From what I read, some Veterans of D Day actually got up and walked out when they saw the Omaha Beach Landing re-enactment. Not because it was wrong, or phony, it was SO REAL that they didn't want to re-live it and walked out. Unbelievable.
While watching the movie in the theater, the guy behind me started laughing at the scene where the soldier reaches down and picks up his amputated arm. I turned around to see what kind of person would react this way. What I saw was not a person who thought the action was funny. What I saw was a person reacting that way due to sheer terror. Yet, we got to watch this scene from a comfy theater seat and not the exploding, horrifying, blood-soaked sands of Omaha Beach. As accurate as this movie's scene surely was, in actuality the event was far worse than anyone not actually there could possibly imagine.
TomKaren94 ever see the Joe Rogan Clip talking about it? I forget who the guest was but his great grandfather had to leave the theater because “he smelled diesel”
While no movie can ever present the shear SCALE of the horrors of D-Day, this movie gave an accurate depiction of one part of it. I remember hearing about vets having to leave the theater because it was... a little too close.
I think one of the more emotional parts is a medic Wade tending to a wounded GI and is happy he stopped the bleeding only for the GI to be shot in the head and killed with Wade yelling at the Germans to give them a chance. Absolutely horrific.
Listen to that scene again. Wade and the others are actually trying to save the battalion surgeon. I always thought that didn’t make sense since the battalion surgeons would have stayed on board the troopships and waited for the worse off casualties to be brought there. This scene gives you a pretty good idea how knowledgeable Spielberg is about the invasion. I read a book awhile ago and it’s mentioned in that there actually was a battalion surgeon who insisted he be included in the first wave as he strongly felt he would be able to save more lives that way. Unfortunately, although the circumstances weren’t mentioned, he was killed shortly after landing.
Man the frustration that was going through Wade's head must have been unbearable . I can get grumpy by much much much tinier problems than that . If I was inches away from saving the lives of another comrade and a german just takes him out , I would want to curbstomp every single gẻman soldier I see . But war is war.And such a way of thinking and behaving would have been childish.
@@averagejoe6617 Watch the scene again. Miller tells his guy to " get him off the beach", so he shoots the dying guy in the head to get Wade to stop wasting his time and staying in the kill zone
This movie came out just a month before my grandfather passed away. He was on Omaha Beach on D Day. I took him to see this an was very effected by the opening scene telling me that it was almost exactly like what happened. I have always been grateful that we got to share this experience together. He said the forgot to show the large rock walls they had to climb.
Shout out to your grandfather. I think some of the beaches were more of a sandy hill type while other landing areas had the sheer cliff like your grandpa had to climb
@@jameskemp9960 Yeah had no idea it would have this effect but at the end he was happy he saw it and the rest of the world had a some type of idea what they actually did on dday.
Your grandfather perhaps was at Pointe du Hoc, where Rangers scaled a 100 foot cliff while under fire from above, in order to destroy German artillery batteries which were threatening the beach landing zones. I offer a tip of the proverbial hat to your grandfather, as that was no small accomplishment.
@@ghostfeller8028 Exactly Pointe du Hoc, was a bit different then the sandy hills of Utha Beach. The Rangers here had to climb in some cases 100 foot rock walls with nothing more than a rope shot up from the beach, while under gunfire the entire time. In the movie they blended both locations into one. The big guns the had to take out were at the large rock walled beaches of Omaha Beach while Utha Beach had the large open stretches of sand these poor guys had to cross to take the beach. Either way at both locations the gunfire was the most intense. The British and Canadian beaches of Gold, Soward, and Juno were also heavily fortified.
I remember my mother taking her father to see this movie in the theater. My grandfather was on the beach at Normandy and was in a bastard unit in Europe. He cried and clasped my mother's hand which was not his character. He said that he felt like he had been taken back and no movie had ever captured that. He was one of the few American units to liberate of Dachau. He passed away in 2000. His name was Deward Pepper born in 1920 Halifax N.C moved to the Raleigh orphanage in N.C. then willingly drafted.
This was the only movie that truly depicted the horrors of war and didn't romanticize it. Your grandfather was truly a part of the greatest generation. May he rest in peace.
It reminded me of one story that my grandfather told me about his unit, fighting in Market Garden. Guy broke his ankle during landing but fought on. Was wounded in a face by grenade but fought on. Had his left hand blown off but he just rest his Lee rifle on a broken wall and fought on. Germans caught him when he was trying to reload with his remaining hand. Surprisingly, he survived and lived well into his 80s.
