The POW that Capt. Miller let go (his character name was "Steamboat Willie") was not the soldier who killed Mellish. But he WAS the one who killed Capt. Miller. And Upham saw him do it.
You are 100% correct. Everyone should watch this film at least once in their lives. It would put things in perspective, it certainly did for me. It actually made me think about how I was living my life and how I shouldn't take anything for granted. I stopped drinking and smoking tobacco, I started exercising, and I found a job then volunteered at a homeless shelter. I'm grateful for the wake up call. Now I appreciate every day that I have, I recognize that I'm living with Freedom that so many people died to protect. I don't intend to waste a moment that I have I have been gifted. God Bless us all 🙏
Is it established in the film that he has shell shock before the landing? I don't recall. He could just as easily have had some unrelated condition, like Parkinson's, and just never lived long enough to have to do deal with it.
@@dudermcdudeface3674 You are correct. His diagnosis was never revealed in the movie. The closest we come is when Miller confides in Horvath that he shakes, even when there isn't an immediately looming threat. This has led the analysis to lean overwhelmingtly towards PTSD/Shell Shock.
The "motorcycle tanky thing" was called the German Kattenkrad. It was mostly used on the Eastern Front, to lay communication cables, and pull heavy loads, like guns, planes and heavy equipment ,and carry soldiers through the deep Russian mud.
The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramell. WW II was fought by men; the average age of U. S. combat personnel was 26 years old. The SGT. in the assault boat wasn't putting food in his mouth, that was chewing tobacco. They were in very rough seas and it took hours for the soldiers to disembark the troop ships into the Higgins Boats. Not knowing when they would ever have a good cooked meal again, many of the soldiers ate a hearty breakfast before disembarking. The first group to load into the boats bobbed around in the water for several hours before heading toward the beach. Many get seasick during that time. The vomit wasn't the main problem, the blood in the boats created a psychological problem when the boats returned to bring more soldiers to the beach. In Vietnam, the average age of combat personnel was 22, not 19 as many people think. Also, the largest number of U. S. personnel killed in action in Vietnam those who enlisted not draftees. Spielberg researched small details, for instance, Pvt Jackson's right thumb has a black mark on it. That's actually a bruise that many U. S. riflemen had caused from getting their thumb caught in the loading mechanism from not locking the bolt back properly when loading/reloading the M1 Garand rifle. It was called "Garand thumb". Capt. Miller said he taught at Thomas Alva Edison High School. That's a Spielberg paying homage to Thomas Alva Edison High School in Philadelphia, PA. 54 former students from that school were killed in action in the Vietnam War, more than any other school in the nation. The Hitler Youth Knife is more literary liberty than fact. That knife is a hiking knife given to members of the Hitler Youth Corps, which was much like the Boy Scouts in training while being indoctrinated with the ideology of National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). The only other group they were issued to were members of the SA. This knife was never part of a soldier of the Wehrmacht. As for the reaction of Carparzo and Mellish, it is highly unlikely an average G.I. would have known what that knife was and its symbolism. The matter of Mellish crying is also not likely as the Allies didn't find out about the fate of Jews in Europe until the first concentration camp was liberated April 4, 1945. The war in Europe ended May 7, 1945. So, following the real timeline, Mellish dies before the Allies knew anything about concentration and death camps. But, after-all, it is Hollywood. Saving Private Ryan is not based on the Sullivan brothers. Fritz Niland became the basis for Private Ryan. He was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day and spent five days in the French countryside, eventually earning a Bronze star in combat for taking a French. Robert Rodat first came up with the plot in 1994 when he saw a monument in a cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. The monument was to the Niland Brothers - 4 young American men who fought in the Second World War. When three of the Nilands were reported killed, the surviving brother - Fritz - was sent home. This inspired Rodat to write his movie. There are 26 military cemeteries across Normandy, but the most famous and visited site is the poignant Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. In real life with the Nilands, it actually turned out later that another of the brothers was alive - he’d been held captive in a Burmese POW camp. Attempts to point out the "discrepancies" between the stories of Fritz Niland and James Ryan are often misguided, as Ryan is only based on Niland, and is not meant to be (or claimed to be) a completely accurate representation of him. The differences in the two stories seem to stem in part from the fact that the true story of Sergeant Niland and his brothers is often reported inaccurately. The character of Private James Ryan is a mixture of fact and fiction, with some of the fictional elements coming from the erroneous stories about the Niland brothers. The German credited as "Steamboat Willie" who was released by Capt. Miller is not the German who engaged and killed Pvt Stanley "Fish Mellish during hand-to-hand combat. "Steamboat Willie" was in the Heer (Army) of the Wehrmacht and the other was in the Waffen SS which was a paramilitary organization and not part of the Wehrmacht. Originally, the SS uniform differed from the Wehrmacht uniform-whereas the regular army wore field grey, the SS wore black, head to toe (although later the SS did adopt field grey and often wore camouflage pattern uniform. American troops were brown and they didn't wear jackboots. The lightning bolt SS insignia can be seen on the right collar lapel of the German as he passes Upham and reaches the bottom of the staircase. During the Battle at Ramelle, Upham became shell shocked and was unable to save a .30 cal team from a German soldier because he was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. He carried all the .30 caliber ammo at the battle of Ramelle, but was unable to do his job because he was always either pinned down or too afraid to move. He signified the loss of innocence in war and thought that soldiers could be civil, but he later succumbed to the evils of war and made up for his cowardice when he shot Steamboat Willie for killing Miller even after the latter had shown Willie mercy earlier. Not only did Upham represent the loss of innocence of war but he also symbolized the "Every-man". His illusion of neutrality faded when he finally had to pick and side and kill Steamboat Willie, his character revelation being how he finally understood the horrors of war. It became clear that Upham had turned into a hardened and true soldier because of the whole experience. Upham's rank was Tech 5 Corporal (E-5), that meant he was technician in a specialty area. His was maps and translator, he was not a combat infantryman and was never trained for front-line duty. Gunnery Sergent Hartman explained it this way in the movie Full Metal Jacket: "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill. "The way the next of kin was notified of their loved one was killed in action during WW II was by Western Union telegram delivered by a bicycle riding messenger. If you were being notified of multiple deaths as was the case in this film, notification was done in-person by a military officer, usually from the same branch of service as the deceased when possible. That's why the mother upon seeing the officer exit the car momentarily froze knowing that meant at least 2 of her boys were either KIA or MIA, as the priest exits the car, she staggers and completely collapsed. Unfortunately, you didn't include that in your video presentation. That is one of the most important scenes in the movie. The mother speaks no lines in the movie, yet her breakdown brought a flood of tears form movie goers in theaters across the nation. Another important scene is it is clear from the few lines Ryan's wife speaks that she has never heard the name of Capt. John Miller, this means John has never spoken to her about what happened that day in Ramelle. What many missed is listening to Ryan speaking at the Miller's grave of how he thought about what those 8 men did for him every day was not guilt, but commitment. There are units assigned to recover, bury and mark graves. Usually these were temporary battlefield cemeteries. As hostilities moved farther away, a more permanent site would be selected, at the family's request, whenever possible, the remains would be returned to the United States. At the Normandy Cemetery Visitors Center, you'll find the following inscription: IF EVER PROOF WERE NEEDED THAT WE FOUGHT FOR A CAUSE AND NOT FOR CONQUEST, IT COULD BE FOUND IN THESE CEMETERIES. HERE WAS OUR ONLY CONQUEST: ALL WE ASKED … WAS ENOUGH … SOIL IN WHICH TO BURY OUR GALLANT DEAD.General Mark W. ClarkChairman, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1969-1984
That was an 'encyclopedia' Good job! One thing, though. Mellish was crying because the entire experience was catching up with him, with the complete madness, momentarily, had come to an end.
My grandfather was in the Army in WWII and was shot by a German sniper in France, but thankfully he lived to make it home again. He never spoke about the war. He was an amazing man, kind, and so funny. I was in the Army and in the Gulf War, and my son was in the Army and in the Iraq War. My son and I both know neither of us went through anything like what my grandfather did in WWII.
@@Purdyflexreactions For sure, I'd love to talk to my grandfather about his time in WWII (he died in 1979), especially now with my own military experiences. I know this movie is upsetting, but I agree with you that everyone should see it anyway. Those guys were a special breed.
