in Vietnam (1965-66/1970-71)and still think about those fellow Marines I worked with. Respectfully, T. Boyte Gunnery Sgt. USMC, retired
When I was around your age when we lived in Navy housing near Pearl Harbor while my dad made 3 trips to Vietnam 66-69. It was too common to see the Officer and chaplain to go to a families place to give them the news. My mom would never talk about it, but I knew why they were there. And about 2-3 weeks later, the family was moving out.
A point of confusion are two German characters often mistaken as one. German actor Mac Steinmeier played the SS soldier who killed Mellish. German actor Joerg Stadler played ‘Steamboat Willie’ the POW they released who later shot Capt. Miller. Wish they didn’t cast two actors who looked so alike.
I watched it twice at the cinema in '98, and have watched it regularly since (it's my equal favourite war movie of all time), and until this moment I thought all three instances were the same character/actor. My mind has just been blown....
To be fair on the casting, soldiers with the same uniform and haircut are just going to look alike, no matter what you do. And when you have German actors that US audiences are unfamiliar with, together with US casting directors who feel obligated to cast German soldiers to have an expected "look," it's bound to lead to a few confused watchers.
The medic asked for a second dose of morphine because he knew he was going to die. Morphine is usually used as a sedative or a pain reliever, and if you give a person too much it sends them into a deep sleep or renders them comatose if you dose it wrong. He knew he was going to die, and he was already in pain from his injuries and the blood loss was just making it worse, so he was asking them to let him die, even though he was terrified.
Also, if I remember correctly, those morphine dosages are at the upper therapeutic limit, so if u take two at once it will def comatose you. And he probably knew that so he wanted to go without pain
A second dosage is fatal and in fact the Army had a saying: "one is for the pain, two is for eternity", which is why Sergeant Horvath kept staring at Capt. Miller when he told him to give Wade another dosage. And then Horvath gave a third dose to make sure he would die quickly.
What the soldiers said at the minute 6:23??? Well, what they were saying was: "Prosím, nestřílejte mě, nejsem Němec, jsem Čech, nikoho jsem nezabil!" which in English would be: “Please don’t shoot me, I’m not German, I’m Czech, I didn’t kill anyone!” And this happened because many civilians and soldiers captured in the German occupations were forced to fight in the German army.
not true, Czechs were never forced to fight for the germans. infact the germans barred ethnic czechs from volunteering (part of hitler's grievances with the czech legion of ww1 'betraying' the central powers). the germans did not force civilians from occupied countries to fight, but they did coerse pows from the ussr to 'volunteer', but this would obviously not include czechs. its more likely they are germans pretending to be czechs in the hope this would get them out of trouble (something which happened alot, germans would try and pretend to be czechs, poles and even french. )
Saving Private Ryan changed the genre of war movies. I remember watching this in the theater when it came out, two years after I retired from the Marine Corps. One comment about that letter from Abraham Lincoln, which is overall a masterpiece; people don't "die gloriously" in combat. There was nothing glorious about that beach landing; it was just one example of high intensity combat. That sniper shot through the rifle scope actually happened in the Vietnam War. A Marine sniper named Carlos Hathcock fired that shot. As in this scene, the only way that can happen is for the other person to be aiming at you. The level of realism was a new thing in mainstream cinema when this film came out - even so, the audience knows that after about three hours, they're going to walk out of the theater in one piece; nobody in the audience dies while it's being screens; the audience is not exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and too cold or too hot; and the senses of smell and touch were missing. The smell embeds itself in your memory, and I can remember going for hours with another man's blood all over my hands and having the stickiness and the flies it attracted driving me more and more crazy for the rest of that day. My stepfather served in combat in World War II. When I was growing up, he always told funny stories about things that had happened. But just before I left for boot camp, I asked him what one thing stood out more than anything else about his experiences in that war, and he said, "Dead friends."
Sorry to pick nits. Mythbusters tested the Vietnam sniper story. They had period scopes and rifles. They tried everything they could to get the bullet to go all the way through the scope. But, it turns out that the truth is, the glass gets pulverized, and the bullet disintegrates. Even at point blank range, the bullet did not come out the back side of the scope. Similarly, one of Mythbusters' earliest tests was how far underwater was safe from being shot. Counter-intuitively, the bigger the rifle, the less it penetrated. A 9mm pistol was dangerous to a depth of a few feet. An AR-15 did not penetrate one foot. With a .50 caliber rifle, the bullet disintegrated within a few inches. They picked up tiny shards of bullet from the bottom of the pool. The ballistics gel was untouched. The speed at which it hits the water causes forces that exceed the structural integrity of the bullet. To be fair, Saving Private Ryan was filmed prior to Mythbusters performing either of those tests. And, they make for very dramatic scenes. And, they certainly fit the theme, that war is brutal and awful. But, it turns out neither is realistic.
@MightyDrakeC actually, their tests were done incorrectly using the wrong gear. They used more modern equipment. One example, the scope they used was too modern and had more "guts" packed inside it than the scope that would have been used by Hathcock. Secondly, the rifle and round they used were also incorrect. Mythbusters, over the years, have become more and more fantasy mythbusting and more mainstream, huffing their own copium. The Fat Electrician and, I believe, a couple other guys tested and proved it could work. They used the correct rifle and rounds.
@@MightyDrakeC - There was a biography written about Carlos Hathcock. I found it a fascinating read. Some of the kills he pulled off are legendary in the sniper community. On the "scope shot", yes the round would disintegrate, but the kinetic energy of the shards would continue the shards would hit the face/head of the other sniper & kill him. A kill either way, Mythbusters just proved the physics of it all.
@bradrichert3966 In the Mythbusters episode, they put Buster behind the scope, and nothing hit him. Nothing penetrated, at all. I've read the Hathcock biography, so I was familiar with the claim prior to the show
"What did he say?" Upham comes up from the crater, saying "Lay your weapons down!" Steamboat Willie says, "I know this soldier. I know this man." Upham tells him to shut up. Willie says Upham's name, and then Upham shoots him. Then, Upham tells the rest of the German soldiers, "Disappear!"
This is one of the greatest - and most important - movies ever made. What that generation did to stop the spread of true evil around the globe must never be forgotten. And this film puts you right into the middle of it like no other film has done. Excellent reaction.
It shows how massive world war is. Reading in books don't show as a movie can just how one side has taken over a continent and storming the beaches is the only way in. I've seen people question that in confusion. We had air drops but that became a mess. France was an Ally but coming in late it was all taken over. Movies especially this one show how fascinating and devastating world war is.
I'm a 73 year old USNavy veteran (retired). Good reaction. About Upham on the stairs: on the one hand, nobody knows how they'll react until they are actually in the situation. On the other hand, there is, and can be, no excuse for Cowardice. Still, you gave us a fine reaction; thank you for sharing this with us!
The scene earlier, when the wall crumbles, is a reminder that even hardened veterans can freeze. But Upham, who wanted to write about the bonds of warriors, never understood the full duty of soldiers. And then what he does at the end is murder - the man he had saved earlier recognizes him, and his reward is Upham shooting him.
Guys freeze up. I reading a book about USMC Scout Snipers on Saipan, and during the landings, they bring up how one of the men froze under combat conditions. Keep in mind, the Scout Snipers didn’t just recruit anyone and the Marine who froze was a veteran of Guadalcanal and Tarawa. But, Saipan broke him. It goes to show that the human mind can only comprehend so much of war before snapping, and that breaking point is different in all of us. IMO, Upham is a stand in for the audience and his actions best represent how a non service member (or someone not trained for these kinds of situations) would react. Had this been a real life mission, they definitely would’ve found another translator from a combat unit, not bring someone with no frontline experience, especially compared to the rest of the men we meet in the movie (Rangers, Pathfinders, paratroopers, some of the best trained in the US military at that time).
37:06 I love the subtle things you notice after watching the movie (many times) like this shot of his hand that is finally steady after shaking the entire movie. He found peace in the end.
Well, your emotional reaction to this film earned my sub! Btw, each soldier has to write a letter home to their next of kin in case they are killed, buddies will make sure its a clean letter so the family doesn't have to thonk about the torture of aa violent death!
You have to watch the "Band of Brothers" mini series. Also a Tom Hanks/ Steven Spielberg production. It's the most beautifully put together series you'll ever see.
This movie is hard on people not into these devastating scenes. I always feel bad seeing a reactor watching this. I think this movie goes past a lot of people's threshold. I saw this at 8 and remember how upset i was at everyone's deaths but felt satisfied i wasn't lied too with plot armor. I am all desensitized by this and watching reactors to this movie brings me back to reality. Lol
@@BigPat6521I have low affective but high cognitive empathy. I don't really get affected by gore, but I like the positive messages of these war stories: people who want to save the world, even if they die doing so.
My grandfather he was a medic in wave 2 at The Normady Invasion. He would never talk about it. Hacksaw Ridge is another great world war 2 movie. It takes place in the Pacific Theatre.
@williambranch4283 Yeah from all the documentaries I've watched the Pacific Theatre was just as if not more butal than the European Theatre. Both were absolutely horrid. Big respect to your Grandfather!🇺🇲🇺🇲❤️
The Pacific theater was, BY FAR, a MORE brutal combat experience than the war in Europe, even taking into consideration weather conditions such as Bastone and the Battle of the Bulge!! The Pacific theater where battles on tropical Islands in the Pacific, extremely hot and humid jungle environments that were certainly much less friendly for humans than what they encountered in Europe!! The Marines that fought throughout the Pacific theater, especially in the earlier battles like Guadalcanal, if you've ever seen the series The Pacific, the Marines had to contend with short supplies and even shortage of water at some point!!😮 And then there was the Japanese soldier which was a totally different animal than the Germans OR the Italians!! They pretty much did not know the meaning of surrender!! They committed brutal war crimes including using their own civilians as human Shields!! Then the diseases that you would have to contend with in that tropical environment were ALSO brutal. All in all it just adds up to WAY worse conditions to fight in the Pacific than in Europe!! But mad respect to every soldier and Marine and Air Force person that served in World War II THEY were special breed!!!❤ There's definitely a reason that they are called the GREATEST GENERATION!!❤
@@bernardsalvatore1929 Interesting. In Germany we call this generation "The Silent Generation". But the US lost way more soldiers in Europe than in the Pacific. On the other hand the most soldiers died in the east. Germany vs USSR. Highly recommand the Trilogy "Generation War". In the first movie the lieutenant says to his captain after watching an SS-Officer was shooting an innocent girl: "This is not a war" and his captain says: "It is. A new one. In the name of the Führer". The lieutenant replys: "If we lose this war not even god can save us and certainly not the Führer."
@@IMFLordVader yes in terms of casualties the US did take more casualties in the European theater than in the Pacific theater!! As a matter of fact if you've seen the series Masters of the Air, the 8th Air Force and 100th bomb group took more casualties then ALL the Marine casualties in the Pacific!! Every time a plane went down, and thousands of planes went down in Europe, 10 men were lost!!
Many people who fought in big wars (where they did and saw everything), sometimes were not able to tell anything even to their own family. It was something very painful and too deep. Here we see at the end how Ryan himself had never told his family anything.
Soldiers getting shot underwater is one of the rare inaccuracies in this film. In reality, bullets are rendered non lethal after roughly 2 feet of water.
I know you’re referring to the mythbusters test but I wonder if a machine gun at full auto with the surface tension being broken constantly would make a difference.
@@orlandocast7941 It is possible it could make a slight difference. Aerating water reduces surface tension substantially, but that is a lot of water, and they were pretty deep. Not sure there could be enough aeration to matter. But it is an interesting thought.