Yeah that's big facts especially if you saw this movie when a first came out like for the rest of my life I've always remembered that and the guy crying for his mother was guts out I got never ever forgot that. That is a testament to how good this movie is he is right this is probably the only movie that accurately show the horrors of war in particular world war II cuz even right now I'm sitting here thinking could you imagine all this s*** going on around you and probably within the last 60 to 90 seconds you had your arm on your body and now you're looking for it and everything's happening so fast and it's so chaotic you don't even know why you're looking for your arm you just know that it's gone and you need to find it you don't even have time to comprehend the fact that the closest person who can possibly reattach your arm is far far away and you're probably going to be a one-hour man for the rest of your life that is a powerful ass scene
@@beatzbyreefah That's if he doesn't die from the massive blood loss and the probability he will most likely be shot or blown up since he isn't paying attention to people trying to finish what they started with his arm.
14:06 The Asian man in a Nazi uniform is known as a Korean man conscripted by Japanese, captured by Soviets in Manchuria, sent to a Gulag and later to the Eastern front to fight against Nazis. Then, he was captured by Nazis and sent to Normandy together with other Soviet POWs. Later he became a US citizen and died in the US. What a story.
My dad has a friend who’s father fought in WW2. And they have their father’s letter that he sent the day before D-Day. The letter is absolutely haunting because the father survived, but he was convinced that this was the last his family would hear from him. And in the lower corner, there is a single tear stain. The man was crying as the weight of the D-Day invasion was sinking in for him. And he ends the letter with: “I have one job, to make it up a beach. But that may be the last thing I ever do.”
My father had a friend whose father had landed on Omaha Beach. He showed his father the movie and right after the beach scene he turned to him and asked, "Was it that bad?" He replied, "Worse."
I remember a relative of mine ( i cant remember exactly who, they were extended family) served in WWII and was one one of the beaches, i also cant remember which beach specifically, i didnt know too much about him. The family was going to watch the movie and he was all too excited to tear it apart and look at hollywood bullshit and all that and how they didn't care about what people went through back then. He watched the start of the movie and was nitpicking about really anything he could but when they got to the beach landings, he had to step out of the room. He came back some time later and watched in silence except for telling a few stories related to certain things in the movie.
my friend’s grandfather told us that this scene (which he could never watch entirely in a single go) is the closest thing to what he saw and experienced, and even then it wasn’t even close to the horror of what actually happened. he said it was significantly more crowded. there were dead men every 3 feet, men with limbs blown off, pieces of human bodies strewn everywhere, blood everywhere. he said the thing he remembers most vividly was the “smell of death.” human carnage. burning bodies. vaporized blood. and the smell of feces, which came not from (understandably) frightened soldiers, but from an automatic bodily response during and after death, or blown out of the body and into the air by mortar explosions that ripped people’s insides out. absolutely fucking horrifying.
@@devinosland359 Show some respect....God and their fellow soldiers only know the horrors they must have seen....Marching for, fighting to the death knowing there's a good chance they will not leave that beach alive. So, maybe, learn the names of the beaches where these men sacrificed their lives for Freedom.
a movie can only do so much to make us experience the scene. The glimpse at the dread these soldiers must have felt at their impending doom and the desperate situation they were in, with the almost sure knowledge that they were walking to their death is just that. A glimpse..
Wow after all these years of watching this movie countless of times, they weren't speaking german and that they were actually Czechs. That blew my mind.
I just realized it last week when I saw it again with subtitles [speaking czech] Before that I thought it was actually french they where speaking hahah
Being Dutch and speaking German I knew they weren't speaking German and not being SS I figured they were probably conscripts from some occupied area. I just never knew they were Czechs. I always thought they might be Hungarians or Bulgarians or something.
Yup, conscripts from Czechia. I am Czech, and they said something along the lines of "I'm Czech, I didn't kill anyone." That was a particularly upsetting part to me and my countrymen.
@@jh565bb it's hard to be good with how brutal the Nazis were. You have no idea if they are lying or if they are about to whip out a gun and shoot both of you. Would you take chances and put you and your brothers lives on the line like that. It is a hard choice to make and war is fucked but none of the allies wanted this.
@@rylandavis2976 Sadly neither did the Germans, only Hitler and his lot wanted this. The German army tried to kill him a few times. Sadly both sides did this. In this situation they were wrong as the guys had surrenderd and they were under no Orders to shoot POW's, but it wasn't uncommon for men on all sides to kill POW's if they had an objective or lacked the facilities to hold them. I doubt these men would have been lying had they been real though, as not many Germans could speak Czech. The allies and the axis were just as brutal to each other sadly, it was war and many soldiers were traumatised and angry. That being said there were also many stories of both sides showing respect and even risking their lives to help individuals out.