@@itsahellofaname it’s a shame in someways he didn’t talk about it with family. But many didn’t. But you know more than most though which is pretty special 🫶🏻 they were! coped with everything. Thanks for sharing your story 💕
Saving Private Ryan is incredibly realistic in most every way, with a very few exceptions...such as bullets not being able to kill you more than a few inches underwater, and flamethrowers not really exploding that way in 1944. One thing to know, pay no mind at all to that man who took off his helmet on the beach at 5:19 and then got shot in the head...that next shot would have killed him even if he had kept his helmet on. The helmets of WW2 would almost never stop a bullet, except under very very rare circumstances. The movie is not a true story, and it differs from the actual history of D-Day in many ways...but the basic plot is loosely based on the 4 Niland Brothers, one of whom served with the 101st Airborne Division. However, when 3 Nilands were reported dead, no mission was sent behind enemy lines to get the last brother, and it turned out that one brother that had been thought dead had actually only been captured. The 4th brother was found and notified by an Army Chaplain, and was sent home, but as far as the brothers none of what happened in this movie happened in real life. There really was a Company C of the 2nd Rangers that landed on Omaha Beach, but they were commanded by Captain Ralph Goranson, and they did not land quite where it was shown in the film. Probably the most important historical thing that Spielberg got wrong is that he had the boats that carried the Rangers to the beach being driven by Americans...they were not. On D-Day, the boats that carried the US Rangers to the beach were driven by UK sailors of the Royal Navy. There are many other things in the film that are not accurate to the real history of D-Day, but that one really fails to honor some of the men that fought and died at Omaha Beach, so it is definitely the one most worth noting. The location at the beginning and end with the French and US flags is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial...located in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Most of the US servicemen killed in the 2 and a half month long Normandy Campaign are buried in this cemetery...a total of 9388 burials. Oh, and as mentioned by others...the guy that killed Mellish is not the same man that they let go after Wade was killed and who killed Miller at the end. You can see this on IMDB, the one they let go is listed as Steamboat Willie...the one that killed Mellish is listed as Waffen SS soldier...the pictures confirm that it is 2 different characters with 2 different actors...Joerg Stadler vs Mac Steinmeier.
@@Purdyflexreactions The carnage and slaughter on that beach lasted 15-20 minutes in the movie. But in real life it started at 8:00 AM and didn't let up until they breached the German wall about 4:00PM.
Two of the men who were trying to surrender in the beginning of the film were speaking Czech. They were trying to say that they weren't German, and they didn't kill anyone. They got shot anyway. A lot of men who lived in territory that the Germans conquered were forced into the German army. They were almost all from eastern Europe and spoke languages that the Americans, British, Canadians, and French did not understand. They were doomed.
Steven Spielberg said it best at the Academy Awards, these were a bunch 18,19 and 20 year olds and saved the whole damn world. Most of these men have since passed away or into their 90s.
The series you need to watch next is Band of Brothers. Produced by Hanks and Spielberg. It was their next project after Saving Private Ryan and was released on Sept 9th, 2001. Its a 10 part miniseries with an 11th episode featuring the actual vets from the 101st Airborne.
My father served in the Army in WW2. He was in the 1st Infantry Division in North Africa and Sicily. He was then transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division in Italy. He was wounded by a bomb dropped by a German Stuka divebomber at the Volturno River in Italy. If he hadn't been transferred out of the 1st Infantry Division, he would have been at Normandy.
Thanks for this comment! That’s really interesting to hear about a persons individual experience and that you know all this about your father’s time in the war! ☺️
You might consider the ten hour series Band of Brothers. Produced by Spielberg and Hanks it tells the true story of Easy Company 506th, the company the fictional Ryan was with. You really get invested in the men. Well worth your time. Oh, and there are a couple of episodes that are very emotional.
I swear down I know it’s not a true story 👐 I know it’s like titanic a fictional story based on real events…. It still hits deep though 😭 even knowing that! 😅 thanks for this comment! It’s very in depth and helpful 💕🫶🏻
If you thought the opening scene was messy in this one you should see enemy at the gates. You wouldn't want to be at stalingrad on either side That said my grandfather was an infantry officer on juno beach on dday and survived. Though he did get a finger shot off shortly after. Ironically in an accident. The thing is his best friends were two germans, one of which was in a reserve unit manning beach defenses on dday still somewhat recovering from getting wounded in russia a few months earlier and his brother who was a firefighter for most of the war who managed to avoid conscription until late 44 when they basically scraped up everybody they could get their hands on for the ardennes offensive and he ended up forcibly conscripted into an SS unit. Or as he put it he 'volunteered' by being put in a room with a bunch of other recruits and told he wasn't leaving until he 'volunteered.' He ended up wounded and captured pretty early into it and was smart enough to keep his mouth shut when word got around asking for volunteers who spoke fluent english and it sounded sketchy to him. Turns out he was right as most of them ended up getting shot when captured for the whole posing as US soldiers to sow confusion thing. but yeah, they all went to see this movie when it was originally released and all three of them broke down bawling uncontrollably about halfway through the landing scene. Particularly the burning out the bunker with a flamethrower scene
Thanks so much for sharing a story close to home 💕 that was a very interesting read. They went through so much. Sometimes people don’t let them selves remember just how bad things were. So I guess watching this film made them all remember what they went through was so bad and horrifying but yet they still made it. Thanks again for this comment 🙏🙏💕
I was a US Navy Corpsman (counterpart to Wade's medic), I served 10 years, 8 with Marines. I saw this on a Tuesday afternoon. There were 12 of us. Myself, and 11 others, all veterans. At the end of the movies, the house lights went up. All of us had teary eyes. One old man stated the following- "As far as war movies go, that was the most accurate depiction I've ever seen . As for the ACTUAL D-Day, it didn't come close" His hat said it all- D-Day Survivor, Purple Heart. I have always deferred to his expert opinion. As bad as you think it was as shown in the movie, it was much, much worse. Just a note about Upham joining the squad. Combat veterans are closer than blood relatives. He was an unknown as far as the squad was concerned. He had not earned their trust by participating in the actions they had already gone through. As for his later actions, I remember being infuriated when I first saw this. But the gentleman I mentioned above, stated things like that happened. The squad was battle tested. He was not. His idealistic ideas of brotherhood were burned away by the reality of combat. I defer to his comments As for Wade's death, yeah that hit me hard.
Yeah that was really tough. I’m really glad you wrote this cause it’s helped me wrap my head around it. It was a very complex situation, tough and horrible. But your comments really helped shed more light on that so thank you! Of course I’ll never be able to fully understand but it’s definitely helped coming from you 🙏 thanks for taking the time to write this 🫶🏻
I think the hand tremors were probably a physical manifestation of the stress he was under. That and probably shell shock, which we call PTSD now. That’s why at the end after he dies, the camera shows his hand no longer shaking.
My great grandfather (i'm french) lived 97 years, he was born in 1900, fought in WWI the last year, then in WWII participated in the resistance; in Lorraine (basically at the Germany frontier). When the US pushed back the germans, he went into Germany, with the last brothers in arms he had left. He came back without any injury, and never told us anything about the war. He was waiting for the the year 2000, as he hoped he would open on a somehow new world. A world without war. I'm pretty sure he would have skip this movie, and i'm also pretty sure this film, as horrific as it is, doesn't come even close to the reality. Thx for your touching reaction.
@@Purdyflexreactions Yeah, it's insane. There were some survivors to any war anyway. When it's not your turn, it's not your turn. At this point it's a miracle but hey, I won't complain.
Yeah, the first 20 minutes of that movie was actually more like a whole day. A lot of people keep asking what those blimps were for when they landed. . It was to prevent the German planes from Attacking their stronghold, “ I loved your reaction!! you’re a beautiful woman :-)
The question this extraordinary film asks is we have earned it. Do we celebrate the freedoms they died for or complain about the trivial inconvenience of modern life? Awesome review 😁
The main reason why the military would be concerned with one surivivor out of a family of 4 brothers (3 of whom had already died in combat) would be because if they didn't do this the military would be regarded as completely cold and callous...and recruitment would then drop off to next to nothing. It has little to do with being "nice" to the mother of the fallen.
I’m a soldier of New Zealand 🇳🇿 😊 in the 1RNZB 1st Royal New Zealand Battalion (Infantry & logistics) my rank is now a Lance Corporal of the NZDF ( New Zealand Defence Force) our military coincided with the US as a counterpart to their operation and mission which was very much the same as ours, supplying military humanitarian aid, Medical Aid and Lethal Aid. Which were essential to the war effort of Ukraine 🇺🇦. Australia 🇦🇺 very much did the same also, supplying their Military Armoured Vehicles (tanks, IFV’s “ infantry fighting vehicles” APC’s “ Anti personnel carriers”) and so on 👌 🫡 🪖 🇺🇦 🇳🇿 Thank you for your awesome reaction ❤ Thank you 🙏 🇵🇸🇵🇸❤
Flamethrowers in WWII? Yup, look up the Pacific theater. The average lifespan of an American Marine carrying a flamethrower tank on his back once he hit contact was about 4 minutes.
Schindler's List (1993) is in my opinion another film every person should watch. If you enjoyed this you might consider Band of Brothers (2001) mini series.
I vaguely remember them playing it in school but they couldn’t play it all in one go. And I can’t say I really remember anything about it apart from it being black and white 😅 I’ll deffo need to watch it now 10+ years later! Band of brothers has come up too so I suppose I’ll have to have a look! Thanks for the comment! ❤
And if you pause at 15:46 to 15:52 and just look how young those soldiers were I mean they were just boys who were most likely killed 😢😢 heartbreaking 🥺💔😔
@@adambriceland6588 probably because of how the movie started it zooms from the old man’s eyes straight into the captains eyes. It’s supposed to mislead us
If you are interested in watching a masterpiece of a movie from the German perspective there is "Das Boot" its from 1981 and sits at the top of the best war movies with others like private ryan.