There in lies another problem. No machine gunner would hammer down on his gun like you see in SPR and all the other movies. To do so would render your gun useless in short order.
The lethality of bullets in water is a function of bullet caliber, it’s velocity and it’s entry angle into the water. Obviously, a large caliber bullet at very high velocity can travel farther in water and remain lethal.
@@mikealvarez2322I can think of a half dozen personal memories where I witnessed a soldier, in a live combat environment, hammer down with their MGs that way. There was a fairly common technique I heard shared amongst gunners in Iraq that you start a firefight by going cyclic with your first belt to get their heads down and then after your reload you can start managing your fire rates.
"Okay, they're surrendering. Were they surrendering?" Yes, they were, indeed, surrendering. The one speaking said, "I am not German, I am Czech, I didn't kill anyone! I am Czech!"
After watching your best friends being turned into hamburger for that past hour, fuck “they were surrendering.” As far as the Czechs are concerned, good bet they were Sudeten Germans loyal to Hitler.
Literally hundreds if thousands of American men and boys died (and millions were maimed) so we can’t all live safe, warm and well fed lives. Please don’t ever forget that.
Wade was purposely overdosed on morphine so we wouldn’t suffer As far as the one shaking hand, looks like Parkinson’s Disease. Not just fear. Believe me, when you are literally scared to death, your whole body shakes… sometimes violently.
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 we do know. the germans bared ethnic czechs from even volunteering. hitler didn't trust them that much (because of the czech legion in ww1). they were not czechs.
My Dad served on a submarine, one uncle was wounded parachuting into New Guinea jungles, another uncle was captured in Italy and a cousin was shot down over Germany and escaped from a German POW camp. Every family was involved.
Excellent reaction to the best war movie ever. I still feel a close connection to WWII. My father was one year too young for the fighting, but he was in the occupation of Japan in 1946. I had two uncles who went through the Italian campaign and survived into my adulthood. My mother’s first cousin was second day at Normandy, but therefore got moved to the front line for the horrendous Hedgerows battle and was among the troops cut off behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge. He had even more horrific experiences in the Korean War. He was very close to our family in his later years (his early 50s) because he was a bachelor living at the “Old Soldier’s Home” in Washington and often visited us. I attended his burial at Arlington National Cemetery in 1966, when I was 12.
This film fundamentally changed the way I view our soldiers & the sacrifices they make. It also shows the reality of war, and how quickly you can die in one. You'll be changed as well. I haven't talked to anyone who's seen this film who wasn't changed by it. Spielberg is a genius. I still can't watch that final graveside scene without sobbing. The line about living a good life hits way too close to home.
Suggestions - • "Band of Brothers" • "Hacksaw Ridge" • "The Pacific" • "The Outpost" • "Lone Survivor" • "American Sniper" • '12 Strong" • "Zero Dark Thirty" • "13 Hours" • "Midway" • "Gallipoli" (1981) • "The Longest Day" • "Braveheart" • "Paths of Glory" Non War movies - • "Forrest Gump" • "Dumb and Dumber" • "As Good As It Gets"
The men that died in the movie didn't just die to save Pvt. Ryan. They also died doing their duty to take out a machine gun nest and defend the bridge. If the Germans had taken the bridge they would have driven their tanks to the Beaches creating sheer chaos.
I’ve always felt that the movie presents a false premise-that the squad members were “risking their lives for one man.” NO-they’re risking their lives by being infantrymen in a war zone! If they weren’t looking for Ryan, where would they be? Safe in the rear? Of course not, they’d be in the regular front line getting shot at. Their particular mission may vary but the risk is constant due to their “occupation.” The only exception is Upham, who was snatched away from his rear-echelon duties.
As a retired Sailor who spent over 41 years in the Navy, this movie's backstory about Private Ryan is not really based on a story during the invasion of Europe. The Generals, who are talking about bringing Private Ryan home, do bring up the real story of the Sullivan Brothers, who were killed when the USS Juno was sunk during the early parts of WWII. There is an older movie based on the Sullivan Brothers, which does not have all the gore about the deaths called The Fighting Sullivans. This movie was the first Spielberg/Hanks war collaboration, there are three others you need to watch which are mini-series based on real stories from WWII. They are Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Masters of the Air. I have not watched Masters of the Air, but I suspect it will be as good as the other two. The three are based on different branches of the military during WWII. Band of Brothers is about US Soldiers in the European Theater of WWII. The Pacific is based on the US Marines in the Pacific Theater of WWII. I don't know if Masters of the air is based on just the European theater or if it includes some of the Pacific Theater, but I do know it is based on the US Army Air Corps of WWII. The US Air Force was formed after WWII. I want to Thank You for watching a movie about the US Military.
The movie was very loosely based on finding and saving Sergeant Frederick William "Fritz" Niland. Two of his brothers were killed in Normandy, and a third brother was missing and presumed dead. A chaplain found Niland and brought him back. Stephen Ambrose learned of the story while interviewing Donald Malarkey for the Band of Brothers book. Malarkey was told the story by Warren Muck. The Niland brothers were from Muck’s hometown.
For me the greatest war movie out there. Imagine watching this as a 14yo and getting scarred for life. But in a good way. The tension made me shake, esp. at the end, when the battle for the bridge is about to start. 😬 Always goosebumps and tears at specific scenes. A masterpiece for sure! Also: Really enjoy your reactions!
The 2 Germans surrendering were Czech conscripts. They were saying we are Czech, we didn't kill anyone. By this time in the war the Germans were using anyone they could from allied or conquered nations.
Mike, we don't know their backstory. They could have been from the Sudetenland and many from that region willingly served in the German army and were often enough Nazis or Nazi sympathizers (Oscar Schindler was a Sudeten Czech/German and he was both a Nazi and had worked to betray the Czechs in 1938). So it is entirely possible that these two surrendering were trying to get a better deal by speaking Czech.
Johann, No one knows except the script writers. For all we know they could have been escaped PLANET OF THE APES actors dressed like soldiers. The movie accurately portrays combat on Omaha. There were no white hats or black hats only shades of gray. My guess is that the men were most likely Ukrainians or even Russians as many of them joined the German Army to avoid going to a POW camp. That said they are speaking Czech so I would assume that is where they were from; ie, from a region where that language was spoken. I quoted them accurately.
I’ve seen hundreds of movies in theaters, and my experience seeing this film was the one I best remember watching in my teenage years. This was in August of 1998 down in South Jersey. The theatre was packed and several vets were present. It was a crazy experience to see this film in a theatre with surround sound. No film to that point in time (at least from America) came as close to accurately portraying WW2 combat as this movie did. Actually, The Thin Red Line also did a good job with realism and came out that same year in 98.
This is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the greatest War Movie ever made, and one of the greatest films, in general, in Cinematic History. Brilliant writing, an absolutely stellar cast, some of the finest Direction and Cinematography I've ever seen (and I've seen a whole lot over the decades), and just enough sweetness and humour to keep you from completely spiraling (until the end, at least). Hope you have your tissues handy, M'Lady...this is a rough one. 😉😱 Cheers and salutations from Canada, you continue to knock it out of the park with these reactions. 👍🥃☮❤
Glad you got to see it with him. My dad was a field medic with the Canadian military in Korea; he never talked about his experiences, so I don't know how he would have taken seeing this movie.
@@davedewd my grandfather was in Korea, he was wounded in combat at Chosin, never spoke about the war, I asked him what it was like, and he took me to see this in theaters
The opposite of my grandpa which was drafted when he was 17. When I was a kid he just told us the harmless stories like he was operating a flashlight for airplanes in the night. But when I turned 18 he told me that he was in the netherland in a trench. His friends (they were all that young) put their rifles to a tree. An american division spotted the rifle and they new: Where are rifles there must be soldiers. So they opened fire. My grandfather and his friends jumped into the trench. When they looked up machinegun fire was opened. When the americans understood they won't get them like this they put the area under mortar fire. My grandfather thought: "That's it. Here I have to die". For his luck a german tank division pushed the americans back. The commander said: "What are you kids doing here? Go home!"... So they did
TheGolsWin21, I was talking about the MG-42 firing 1200 to 1400 rpm. The barrel of that era gun would overheat since it is air-cooled. Gunners were taught to fire in bursts of 3 seconds.
Great reaction Camilla like always, love this masterpiece. My grandfather serve with Sergeant Frederick Niland in 501 company, Sergeant Frederick Niland was the inspiration for this movie he had 3 brothers that were killed in action. This movie is based on a book. Robert Rodat (screen writter) was first inspired to craft the narrative upon reading Stephen Ambrose’s nonfiction retrospective D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. Rodat was fascinated by an honorary memorial dedicated to families who had lost multiple sons in the war. Rodat began writing Saving Private Ryan after studying the true story of Sergeant Frederick “Fritz” Niland. Fritz Niland’s brothers Preston and Robert had enlisted for service, and his brother Edward had volunteered. In May 1944, Edward was shot down over Burma and presumed dead. In June, Robert was killed on D-Day and Preston was killed on Omaha Beach. Frederick had gone missing during the Normandy Invasion, and the U.S. Army commissioned him to be rescued and sent home. An army unit under chaplain Fr. Francis Sampson identified Frederick’s location and sent him back to his parents Michael and Augusta Niland. Frederick’s brother Edward was also discovered to be alive and was rescued from a Burmese POW camp and also returned home safely. The rescues were the result of the U.S. War Department’s “sole survivor” policy, which was adopted in 1942 after the four Sullivan brothers who served in the U.S. Navy had all been killed during the sinking of the USS Juneau during the Battle of Guadalcanal. So, while Saving Private Ryan is unquestionably inspired by true events, the film's story of Captain Miller's risky mission to save one man is entirely fictional. And congrats for not mistaken some characters. A lot of reactors confuse the guy who was let go, and later shot Capt. Miller and then was shot by Upham, with the soldier who stabbed Mellish. They wore different uniforms: the prisoner who was released and later returned was regular Wehrmacht, and the guy who stabbed Mellish was SS, They chosen two actors for those roles that looked so similar they did that literally to tell the viewers that war is confusing. Steven Spielberg explained this. He most likely didn't kill Upham because he instantly recognized he wasn't a threat. Upham even takes his hands off of his gun and holds them up in surrender to the SS soldier. Not a lot of satisfaction in killing someone who's basically curled up in the fetal position. And Keep in mind, Upham was likely drafted for his translation skills, so he is A: not a volunteer, and B: not meant as a primary combatant. I don't blame him for freezing in that moment, no one knows how they'd react in a situation like that until they're actually in it. I like to think I'd do the right thing and go charging up those stairs to the rescue, but I could just as easily be shell-shocked in pants-shitting terror like he was. Our military today is an all volunteer service, no one is pressed into service like he was, so it's easier for people today to see his actions and just label him a dirty coward without understanding there is nuance to this story and that things were very different then. Soldiers today CHOOSE that life, he didn't, he just wanted to get back home without getting blood on his hands. Keep up the good work.