That scene where Mother Ryan collapses on the porch when she sees the chaplain gets me every time. She knows it's bad and the sad part is, she doesn't know how bad.
Assuming of course that they gave her the news of the 3 brothers on THAT trip to see her. In her case (if you had a choice) would you rather have the one trip or multiple trips?
I am a Czech national, so when i watched the scene with the Czech conscripts, i had to rewind and watch it several more times, because i could not believe i hear my own language in a Hollywood movie
I remember that scene and think it was mess up but they were German and they were the enemy so o well its war they did worse to our guys surrendering but after this video I feel bad for them. all that I've learned about this war i forgot all about the some of the people that the germans forced in there ranks. @Jimmy the movie anthorpod great Czech war hero movie held out in that church for a month. and hit one of the highest ranking Nazi's. yeah great Czech heroes and story
Chris Scerbo Chris, you got so many things wrong. Czech did not sundered to Germany, but was forced to comply with Munich dictate, which was signed by Germany, France and England. So after that Germans created "protectorate" state in former Czechoslovakia. At that moment Slovakia created independent country and was never fully occupied by Germans. However there were Germans army in Slovakia. Especially after August 1944 when Slovak army upraised .... Also one of soldiers who killed Heindrich was Slovak not Czech. His name was Gabcik. Cheers
@@TheDelethar Correct. But this is a Hollywood production and Upham is annoying and a coward. I really don't like him in the film. But of course you are right about war isn't for everyone.
The US military did several surveys into the behavior of the frontline troops and the rear area support troops. I'm not sure of the exact facts and figures, but the vast majority of combat troops (of most countries) either put their heads down and didn't try to fight, or they would fire their weapons in the general direction of the enemy, but without even trying to aim for specific targets. Something like 10-15% of the frontline combat riflemen actually actively particpated in the fighting. The others would only fight when it was absolutely necessary or if they were ordered to fight by their officers and NCOs. The only exceptions in recent history are probably the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and the elite units like the German Waffen SS, the British and American airborne and marines, Gross Deutschland Division, and special forces (whose personal are chosen for their aggressiveness and determination etc). The point is, we should stop trying to criticize people who behaved in a particular way, in circumstances that the vast majority of us have never experienced. Even trained soldiers who were not experienced infantry (such as drivers, mechanics, technical support and logistical specialists were not always able to cope with the fear and the hardships and the brutality of front line combat. During the various occasions when the German forces were surrounded by the Soviets in Russia, the German commanding officers usually tried to either evacuate the non combatants if possible, or tried to keep the experienced fighting troops away from those from the support and non combat units, because the German Army knew by experience that only fully trained and fully motivated troops would have any chance of breaking through the encirclement and reach friendly lines, so even trained soldiers who were members of the logistics and rear area support units were not expected to be able to go into close combat unless they had been fully trained in infantry tactics. All men want to be heroic and brave and noble, but until we have been in positions like the situations depicted in war movies, and we have proved ourselves in combat, none of us are in a position to judge others.
When I saw the movie when it first came out, there were old men in the audience that were crying. It was as moving a moment as I've ever had in my life.
Yep, I saw it in Florida as a kid. There is a large retirement community here obviously. The theatre about emptied out during the Normandy scene. They came back a few minutes later. I guess it was a "been there, done that" moment for them
same. Saw it opening weekend and there were groups of older men wearing their hats that have what formation they served in during the war and they had tears in their eyes when I saw them leaving the theater and I heard at least one say he never thought he would ever see anything like that depicted on film.
@@w3r0ification alright tough guy I'm going to ask you a simple question. How would you react if you watched a movie and it made you relive some of your darkest memories? Memories that you never forget and haunt you every second of every day
The veterans affairs (VA)had to designate a special 24/7 caller hotline when this movie hit theaters. They were flooded with calls of WW2 veterans having PTSD flashbacks after seeing this movie. Those men who stormed the beaches and the paratroopers who jumped in are heroes. It was an absolute privilege and honor earning my jump wings and serving in the 82nd airborne. I salute these men🫡
@Patrick O'Brien it took me a whole 3 seconds to find an old article online. They absolutely opened a Saving Private Ryan hotline. You are obviously a troll or don't know how to Google. Either way, yes.
I find this very difficult to believe. The VA has no issue seeing homeless veterans hungry on the streets, forcing them to go through a list of requirements before they can even get as much as a piece of bread. Now you're saying they willingly created a hotline to help them? 😂
Additionally, the Axis soldiers deployed were more in the 25-34 age range, while the Allied soldiers sent to Normandy were a bit younger than that. The Axis soldiers had older equipment in these beaches than in other places as well, owing to how few expected an Allied invasion here.