It's the sole survivor policy. If parents had their sons all deployed and only 1 of them was left, they were to be returned home safely. The letter the senior officers were reading together was because of one mom during the US Civil War who lost FIVE - all five of her sons. There's been other incidents where family were also in the same unit or on the same boat and they all died at the same time so after that they started splitting up deployed siblings so they wouldn't all die at once.
The Germans knew the allies were coming so that whole beach was zeroed in and reinforced and those men were basically walking into death and destruction without any cover and 3000 men lost their lives on omaha and utah. There was supposed to be tank support as well but they all sank Into the sea. The opening scene with the battle on the beach was very realistic, as mention by many veterans who watched it. Nobody should forget the sacrifices these men gave for for their country and they must always he honoured.
@@NicholasSarsby thanks for this comment! Hey know when you say the tanks sank into the sea…. Is that cause the ship they were on got bombed? They didn’t just drive them off into the sea and were surprised when they sank 😅😅😅 right???
Please react to Band of Brothers. It's about a company of paratroopers (like Pvt. Ryan) that parachuted into Normandy the night before D-Day. The series follows the men of the company from D-Day all the way to the end of the war. And it's a true story, so the "characters" in the series are all based on the real soldiers that was in that company, and their real-life experiences during the war. Anyway, great reaction!
After Hanks and Spielberg finished Saving Private Ryan, which is a fictional story, set is a very realistic portrayal of WW2. They decided to do an equally realistic portrayal of an actual real story. The story of Easy Company, of the 506th regiment of the 101st airborne. And they made a 10 part mini series called "Band of Brothers" that follows that one unit from Basic training, though the end of the war. If you think Saving Private Ryan is a great movie. You'll love Band of Brothers.
You mentioned the lack of respect given to the translator by Vin Diesel. Those men had a bond forged through the crucible of blood. They had been proven worthy of that bond to each other and saved each others lives. An unproven man with zero experience does not try and put himself Into that circle. He earns admittance over time and deed under fire. Another reason is a soldier often has seen so many people they know, and many friends, get wounded or killed. They don't want any new attachments, just to have it happen again.
Every reactor always screams "Put it back on!" when the man whose helmet gets shot takes it off in the beach scene. It wouldn't have mattered. They aren't bulletproof. The first shot was just a glancing blow.
@@Purdyflexreactions Little does when an 8mm Mauser steel jacketed bullet zipping along at 2600 feet per second hits. Even today the most advanced helmets are really only rated for mid power rounds like those from an AK47.
"Everyone should watch that film." Yes... but for the 'reality check' lessons it teaches, not because it's going to become an old favourite you'll want to re-experience again and again, or with the family every Christmas.
18:14 Wade was shot four times by a German MG-42 in the abdominal region once in the spine, twice in the intestines, and finally a bullet penetration to the liver, now I don’t know if you know this but your liver is actually a vital organ you need to stay alive if it is shot by bullets and your fate is fatal 😔 and he knew that’s why he requested morphine. To kill him 😔 Purdy I know you loved him so do other girls who react to this masterpiece of a film.
I did know about the liver but not everyone does! This is a great comment thanks! I knew he was definitely dead when he asked for the morphine…. Although I didn’t know he was shot in the liver when I watched it. 😭 thanks! This is a great comment 💕
8 hours, 375 deaths per hour on Omaha ( that's how long it took them to breach the wall in real time )= 3,000 americans dead on Omaha that day. 375 is the average.
you got to understand how just how chaotic a firefight is but with the beaches on D-Day and other instances throughout war that is 10 times more chaotic in that situation so you cannot take prisoners there's no you don't even have anything established. you were just trying to get your foot in the door and get somewhere so there's no taking of prisoners there's not an option. trust me they're not senseless murders and this is one of the things that will be with them for the rest of their lives when they have to shoot somebody giving up. trust me.
War is necessary because evil exists. Imperial Japan was just as evil as the Nazis and both had to be stopped. It would be nice if mankind were angels but among our species there have always been and always will be bad apples. The only thing evil people fear is strength.
@@mikealvarez2322 thanks for commenting! It’s one of the big debates in the world isn’t it. ‘war a necessary evil’ or is it ‘evil begets evil’. I’ll just say it would be nice if we all got along and didn’t wish any kind of harm to anyone. Especially on the scale of a war.
actually 'evil' people fear everything... just sayin 'Imperial' Japan and the 'Nazi(s)' had to be stopped... stopped? from doing what? who else needed to be 'stopped'? Soviet Russia? Fascist Italy? Nationalist Poland? Imperialist Britain? Nationalist China? Vichy France? what government is not on that list to be stopped?
@@Purdyflexreactions nice wish... when society expects people to grow into responsible adults and we find a cure for psychopathy then maybe... I endorse your wish.
You correctly picked up on the magnitude of the job of dealing with the missing and dead. The units to deal with the dead are called "Graves Registration." They recover bodies, recording where and anything else that may help to identify them if their ID tags and papers are missing. And they take reports from small units who had to bury their dead where they were but know enough to point out landmarks. Dead in shallow graves have to be exhumed for formal burial. It's a bad job to have. Black troops were often assigned. Bodies were buried or reburied in temporary graves that were meticulously documented and mapped. There was a system for "stripping" bodies or all identification and personal effects, even cutting up uniforms to find everything. It all went to a central repository for disposition. Recovery from temporary burial went on for two years after the war ended. In the film, Miller removes one tag from Caparzo and leaves the other. He will report the death and location and send in the tag. If Caparzo's body can be found later with his remaining tag, that will be reported and everything will hopefully get back together, along with the letter they recovered from his shirt and Miller's note to his family, if Miller lives long enough to write one. Obviously, a lot of the dead were never found, either lost in the sea, buried by explosions, blown to pieces, or burned beyond knowing which side they were on. More than 80,000 American troops are unaccounted for from WWII. Remains are still found every year, and some are identified. But consider the man blown to pieces trying to set the bomb on the tank. Only the recollections of his fellow soldiers will likely let anyone know what happened.
This is going to be a long comment that most might find boring. But I love history so I’m going to take the time to write it anyway. This is the best depiction of D-day in cinema. But The real Omaha beach wasn’t as short as what’s being shown in the movie. These men had to run across over 300-400 meters of open beach before they could reach the relative safety of the dunes and cliffs. But even then they were still getting pined down. Because unlike in the movie, the German guns were firing parallel down the beaches. Instead of directly into them. This meant that a German machine gunner, mortar-man or artilleryman could cover more of the beach with less guns. What that meant for the allies when they landed is that hiding behind a sand dune wasn’t actually protecting you from the guns firing at you from your left or right. It also meant that taking out an enemy position wasn’t doing much to stop the enemy who is shooting at you. Because the enemy firing at your position was further up or down the beach. The position you took out was firing at someone else. This is why you see so many men hiding behind the Anti-tank obstacles. But even that had its own unique dangers to it. The Germans had placed mines on or around many of these obstacles. But that didn’t stop the men from using them as cover from enemy Machine guns. This lead to more problems because the engineers tasked with destroying the obstacles couldn’t blow them up while their own men were hiding behind the them. It became difficult for the small number of American tanks that made it ashore to maneuver around the obstacles, men and barbed wire. Some soldiers tried to hide behind the tanks but were accidentally crushed by them because the tank crews couldn’t see them.
Strongly recommend you watch Band of Brothers. It's like this movie although not as intense. You really get a deeper look at the people and the impact this had on them, good and bad.
Just came across your channel due to this film. Although a fictional story based on actual historical events, it hits hard. You mentioned the character of Wafe, the medic ...& first thing I thought was of Eugene Roe & Desmond Doss. Those who know, know why. Hope she gets to those stories.
5:22 It would of made no difference if he kept the helmet on they are will never stop a straight bullet as you can clearly see the first bullet went through his helmet like it was made of paper.
18:38 when the captain tells them to give him the morphine and they hesitate. And then they keep giving him more. They put him to sleep overdosing him. A practice medics sometimes did with their friends
The guy that killed Mellish and walked right by Upham on the stairs was not the man that they let go. He passed right by him, because he could tell a man cowering on the stairs while his buddy was being murdered upstairs was no threat whatsoever - in the German soldier's eyes, he wasn't worth the bullet, so to speak.
@@Purdyflexreactions He didn't - they're two different soldiers. The one coming down the stairs passing Upham was not the same man that Miller let go after Wade was killed. That one was the one that shot Capt. Miller and said, "Upham" in the final scene.
Regardless of what people say about us, I believe our side fought very very well against the allies in Normandy and beyond, considering that the vast majority were kids of the 12ths SS (HJ) and units of wounded deaf and partialy blind that were sent there from the eastern front. so yanks, Be happy most of our battle hardened units were on the eastern front. ( that is why Vin Diesel mentions the HJ knife in the beginning of the film)
6:35 exactly ... why ? .. he was saying ,,Do not shoot , i didn't kill anybody , i'm Czech'' which is correct , many men from occupied countries in Europe were forced to fight under Wehrmacht . During D-Day Allied forces had orders to not take POWs , so they simply killed almost everybody in their way .