I was in my second year in the Navy when this movie came out; I was 27. One person who played a very important part in the opening Omaha Beach sequence was Captain Dale Dye. He was in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Later on, he became one of the go-to technical advisors for movies being made about the military. He has also acted; first movie I saw him in as a teenager was Platoon. These days he runs a company that puts actors who are making war movies through a boot camp to teach them what they need to know; he also helped plan and shoot the opening Omaha Beach scene to make it as realistic as possible. Besides being in Band of Brothers as Colonel Sink, he was heavily involved in the production of that series. There are some great books about D-Day out there; some are about the landings on the individual beaches instead of the bigger picture of the invasion as a whole. One of the best, in my humble opinion, is D-Day: June 6, 1944 by Stephen Ambrose. It was written and published for the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. This book covers the planning for D-Day and the first 24 hours of the invasion, which were the most crucial hours in determining the success or failure of D-Day. Stephen Ambrose also wrote Band of Brothers, which was the basis of the series. Another book about D-Day was The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan, which was made into a film in 1962. Ryan also wrote another book, A Bridge Too Far, about Operation Market-Garden, the failed invasion of Nazi occupied Holland in September 1944. That was also made into a film in 1970 and is one of the best films about World War Two ever made.
The mini series band of brothers is the natural follow to saving private Ryan, 10 episodes with an unofficial 11th episode that being the documentary (which is definitely necessary to tie it all off). I’ll warn you that you’ll have a tough time of it, but the pay off makes it worth it. The series is made by Spielberg and Hanks. One of the ww2 vets that acted as an advisor was in easy company and would tell his stories and Hanks and Spielberg were inspired enough to create the mini series following that vets unit from beginning to wars end.
Great reaction Camilla! I still remember seeing this in the theater when it first came out. If you ever get the chance to see it in a theater, I highly recommend it. The surround sound system adds an entirely new dimension. Your comment about the lack of musical score and how it builds tension is interesting. Another film that does that is No Country for Old Men, which is a fantastic film that you should definitely watch. It has no score at all and the lack of music adds tension to an already tense thriller.
The two German soldiers who tried to surrender in the beginning weren't actually German or even speaking German. They were eastern European conscripts forced to fight for the Nazis. I believe they were speaking Czech. I appreciate they put scenes like that in the movie. No war is a 'clean war' and stuff like that happened on all sides.
yes they were speaking czech and no czechs were ever conscripted to fight for the germans in ww2, infact czechs were bared from volunteering. the eastern conscripts were from pow camps and were entirely soldiers from the ussr who 'volunteered' (russians, ukranians, georgians, etc not czechs or poles). they were germans pretending to be czechs, or its a mistake in the movie.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps they were ethnic Czechs who were German citizens? From Wikipedia: "Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles,[1] Portuguese, Swedes,[2] Swiss along with people from Great Britain, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Balkans.[3] At least 47,000 Spaniards served in the Blue Division.[4]"
I hope you know that the opening scene depicts something that really happened. It was the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. That one battle also lasted more than 7 hours. The U.S. suffered nearly 4,000 casualties. They didn’t call it “Bloody Omaha” for nothing.
Although a fictional story. It was made so realistically when it opened at theaters. It set off ptsd reactions in many WWII veterans that tried to watch .
Ms. Camilla, so nice to see you again. May I say you're one of the better reactors on yt. You actually focus on the film and follow along and notice things rather than primp and preen for the camera. Major Kudos to you. I've seen all of your reactions thus far and subscribed the first day. I wish you great success and look forward to many more films with you. 😊 p.s. I'm sure others have mentioned this but I strongly urge you to watch The Green Mile. You will notice/appreciate many, many memorable things.
Movie line: "Until he has to change out his barrels". That is a dangerous gamble. Granted, my machine gun wasn't the same. MG-42 had a massive overheating problem. I used American M2 and M240. I've never done a barrel change in combat, and yet was Top Gun in my Squadron. My point is fire discipline. He's rolling the dice on a gunner so inexperianced that he just holds the trigger down, cooking his own equipment. A bad machine gunner uses "spray and pray". A good one uses controlled bursts.
Least we never forget the ones who died so that we can be FREE. Pass this down to your generation so that they are always celebrated and never forgotten. Great reaction
CONGRATULATIONS: You are the only person that has ever reacted to this movie who figured the soldiers would be safe underwater. Bullets traveling through water lose their kinetic energy almost instantly. It is absolutely impossible for a bullet to travel several hundred yards through the air then through several feet of water and finally through a fully clothed human being. A lot of men jumped into deep water and drowned. Quite a few drowned because they were not taught how to use a piece of equipment that was supposed to keep them from drowning. The Army provided the men with a belt that was inflated by a CO2 cartridge. Since it was called a belt the men put it around their waist instead of placing it around their chest and under their arms. The men were so top heavy that the belt around their waist flipped them upside down and they drowned. 😮😢 BTW, Whenever Captain Miller loses his hearing temporarily, it's called acoustical trauma.
Put your head underwater and the sound disappears - nothing to do with acoustically trauma - try it yourself in a swimming pool. Your pontificating re the effect of bullets in water is just plain wrong.
@@richardwest6358 As for bullets in the water, I am just passing along information from experts, people who have studied this topic and have conducted experiments. The Machine guns were 500 yards from the landing crafts. By the time those bullets got to the water they would have slowed down by at least 500 ft./sec.
FUBAR is the acronym for Fouled (or the other F word) Up Beyond All Repair. Defilade means there is a position which provides cover and offers a firing position. Flanking a position is attacking the enemy from the side where they are weaker.
The cemetery at the start and end of the movie is The Normandy American Cemetery (about 9300 graves). Not far from there is the La Cambe German Military Cemetery (about 21000 graves). Both cemeteries are Remarkable and absolutely worth a visit.
Every solider wrote a letter to his family in case he was killed. Each one had their own letter and if they were killed, the others would grab it to have it mailed home.
Interesting facts: The opening Omaha Beach scene was shot at Curracloe Beach in Wexford County, Ireland; there were about 1,000 Irish Army reserves that were used in the Omaha battle scene and about 30 real amputees were used; The opening and closing memorial scenes were shot right at the Normandy American Cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer which overlooks Omaha Beach and is where the two Niland brothers are buried; the rest of the movie was shot at multiple locations in England; Awesome reaction!
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 Hmmm. Never really thought about that. No disrespect intended. Was just a well-known term of description. I'll change it.
Furthermore, 80% of all German casualties during the Second World War occurred during the last 2 years of the war. Pretty much starting with D-Day in Normandy in the West and 2 weeks later in the East, Operation Bagration kicked off resulting in Army Group Centre being essentially annihilated in 6 weeks.
I've visited the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, several times, and what struck me the most compared to other, civilian cemeteries is the youth of all those buried there…you can feel the sudden and tragic interruption of so many young lives.
I've seen just about every known reaction to this on TH-cam and I always look forward to seeing people's reaction to Upham on the staircase and him shooting Steamboat Willie. Obviously the array of feelings are wide. From complete understanding and compassion to total hatred and vitriol. His character is an extreme example of a complex, multifaceted moral dilemna of subjective ambiguity. His character has been debated for 35 years and it'll be debated for eternity.
Before watching any reaction to this movie, I always skip to that part. If they hate on Upham, I skip the reaction video altogether. People who hate Upham don't get this movie at all. The last thing Spielberg intended was for us to hate Upham.
I don't hate Upham, I just question his actions. Minutes before he stops on the stairs he saw a tank coming towards his direction and he left cover and ran right in front of the tank taking fire. Then later, he sees soldiers walking towards his fellow soldiers, and with the advantage of being behind the soldiers and armed with a rifle he does nothing. I think the first action took more courage, so I don't see the second action as fitting to the circumstances.
My dad volunteered for the Army Air Corps (later known as "Air Force") in August, 1940--a year and a half before the US entered the War. He served for the duration of WWII and was recalled for service during the Korean War (total 8 years), so I grew up knowing about the War. In fact, everyone in my family and all of the adults I knew all did something life changing during the War. His father, my grandfather, served in the US army fighting in France during the First World War. I know it's all ancient history and they're all gone now, but it just doesn't seem so distant to me.
41:20 I think just about everyone thought it was the older Capt. Miller at the beginning when seeing it for the first time. I sure did. That's Spielberg being Spielberg.
This movie shows everyone what men are capable of doing for each other, or to each other. It does a great job of capturing how men bond with each other, too. The jabs to test the new guy, how people deal with horrible surroundings, and the toll that combat takes on anyone it touches.
I had three blue star families on my paper route during Vietnam. One day one of them turned the star in their window to gold, meaning their son had been killed. I paid their bill for them that week.
Highly recommend putting some of these war films on your watch list (these are also some pretty well shot films as well): - We Were Soldiers (Battle of Ia Drang, the first time US and North Vietnamese forces fought each other in the Vietnam War. Also gives you perspective about how the families back home coped with everything). - Glory (probably Matthew Broderick's finest film in my opinion about the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the very first all-Black infantry regiment to be raised and fight in the American Civil War) - Flags of our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima (it is the Battle of Iwo Jima but each film tells it from the US and Japanese point of view) - The Last Samurai (probably one of Tom Cruise's finest films about the decline of the Samurai class as Japanese society not just modernised but westernised). - Fury (took a while for me to warm up to it but I'd put it on the list about a tank crew fighting near the end of the Second World War in Germany).
What the German soldier says to Mellish at the end of the knife fight is haunting. It almost makes me regret learning German. He says: "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."
So ... pretty much the same it would have been the other way around... 🤷♂️ I'm ususally not very happy with german language bits in Hollywood movies. This one is already among the best and still it sounds off. The words are technically correct, but nobody actually speaks like that. Especially in such a high stress situation. One major exception is Schindler's List though. Being german and understanding everything the soldiers say that doesn't get a subtitle, adds a whole new level to that movie...
@@michaausleipzig Don't forget that in the time before WW2 Germany was way bigger. Königsberg, Breslau, Stettin, Krakau... everything was german. And I am not familiar with these accents. Maybe that soldier was drafted from there. I can hear perfect grammar just the accent sounds uncommon. But not american accent, that's for sure.
@@michaausleipzig I think that's what made it stick with me most. The words were out of place, but how he said it--almost like he was shooshing a troubled child to go to sleep--made it so creepy.
The first time I watched this movie I was definitely way too young to be watching it but I was still old enough to understand what real bravery is, this movie made me realize there’s no such thing as Superman or spider man but these men are real deal hero’s they gave up everything for us
What a great reaction to a great film. There are so many great war films you can watch and react too- we were soldiers, black hawk down but the one i hope you get to react too is Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan, as you work in the film industry i think you will appreciate this film.Keep up the good work
Movies like this hurt. Watching them is legitimately painful. But seeing them is important and I respect anyone who puts themselves through it, doubly so when they're not used to harsh movies. The fact is we can't truly know what it was like, how bad they had it, but in the attempt to know we honor them and what they did.
There is an extra dimension if you saw it in a theater. With good surround sound, you can see the muzzle flashes in front of you and hear the bullet impacts behind you. It makes you feel like you are there in a very intense way.
Although, this is fiction based on real history, there was a precedence for the brother's death. The USS Sullivan Brothers was named after 5 brothers died in WWII. A rule was created to send the last brother home when three or more brothers die from one family.