@@jennifergruber3963 I was just going to post that. Koreans, captured by Japanese, captured by Russians, captured by Germans and finally Americans. What a story they could tell.
It was really obvious to me that they weren't speaking German (I speak French and some German, some Spanish) but beyond that I couldn't identify the language. I suspect that Spielberg wrote that scene with the expectation that most Americans would make the same realization, that it wasn't German. He overestimated us. Most Americans are too insular to bother learning any other languages, and it further contributes to our reputation as too prideful to consider ourselves part of the world. Our loss.
I read that the veterans consulted said (about storming the beaches) that the only innacuracies were that in real life it was worse, and that the men were all too old.
My grandfather lost 3 brothers in WW1 and his young sister in WW2. He was the only surviving member of my great grandparents' family. My aunt wrote about it in her book, The Flowered Box Stories.
my Grandad survived the war but strangely it did take his life later, as he eventually died from gangrene in 1975 he got the gangrene from shrapnel from the war decades before in WW2, he was a brave little Scotsman
Glentoran fans it’s an infection that causes necrosis, the tissue begins to die and rot, it’s not pretty at all. It’s what you get tetanus shots for. To prevent it.
My Great Uncle was there, he actually had to walk out of the beach scene because it was so accurate. His only criticism was you couldn't see shit because there was so much smoke and debris in the air. But, despite his flashbacks he was honored that they did their best to show the horror of that day.
Angela Daley my great grandad was in the navy during the war but died when I was young and I didnt know he was a soldier until I was 11 I wish he was still alive I want to sit and talk with him about his experience during the war
I work in the care home where many of the residents took part in WW2 in some way. A couple are even old enough to remember parts of WW1. some of the stories I hear are incredible! I've spoken to Navy vets who were in the pacific, D-Day vets, Ex pilots and its a privilege to hear their experiences.
My grandfather flew a B-24 Liberator Bomber. I remember some planes were touring and he took me to see it when they got close to where we lived, I was maybe 9 or 10 yrs old. I remember touring the plane but I can't really remember any of his stories. He died when I was 13 and I'm 30 now. I wish I had listened so much more.
Very sad. Even to lose one young child in any situation is bad enough but to lose all your sons as many families did in WW2. One of the worst aspects of WW2 dead was the notifications that went out by Telegram...that is just too terrible...
The mother part looks good. However, what is the chance of a camera that was there? Plus sound-man? Proper light, proper focus? Maybe a director? Good acting = staged.
Saw this movie in theaters with my dad when I was about 10. He’s a stoic type who never shows much emotion, and I’ll never forget how blown away I was that he cried at the end. Years later as a grown man, I understand.
I have so much respect for the soldiers who fought in this. My great grandfather landed in Normandy after the invasion and was caught and imprisoned by the Germans while trying to liberate France after catching grenade shrapnel in his back. He was imprisoned in a German PoW camp named Oslag-6. He was one of the few in his group to survive. He ate things like grass soup and rats. Went into the Army weighing 195 lbs, and came back weighing only 75 lbs. I cannot possibly imagine the suffering he felt as his comrades were executed in front of him. He survived though, made it home and met my great grandmother and went on to have 8 children, 7 boys and one girl, who was my grandmother. He had a long career working with Crouse-Hinds in Syracuse, NY. All in all, he was awarded 2 Purple Hearts as well as Marksmanship medals for his combat group. In the late 80s, he developed spider cancer due to the metal stuck in his body. He passed away a few years before I was born, and not a single week goes by where I do not wish I could have met him. With the state of our nation today, I often think about how angry he would be to see what’s going on, after sacrificing so much. I will never allow this mans story to not be told as long as I am still alive. His name was Clifford Brown Sr. and he will always have my honor and respect.
Dan, I had two uncles in WW2 - One fought in Europe, the other did the island hopping in the Pacific. They both came back, married, had a family (my cousins) and got on with their lives. I know now that they suffered from PTSD, but back then, they knew little about it (It was called battle fatigue or shell shock) Yet, they were men who were cut from a different cloth. Somehow they found a way to get through it and lived normal, productive lives. So, how do I know it was PTSD? Because neither of them would speak of their time in the war - EVER. They put it behind them. I can only suppose that they both considered that they did what had to be done - and they did it. It was war and they did their part in helping to bring it to end. And, no, they too would not be happy about the state of our nation today.