Please consider watching movies based on true stories... hacksaw Ridge with Andrew Garfield or We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson.. both of these movies will make you cry so make sure you have tissues
The men at 6:32 were obviously surrendering. As mentioned by other commenters the men were speaking Czech and weren’t German. As to why they were shot, the orders for the men on the beach as well as to the paratroopers who landed hours before the beaches were stormed was to take no prisoners. Having to shoot surrendering men is of course terrible but the reality was until a sizable beachhead was established they had no one to guard them, food to give them, or place to keep them and the allies faced a huge possibility of being pushed all the way back to the beach by a counter attack. After it became clear that there was no successful counter attack did prisoners began to be taken
Everyone should visit the museum of Auschwitz in Poland or Oradour-sur-Glane in France. That should be mandatory for young people from around of europe in their school years. you asked why such things happen. just take a look around there's so much hate creepin from every corner of our reality even now.
It is actually on my places to see list. I do understand that war is to stop stuff like that. I ment more about everything that leads up to it as well. I don’t know why or how the big areas of the world could get so cruel and heartless and then for it to lead to even more loss of life too! My heart broke watching this it will definitely break when I go to see a museum of auschwitz 💔
Thank you anyway! Never hurts to contribute towards answering question’s 💕 so basically alll the team knew what it was all along 💁♀️ and it added to their respect towards the captain
The reason why people that were trying to surrender were shot is because they had orders not to take prisoners because there was no foothold situation, where they are at liberty to take prisoners.
@@kw900lkevin omg this comment it top tier!!! Thanks for this I had no idea!! But a genius idea and detail they kept on in the film. Thanks for this!! 🤩🫶🏻
It fooled me, too, the first time I saw it. You just have to pay attention to the nitty gritty details between Steamboat Willie and the Waffen SS trooper that killed Mellish.
I watched the Longest Day film on my last day at school..around 3 hours..many guys left..I didn't. This is the best film ever made. Not just the best war film.. I am 57 and honestly, I cry every time I see this😢😢😢😢
One of Harvey Weinstein's crimes was cheating this movie out of Best Picture Oscar. Janusz Kamiński is one of the greatest cinematographers ever. You need to watch Band of Brothers.
I'm a Navy veteran, what's your Dad's channel? And yes when this came out a lot of WW II veterans got up and walked out 😢😢😢 not because the movie was bad but too hard. When Wade asked for more morphine if was because he knew he was hit in the liver and would bleed out, the morphine would lower his blood pressure and kill him.
Are you!? And dads yt channel is @RayPurdy pretty sure he worked in the merchant navy at some point and yeah I knew the poor medic was done when he asked for the morphine… 😭🥲
Great reaction! The companion to this, HBO's Band Of Brothers (produced by Hanks and Spielberg) is actually maybe BETTER than this film (starring very young James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Simon Pegg, Damian Lewis and many others) as it's a true story (unlike this film), and the actors play the real elderly veterans interviewed at the beginning of each episode.
Great reaction. Now it’s time to continue to honor those great men and watch the mini series Band of Brothers. You will be glad you did (and your channel will blow up with subscribers).
Remember this film when wearing your poppy in November, they deserve to be remembered.
I definitely will 💕
My grandfather fought in Italy, France, and Germany. I remember asking what it was like and he said ,"You'd never want to know"
Although I get it what he meant I still feel like it’s a story that got missed out on. But ….it must have been really really bad ….
Purdyflex - "I think the medic is my favorite so far"
Me - Oh, you poor child.
@@johngray1009 lol you knew what would happen to him 😭😭😭
@@Purdyflexreactionsyeah i got sad when u said that ha i didnt wanna see you cry anymore😂 i hate when people cry bc it makes me sad❤️🤣
@@chrisvibz4753 it’s fine I cry all the time 😂 I get very emotionally invested in films 😭😂
@@Purdyflexreactions me too 🤣
@@Purdyflexreactionsgood girl 😊❤ 💋
The POW that Capt. Miller let go (his character name was "Steamboat Willie") was not the soldier who killed Mellish. But he WAS the one who killed Capt. Miller. And Upham saw him do it.
You are 100% correct. Everyone should watch this film at least once in their lives. It would put things in perspective, it certainly did for me. It actually made me think about how I was living my life and how I shouldn't take anything for granted. I stopped drinking and smoking tobacco, I started exercising, and I found a job then volunteered at a homeless shelter. I'm grateful for the wake up call. Now I appreciate every day that I have, I recognize that I'm living with Freedom that so many people died to protect. I don't intend to waste a moment that I have I have been gifted. God Bless us all 🙏
@@Cliffster420 wow this movie literally changed your life! Love this story! Thanks for commenting ☺️
Miller's "tremor" was caused by shell-shock, commonly known today as PTSD.
@@johngray1009 thanks for these comments! Thanks for educating me and anyone else who reads these 🙌💕
@@Purdyflexreactions It was called "shell shock" in WW1. In WW2 it was called "battle fatigue", then later "combat exhaustion".
@@jhilal2385 oh ok so everyone knew he was suffering and yet still leading 🤌🥹😭
Is it established in the film that he has shell shock before the landing? I don't recall. He could just as easily have had some unrelated condition, like Parkinson's, and just never lived long enough to have to do deal with it.
@@dudermcdudeface3674 You are correct. His diagnosis was never revealed in the movie. The closest we come is when Miller confides in Horvath that he shakes, even when there isn't an immediately looming threat. This has led the analysis to lean overwhelmingtly towards PTSD/Shell Shock.
The "motorcycle tanky thing" was called the German Kattenkrad. It was mostly used on the Eastern Front, to lay communication cables, and pull heavy loads, like guns, planes and heavy equipment ,and carry soldiers through the deep Russian mud.
The opening scene Ryan goes to the grave of his brother, at the end he's at the grave of Capt. Miller's grave. His family is directly behind him at the first grave site, at the end, his family remains at a respectful distance, except for his wife who has no idea who Miller is. Ryan went home and never told anyone about that day in Ramell. WW II was fought by men; the average age of U. S. combat personnel was 26 years old. The SGT. in the assault boat wasn't putting food in his mouth, that was chewing tobacco. They were in very rough seas and it took hours for the soldiers to disembark the troop ships into the Higgins Boats. Not knowing when they would ever have a good cooked meal again, many of the soldiers ate a hearty breakfast before disembarking. The first group to load into the boats bobbed around in the water for several hours before heading toward the beach. Many get seasick during that time. The vomit wasn't the main problem, the blood in the boats created a psychological problem when the boats returned to bring more soldiers to the beach. In Vietnam, the average age of combat personnel was 22, not 19 as many people think. Also, the largest number of U. S. personnel killed in action in Vietnam those who enlisted not draftees.
Spielberg researched small details, for instance, Pvt Jackson's right thumb has a black mark on it. That's actually a bruise that many U. S. riflemen had caused from getting their thumb caught in the loading mechanism from not locking the bolt back properly when loading/reloading the M1 Garand rifle. It was called "Garand thumb".
Capt. Miller said he taught at Thomas Alva Edison High School. That's a Spielberg paying homage to Thomas Alva Edison High School in Philadelphia, PA. 54 former students from that school were killed in action in the Vietnam War, more than any other school in the nation.
The Hitler Youth Knife is more literary liberty than fact. That knife is a hiking knife given to members of the Hitler Youth Corps, which was much like the Boy Scouts in training while being indoctrinated with the ideology of National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazi). The only other group they were issued to were members of the SA. This knife was never part of a soldier of the Wehrmacht. As for the reaction of Carparzo and Mellish, it is highly unlikely an average G.I. would have known what that knife was and its symbolism. The matter of Mellish crying is also not likely as the Allies didn't find out about the fate of Jews in Europe until the first concentration camp was liberated April 4, 1945. The war in Europe ended May 7, 1945. So, following the real timeline, Mellish dies before the Allies knew anything about concentration and death camps. But, after-all, it is Hollywood.
Saving Private Ryan is not based on the Sullivan brothers. Fritz Niland became the basis for Private Ryan. He was dropped behind enemy lines on D-Day and spent five days in the French countryside, eventually earning a Bronze star in combat for taking a French. Robert Rodat first came up with the plot in 1994 when he saw a monument in a cemetery in Tonawanda, New York. The monument was to the Niland Brothers - 4 young American men who fought in the Second World War. When three of the Nilands were reported killed, the surviving brother - Fritz - was sent home. This inspired Rodat to write his movie.
There are 26 military cemeteries across Normandy, but the most famous and visited site is the poignant Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer. The Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France is located in Colleville-sur-Mer, on the site of the temporary American St. Laurent Cemetery, established by the U.S. First Army on June 8, 1944 as the first American cemetery on European soil in World War II. The cemetery site, at the north end of its half mile access road, covers 172.5 acres and contains the graves of 9,387 of our military dead, most of whom lost their lives in the D-Day landings and ensuing operations. In real life with the Nilands, it actually turned out later that another of the brothers was alive - he’d been held captive in a Burmese POW camp. Attempts to point out the "discrepancies" between the stories of Fritz Niland and James Ryan are often misguided, as Ryan is only based on Niland, and is not meant to be (or claimed to be) a completely accurate representation of him. The differences in the two stories seem to stem in part from the fact that the true story of Sergeant Niland and his brothers is often reported inaccurately. The character of Private James Ryan is a mixture of fact and fiction, with some of the fictional elements coming from the erroneous stories about the Niland brothers.