Really nice detail. When caparzo is shot by sniper 12:45 it happens not 10 seconds after he removes his necklace to give to the little girl. Almost like he gave away his heavenly protection
Saving Private Ryan YES! THIS is the right movie!!! And, should be viewed before every Veterans Day & Memorial Day. After Vietnam, America transformed into a country whose military became one of … professional soldiers. Drafts were discontinued … in favor of an all volunteer force. Only about 3% of Americans had ever served in the military. This may be the reason for the lack of empathy toward veterans and wars, itself.” I would call upon you, and everyone, to not just “watch” a combat-accurate movie …. but, to watch it while considering yourselves as unseen soldiers-participants that are THERE, experiencing the occurrences along with “your fellow soldiers, friends”. Great every Veterans Day, Memorial Day. This movie is a fictional film of WWII’s D-Day invasion … in which three of four brothers are KIA (killed in action) and a squad / platoon (8 men) search for the remaining live brother. D-Day remains the LARGEST amphibious invasion in history … the transfer of 39 divisions (22 American), over 1 million soldiers to Normandy France. The Allies began their invasion at 6:30am and and finally repelled the Germans by days end … at a cost of more than 10,000 KIA & MIAs. That would LITERALLY BE staring at death and bloodshed EVERYWHERE …. one could look nowhere that was absent its brutality! American soldiers that survived the first day’s invasion attested to the films’, accuracy in the nature & brutality of combat. A slightly unknown factoid is that German machine gunner that was depicted firing down onto Americans landing at Dog-1 Omaha Beach … massacring them before they could even get off their LST. That machine gunner identified himself well after the war as Heinrich Severloh, an 18 year old son of a farmer, that was conscripted by the Germans. Heinrich admitted that he believed he killed more Americans in a single day than any other soldier … more than 1000, possibly over 2000 … and for the rest of his life, the nightmares would never stop! Soldiers on both sides would have to eventually unpack & deal with all of their horrors …. secreted away for later, more convenient times for reflections. Another surreal oddity was the character of the typist Upham …. his character oddly reflects the character of our nation …. America. From 1937, years before America was attacked at Pearl Harbor (and beyond) …. America sat back, failing to act as Germany began exterminating 6MILLION men, women, children, and elders because of their race, using them as reasons for German failings …. We sat back, refusing to involve ourselves in Europe’s ‘Problem’ …. while Germany invaded and overwhelmed every other country except England. We finally pulled ourselves together and entered the combat! In combat, EVERY man (boys 17-20) reacts differently …. assimilates combat differently …. but, EVERYONE is afraid! We all lock our horrors away in the recesses of our minds …. only later to have to deal with them again! Back to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, I would hope that you & EVERY American would sit down a day or two before every Memorial Day & Veterans Day and rewatch this film (or, Hacksaw Ridge). But, next time rejoin the film, mentally doing so AS AN UNSEEN MEMBER OF THE SQUAD … to mentally & emotionally connect to the other soldiers as friends, buddies … hopefully, to understand all of the veterans combat problems. America, the people (the 97% never experiencing war, are now highly insulated from soldiers / veterans … stunned into remembering the wounded, maimed & dead … but seem to never comprehend those with invisible wounds … those that returned with PTSD, the veterans that choose to be homeless because feel they don’t deserve to continue living a good life, those 22 that are committing suicides every day. This movie was produced loosely on a true story and several similar situations. I’m not seeking compassion … rather a realistic understanding of WHY we returned as we did! Even though we got back to family & loved ones. They only recognized our shell, but found strangers with in. Some of us got back … but, not really, not completely! Others couldn’t accept the peaceful life, their friends couldn’t return to … and chose life on the streets as self-punishment. Movie done, how did you make it??? How’s that ‘assimilating combat’ and ‘survival guilt’ working for you? Not so good for me … and others, either!!!
That "earn it" was not meant for just the character of Ryan. It was for all of us - a reminder that many brave men gave their lives give us the chance to live our lives free. We have to earn that gift, make the most of our lives. To do anything less is to betray their sacrifice.
1. Many WWII vets left the theaters because the D-Day battle scenes were so realistic. 2. Impressive cast🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 3. The story Ryan tells Miller about the last time he saw his brothers was made up by Matt Damon. He was told to say something interesting, so he did, and it was kept in the movie. 4. There was a USS Sullivans(DD- 68) dedicated to the brothers lost on one ship. 5. I did 24 years in the US Navy. Outstanding leadership skills to dampen the friction between Horvath and Rieben. 6. My favorite character is Private Jackson/sniper and my second favorite is Sargent Horvath. RIP Tom Sizemore😇 7. Sizemore also played Boxman in "Flight of the Intruder". A movie I'm in briefly.
My dad is a college professor. One of his students said he saw it with his uncle when it first came out in the theater. There was a gentleman in front of them who was clearly upset. When it got to Wade's death, he jumped up crying, screaming "I can't fucking take it anymore!" He ran out of the theater. The gentleman was in his late 50s. Not just WWII vets left the theater for the realism.
You are correct, although the two German soldiers resemble each other, they are different. If you'll notice they are wearing different uniforms, but quite honestly they could almost be twins they look so much alike.
Captain Miller's telling Ryan to "earn this" is actually directed at us, the audience. Saving Private Ryan is a fictional tale. One that really is about how these people saved us. When older Private Ryan speaks to Captain Miller's grave, it is really us wondering if we have lived such that what they did was not wasted.
These guys were amazing heroes. Hard to believe there are so many Americans now who thirst for the same authoritarian government as that which we sacrificed so much in 1945. Peace.
1994 was the 50th anniversary of D-Day, June the 6th, at Normandy in France. Where those graves are. Many vets, my father in law was one of them ( D-Day + 3 ), returned, some with their families, for the anniversary. That's the beginning of the picture. Private Ryan is one of those who returns to honor fallen comrades, lost friends and brothers.
Tangent story. My grandfather was saved by N@zi soldiers. He was a bomber pilot in Italy when his plane crashed. The local towns folk wanted to kill him. 2 German soldiers pulled him away from the town folk drove him out of town and let him go. It was towards the end of the war and the Germans were pulling back. He has no idea if they were compassionate or just didn’t wanna haul a prisoner along with them. Either way I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for those soldiers.
Now you have to watch the series that depicts the true stories of a company of American soldiers who fought together in that war. The 10 part miniseries is called "Band of Brothers". It was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It's the true story about some of the men in Company E (Easy Company) 2nd Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airbourne Division. This is the same Division that the fictional private Ryan belonged to. It's a must watch. As well as "The Pacific", which is the true story of men in the First Marine Division fighting the Japanese in World War 2. And the third in the Hanks/Spielberg miniseries trilogy about World War 2 is called "Masters of the Air". Which is the true story of some of the bomber crews who flew the extremely dangerous day light bombing missions over Europe during World War 2.
I watched this 26 years ago. Saving Private Ryan is acclaimed for realistic and portrayal of combat. Watch Band of Brothers which Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg also produced, and it show accuracy and D-Day parachuting at Normandy at midnight just before Omaha beach battle.
Saw this opening day in NYC at the late, great Ziegfeld Theatre (one of the last movie palaces) - the opening D-Day invasion was so intense you could hear a pin drop from the audience. One of the most visceral cinematic moments I ever experienced. Great reaction Cam :D Another WWII drama you need to see is THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES which is about the aftermath of war veterans returning to their homes. As for war films overall I recommend - THE DEER HUNTER, APOCALYPSE NOW, PLATOON, FULL METAL JACKET & THE KILLING FIELDS (all about Vietnam) and SCHINDLER'S LIST about WWII/The Holocaust (also directed by Steven Spielberg)
Spieberg just knows how to make epic movies... A couple of notes.. Matt Damon did this before Good Will Hunting but post production on SPR took longer. He won an Oscar for GWH. The scene where his character and Tom Hanks character were talking about home, Speilberg asked MD to just make up a story about being home. Thats what we got in the movie ❤ another epic WW2 movie is Fury with Brad Pitt imo just as good(if not better).
Two black and white movies you should react to from 1946 are It's a Wonderful Life, a Christmas movie, and The Best Years of Our Life, about veterans returning from war. I think you would get a lot from them.
You could tell from the beginning that the old man at the graveyard wasn't an older version of Hanks' character because the camera focuses in on the older actor's blue eyes, then transitions to Hanks' eyes, which are green.
Most of the soldiers in Captain Millers squad, and Captain Miller himself, died to save Private Ryan. Captain Miller urges Private Ryan to "earn this" - in your future, act to be worthy of their sacrifice. Well, all the fallen soldiers in the cemetery died to save our freedom - your freedom, and mine. Earn it. "Take up our quarrel with the foe To you, from falling hands, we throw the torch - Be yours to hold it high, If ye break faith with us, who die, We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders' fields."
Poor John McCrae, the author of that famous poem, died of pneumonia in Jan. 1918, never making it home to Canada from France. My grandfather was an American doughboy who was heavily engaged in the Argonne Forest and nearly didn't make it home, either. He was like a walking dead man for the rest of his life, drinking himself to death
"Tell me I lived a good life. Tell me i'm a good man."
In particular, after all these years, those two lines to his wife hit so very hard.
ditto
I've seen that last scene dozens of times & I still end up sobbing every time. Those two lines hit WAY too close to home for me.😢
57 years On a Sunday afternoon 2 cars Pull-down my parents driveway TWO United State Marine Corps captains and my pastor Came to tell my mother that my brother did not make it home from Vietnam
He was 20years old I was 9years old years. 🌹WE WILL NEVER FORGET 🌹 .YOU ARE DOING A GREAT JOB ❤
Mark,
I'm very sorry to hear about the loss of your brother. I served two infantry combat tours in Vietnam (1965-66/1970-71)and still think about those fellow Marines I worked with.
Respectfully,
T. Boyte
Gunnery Sgt. USMC, retired
RIP, Semper Fi.
When I was around your age when we lived in Navy housing near Pearl Harbor while my dad made 3 trips to Vietnam 66-69. It was too common to see the Officer and chaplain to go to a families place to give them the news. My mom would never talk about it, but I knew why they were there. And about 2-3 weeks later, the family was moving out.
A point of confusion are two German characters often mistaken as one. German actor Mac Steinmeier played the SS soldier who killed Mellish. German actor Joerg Stadler played ‘Steamboat Willie’ the POW they released who later shot Capt. Miller. Wish they didn’t cast two actors who looked so alike.
I watched it twice at the cinema in '98, and have watched it regularly since (it's my equal favourite war movie of all time), and until this moment I thought all three instances were the same character/actor. My mind has just been blown....
I'm surprised so many people get them confused!
Might have helped if the guy who killed Mellish had put his helmet back on after.
To be fair on the casting, soldiers with the same uniform and haircut are just going to look alike, no matter what you do.
And when you have German actors that US audiences are unfamiliar with, together with US casting directors who feel obligated to cast German soldiers to have an expected "look," it's bound to lead to a few confused watchers.
Well at least they had different styled uniforms
The medic asked for a second dose of morphine because he knew he was going to die. Morphine is usually used as a sedative or a pain reliever, and if you give a person too much it sends them into a deep sleep or renders them comatose if you dose it wrong. He knew he was going to die, and he was already in pain from his injuries and the blood loss was just making it worse, so he was asking them to let him die, even though he was terrified.
Also, if I remember correctly, those morphine dosages are at the upper therapeutic limit, so if u take two at once it will def comatose you. And he probably knew that so he wanted to go without pain
A second dosage is fatal and in fact the Army had a saying: "one is for the pain, two is for eternity", which is why Sergeant Horvath kept staring at Capt. Miller when he told him to give Wade another dosage. And then Horvath gave a third dose to make sure he would die quickly.
What the soldiers said at the minute 6:23??? Well, what they were saying was: "Prosím, nestřílejte mě, nejsem Němec, jsem Čech, nikoho jsem nezabil!"
which in English would be: “Please don’t shoot me, I’m not German, I’m Czech, I didn’t kill anyone!”