Jim Johnston thank you for sharing. I asked my Aunts and Unclesif my great grandfather ever talked about his experiences, and his story is much the same, he never did much until his later years in life. I agree with you, these men were cut from a different cloth. I think that’s why I admire my great grandfather’s story so much, because he had a completely different mindset due to his experiences than I do because of mine. I never went through the kinds of horrors your uncles or my great grandfather went through, yet they were able to adjust and have a career and support their families. I am a single 31 year old white male with no children or spouse, and I have job hopped my entire life. What is my excuse? I have none, yet I feel completely unable to do the kinds of things he was able to achieve. Now, this doesn’t mean I am unhappy about my situation, as I am a musician and music is my passion, and I don’t see the point in marriage or having children in this day and age, yet I still feel a sadness because I am denying that almost primal urge to start a family. Geez, I may have gone onto a tangent here but the point is, his experiences and his story mean a lot to me, and despite his suffering and most likely PTSD due to his experiences, I can’t help but admire the man and others like him as an example of what I wan idealistically. However, we all know that having classic ideals in 2019 is almost a sentence for disappointment. I don’t know what I am trying to say here.... Guess I just wish I knew that my life mattered. I have never had a great cause to contribute to. I have never felt as if I am truly a part of this world, when that is all I desire.
Yeah that Czech scene made me drop my jaw, I am Czech and that just hit too damn close to home. The shock you experience when you understand what they're saying while you're watching the scene for the first time, and the fact that most people under youtube videos also can't distinguish German from Czech just gave me this feeling of despair that i can't really describe
Digital Dynamics Software And there’s other people, people that don’t even know czech exists, people that wouldn’t know a slavic language from a germanic language
My German language skills are basic at best, and my Slavic language skills are even worse... but I did recognize it as *not* German; I just couldn’t put a finger on exactly what I was hearing. I’ve had the good fortune of visiting your beautiful country multiple times; Česky Krumlov, Pilsen, Chodová Planá, and of course Praha; and I look forward to returning again. Na zdraví! 🇨🇿
Can't believe no one talks about the scene where the German soldier slowly inserts the knife into that American soldier while shushing him all the while his comrade is too afraid to act. That scene made me feel 5 feelings simultaneously. It was by far the most intense scene i ever saw and felt.
Sharing because I realize im not alone, I saw this scene when I was young with my dad and I cried watching the knife scene and ever since it has -genuinely, traumatized me and is one of my first thoughts every time I see anything related to private Ryan.
I grew up in Lebanon during the civil war. On one occasion, I was fired at with a Dushka machine gun (12.7 mm). I managed to run and hide behind a stone wall, some people around me got hit and were shredded. When I saw the scene in "saving private Ryan" where they are fired at as they are trying to get off the landing crafts, I had a flash back of that incident in Lebanon. The film rendered perfectly the sound of the heavy bullets flying, the sound they make when they hit something, the feeling of helplessness. I wanted to throw up.
@@ItsameAlex Captain Miller wants to remind Ryan that he and other soldiers sacrificed their lives just to save him and everyday he wakes up he must live his life to the fullest, like he gotta earn everyday he lives. That’s what I think he meant. Pardon for my incorrect English if any.
kunal kaklij - For years I'd always wondered what Miller whispered (didn't get a computer 'till 2012). But yeah, it's pretty profound. I think your interpretation & reply to @itsamealex was spot-on.
IMHO one of the best bits of acting in this movie is Ryan's mother when the car comes to give her the terrible news - we don't hear a single word from her, but the way she collapses on the porch ABSOLUTELY captures the physical impact - as far as we can even begin to understand it - of the realisation that they were bringing the terrible news of the loss of one (or, as it turns out three!) of her precious sons. Brilliant. Massive credit to the unnamed middle-aged lady that played that role.
I have to agree and was doing a bit of reading about The Sullivans brothers and when the naval officer comes to tell them both the mother and father there, and the navy officer says, "I have some news for you about your boys" and the father (Tom) asks "Which one?" and the officer replies "I'm sorry all five." Like I can't imagine the world shattering realisation that this would cause someone
@@thepodcastcrew1113 There’s a 1944 movie titled The Fighting Sullivans about them. The way it’s portrayed in the movie starts with a Father Francis visiting as he often did. He appeared to just be on a social visit until he delivers the devastating news pretty well the way you mentioned. Looks like they decided on that instead of the way you read it. If it had been a naval officer showing up they would have known right away bad news was coming. Of course nobody could imagine just how bad.
Absolutely agree. Everything you need to know we get from her performance, while also giving us a real emotional reason for the mission to find the last son.