The German credited as "Steamboat Willie" who was released by Capt. Miller is not the German who engaged and killed Pvt Stanley "Fish Mellish during hand-to-hand combat. "Steamboat Willie" was in the Heer (Army) of the Wehrmacht and the other was in the Waffen SS which was a paramilitary organization and not part of the Wehrmacht. Originally, the SS uniform differed from the Wehrmacht uniform-whereas the regular army wore field grey, the SS wore black, head to toe (although later the SS did adopt field grey and often wore camouflage pattern uniform. American troops were brown and they didn't wear jackboots. The lightning bolt SS insignia can be seen on the right collar lapel of the German as he passes Upham and reaches the bottom of the staircase. During the Battle at Ramelle, Upham became shell shocked and was unable to save a .30 cal team from a German soldier because he was too frozen with fear to do anything about it. He carried all the .30 caliber ammo at the battle of Ramelle, but was unable to do his job because he was always either pinned down or too afraid to move. He signified the loss of innocence in war and thought that soldiers could be civil, but he later succumbed to the evils of war and made up for his cowardice when he shot Steamboat Willie for killing Miller even after the latter had shown Willie mercy earlier. Not only did Upham represent the loss of innocence of war but he also symbolized the "Every-man". His illusion of neutrality faded when he finally had to pick and side and kill Steamboat Willie, his character revelation being how he finally understood the horrors of war. It became clear that Upham had turned into a hardened and true soldier because of the whole experience. Upham's rank was Tech 5 Corporal (E-5), that meant he was technician in a specialty area. His was maps and translator, he was not a combat infantryman and was never trained for front-line duty. Gunnery Sergent Hartman explained it this way in the movie Full Metal Jacket: "It is your killer instinct which must be harnessed if you expect to survive in combat. Your rifle is only a tool. It is a hard heart that kills. If your killer instincts are not clean and strong you will hesitate at the moment of truth. You will not kill.
"The way the next of kin was notified of their loved one was killed in action during WW II was by Western Union telegram delivered by a bicycle riding messenger. If you were being notified of multiple deaths as was the case in this film, notification was done in-person by a military officer, usually from the same branch of service as the deceased when possible. That's why the mother upon seeing the officer exit the car momentarily froze knowing that meant at least 2 of her boys were either KIA or MIA, as the priest exits the car, she staggers and completely collapsed. Unfortunately, you didn't include that in your video presentation. That is one of the most important scenes in the movie. The mother speaks no lines in the movie, yet her breakdown brought a flood of tears form movie goers in theaters across the nation. Another important scene is it is clear from the few lines Ryan's wife speaks that she has never heard the name of Capt. John Miller, this means John has never spoken to her about what happened that day in Ramelle. What many missed is listening to Ryan speaking at the Miller's grave of how he thought about what those 8 men did for him every day was not guilt, but commitment.
There are units assigned to recover, bury and mark graves. Usually these were temporary battlefield cemeteries. As hostilities moved farther away, a more permanent site would be selected, at the family's request, whenever possible, the remains would be returned to the United States. At the Normandy Cemetery Visitors Center, you'll find the following inscription: IF EVER PROOF WERE NEEDED THAT WE FOUGHT FOR A CAUSE AND NOT FOR CONQUEST, IT COULD BE FOUND IN THESE CEMETERIES. HERE WAS OUR ONLY CONQUEST: ALL WE ASKED … WAS ENOUGH … SOIL IN WHICH TO BURY OUR GALLANT DEAD.General Mark W. ClarkChairman, American Battle Monuments Commission, 1969-1984
That was an 'encyclopedia' Good job!
One thing, though.
Mellish was crying because the entire experience was catching up with him, with the complete madness, momentarily, had come to an end.
My grandfather was in the Army in WWII and was shot by a German sniper in France, but thankfully he lived to make it home again. He never spoke about the war. He was an amazing man, kind, and so funny. I was in the Army and in the Gulf War, and my son was in the Army and in the Iraq War. My son and I both know neither of us went through anything like what my grandfather did in WWII.
Wow runs on the family I guess.
Do you wish your grandfather would tell you and your dad about it??
@@Purdyflexreactions For sure, I'd love to talk to my grandfather about his time in WWII (he died in 1979), especially now with my own military experiences. I know this movie is upsetting, but I agree with you that everyone should see it anyway. Those guys were a special breed.
@@itsahellofaname it’s a shame in someways he didn’t talk about it with family. But many didn’t. But you know more than most though which is pretty special 🫶🏻 they were! coped with everything. Thanks for sharing your story 💕
Saving Private Ryan is incredibly realistic in most every way, with a very few exceptions...such as bullets not being able to kill you more than a few inches underwater, and flamethrowers not really exploding that way in 1944. One thing to know, pay no mind at all to that man who took off his helmet on the beach at 5:19 and then got shot in the head...that next shot would have killed him even if he had kept his helmet on. The helmets of WW2 would almost never stop a bullet, except under very very rare circumstances.
The movie is not a true story, and it differs from the actual history of D-Day in many ways...but the basic plot is loosely based on the 4 Niland Brothers, one of whom served with the 101st Airborne Division. However, when 3 Nilands were reported dead, no mission was sent behind enemy lines to get the last brother, and it turned out that one brother that had been thought dead had actually only been captured. The 4th brother was found and notified by an Army Chaplain, and was sent home, but as far as the brothers none of what happened in this movie happened in real life.
There really was a Company C of the 2nd Rangers that landed on Omaha Beach, but they were commanded by Captain Ralph Goranson, and they did not land quite where it was shown in the film. Probably the most important historical thing that Spielberg got wrong is that he had the boats that carried the Rangers to the beach being driven by Americans...they were not. On D-Day, the boats that carried the US Rangers to the beach were driven by UK sailors of the Royal Navy. There are many other things in the film that are not accurate to the real history of D-Day, but that one really fails to honor some of the men that fought and died at Omaha Beach, so it is definitely the one most worth noting.
The location at the beginning and end with the French and US flags is the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial...located in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Most of the US servicemen killed in the 2 and a half month long Normandy Campaign are buried in this cemetery...a total of 9388 burials.
Oh, and as mentioned by others...the guy that killed Mellish is not the same man that they let go after Wade was killed and who killed Miller at the end. You can see this on IMDB, the one they let go is listed as Steamboat Willie...the one that killed Mellish is listed as Waffen SS soldier...the pictures confirm that it is 2 different characters with 2 different actors...Joerg Stadler vs Mac Steinmeier.
Us Americans lost on Omaha and Utah beaches around 3,000 men. The actual landing was way worse than the movie portrays.
@@michaelallen3894 I have no doubts about that. Thanks for leaving an educational comment 🙌💕
@@Purdyflexreactions The carnage and slaughter on that beach lasted 15-20 minutes in the movie. But in real life it started at 8:00 AM and didn't let up until they breached the German wall about 4:00PM.
It was truly a horrific day. Those men saw the worst it could get…
@@davefranklyn7730 I was wondering about the real time. Thanks for this 🙌🫶🏻 all of that for 8 whole hours 🫢
Thanks for watching this and appreciating what these men went through. And you are gorgeous.
@14:49 She likes the medic guy...
The rest of us: "Oh No...." :(
Two of the men who were trying to surrender in the beginning of the film were speaking Czech. They were trying to say that they weren't German, and they didn't kill anyone. They got shot anyway. A lot of men who lived in territory that the Germans conquered were forced into the German army. They were almost all from eastern Europe and spoke languages that the Americans, British, Canadians, and French did not understand. They were doomed.
Omg those poor men 🫢 I found that part really horrible.
Steven Spielberg said it best at the Academy Awards, these were a bunch 18,19 and 20 year olds and saved the whole damn world. Most of these men have since passed away or into their 90s.
Omg I never thought of it like that.. bro 👊
The series you need to watch next is Band of Brothers. Produced by Hanks and Spielberg. It was their next project after Saving Private Ryan and was released on Sept 9th, 2001. Its a 10 part miniseries with an 11th episode featuring the actual vets from the 101st Airborne.
I’ll definitely will be watching that in the fire tire thank you!! ☺️
My father served in the Army in WW2. He was in the 1st Infantry Division in North Africa and Sicily. He was then transferred to the 3rd Infantry Division in Italy. He was wounded by a bomb dropped by a German Stuka divebomber at the Volturno River in Italy. If he hadn't been transferred out of the 1st Infantry Division, he would have been at Normandy.
Thanks for this comment! That’s really interesting to hear about a persons individual experience and that you know all this about your father’s time in the war! ☺️
A similar thing happened to my grandfather only he invaded at Salerno.
The tank motorbike is the German half-track motorcycle known as the Kettenkrad, used to pull equipment through rough terrain.
Remember, hundreds of thousand of teenaged boys died so we can all live safe, comfortable, well fed lives.