And this happened because many civilians and soldiers captured in the German occupations were forced to fight in the German army.
not true, Czechs were never forced to fight for the germans. infact the germans barred ethnic czechs from volunteering (part of hitler's grievances with the czech legion of ww1 'betraying' the central powers).
the germans did not force civilians from occupied countries to fight, but they did coerse pows from the ussr to 'volunteer', but this would obviously not include czechs.
its more likely they are germans pretending to be czechs in the hope this would get them out of trouble (something which happened alot, germans would try and pretend to be czechs, poles and even french. )
"Earn this." Arguably the two most meaningful words ever spoken in cinema, and words any freedom loving person should take to heart.
👍
Absolutely
This and "Life finds a way" from Jurassic Park
Just reading it wells me up a bit.
aaaaand we voted it away in 2024.
@@devolve42 Sadly, yes, we did - we traded freedom for the hope of better prices.
Saving Private Ryan changed the genre of war movies. I remember watching this in the theater when it came out, two years after I retired from the Marine Corps.
One comment about that letter from Abraham Lincoln, which is overall a masterpiece; people don't "die gloriously" in combat. There was nothing glorious about that beach landing; it was just one example of high intensity combat.
That sniper shot through the rifle scope actually happened in the Vietnam War. A Marine sniper named Carlos Hathcock fired that shot. As in this scene, the only way that can happen is for the other person to be aiming at you.
The level of realism was a new thing in mainstream cinema when this film came out - even so, the audience knows that after about three hours, they're going to walk out of the theater in one piece; nobody in the audience dies while it's being screens; the audience is not exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and too cold or too hot; and the senses of smell and touch were missing. The smell embeds itself in your memory, and I can remember going for hours with another man's blood all over my hands and having the stickiness and the flies it attracted driving me more and more crazy for the rest of that day.
My stepfather served in combat in World War II. When I was growing up, he always told funny stories about things that had happened. But just before I left for boot camp, I asked him what one thing stood out more than anything else about his experiences in that war, and he said, "Dead friends."
Sorry to pick nits. Mythbusters tested the Vietnam sniper story. They had period scopes and rifles. They tried everything they could to get the bullet to go all the way through the scope. But, it turns out that the truth is, the glass gets pulverized, and the bullet disintegrates. Even at point blank range, the bullet did not come out the back side of the scope.
Similarly, one of Mythbusters' earliest tests was how far underwater was safe from being shot. Counter-intuitively, the bigger the rifle, the less it penetrated. A 9mm pistol was dangerous to a depth of a few feet. An AR-15 did not penetrate one foot. With a .50 caliber rifle, the bullet disintegrated within a few inches. They picked up tiny shards of bullet from the bottom of the pool. The ballistics gel was untouched. The speed at which it hits the water causes forces that exceed the structural integrity of the bullet.
To be fair, Saving Private Ryan was filmed prior to Mythbusters performing either of those tests. And, they make for very dramatic scenes. And, they certainly fit the theme, that war is brutal and awful. But, it turns out neither is realistic.
@MightyDrakeC actually, their tests were done incorrectly using the wrong gear. They used more modern equipment. One example, the scope they used was too modern and had more "guts" packed inside it than the scope that would have been used by Hathcock. Secondly, the rifle and round they used were also incorrect.
Mythbusters, over the years, have become more and more fantasy mythbusting and more mainstream, huffing their own copium.
The Fat Electrician and, I believe, a couple other guys tested and proved it could work. They used the correct rifle and rounds.
@@AregPone I'll take a look
@@MightyDrakeC - There was a biography written about Carlos Hathcock. I found it a fascinating read. Some of the kills he pulled off are legendary in the sniper community.
On the "scope shot", yes the round would disintegrate, but the kinetic energy of the shards would continue the shards would hit the face/head of the other sniper & kill him. A kill either way, Mythbusters just proved the physics of it all.
@bradrichert3966 In the Mythbusters episode, they put Buster behind the scope, and nothing hit him. Nothing penetrated, at all.
I've read the Hathcock biography, so I was familiar with the claim prior to the show
"What did he say?"
Upham comes up from the crater, saying "Lay your weapons down!" Steamboat Willie says, "I know this soldier. I know this man." Upham tells him to shut up. Willie says Upham's name, and then Upham shoots him. Then, Upham tells the rest of the German soldiers, "Disappear!"
You know German ?
@@gregorygant4242 It's amazing how many times I get this question after providing a translation. Yes, I speak and understand German.
@@BouillaBased 😂 you should start saying "no not at all, what an odd question " 😏
This is one of the greatest - and most important - movies ever made. What that generation did to stop the spread of true evil around the globe must never be forgotten. And this film puts you right into the middle of it like no other film has done. Excellent reaction.
It shows how massive world war is. Reading in books don't show as a movie can just how one side has taken over a continent and storming the beaches is the only way in.
I've seen people question that in confusion. We had air drops but that became a mess. France was an Ally but coming in late it was all taken over. Movies especially this one show how fascinating and devastating world war is.
I'm a 73 year old USNavy veteran (retired). Good reaction. About Upham on the stairs: on the one hand, nobody knows how they'll react until they are actually in the situation. On the other hand, there is, and can be, no excuse for Cowardice. Still, you gave us a fine reaction; thank you for sharing this with us!
The scene earlier, when the wall crumbles, is a reminder that even hardened veterans can freeze. But Upham, who wanted to write about the bonds of warriors, never understood the full duty of soldiers. And then what he does at the end is murder - the man he had saved earlier recognizes him, and his reward is Upham shooting him.
Guys freeze up. I reading a book about USMC Scout Snipers on Saipan, and during the landings, they bring up how one of the men froze under combat conditions. Keep in mind, the Scout Snipers didn’t just recruit anyone and the Marine who froze was a veteran of Guadalcanal and Tarawa. But, Saipan broke him. It goes to show that the human mind can only comprehend so much of war before snapping, and that breaking point is different in all of us.
IMO, Upham is a stand in for the audience and his actions best represent how a non service member (or someone not trained for these kinds of situations) would react. Had this been a real life mission, they definitely would’ve found another translator from a combat unit, not bring someone with no frontline experience, especially compared to the rest of the men we meet in the movie (Rangers, Pathfinders, paratroopers, some of the best trained in the US military at that time).
After saving the world they came home, rolled up their sleeves, and rebuilt it, giving us the world we live in today. They are the real heroes.
"giving us the world we live in today"
And then their grandsons and granddaughters (baby boomers) ruined it all for everyone after them.
@@Bob_Maluco You are an abject idiot.
@@Bob_Maluco Yeah, don't take any responsibility yourself. We've all screwed it up.
@@Bob_Maluco what a ridiculous comment.
It was the Soviets who bore the brunt of German aggression. We fought 10% of the German military. Another 10% percent were occupying forces.
37:06 I love the subtle things you notice after watching the movie (many times) like this shot of his hand that is finally steady after shaking the entire movie. He found peace in the end.
Well, your emotional reaction to this film earned my sub! Btw, each soldier has to write a letter home to their next of kin in case they are killed, buddies will make sure its a clean letter so the family doesn't have to thonk about the torture of aa violent death!
You have to watch the "Band of Brothers" mini series. Also a Tom Hanks/ Steven Spielberg production. It's the most beautifully put together series you'll ever see.
I'd add the documentary made along side "We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company"
This movie is hard on people not into these devastating scenes. I always feel bad seeing a reactor watching this. I think this movie goes past a lot of people's threshold.
I saw this at 8 and remember how upset i was at everyone's deaths but felt satisfied i wasn't lied too with plot armor. I am all desensitized by this and watching reactors to this movie brings me back to reality. Lol
@@BigPat6521I have low affective but high cognitive empathy. I don't really get affected by gore, but I like the positive messages of these war stories: people who want to save the world, even if they die doing so.
My grandfather he was a medic in wave 2 at The Normady Invasion. He would never talk about it. Hacksaw Ridge is another great world war 2 movie. It takes place in the Pacific Theatre.
Hacksaw Ridge competes for sheer violence. My grandfather was at Oran Algeria landing, Nov 1942.
@williambranch4283 Yeah from all the documentaries I've watched the Pacific Theatre was just as if not more butal than the European Theatre. Both were absolutely horrid. Big respect to your Grandfather!🇺🇲🇺🇲❤️
The Pacific theater was, BY FAR, a MORE brutal combat experience than the war in Europe, even taking into consideration weather conditions such as Bastone and the Battle of the Bulge!!
The Pacific theater where battles on tropical Islands in the Pacific, extremely hot and humid jungle environments that were certainly much less friendly for humans than what they encountered in Europe!!
The Marines that fought throughout the Pacific theater, especially in the earlier battles like Guadalcanal, if you've ever seen the series The Pacific, the Marines had to contend with short supplies and even shortage of water at some point!!😮
And then there was the Japanese soldier which was a totally different animal than the Germans OR the Italians!! They pretty much did not know the meaning of surrender!! They committed brutal war crimes including using their own civilians as human Shields!!
Then the diseases that you would have to contend with in that tropical environment were ALSO brutal. All in all it just adds up to WAY worse conditions to fight in the Pacific than in Europe!!
But mad respect to every soldier and Marine and Air Force person that served in World War II THEY were special breed!!!❤
There's definitely a reason that they are called the GREATEST GENERATION!!❤
@@bernardsalvatore1929 Interesting. In Germany we call this generation "The Silent Generation". But the US lost way more soldiers in Europe than in the Pacific. On the other hand the most soldiers died in the east. Germany vs USSR.
Highly recommand the Trilogy "Generation War". In the first movie the lieutenant says to his captain after watching an SS-Officer was shooting an innocent girl: "This is not a war" and his captain says: "It is. A new one. In the name of the Führer". The lieutenant replys: "If we lose this war not even god can save us and certainly not the Führer."
@@IMFLordVader yes in terms of casualties the US did take more casualties in the European theater than in the Pacific theater!!
As a matter of fact if you've seen the series Masters of the Air, the 8th Air Force and 100th bomb group took more casualties then ALL the Marine casualties in the Pacific!! Every time a plane went down, and thousands of planes went down in Europe, 10 men were lost!!
Many people who fought in big wars (where they did and saw everything), sometimes were not able to tell anything even to their own family. It was something very painful and too deep. Here we see at the end how Ryan himself had never told his family anything.
Soldiers getting shot underwater is one of the rare inaccuracies in this film.
In reality, bullets are rendered non lethal after roughly 2 feet of water.
I know you’re referring to the mythbusters test but I wonder if a machine gun at full auto with the surface tension being broken constantly would make a difference.
@@orlandocast7941 It is possible it could make a slight difference. Aerating water reduces surface tension substantially, but that is a lot of water, and they were pretty deep. Not sure there could be enough aeration to matter. But it is an interesting thought.
There in lies another problem. No machine gunner would hammer down on his gun like you see in SPR and all the other movies. To do so would render your gun useless in short order.
The lethality of bullets in water is a function of bullet caliber, it’s velocity and it’s entry angle into the water.
Obviously, a large caliber bullet at very high velocity can travel farther in water and remain lethal.
@@mikealvarez2322I can think of a half dozen personal memories where I witnessed a soldier, in a live combat environment, hammer down with their MGs that way.
There was a fairly common technique I heard shared amongst gunners in Iraq that you start a firefight by going cyclic with your first belt to get their heads down and then after your reload you can start managing your fire rates.
"Okay, they're surrendering. Were they surrendering?"
Yes, they were, indeed, surrendering. The one speaking said, "I am not German, I am Czech, I didn't kill anyone! I am Czech!"
After watching your best friends being turned into hamburger for that past hour, fuck “they were surrendering.”
As far as the Czechs are concerned, good bet they were Sudeten Germans loyal to Hitler.