In one of the real life situations, after the second time (that woman also had several sons fighting) the telegram messenger refused to deliver another death notice. That poor woman also fainted.
I cryed at the beggining It sucks when you understand the meaning nd the purpose of these poor people .. true meaning of a heroe to give their life in order to have peace ..
My grandfather fought for over three years on the eastern front. He never spoke about the war. It was tabu to even bring it on. He died in 1999 at the age of 91 years. He was a Anti-Tank-Gunnery NCO ( I can't translate it otherwise...) and destroyed russian tanks by the dozens. His war journal was filled with grief, anger and hopelessness. He described the horrors of the war. The burning tanks, the screams,the cold, the smell everything. It must have been horribile. I was a soldier myself and was stationed in former yugoslavia for six months. I served as a medic and had no combat duty. I consider myself lucky and cannot grasp the horrors which the soldiers back than went through. German, American, French, British etc.. it doesn't matter. War is terrible. Let us hope that mankind will someday evolve from this nonsense.
My [British] grandfather went ashore on Sword Beach, at Arrowmanches. My father took him to see the movie, and said he didn't watch the first 10 minutes, but just closed his eyes and listened. He said it's the first time he'd ever seen him cry. I proudly visited Normandy with him several times before he passed away, and have the highest respect for all of the Allied servicemen regardless of nation. It's so sad that many like to bicker about "who saved who's ass", rather than appreciate what people like my grandfather stood up for. I imagine most have never even spoken to a veteran of any conflict, let alone visited the battlefields, and cannot imagine the current generation ever standing up the way they did! Without exception, every serviceman I have spoken to has had nothing but respect for other service personnel, and rather than having a pissing contest about it all, we should respect them all too.
I always see history portraid by the allies seeing them as the good guys everytime never see what the soldiers of the Wehrmacht went through , my great grand father died in france 1940 i only know him by what my grandmother told me and by a bronze placket in a town in austria, and never gets one soldier of the Wehrmacht portraid as a person who just wanted home , who just wanted to see their family again always just as nazi scum.
I had an experience not unlike yours. When I saw "Saving Private Ryan," there were a few elderly gentlemen in attendance who were obviously very moved by the film, especially the first ten minutes or so of the movie. My respect for those men, the ones who were there, knows no bounds.
@@rovanthur5719 That's a sad truth of soldiers who fought on the wrong side. The Nazis were pure evil, the SS were pure evil that's pretty clear. But the German squaddie/pilot/tank crew? No different from their British/French/Canadian/American counterparts.
watching this movie, and many other war movies, and just learning about history in general, rather made me realize the Importance of life, and living one's life to its fullest. as captain miller said 'earn this'. i would say, not to be afraid of death, but rather take this as inspiration to do something meaningful in your life, and hopefully do some good in the world. cuz after all that's all that matters in the end.
I've seen this as a kid too although I wasn't scared watching this as I should be, I've watched many war movies with gritty bloody scenes especially this one yet none of that gore scare me, but the only thing that scares me in movies are horror ones In fact, one horror scene is enough to scare me so much I refused to continue watching any horror movie but not war movies.
My dad went and saw this movie in theaters several times when it came out. He’s a college history professor that teaches American history so it makes sense that he would be borderline obsessed with this movie. One of the times he went and watched it, he sat behind two older couples, both husbands being of appropriate age to have served during WW2. He says that when the opening battle sequence happened, both men were desperately clutching their wives’ hands. Both were crying by the time the battle scene has ended and the camera pans across the beaches littered with dead bodies. Then by the end of the movie, both men were crying. After the movie, he heard the men discussing it and it turns out both men had been apart of the Omaha beach landing and both men repeated several times how realistic it was. As an adult who works in law enforcement, I can’t claim to understand their experiences, but after seeing something in a movie that nearly perfectly recreated an event that was particularly traumatizing for me, I did experience the desperate clutching of my wife’s hand. Those men were heroes and I can’t even imagine how horrific it must have been to actually be there.
I remember watching the Czech soldiers scene with my family. I speak German so when it happened my sister asked,"Was that what they said". I couldn't understand a word so I just replied," I don't think they were really speaking german". I thought they were speaking fake German or a different language, but what they actually said fits so much better and is an extra touch of history.
@@GriffinatorOriginal Thank you very much - I'm also fond of Hex Maniac (Tomoko but thicc), Kikuri from Bocchi the Rock, Misato from NGE, Rin and Mama Raikou and Mordred and JInako from Fate, Darjeeling from Girls und Panzer, most of the Chainsaw Man girls, a lot of girls from gacha like Girls Frontline and Blue Archive and Kantai Collection, the girl from Netoge, Annie from AoT, vampire girl from Call of the Night, and many many more! I have wide taste with common themes haha
My Grandma knew the Sullivan brothers as children and she was devastated when she heard they died, I don't blame her, hearing that five of your childhood friends were gone...