Most of those kids couldn’t even shave yet.
brave as hell real heroes here
Reaction was good the editing was on a learning curve 🙂
What can I say I’m still learning 🫶🏻😂🫶🏻👐
Also I spend quite a lot of time editing it as best as I can 👌
You might consider the ten hour series Band of Brothers. Produced by Spielberg and Hanks it tells the true story of Easy Company 506th, the company the fictional Ryan was with. You really get invested in the men. Well worth your time. Oh, and there are a couple of episodes that are very emotional.
Thanks for this! I didn’t know it was produced by them! Pretty interesting! It’s on my list! I’ll be watching this in the future 👌
I knew people who survived. They would not ever talk about it. Great reaction!
@@LawrenceFogal I can’t say I’m surprised 😮💨 thanks for your lovely feedback ☺️🫶🏻
I swear down I know it’s not a true story 👐 I know it’s like titanic a fictional story based on real events…. It still hits deep though 😭 even knowing that! 😅 thanks for this comment! It’s very in depth and helpful 💕🫶🏻
War is hell...
If you thought the opening scene was messy in this one you should see enemy at the gates. You wouldn't want to be at stalingrad on either side
That said my grandfather was an infantry officer on juno beach on dday and survived. Though he did get a finger shot off shortly after. Ironically in an accident. The thing is his best friends were two germans, one of which was in a reserve unit manning beach defenses on dday still somewhat recovering from getting wounded in russia a few months earlier and his brother who was a firefighter for most of the war who managed to avoid conscription until late 44 when they basically scraped up everybody they could get their hands on for the ardennes offensive and he ended up forcibly conscripted into an SS unit. Or as he put it he 'volunteered' by being put in a room with a bunch of other recruits and told he wasn't leaving until he 'volunteered.' He ended up wounded and captured pretty early into it and was smart enough to keep his mouth shut when word got around asking for volunteers who spoke fluent english and it sounded sketchy to him. Turns out he was right as most of them ended up getting shot when captured for the whole posing as US soldiers to sow confusion thing. but yeah, they all went to see this movie when it was originally released and all three of them broke down bawling uncontrollably about halfway through the landing scene. Particularly the burning out the bunker with a flamethrower scene
Thanks so much for sharing a story close to home 💕 that was a very interesting read. They went through so much. Sometimes people don’t let them selves remember just how bad things were. So I guess watching this film made them all remember what they went through was so bad and horrifying but yet they still made it.
Thanks again for this comment 🙏🙏💕
I was a US Navy Corpsman (counterpart to Wade's medic), I served 10 years, 8 with Marines. I saw this on a Tuesday afternoon. There were 12 of us. Myself, and 11 others, all veterans. At the end of the movies, the house lights went up. All of us had teary eyes. One old man stated the following- "As far as war movies go, that was the most accurate depiction I've ever seen . As for the ACTUAL D-Day, it didn't come close"
His hat said it all- D-Day Survivor, Purple Heart. I have always deferred to his expert opinion. As bad as you think it was as shown in the movie, it was much, much worse.
Just a note about Upham joining the squad. Combat veterans are closer than blood relatives. He was an unknown as far as the squad was concerned. He had not earned their trust by participating in the actions they had already gone through. As for his later actions, I remember being infuriated when I first saw this. But the gentleman I mentioned above, stated things like that happened. The squad was battle tested. He was not. His idealistic ideas of brotherhood were burned away by the reality of combat. I defer to his comments
As for Wade's death, yeah that hit me hard.
Yeah that was really tough. I’m really glad you wrote this cause it’s helped me wrap my head around it. It was a very complex situation, tough and horrible. But your comments really helped shed more light on that so thank you! Of course I’ll never be able to fully understand but it’s definitely helped coming from you 🙏 thanks for taking the time to write this 🫶🏻
I think the hand tremors were probably a physical manifestation of the stress he was under. That and probably shell shock, which we call PTSD now. That’s why at the end after he dies, the camera shows his hand no longer shaking.
My great grandfather (i'm french) lived 97 years, he was born in 1900, fought in WWI the last year, then in WWII participated in the resistance; in Lorraine (basically at the Germany frontier).
When the US pushed back the germans, he went into Germany, with the last brothers in arms he had left.
He came back without any injury, and never told us anything about the war.
He was waiting for the the year 2000, as he hoped he would open on a somehow new world. A world without war.
I'm pretty sure he would have skip this movie, and i'm also pretty sure this film, as horrific as it is, doesn't come even close to the reality.
Thx for your touching reaction.
Oh gosh what a story. And he was in both of them and lived!?!?!!? Thanks so much for sharing this 🫶🏻
@@Purdyflexreactions Yeah, it's insane. There were some survivors to any war anyway.
When it's not your turn, it's not your turn.
At this point it's a miracle but hey, I won't complain.
Yeah, the first 20 minutes of that movie was actually more like a whole day. A lot of people keep asking what those blimps were for when they landed. . It was to prevent the German planes from Attacking their stronghold, “ I loved your reaction!! you’re a beautiful woman :-)
Thanks for this comment! It’s nice when people share their insights 🙌🙌🙌🫶🏻
2:25 "Don't wanna die sickness."
I love it.
@@blakewalker84120 😂🫶🏻
The question this extraordinary film asks is we have earned it. Do we celebrate the freedoms they died for or complain about the trivial inconvenience of modern life? Awesome review 😁
The main reason why the military would be concerned with one surivivor out of a family of 4 brothers (3 of whom had already died in combat) would be because if they didn't do this the military would be regarded as completely cold and callous...and recruitment would then drop off to next to nothing. It has little to do with being "nice" to the mother of the fallen.
Thanks for this! It’s a very helpful comment 🫶🏻
Them going to go get Ryan is because of Sullivan's Law. He is the last son alive, so they got to get him home.
Ohhhh!! It was a law!? Bro 👊 that’s a good comment that makes this film make a lot more sense thank you!! 🙏
@@Purdyflexreactions Yes because Ryan was the last son if he died his family line would die too so they made it a law to ensure that didn't happen.
I’m a soldier of New Zealand 🇳🇿 😊 in the 1RNZB 1st Royal New Zealand Battalion (Infantry & logistics) my rank is now a Lance Corporal of the NZDF ( New Zealand Defence Force) our military coincided with the US as a counterpart to their operation and mission which was very much the same as ours, supplying military humanitarian aid, Medical Aid and Lethal Aid. Which were essential to the war effort of Ukraine 🇺🇦. Australia 🇦🇺 very much did the same also, supplying their Military Armoured Vehicles (tanks, IFV’s “ infantry fighting vehicles” APC’s “ Anti personnel carriers”) and so on 👌 🫡 🪖 🇺🇦 🇳🇿
Thank you for your awesome reaction ❤
Thank you 🙏 🇵🇸🇵🇸❤
Pretty cool! Modern soldier watching this reaction! Thanks for you comments 🙌🙌 wish you all the best in your efforts 🫶🏻
Another reason why they went looking for Ryan was to not to allow that name gene go extinct 😊
excellent true story series:
"Band of Brothers" 10 eps
"Chernobyl" 5 eps
"From the Earth to the Moon" 12 eps
Flamethrowers in WWII? Yup, look up the Pacific theater. The average lifespan of an American Marine carrying a flamethrower tank on his back once he hit contact was about 4 minutes.
Oh gosh
Schindler's List (1993) is in my opinion another film every person should watch.
If you enjoyed this you might consider Band of Brothers (2001) mini series.
I vaguely remember them playing it in school but they couldn’t play it all in one go. And I can’t say I really remember anything about it apart from it being black and white 😅 I’ll deffo need to watch it now 10+ years later! Band of brothers has come up too so I suppose I’ll have to have a look! Thanks for the comment! ❤
Then men saved the world, returned home, rolled up their sleeves, and rebuilt the world we have today. Soon none will be left. See one, thank him.
And if you pause at 15:46 to 15:52 and just look how young those soldiers were I mean they were just boys who were most likely killed 😢😢 heartbreaking 🥺💔😔
"Tell her I was with the only brothers I have left" As a combat vet it gets me every time.
Why does everyone think the old man was the captain? It's called Saving Private Ryan not Saving Captain Miller haha
@@adambriceland6588 probably because of how the movie started it zooms from the old man’s eyes straight into the captains eyes. It’s supposed to mislead us
This movie is like a side quest/mission in WW2
If you are interested in watching a masterpiece of a movie from the German perspective there is "Das Boot" its from 1981 and sits at the top of the best war movies with others like private ryan.
It's the sole survivor policy. If parents had their sons all deployed and only 1 of them was left, they were to be returned home safely. The letter the senior officers were reading together was because of one mom during the US Civil War who lost FIVE - all five of her sons. There's been other incidents where family were also in the same unit or on the same boat and they all died at the same time so after that they started splitting up deployed siblings so they wouldn't all die at once.
Thanks for this! You phrased this very well for me to understand 🫶🏻🙌
The Germans knew the allies were coming so that whole beach was zeroed in and reinforced and those men were basically walking into death and destruction without any cover and 3000 men lost their lives on omaha and utah. There was supposed to be tank support as well but they all sank Into the sea. The opening scene with the battle on the beach was very realistic, as mention by many veterans who watched it. Nobody should forget the sacrifices these men gave for for their country and they must always he honoured.