Literally hundreds if thousands of American men and boys died (and millions were maimed) so we can’t all live safe, warm and well fed lives. Please don’t ever forget that.
Wade was purposely overdosed on morphine so we wouldn’t suffer
As far as the one shaking hand, looks like Parkinson’s Disease.
Not just fear. Believe me, when you are literally scared to death, your whole body shakes… sometimes violently.
And he could have been a German army volunteer from the Sudetenland---many Germanic Czechs living there supported Hitler. We don't know.
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 we do know. the germans bared ethnic czechs from even volunteering. hitler didn't trust them that much (because of the czech legion in ww1). they were not czechs.
One of the best reactions to this movie Camilla. Your editing included all the best parts.
My Dad served on a submarine, one uncle was wounded parachuting into New Guinea jungles, another uncle was captured in Italy and a cousin was shot down over Germany and escaped from a German POW camp. Every family was involved.
All from Iowa, btw.
Excellent reaction to the best war movie ever.
I still feel a close connection to WWII. My father was one year too young for the fighting, but he was in the occupation of Japan in 1946. I had two uncles who went through the Italian campaign and survived into my adulthood. My mother’s first cousin was second day at Normandy, but therefore got moved to the front line for the horrendous Hedgerows battle and was among the troops cut off behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge. He had even more horrific experiences in the Korean War. He was very close to our family in his later years (his early 50s) because he was a bachelor living at the “Old Soldier’s Home” in Washington and often visited us. I attended his burial at Arlington National Cemetery in 1966, when I was 12.
"OMG... that's a piano." Lol.
This film fundamentally changed the way I view our soldiers & the sacrifices they make. It also shows the reality of war, and how quickly you can die in one. You'll be changed as well. I haven't talked to anyone who's seen this film who wasn't changed by it. Spielberg is a genius. I still can't watch that final graveside scene without sobbing. The line about living a good life hits way too close to home.
Suggestions -
• "Band of Brothers"
• "Hacksaw Ridge"
• "The Pacific"
• "The Outpost"
• "Lone Survivor"
• "American Sniper"
• '12 Strong"
• "Zero Dark Thirty"
• "13 Hours"
• "Midway"
• "Gallipoli" (1981)
• "The Longest Day"
• "Braveheart"
• "Paths of Glory"
Non War movies -
• "Forrest Gump"
• "Dumb and Dumber"
• "As Good As It Gets"
Masters of the Air also
Thin Red Line!
@richardtaylor1652 Too weird 😕 Has very little to do with the book 📖 it is based on 😕
God, I haven't seen this one in a really long time. I'm glad you were able to check it out!
The men that died in the movie didn't just die to save Pvt. Ryan. They also died doing their duty to take out a machine gun nest and defend the bridge. If the Germans had taken the bridge they would have driven their tanks to the Beaches creating sheer chaos.
I’ve always felt that the movie presents a false premise-that the squad members were “risking their lives for one man.” NO-they’re risking their lives by being infantrymen in a war zone! If they weren’t looking for Ryan, where would they be? Safe in the rear? Of course not, they’d be in the regular front line getting shot at. Their particular mission may vary but the risk is constant due to their “occupation.” The only exception is Upham, who was snatched away from his rear-echelon duties.
As a retired Sailor who spent over 41 years in the Navy, this movie's backstory about Private Ryan is not really based on a story during the invasion of Europe. The Generals, who are talking about bringing Private Ryan home, do bring up the real story of the Sullivan Brothers, who were killed when the USS Juno was sunk during the early parts of WWII. There is an older movie based on the Sullivan Brothers, which does not have all the gore about the deaths called The Fighting Sullivans.
This movie was the first Spielberg/Hanks war collaboration, there are three others you need to watch which are mini-series based on real stories from WWII. They are Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Masters of the Air. I have not watched Masters of the Air, but I suspect it will be as good as the other two. The three are based on different branches of the military during WWII. Band of Brothers is about US Soldiers in the European Theater of WWII. The Pacific is based on the US Marines in the Pacific Theater of WWII. I don't know if Masters of the air is based on just the European theater or if it includes some of the Pacific Theater, but I do know it is based on the US Army Air Corps of WWII. The US Air Force was formed after WWII.
I want to Thank You for watching a movie about the US Military.
The movie was very loosely based on finding and saving Sergeant Frederick William "Fritz" Niland. Two of his brothers were killed in Normandy, and a third brother was missing and presumed dead. A chaplain found Niland and brought him back. Stephen Ambrose learned of the story while interviewing Donald Malarkey for the Band of Brothers book. Malarkey was told the story by Warren Muck. The Niland brothers were from Muck’s hometown.
For me the greatest war movie out there. Imagine watching this as a 14yo and getting scarred for life. But in a good way. The tension made me shake, esp. at the end, when the battle for the bridge is about to start. 😬 Always goosebumps and tears at specific scenes. A masterpiece for sure! Also: Really enjoy your reactions!
Hehe you must be my age. I was also 14 when I was let in the theater to watch this (even though I wasn’t supposed to). Very glad I did though
The 2 Germans surrendering were Czech conscripts. They were saying we are Czech, we didn't kill anyone.
By this time in the war the Germans were using anyone they could from allied or conquered nations.
Mike, we don't know their backstory. They could have been from the Sudetenland and many from that region willingly served in the German army and were often enough Nazis or Nazi sympathizers (Oscar Schindler was a Sudeten Czech/German and he was both a Nazi and had worked to betray the Czechs in 1938). So it is entirely possible that these two surrendering were trying to get a better deal by speaking Czech.
Johann, No one knows except the script writers. For all we know they could have been escaped PLANET OF THE APES actors dressed like soldiers. The movie accurately portrays combat on Omaha. There were no white hats or black hats only shades of gray. My guess is that the men were most likely Ukrainians or even Russians as many of them joined the German Army to avoid going to a POW camp. That said they are speaking Czech so I would assume that is where they were from; ie, from a region where that language was spoken. I quoted them accurately.
I’ve seen hundreds of movies in theaters, and my experience seeing this film was the one I best remember watching in my teenage years. This was in August of 1998 down in South Jersey. The theatre was packed and several vets were present. It was a crazy experience to see this film in a theatre with surround sound. No film to that point in time (at least from America) came as close to accurately portraying WW2 combat as this movie did. Actually, The Thin Red Line also did a good job with realism and came out that same year in 98.
One Omaha veteran (2000 dead) said he was wounded 5 times the first day before he ever saw a medic.
This is, in my not-so-humble opinion, the greatest War Movie ever made, and one of the greatest films, in general, in Cinematic History. Brilliant writing, an absolutely stellar cast, some of the finest Direction and Cinematography I've ever seen (and I've seen a whole lot over the decades), and just enough sweetness and humour to keep you from completely spiraling (until the end, at least). Hope you have your tissues handy, M'Lady...this is a rough one. 😉😱
Cheers and salutations from Canada, you continue to knock it out of the park with these reactions. 👍🥃☮❤
I watched this with my grandfather many years ago (he was a Korea and Vietnam vet) and the opening was such a powerful experience.
Glad you got to see it with him. My dad was a field medic with the Canadian military in Korea; he never talked about his experiences, so I don't know how he would have taken seeing this movie.
@@jimgore1278 Thank you. He got me into movies like Shawshank, Taxi Driver, Scarface, and others.
@@davedewd my grandfather was in Korea, he was wounded in combat at Chosin, never spoke about the war, I asked him what it was like, and he took me to see this in theaters
My dad served in the European theater 42-44. He refused to speak of it but he was clearly damaged.
The opposite of my grandpa which was drafted when he was 17. When I was a kid he just told us the harmless stories like he was operating a flashlight for airplanes in the night. But when I turned 18 he told me that he was in the netherland in a trench. His friends (they were all that young) put their rifles to a tree. An american division spotted the rifle and they new: Where are rifles there must be soldiers. So they opened fire.
My grandfather and his friends jumped into the trench. When they looked up machinegun fire was opened. When the americans understood they won't get them like this they put the area under mortar fire.
My grandfather thought: "That's it. Here I have to die". For his luck a german tank division pushed the americans back. The commander said: "What are you kids doing here? Go home!"... So they did
TheGolsWin21, I was talking about the MG-42 firing 1200 to 1400 rpm. The barrel of that era gun would overheat since it is air-cooled. Gunners were taught to fire in bursts of 3 seconds.
The ending gets me when an elder James Ryan asks his wife tell me im a good man tell me I've lived a good life
Great reaction Camilla like always, love this masterpiece. My grandfather serve with Sergeant Frederick Niland in 501 company, Sergeant Frederick Niland was the inspiration for this movie he had 3 brothers that were killed in action. This movie is based on a book. Robert Rodat (screen writter) was first inspired to craft the narrative upon reading Stephen Ambrose’s nonfiction retrospective D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II. Rodat was fascinated by an honorary memorial dedicated to families who had lost multiple sons in the war. Rodat began writing Saving Private Ryan after studying the true story of Sergeant Frederick “Fritz” Niland. Fritz Niland’s brothers Preston and Robert had enlisted for service, and his brother Edward had volunteered.
In May 1944, Edward was shot down over Burma and presumed dead. In June, Robert was killed on D-Day and Preston was killed on Omaha Beach. Frederick had gone missing during the Normandy Invasion, and the U.S. Army commissioned him to be rescued and sent home. An army unit under chaplain Fr. Francis Sampson identified Frederick’s location and sent him back to his parents Michael and Augusta Niland. Frederick’s brother Edward was also discovered to be alive and was rescued from a Burmese POW camp and also returned home safely.
The rescues were the result of the U.S. War Department’s “sole survivor” policy, which was adopted in 1942 after the four Sullivan brothers who served in the U.S. Navy had all been killed during the sinking of the USS Juneau during the Battle of Guadalcanal. So, while Saving Private Ryan is unquestionably inspired by true events, the film's story of Captain Miller's risky mission to save one man is entirely fictional.
And congrats for not mistaken some characters. A lot of reactors confuse the guy who was let go, and later shot Capt. Miller and then was shot by Upham, with the soldier who stabbed Mellish. They wore different uniforms: the prisoner who was released and later returned was regular Wehrmacht, and the guy who stabbed Mellish was SS, They chosen two actors for those roles that looked so similar they did that literally to tell the viewers that war is confusing. Steven Spielberg explained this.
He most likely didn't kill Upham because he instantly recognized he wasn't a threat. Upham even takes his hands off of his gun and holds them up in surrender to the SS soldier. Not a lot of satisfaction in killing someone who's basically curled up in the fetal position. And Keep in mind, Upham was likely drafted for his translation skills, so he is A: not a volunteer, and B: not meant as a primary combatant. I don't blame him for freezing in that moment, no one knows how they'd react in a situation like that until they're actually in it. I like to think I'd do the right thing and go charging up those stairs to the rescue, but I could just as easily be shell-shocked in pants-shitting terror like he was.
Our military today is an all volunteer service, no one is pressed into service like he was, so it's easier for people today to see his actions and just label him a dirty coward without understanding there is nuance to this story and that things were very different then. Soldiers today CHOOSE that life, he didn't, he just wanted to get back home without getting blood on his hands. Keep up the good work.