I go to school with a guy who’s related to them he told us in class he had a movie named after some of his relatives named “the fighting Sullivans” I didn’t realize it was of historical importance.
ShotgunShell so, basically you believe that the movie is horrible just because of a few minor inconveniences and your political opinion, completely ignoring the fact that the movie is a brilliant movie, all history and politics aside?
@ShotgunShell German soldiers did have shaved heads. Whether is was required or not, I don't know but being a skinhead had nothing to do with this though. I've seen pictures of my great grandpa in uniform and his head was shaved as a German soldier. Not sure how you managed to bring skinheads into this movie since they didn't even exist back then. To say this movie is shit really makes it hard to take anything you say seriously since this is considered one of the greatest war movies ever made. Veterans of WW2 praised this movie and many even said it's the closest representation to their experience of the war.
This movie had special meaning to me for many reasons. The one I keep thinking about is I was going through a very rough patch in my life and a really good friend came over and said he had a surprise for me. Knowing I’ve always been a bit of a history buff he (Ian Marston) took me to the show to see the movie for the first time. My yr long GF had moved out and I was in the dumps and Ian knew the movie was what I needed. It shocked me out of my slump and back into myself. I bring this up because Ian died of colon cancer about a yr later. He was in his 20s. It’s hard not to watch the movie and not think of my dear old friend.
WashYourHands yeah, when I was around 10 I came across the scene and the guy with his entrails calling for him Mum freaked me out. Could not get it off my mind
nicculess man same except I was way maybe 6 or 7. I was on TH-cam looking at Ww2 vids and then I saw the beach clip. I almost vomited when I saw the guy calling for his mom
I watched this film last week. I’m ex military, 67 years old and a cynic but I bawled my eyes out towards the end. For Spielberg to generate such emotion is a masterclass in storytelling. Yes he had good factual material to work from and he made the most out of it without turning it into parody. Great story, great film, great acting and great direction. I will never forget it.
If you liked this, you should definitely watch Band of Brothers, it's widely considered one of the best historical shows ever made. And was also made by Spielberg and tom hanks, with much the same style.
My neighbor growing up was a Sherman tank driver at the end of WWII and served in Korea. He said if this situation ever happened, it would have been far more effective to disseminate this information across the front rather than send 8 men on a rescue mission. The name would have been issued to officers and NCOs and instructions would have been to get the order for his extraction out by word of mouth to any other officers and NCOs met during the invasion.
There was a lot of communications being sent back and forth, a lot did not get delivered. And there might be German mis-information being inserted into the mix. When I watched the film, I thought it to be a foolhardy mission. The group tracking Private Ryan would surely get killed by Germans or friendly fire. Unrealistic, right?
Snaggle Toothed and Neil Anderson: you both made excellent points. It would've been a dull movie and our lines of communication lacked the 100% guarantee of success. Radios were regularly damaged or lost during airborne deployments (those damned leg bags). This is why disseminating the message through the NCOs and officers would have been best: there were nearly 1.5 million Allied troops invading Normandy on D-Day. I tried to calculate how many NCOs and officers would've been out there, gave up and decided to just call it a *shitload of badasses.*
As a war veteran, i will say... most people have no idea what it takes, the sacrifices, the toll... it takes everything. And this is a beautiful tribute
It's very rarely mentioned that these heros that landed on the beaches had two choices, win or die. There was no evacuation plan in place or even possible in the scenario. Crazy brave if you ask me.
it was a brilliant plan to begin with and a masterpiece of logistics and mass-coordination. Of course there were going to be casualties, but securing the beaches in less than 12 hours was expected. Getting to Caen was the hard part.
JJRJ 85 it was always going to be a risky plan, in fact, I would say it was a horrible situation with a great plan and great execution. A lot went into D-Day, counter intelligence, planning, logistics, coordination, and more all had little room for error. It is unfortunate though, because no matter how great the plan was, it still couldn’t avoid running into machine gun fire.
@@Redbird-dh7mu yes, some parts of it still reeked of WW1; i will never understand why the navy didn't obliterate the bunkers at the beaches; word is out they wanted them intact for the allied troops (to face german counter-attacks, which happened). Also, Normandy was less fortified than the calais-dunkirk areas; other than Omaha, casualties were "tolerable" (high command thinking), and the work of the 101 behind enemy lines was priceless. There were far more casualties in the push towards Caen, and then at Holland, the Ardennes or at Lorraine, or northern Italy, which the Allies never liberated.