Not only for there country, maar for freedom in general.
@@NicholasSarsby thanks for this comment! Hey know when you say the tanks sank into the sea…. Is that cause the ship they were on got bombed?
They didn’t just drive them off into the sea and were surprised when they sank 😅😅😅 right???
@@Purdyflexreactions don't quote me but I believe they attempted flotation devices for these tanks and they failed.
@@NicholasSarsby ah well that would make some sense to me at least 😂. Thanks for replying 🙌
Please react to Band of Brothers. It's about a company of paratroopers (like Pvt. Ryan) that parachuted into Normandy the night before D-Day. The series follows the men of the company from D-Day all the way to the end of the war. And it's a true story, so the "characters" in the series are all based on the real soldiers that was in that company, and their real-life experiences during the war. Anyway, great reaction!
It’s on my list! Sounds like I’ll need more tissues 😅😂 and thanks for the sum up that’s cool of you 🙌🫶🏻
The scene that made me cry most was when their mother was informed.The "PAWS" poster on your wall,I have the same on a Tshirt.
Omg snap!
After Hanks and Spielberg finished Saving Private Ryan, which is a fictional story, set is a very realistic portrayal of WW2. They decided to do an equally realistic portrayal of an actual real story. The story of Easy Company, of the 506th regiment of the 101st airborne. And they made a 10 part mini series called "Band of Brothers" that follows that one unit from Basic training, though the end of the war. If you think Saving Private Ryan is a great movie. You'll love Band of Brothers.
Thanks for this! It’s on my list! 💁♀️🫶🏻
thank you for reacting to this.
You mentioned the lack of respect given to the translator by Vin Diesel. Those men had a bond forged through the crucible of blood. They had been proven worthy of that bond to each other and saved each others lives. An unproven man with zero experience does not try and put himself Into that circle. He earns admittance over time and deed under fire. Another reason is a soldier often has seen so many people they know, and many friends, get wounded or killed. They don't want any new attachments, just to have it happen again.
That’s some really great insight thank you 🙏
Powerful reaction. And I agree, everyone should watch it.
Every reactor always screams "Put it back on!" when the man whose helmet gets shot takes it off in the beach scene.
It wouldn't have mattered. They aren't bulletproof. The first shot was just a glancing blow.
Well still…. Not having the helmet on definitely did not help 👐😭
@@Purdyflexreactions Little does when an 8mm Mauser steel jacketed bullet zipping along at 2600 feet per second hits. Even today the most advanced helmets are really only rated for mid power rounds like those from an AK47.
@@feudist oh dear 🫢 I like how we have bullet proof cars and bullet proof vests but no bullet proof helmets! What’s going on there! 🤔
One Of My All Time Favorite Movies, Great Reaction Sweetheart ❤
Now that you've started on this path.... Band of Brothers, The Pacific, Fury...to name a few.
Thanks! I’ll add them to my list! 🙌
"Everyone should watch that film." Yes... but for the 'reality check' lessons it teaches, not because it's going to become an old favourite you'll want to re-experience again and again, or with the family every Christmas.
18:14 Wade was shot four times by a German MG-42 in the abdominal region once in the spine, twice in the intestines, and finally a bullet penetration to the liver, now I don’t know if you know this but your liver is actually a vital organ you need to stay alive if it is shot by bullets and your fate is fatal 😔 and he knew that’s why he requested morphine. To kill him 😔
Purdy I know you loved him so do other girls who react to this masterpiece of a film.
I did know about the liver but not everyone does! This is a great comment thanks! I knew he was definitely dead when he asked for the morphine…. Although I didn’t know he was shot in the liver when I watched it. 😭 thanks! This is a great comment 💕
@@Purdyflexreactionsyou’re welcome sweetie 🎉❤ love from New Zealand 🇳🇿
8 hours, 375 deaths per hour on Omaha ( that's how long it took them to breach the wall in real time )= 3,000 americans dead on Omaha that day. 375 is the average.
you got to understand how just how chaotic a firefight is but with the beaches on D-Day and other instances throughout war that is 10 times more chaotic in that situation so you cannot take prisoners there's no you don't even have anything established. you were just trying to get your foot in the door and get somewhere so there's no taking of prisoners there's not an option. trust me they're not senseless murders and this is one of the things that will be with them for the rest of their lives when they have to shoot somebody giving up. trust me.
Allied troops landed numbered 34,000; they suffered 2,400 casualties. on omaha alone. on a beach the width of less then 10km. 6 miles.
I am a Vietnam Veteran.
War is necessary because evil exists. Imperial Japan was just as evil as the Nazis and both had to be stopped. It would be nice if mankind were angels but among our species there have always been and always will be bad apples. The only thing evil people fear is strength.
@@mikealvarez2322 thanks for commenting! It’s one of the big debates in the world isn’t it.
‘war a necessary evil’ or is it ‘evil begets evil’.
I’ll just say it would be nice if we all got along and didn’t wish any kind of harm to anyone. Especially on the scale of a war.
actually 'evil' people fear everything... just sayin
'Imperial' Japan and the 'Nazi(s)' had to be stopped... stopped? from doing what?
who else needed to be 'stopped'?
Soviet Russia? Fascist Italy? Nationalist Poland? Imperialist Britain? Nationalist China? Vichy France?
what government is not on that list to be stopped?
@@Purdyflexreactions nice wish... when society expects people to grow into responsible adults and we find a cure for psychopathy then maybe... I endorse your wish.
@the.seagull.35 what is the alternate view?
@the.seagull.35 That passage was aimed at individual relationships. Even the great pacifist Mohandas Ghandi said that the Nazis had to be stopped.
You correctly picked up on the magnitude of the job of dealing with the missing and dead. The units to deal with the dead are called "Graves Registration." They recover bodies, recording where and anything else that may help to identify them if their ID tags and papers are missing. And they take reports from small units who had to bury their dead where they were but know enough to point out landmarks. Dead in shallow graves have to be exhumed for formal burial. It's a bad job to have. Black troops were often assigned. Bodies were buried or reburied in temporary graves that were meticulously documented and mapped. There was a system for "stripping" bodies or all identification and personal effects, even cutting up uniforms to find everything. It all went to a central repository for disposition. Recovery from temporary burial went on for two years after the war ended.
In the film, Miller removes one tag from Caparzo and leaves the other. He will report the death and location and send in the tag. If Caparzo's body can be found later with his remaining tag, that will be reported and everything will hopefully get back together, along with the letter they recovered from his shirt and Miller's note to his family, if Miller lives long enough to write one. Obviously, a lot of the dead were never found, either lost in the sea, buried by explosions, blown to pieces, or burned beyond knowing which side they were on. More than 80,000 American troops are unaccounted for from WWII. Remains are still found every year, and some are identified. But consider the man blown to pieces trying to set the bomb on the tank. Only the recollections of his fellow soldiers will likely let anyone know what happened.
This is a wonderful enlightening and fact packed comment. Thank you so much!
This is going to be a long comment that most might find boring. But I love history so I’m going to take the time to write it anyway. This is the best depiction of D-day in cinema. But The real Omaha beach wasn’t as short as what’s being shown in the movie. These men had to run across over 300-400 meters of open beach before they could reach the relative safety of the dunes and cliffs. But even then they were still getting pined down. Because unlike in the movie, the German guns were firing parallel down the beaches. Instead of directly into them. This meant that a German machine gunner, mortar-man or artilleryman could cover more of the beach with less guns. What that meant for the allies when they landed is that hiding behind a sand dune wasn’t actually protecting you from the guns firing at you from your left or right. It also meant that taking out an enemy position wasn’t doing much to stop the enemy who is shooting at you. Because the enemy firing at your position was further up or down the beach. The position you took out was firing at someone else.
This is why you see so many men hiding behind the Anti-tank obstacles. But even that had its own unique dangers to it. The Germans had placed mines on or around many of these obstacles. But that didn’t stop the men from using them as cover from enemy Machine guns. This lead to more problems because the engineers tasked with destroying the obstacles couldn’t blow them up while their own men were hiding behind the them. It became difficult for the small number of American tanks that made it ashore to maneuver around the obstacles, men and barbed wire. Some soldiers tried to hide behind the tanks but were accidentally crushed by them because the tank crews couldn’t see them.
Ooo we love comment like this on my channel 🙌 thanks for taking to time to type this! It’s very insightful and interesting 🫶🏻💕
I recommend watching "Schindler"s List" for some perspective of why this war was necessary. Another great film. (Bring tissues.)
Thanks! It’s on my list ☺️ haha I’ll make sure I have more tissues next time 😅🥹
The average age of those who landed at Normandy was 19.
I recommend watching the unknown soldier or winter war movies, you will definitely like them🇫🇮🇫🇮
Strongly recommend you watch Band of Brothers. It's like this movie although not as intense. You really get a deeper look at the people and the impact this had on them, good and bad.
Thanks!! It’s on my list 💕 do you think I’ll cry just as much watching band of brothers?? 💁♀️😅😅
There's a reason it was called Bloody Omaha. One soldier noted "there were body parts everywhere and the sea turned red with blood."