I was in my second year in the Navy when this movie came out; I was 27. One person who played a very important part in the opening Omaha Beach sequence was Captain Dale Dye. He was in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Later on, he became one of the go-to technical advisors for movies being made about the military. He has also acted; first movie I saw him in as a teenager was Platoon. These days he runs a company that puts actors who are making war movies through a boot camp to teach them what they need to know; he also helped plan and shoot the opening Omaha Beach scene to make it as realistic as possible. Besides being in Band of Brothers as Colonel Sink, he was heavily involved in the production of that series. There are some great books about D-Day out there; some are about the landings on the individual beaches instead of the bigger picture of the invasion as a whole. One of the best, in my humble opinion, is D-Day: June 6, 1944 by Stephen Ambrose. It was written and published for the 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994. This book covers the planning for D-Day and the first 24 hours of the invasion, which were the most crucial hours in determining the success or failure of D-Day. Stephen Ambrose also wrote Band of Brothers, which was the basis of the series. Another book about D-Day was The Longest Day, by Cornelius Ryan, which was made into a film in 1962. Ryan also wrote another book, A Bridge Too Far, about Operation Market-Garden, the failed invasion of Nazi occupied Holland in September 1944. That was also made into a film in 1970 and is one of the best films about World War Two ever made.
The mini series band of brothers is the natural follow to saving private Ryan, 10 episodes with an unofficial 11th episode that being the documentary (which is definitely necessary to tie it all off). I’ll warn you that you’ll have a tough time of it, but the pay off makes it worth it. The series is made by Spielberg and Hanks. One of the ww2 vets that acted as an advisor was in easy company and would tell his stories and Hanks and Spielberg were inspired enough to create the mini series following that vets unit from beginning to wars end.
Great reaction Camilla!
I still remember seeing this in the theater when it first came out. If you ever get the chance to see it in a theater, I highly recommend it. The surround sound system adds an entirely new dimension.
Your comment about the lack of musical score and how it builds tension is interesting. Another film that does that is No Country for Old Men, which is a fantastic film that you should definitely watch. It has no score at all and the lack of music adds tension to an already tense thriller.
The two German soldiers who tried to surrender in the beginning weren't actually German or even speaking German. They were eastern European conscripts forced to fight for the Nazis. I believe they were speaking Czech. I appreciate they put scenes like that in the movie. No war is a 'clean war' and stuff like that happened on all sides.
yes they were speaking czech and no czechs were ever conscripted to fight for the germans in ww2, infact czechs were bared from volunteering. the eastern conscripts were from pow camps and were entirely soldiers from the ussr who 'volunteered' (russians, ukranians, georgians, etc not czechs or poles).
they were germans pretending to be czechs, or its a mistake in the movie.
@@matthiuskoenig3378 Thank you for clarifying. Perhaps they were ethnic Czechs who were German citizens?
From Wikipedia:
"Among the approximately one million foreign volunteers and conscripts who served in the Wehrmacht during World War II were ethnic Belgians, Czechs, Dutch, Finns, Danes, French, Hungarians, Norwegians, Poles,[1] Portuguese, Swedes,[2] Swiss along with people from Great Britain, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the Balkans.[3] At least 47,000 Spaniards served in the Blue Division.[4]"
Great reaction Camilla and very well edited. Thanks for sharing!
This will be the customary “Must React to Band of Brothers” comment 😅
I hope you know that the opening scene depicts something that really happened. It was the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France. That one battle also lasted more than 7 hours. The U.S. suffered nearly 4,000 casualties. They didn’t call it “Bloody Omaha” for nothing.
Although a fictional story. It was made so realistically when it opened at theaters. It set off ptsd reactions in many WWII veterans that tried to watch .
Ms. Camilla, so nice to see you again. May I say you're one of the better reactors on yt. You actually focus on the film and follow along and notice things rather than primp and preen for the camera. Major Kudos to you. I've seen all of your reactions thus far and subscribed the first day. I wish you great success and look forward to many more films with you. 😊
p.s. I'm sure others have mentioned this but I strongly urge you to watch The Green Mile. You will notice/appreciate many, many memorable things.
Movie line: "Until he has to change out his barrels".
That is a dangerous gamble. Granted, my machine gun wasn't the same. MG-42 had a massive overheating problem. I used American M2 and M240. I've never done a barrel change in combat, and yet was Top Gun in my Squadron. My point is fire discipline. He's rolling the dice on a gunner so inexperianced that he just holds the trigger down, cooking his own equipment. A bad machine gunner uses "spray and pray". A good one uses controlled bursts.
I heard a good assistant gunner could change that barrel in about 10 seconds
@seegee7728 10 seconds is an eternity in combat
This is why we thank veterans for their service and try to be better citizens.
Least we never forget the ones who died so that we can be FREE. Pass this down to your generation so that they are always celebrated and never forgotten. Great reaction
Never forget that men died so that the feminists can spit on them...
I saw this opening weekend in the theatre. Those battle scenes on the big screen were brutal
I can't believe this lost to Shakespeare In freaking! Love
Harvey Weinstien's PR efforts in the 11th hour put "Shakespeare In Love" over the top with the academy
@@KPA78 Such a scumbag.
CONGRATULATIONS: You are the only person that has ever reacted to this movie who figured the soldiers would be safe underwater. Bullets traveling through water lose their kinetic energy almost instantly. It is absolutely impossible for a bullet to travel several hundred yards through the air then through several feet of water and finally through a fully clothed human being. A lot of men jumped into deep water and drowned. Quite a few drowned because they were not taught how to use a piece of equipment that was supposed to keep them from drowning. The Army provided the men with a belt that was inflated by a CO2 cartridge. Since it was called a belt the men put it around their waist instead of placing it around their chest and under their arms. The men were so top heavy that the belt around their waist flipped them upside down and they drowned. 😮😢
BTW, Whenever Captain Miller loses his hearing temporarily, it's called acoustical trauma.
And one of the few who did not scream “Bryan Cranston!!!”
Put your head underwater and the sound disappears - nothing to do with acoustically trauma - try it yourself in a swimming pool. Your pontificating re the effect of bullets in water is just plain wrong.
@@richardwest6358 Excellent usage of "pontificating."
@@richardwest6358 So his head was underwater the whole time he was on the beach therefore he couldn't suffer from acoustical trauma. Got it😅😅😅😅
@@richardwest6358 As for bullets in the water, I am just passing along information from experts, people who have studied this topic and have conducted experiments. The Machine guns were 500 yards from the landing crafts. By the time those bullets got to the water they would have slowed down by at least 500 ft./sec.
FUBAR is the acronym for Fouled (or the other F word) Up Beyond All Repair.
Defilade means there is a position which provides cover and offers a firing position.
Flanking a position is attacking the enemy from the side where they are weaker.
The cemetery at the start and end of the movie is The Normandy American Cemetery (about 9300 graves). Not far from there is the La Cambe German Military Cemetery (about 21000 graves). Both cemeteries are Remarkable and absolutely worth a visit.
Every solider wrote a letter to his family in case he was killed. Each one had their own letter and if they were killed, the others would grab it to have it mailed home.
Excellent reaction. This movie teaches a lot of lessons that tend to get forgotten over time. It's good to be reminded.
Interesting facts: The opening Omaha Beach scene was shot at Curracloe Beach in Wexford County, Ireland; there were about 1,000 Irish Army reserves that were used in the Omaha battle scene and about 30 real amputees were used; The opening and closing memorial scenes were shot right at the Normandy American Cemetery, in Colleville-sur-Mer which overlooks Omaha Beach and is where the two Niland brothers are buried; the rest of the movie was shot at multiple locations in England; Awesome reaction!
Please stop calling things related to amputees and the hallowed ground of the American cemetery as "fun facts".
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 Hmmm. Never really thought about that. No disrespect intended. Was just a well-known term of description. I'll change it.
Just a point, between September 1939 and August 1945, 1000 people an hour died in the Second World War.
Furthermore, 80% of all German casualties during the Second World War occurred during the last 2 years of the war.
Pretty much starting with D-Day in Normandy in the West and 2 weeks later in the East, Operation Bagration kicked off resulting in Army Group Centre being essentially annihilated in 6 weeks.
Saw this in theaters it's still the most stunned I've ever been leaving a movie, it absolutely blew me and my friends away
I've visited the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France, several times, and what struck me the most compared to other, civilian cemeteries is the youth of all those buried there…you can feel the sudden and tragic interruption of so many young lives.
Time for "1917" and for more Tom Sizemore " Blackhawk Down ".
I've seen just about every known reaction to this on TH-cam and I always look forward to seeing people's reaction to Upham on the staircase and him shooting Steamboat Willie. Obviously the array of feelings are wide. From complete understanding and compassion to total hatred and vitriol. His character is an extreme example of a complex, multifaceted moral dilemna of subjective ambiguity. His character has been debated for 35 years and it'll be debated for eternity.
Before watching any reaction to this movie, I always skip to that part. If they hate on Upham, I skip the reaction video altogether. People who hate Upham don't get this movie at all. The last thing Spielberg intended was for us to hate Upham.
@@porflepopnecker4376 I think Spielberg got exactly what he intended. For us to ask ourselves "what would "I" have done"?
@@johngray1009 We all like to think we would always be the hero but we really don't know for sure.
I don't hate Upham, I just question his actions. Minutes before he stops on the stairs he saw a tank coming towards his direction and he left cover and ran right in front of the tank taking fire. Then later, he sees soldiers walking towards his fellow soldiers, and with the advantage of being behind the soldiers and armed with a rifle he does nothing. I think the first action took more courage, so I don't see the second action as fitting to the circumstances.
My dad volunteered for the Army Air Corps (later known as "Air Force") in August, 1940--a year and a half before the US entered the War. He served for the duration of WWII and was recalled for service during the Korean War (total 8 years), so I grew up knowing about the War. In fact, everyone in my family and all of the adults I knew all did something life changing during the War. His father, my grandfather, served in the US army fighting in France during the First World War. I know it's all ancient history and they're all gone now, but it just doesn't seem so distant to me.
41:20 I think just about everyone thought it was the older Capt. Miller at the beginning when seeing it for the first time. I sure did. That's Spielberg being Spielberg.
This movie shows everyone what men are capable of doing for each other, or to each other. It does a great job of capturing how men bond with each other, too. The jabs to test the new guy, how people deal with horrible surroundings, and the toll that combat takes on anyone it touches.
I had three blue star families on my paper route during Vietnam. One day one of them turned the star in their window to gold, meaning their son had been killed. I paid their bill for them that week.
Highly recommend putting some of these war films on your watch list (these are also some pretty well shot films as well):
- We Were Soldiers (Battle of Ia Drang, the first time US and North Vietnamese forces fought each other in the Vietnam War. Also gives you perspective about how the families back home coped with everything).
- Glory (probably Matthew Broderick's finest film in my opinion about the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, the very first all-Black infantry regiment to be raised and fight in the American Civil War)
- Flags of our Fathers / Letters from Iwo Jima (it is the Battle of Iwo Jima but each film tells it from the US and Japanese point of view)
- The Last Samurai (probably one of Tom Cruise's finest films about the decline of the Samurai class as Japanese society not just modernised but westernised).
- Fury (took a while for me to warm up to it but I'd put it on the list about a tank crew fighting near the end of the Second World War in Germany).
What the German soldier says to Mellish at the end of the knife fight is haunting. It almost makes me regret learning German. He says:
"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."
So ... pretty much the same it would have been the other way around... 🤷♂️
I'm ususally not very happy with german language bits in Hollywood movies. This one is already among the best and still it sounds off. The words are technically correct, but nobody actually speaks like that. Especially in such a high stress situation. One major exception is Schindler's List though. Being german and understanding everything the soldiers say that doesn't get a subtitle, adds a whole new level to that movie...