@@the_bottle_imp thank you for this info. Helps me appreciate the film more and the reality behind it all ☺️
Just came across your channel due to this film. Although a fictional story based on actual historical events, it hits hard. You mentioned the character of Wafe, the medic ...& first thing I thought was of Eugene Roe & Desmond Doss. Those who know, know why. Hope she gets to those stories.
5:22 It would of made no difference if he kept the helmet on they are will never stop a straight bullet as you can clearly see the first bullet went through his helmet like it was made of paper.
Oh damn… the more I find out about helmets the more useless they seem 🫢
18:38 when the captain tells them to give him the morphine and they hesitate. And then they keep giving him more. They put him to sleep overdosing him. A practice medics sometimes did with their friends
@@TheKing-zl3bk really???? I thought it was so it would help him die quicker so he didn’t suffer
Thanks for commenting 🫶🏻🫶🏻🫶🏻
@@Purdyflexreactions yea that's what they were doing. He went out feeling nothing but it slows your heart down so much you go to sleep
@@TheKing-zl3bk "put him to sleep" "go to sleep" are just polite substitutes for euthanasia/death. You need to be clearer and not as delicate.
@@johannesvalterdivizzini1523 nah I think I put it correctly and respectfully
The guy that killed Mellish and walked right by Upham on the stairs was not the man that they let go. He passed right by him, because he could tell a man cowering on the stairs while his buddy was being murdered upstairs was no threat whatsoever - in the German soldier's eyes, he wasn't worth the bullet, so to speak.
Then how did he know his name????
@@Purdyflexreactions He didn't - they're two different soldiers. The one coming down the stairs passing Upham was not the same man that Miller let go after Wade was killed. That one was the one that shot Capt. Miller and said, "Upham" in the final scene.
Regardless of what people say about us, I believe our side fought very very well against the allies in Normandy and beyond, considering that the vast majority were kids of the 12ths SS (HJ) and units of wounded deaf and partialy blind that were sent there from the eastern front. so yanks, Be happy most of our battle hardened units were on the eastern front. ( that is why Vin Diesel mentions the HJ knife in the beginning of the film)
6:35 exactly ... why ? .. he was saying ,,Do not shoot , i didn't kill anybody , i'm Czech'' which is correct , many men from occupied countries in Europe were forced to fight under Wehrmacht . During D-Day Allied forces had orders to not take POWs , so they simply killed almost everybody in their way .
Great reaction,, heart felt and sincere..Really enjoyed it,,,
Thank you so much ☺️ lovely comment 💕
Thanks
New sub,loved your reaction,cant wait for the next upload.hope your having a great day.
Please consider watching movies based on true stories... hacksaw Ridge with Andrew Garfield or We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson.. both of these movies will make you cry so make sure you have tissues
Hacksaw Ridge is deffo on my list!! Someone else recommended it and I’ve heard great things! I’ll add we were soldiers to the list too thank!! 😊
@@Purdyflexreactions ... you might say I'm a first reaction movie expert so I can give you plenty more movie titles if you want??
@@johnpearce5168 that would be great! 😊 I’d appreciate that!
The Germans were the first ones to use a flamethrower in WWI
Great reaction to a great movie!
Please consider reacting to Zodiac (2007) by David Fincher or Munich (2005) by Spielberg :)
It sounds like it could be good! I’ll add both of them to the list 🙌☺️
I agree with you everyone should have to watch this.....
The men at 6:32 were obviously surrendering. As mentioned by other commenters the men were speaking Czech and weren’t German. As to why they were shot, the orders for the men on the beach as well as to the paratroopers who landed hours before the beaches were stormed was to take no prisoners. Having to shoot surrendering men is of course terrible but the reality was until a sizable beachhead was established they had no one to guard them, food to give them, or place to keep them and the allies faced a huge possibility of being pushed all the way back to the beach by a counter attack. After it became clear that there was no successful counter attack did prisoners began to be taken
Subscribed! I loved your reaction so much!
@@domingocurbelomorales8635 🤩 thank you so much! 🫶🏻
Everyone should visit the museum of Auschwitz in Poland or Oradour-sur-Glane in France. That should be mandatory for young people from around of europe in their school years.
you asked why such things happen. just take a look around there's so much hate creepin from every corner of our reality even now.
It is actually on my places to see list. I do understand that war is to stop stuff like that. I ment more about everything that leads up to it as well. I don’t know why or how the big areas of the world could get so cruel and heartless and then for it to lead to even more loss of life too! My heart broke watching this it will definitely break when I go to see a museum of auschwitz 💔
75% of the first wave on Omaha Beach was killed in action (KIA).
Probably already been said, but CPT Miller’s hand tremor is a symptom of post traumatic stress. Something too familiar here.
Thank you anyway! Never hurts to contribute towards answering question’s 💕 so basically alll the team knew what it was all along 💁♀️ and it added to their respect towards the captain
Great reaction. I sometimes wonder the same thing. How humanity can be so cruel to eachother baffles me. Killing for pure greed.
@@summergivens242 exactly, starts with cruelty and ends with cruelty. Thanks for the comment 💕☺️
The reason why people that were trying to surrender were shot is because they had orders not to take prisoners because there was no foothold situation, where they are at liberty to take prisoners.
you wore 2 dog tags one was left with the body while the second was for burial service record keeping
@@kw900lkevin omg this comment it top tier!!! Thanks for this I had no idea!! But a genius idea and detail they kept on in the film. Thanks for this!! 🤩🫶🏻
Top tier true story movies:
"Flags of Our Fathers" (2006) *True Story*
"We Were Soldiers" (2002) *True Story*
"Patriots Day" (2016) *True Story*
"Black Hawk Down" (2001) *True Story*
"Deepwater Horizon" 2016) *True Story*
"Pain & Gain" (2013) *True Story*
"American Sniper" (2014) *True Story*
"The Longest Day" (1962) *True Story*
"A Bridge Too Far" (1977) *True Story*
"The Great Escape" (1963) *True Story*
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970) *True Story*
"Letters From Iwo Jima" (2006) *True Story*
"The Right Stuff" (1983) *True Story*
"Apollo 13" (1995) *True Story*
"Lone Survivor" (2013) *True Story*
"Captain Phillips" (2013) *True Story*
"The Valachi Papers" (1972) *True Story*
"Sully" (2016) *True Story*
"The Lighthorsemen" (1987) *True Story*
"The Great Raid" (2005) *True Story*
"K-19: The Widowmaker" (2003) *True Story*
"Zulu Dawn" (1979) *True Story*
"Zulu!" (1964) *True Story*
"Tombstone" (1993) *Trueish Story*
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) *True Story*
"Zero Dark Thirty" (2012) *True Story*
Good god!! Haha that will last me for a while! 😂 thanks for taking the time that’s amazing 👊🫶🏻🙌🙌
@@Purdyflexreactions They are not all military. Some are police/detective, and others are civilians in extraordinary circumstances.
@@jhilal2385 na that’s good! Thanks for the variety 👌
It fooled me, too, the first time I saw it. You just have to pay attention to the nitty gritty details between Steamboat Willie and the Waffen SS trooper that killed Mellish.
I watched the Longest Day film on my last day at school..around 3 hours..many guys left..I didn't. This is the best film ever made. Not just the best war film.. I am 57 and honestly, I cry every time I see this😢😢😢😢
Love this comment! Thanks so much! Now we can cry together ☝️🫶🏻
as Austrian,your enemy of those days,the shit thing is,we are normal people like you,war is all about political criminals,in history or now.
One of Harvey Weinstein's crimes was cheating this movie out of Best Picture Oscar.
Janusz Kamiński is one of the greatest cinematographers ever.
You need to watch Band of Brothers.
It’s on my list 🙌 thanks!! I agree it should have won that Oscar ☝️
I'm a Navy veteran, what's your Dad's channel? And yes when this came out a lot of WW II veterans got up and walked out 😢😢😢 not because the movie was bad but too hard. When Wade asked for more morphine if was because he knew he was hit in the liver and would bleed out, the morphine would lower his blood pressure and kill him.
Are you!? And dads yt channel is @RayPurdy pretty sure he worked in the merchant navy at some point and yeah I knew the poor medic was done when he asked for the morphine… 😭🥲
The actual name of that vehicle IS “motorbike tank-thingy”. 😜 great reaction 👍🏻
Yes! Thank you! 🙌😂
Great reaction! The companion to this, HBO's Band Of Brothers (produced by Hanks and Spielberg) is actually maybe BETTER than this film (starring very young James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Simon Pegg, Damian Lewis and many others) as it's a true story (unlike this film), and the actors play the real elderly veterans interviewed at the beginning of each episode.
Thanks you!! I’ve added it to my list! I’ll go get some more tissues ☝️😂
Great reaction. Now it’s time to continue to honor those great men and watch the mini series Band of Brothers. You will be glad you did (and your channel will blow up with subscribers).
Thank you so much! It’s been heavily recommended! I can’t wait to watch it, I’ll need to restock on tissues before though ☝️
The medic got hit my a grenade which the shrapnel penetrated his body right through.