@@michaausleipzig Don't forget that in the time before WW2 Germany was way bigger. Königsberg, Breslau, Stettin, Krakau... everything was german. And I am not familiar with these accents. Maybe that soldier was drafted from there. I can hear perfect grammar just the accent sounds uncommon. But not american accent, that's for sure.
@@IMFLordVader I don't think it's an accent thing. More the choice of words, idk... 🤷♂️
@@michaausleipzig I think that's what made it stick with me most. The words were out of place, but how he said it--almost like he was shooshing a troubled child to go to sleep--made it so creepy.
I'm reminded that Shakespeare in Love won the Academy Award for best picture that year.
The first time I watched this movie I was definitely way too young to be watching it but I was still old enough to understand what real bravery is, this movie made me realize there’s no such thing as Superman or spider man but these men are real deal hero’s they gave up everything for us
The ultimate tragedy is that Saving Private Ryan lost to freaking Shakespeare in Love for Best Picture...
I like Shakespeare in Love for what it is, but not to the point it deserved Best Picture. We can thank Harvey Weinstein for it
What a great reaction to a great film. There are so many great war films you can watch and react too- we were soldiers, black hawk down but the one i hope you get to react too is Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan, as you work in the film industry i think you will appreciate this film.Keep up the good work
Movies like this hurt. Watching them is legitimately painful. But seeing them is important and I respect anyone who puts themselves through it, doubly so when they're not used to harsh movies. The fact is we can't truly know what it was like, how bad they had it, but in the attempt to know we honor them and what they did.
There is an extra dimension if you saw it in a theater. With good surround sound, you can see the muzzle flashes in front of you and hear the bullet impacts behind you. It makes you feel like you are there in a very intense way.
Although, this is fiction based on real history, there was a precedence for the brother's death. The USS Sullivan Brothers was named after 5 brothers died in WWII. A rule was created to send the last brother home when three or more brothers die from one family.
Really nice detail. When caparzo is shot by sniper 12:45 it happens not 10 seconds after he removes his necklace to give to the little girl. Almost like he gave away his heavenly protection
So no one with a religious necklace died in the war?
Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Hacksaw Ridge, Masters of the Air.
Saving Private Ryan
YES! THIS is the right movie!!! And, should be viewed before every Veterans Day & Memorial Day.
After Vietnam, America transformed into a country whose military became one of … professional soldiers. Drafts were discontinued … in favor of an all volunteer force. Only about 3% of Americans had ever served in the military. This may be the reason for the lack of empathy toward veterans and wars, itself.”
I would call upon you, and everyone, to not just “watch” a combat-accurate movie …. but, to watch it while considering yourselves as unseen soldiers-participants that are THERE, experiencing the occurrences along with “your fellow soldiers, friends”. Great every Veterans Day, Memorial Day.
This movie is a fictional film of WWII’s D-Day invasion … in which three of four brothers are KIA (killed in action) and a squad / platoon (8 men) search for the remaining live brother.
D-Day remains the LARGEST amphibious invasion in history … the transfer of 39 divisions (22 American), over 1 million soldiers to Normandy France.
The Allies began their invasion at 6:30am and and finally repelled the Germans by days end … at a cost of more than 10,000 KIA & MIAs. That would LITERALLY BE staring at death and bloodshed EVERYWHERE …. one could look nowhere that was absent its brutality!
American soldiers that survived the first day’s invasion attested to the films’, accuracy in the nature & brutality of combat.
A slightly unknown factoid is that German machine gunner that was depicted firing down onto Americans landing at Dog-1 Omaha Beach … massacring them before they could even get off their LST. That machine gunner identified himself well after the war as Heinrich Severloh, an 18 year old son of a farmer, that was conscripted by the Germans. Heinrich admitted that he believed he killed more Americans in a single day than any other soldier … more than 1000, possibly over 2000 … and for the rest of his life, the nightmares would never stop! Soldiers on both sides would have to eventually unpack & deal with all of their horrors …. secreted away for later, more convenient times for reflections.
Another surreal oddity was the character of the typist Upham …. his character oddly reflects the character of our nation …. America. From 1937, years before America was attacked at Pearl Harbor (and beyond) …. America sat back, failing to act as Germany began exterminating 6MILLION men, women, children, and elders because of their race, using them as reasons for German failings …. We sat back, refusing to involve ourselves in Europe’s ‘Problem’ …. while Germany invaded and overwhelmed every other country except England. We finally pulled ourselves together and entered the combat! In combat, EVERY man (boys 17-20) reacts differently …. assimilates combat differently …. but, EVERYONE is afraid! We all lock our horrors away in the recesses of our minds …. only later to have to deal with them again!
Back to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, I would hope that you & EVERY American would sit down a day or two before every Memorial Day & Veterans Day and rewatch this film (or, Hacksaw Ridge). But, next time rejoin the film, mentally doing so AS AN UNSEEN MEMBER OF THE SQUAD … to mentally & emotionally connect to the other soldiers as friends, buddies … hopefully, to understand all of the veterans combat problems. America, the people (the 97% never experiencing war, are now highly insulated from soldiers / veterans … stunned into remembering the wounded, maimed & dead … but seem to never comprehend those with invisible wounds … those that returned with PTSD, the veterans that choose to be homeless because feel they don’t deserve to continue living a good life, those 22 that are committing suicides every day.
This movie was produced loosely on a true story and several similar situations. I’m not seeking compassion … rather a realistic understanding of WHY we returned as we did! Even though we got back to family & loved ones. They only recognized our shell, but found strangers with in. Some of us got back … but, not really, not completely! Others couldn’t accept the peaceful life, their friends couldn’t return to … and chose life on the streets as self-punishment.
Movie done, how did you make it??? How’s that ‘assimilating combat’ and ‘survival guilt’ working for you?
Not so good for me … and others, either!!!
That "earn it" was not meant for just the character of Ryan. It was for all of us - a reminder that many brave men gave their lives give us the chance to live our lives free. We have to earn that gift, make the most of our lives. To do anything less is to betray their sacrifice.
1. Many WWII vets left the theaters because the D-Day battle scenes were so realistic.
2. Impressive cast🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩
3. The story Ryan tells Miller about the last time he saw his brothers was made up by Matt Damon. He was told to say something interesting, so he did, and it was kept in the movie.
4. There was a USS Sullivans(DD- 68) dedicated to the brothers lost on one ship.
5. I did 24 years in the US Navy. Outstanding leadership skills to dampen the friction between Horvath and Rieben.
6. My favorite character is Private Jackson/sniper and my second favorite is Sargent Horvath. RIP Tom Sizemore😇
7. Sizemore also played Boxman in "Flight of the Intruder". A movie I'm in briefly.
My dad is a college professor. One of his students said he saw it with his uncle when it first came out in the theater. There was a gentleman in front of them who was clearly upset. When it got to Wade's death, he jumped up crying, screaming "I can't fucking take it anymore!" He ran out of the theater. The gentleman was in his late 50s. Not just WWII vets left the theater for the realism.
You are correct, although the two German soldiers resemble each other, they are different. If you'll notice they are wearing different uniforms, but quite honestly they could almost be twins they look so much alike.
Captain Miller's telling Ryan to "earn this" is actually directed at us, the audience.
Saving Private Ryan is a fictional tale. One that really is about how these people saved us.
When older Private Ryan speaks to Captain Miller's grave, it is really us wondering if we have lived such that what they did was not wasted.
These guys were amazing heroes. Hard to believe there are so many Americans now who thirst for the same authoritarian government as that which we sacrificed so much in 1945. Peace.
1994 was the 50th anniversary of D-Day, June the 6th, at Normandy in France. Where those graves are. Many vets, my father in law was one of them ( D-Day + 3 ), returned, some with their families, for the anniversary. That's the beginning of the picture. Private Ryan is one of those who returns to honor fallen comrades, lost friends and brothers.
Tangent story. My grandfather was saved by N@zi soldiers. He was a bomber pilot in Italy when his plane crashed. The local towns folk wanted to kill him. 2 German soldiers pulled him away from the town folk drove him out of town and let him go. It was towards the end of the war and the Germans were pulling back. He has no idea if they were compassionate or just didn’t wanna haul a prisoner along with them. Either way I wouldn’t be alive if it wasn’t for those soldiers.
Now you have to watch the series that depicts the true stories of a company of American soldiers who fought together in that war. The 10 part miniseries is called "Band of Brothers". It was produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It's the true story about some of the men in Company E (Easy Company) 2nd Battalion, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airbourne Division. This is the same Division that the fictional private Ryan belonged to. It's a must watch. As well as "The Pacific", which is the true story of men in the First Marine Division fighting the Japanese in World War 2. And the third in the Hanks/Spielberg miniseries trilogy about World War 2 is called "Masters of the Air". Which is the true story of some of the bomber crews who flew the extremely dangerous day light bombing missions over Europe during World War 2.
I watched this 26 years ago. Saving Private Ryan is acclaimed for realistic and portrayal of combat. Watch Band of Brothers which Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg also produced, and it show accuracy and D-Day parachuting at Normandy at midnight just before Omaha beach battle.
Beautiful reaction! Thank you for the courage to watch. ❤🙏
Saw this opening day in NYC at the late, great Ziegfeld Theatre (one of the last movie palaces) - the opening D-Day invasion was so intense you could hear a pin drop from the audience. One of the most visceral cinematic moments I ever experienced. Great reaction Cam :D Another WWII drama you need to see is THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES which is about the aftermath of war veterans returning to their homes. As for war films overall I recommend - THE DEER HUNTER, APOCALYPSE NOW, PLATOON, FULL METAL JACKET & THE KILLING FIELDS (all about Vietnam) and SCHINDLER'S LIST about WWII/The Holocaust (also directed by Steven Spielberg)
Yes! "The Best Years of Our Lives" was contemporary and just brilliant.
Mothers never knew how their sons fell. Sons never knew how the mothers felt.
Spieberg just knows how to make epic movies... A couple of notes.. Matt Damon did this before Good Will Hunting but post production on SPR took longer. He won an Oscar for GWH. The scene where his character and Tom Hanks character were talking about home, Speilberg asked MD to just make up a story about being home. Thats what we got in the movie ❤ another epic WW2 movie is Fury with Brad Pitt imo just as good(if not better).
Two black and white movies you should react to from 1946 are It's a Wonderful Life, a Christmas movie, and The Best Years of Our Life, about veterans returning from war. I think you would get a lot from them.
I saw this in theater in '98 with a packed house. The crowd and I were very emotional. Great film; hard too watch.
You could tell from the beginning that the old man at the graveyard wasn't an older version of Hanks' character because the camera focuses in on the older actor's blue eyes, then transitions to Hanks' eyes, which are green.
Glad you caught the plot point with the released German prisoner on your rewatch. This movie is a very worthwhile, though not easy, watch. 😎👍
Thanks
Loved watching it again through your thoughts. Thanks.
As we say in Texas; y'all be safe.
Another film based on D-Day is “The Longest Day” (1962) starring John Wayne.
Most of the soldiers in Captain Millers squad, and Captain Miller himself, died to save Private Ryan. Captain Miller urges Private Ryan to "earn this" - in your future, act to be worthy of their sacrifice. Well, all the fallen soldiers in the cemetery died to save our freedom - your freedom, and mine. Earn it.
"Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from falling hands, we throw the torch -
Be yours to hold it high,
If ye break faith with us, who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders' fields."
Poor John McCrae, the author of that famous poem, died of pneumonia in Jan. 1918, never making it home to Canada from France. My grandfather was an American doughboy who was heavily engaged in the Argonne Forest and nearly didn't make it home, either. He was like a walking dead man for the rest of his life, drinking himself to death