Yes Sloan. My dad was US Navy--Pacific War. At Iwo Jima he shuttled men, supplies, ammo, and vehicles up to the beaches which were under heavy cannon fire for over 4 days. And to make for huge PTSD--he had to bring the wounded back to a hospital ship. No protocol, the wounded were quickly loaded any which way to get them out and my Dad's boat away...
@@jjrj8568 They did bomb/shell the beach fortifications before the landings. The bombs landed too far inland. The ships couldn't get too close, for risk of running aground and being hit by artillery. Same thing happened in the Pacific. Only difference there was the Japanese had dug tunnels and made bases inside of mountains to avoid the bombings/shellings.
In that year, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and Life is Beatiful all lost the oscars best picture award to Shakespeare in love. Just let that sink in. Original movies like the Truman Show and American History x were not even nominated.
"Tale about a fictional relationship between William Shakespeare and a young woman who poses as a man in order to star in one of the writer's plays." Feminism + Transgender + Jewish female in lead role = LGBTQ wet dream.
Watch Downfall if you haven't heard of it. Holy Shit, you forget you're watching a movie and not in the bunker. It's actually done by the Germans too, which is kind of shocking and rare. So deal with the subtitles.
@@krisfrederick5001 Haha, I feel like every second german film is about World War 2. The actor Bruno Ganz did however recieve heavy criticism for depicting Hitler as a human and not a monster. He and the director were certain, that if we forget that Hitler was a human, we don't expect that any other human could commit such atrocities again - and are in danger of repeating the past.
Many many years ago when I was still a teen, hurrying about my day and running into the grocery store, an elderly gentleman struck up a conversation with me and showed me the photo he took during D-Day. He was a photo journalist who was there to take pictures, and was in the middle of it. The photo he showed me was impactful - this film opened my eyes to how even more momentous that moment was - and how amazing it was for me to have the chance to meet that man and see his photo. My grandparents hide Jews, and my great-grandfather helped train English sailors to cross the channel (we're from the Netherlands). My family history couldn't have continued to me today if not for the valiant efforts of the British, Canadians, and Americans to free the occupied nations of Europe. Some of us will never forget.
I loved the sniper in this film ,and the part on the beach where hes dragging a guy , an explosion happens, he looks back and hes dragging half of the guy has always stuck with me. War is hell and this is the kind of memories you come home with if you do go to war. Great movie and a snub for an oscar of all time
I watched this film on DVD probably in 1999 - 2000 and would have been 46 years old. My wife came into the room and asked if I was enjoying the film, it was during the Omaha beach landing and I was a blubbering wreck. I was born just 11 years after the D Day Landings. I have a huge respect for all the allied troops - Thank you all for your service.
That scene where the mother watches the priest getting out of the car and falls apart. That is the genius of Spielberg. No words, no close-ups, just message.
In fact this is the most disturbing scene. The dead don´t feel anything, the living do the suffering. From the last conflicts, especially the Balkan wars, there are many fathers, mothers, sons and daughters left alone, wandering around in this world like living dead. They can´t die, but they don´t want do live. Spoke to many of these people in during a report. Every day they are living the same day, when their and the life of their familly ends.
Plus, notice she is not centered in the shot. As she leaves she walks past several pictures on her right, including all 4 of her boys in uniform. She will never look at those pictures the same way again.
ALOT miss the placard(sign) in the window with the gold stars. It is significant, it shows that she has already been through it . Knows the message walking up the steps, Hits her knees weeping. My god the suffering never spoken of.
I grew up in the Australian military. My father and Uncle were both in The Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam, artillery. Both in charge of seperate guns ( Charlie & Echo). Thankfully both survived and came home. My grandfather served in WW2, first in Egypt and then in South Africa training the local men there, preparing them in case Hitler ended up invading their country. His brothers served too in different places across the globe. They all came home safely too. And my great grandfather and his brothers served in WW1, all coming home safely. We are a very lucky family. When so many others never made it home.May they rest in peace.
I'm a Canadian military veteran... the son and grandson (along with great uncles, uncles and cousins) who served in South Africa (Second Boer), War 1, War 2, Korea and (little old me) the Cold War. Thankfully we stayed tf out of Vietnam. Not all of mine came home safely... but most did. Anyway... good on ya my Aussie cousin... and good on your family for serving. Sending my regards from the Senior Dominion 😎
3? I think the Australians, Belgians, Czech, Danes, French, Greeks, Dutch, New Zealand, Norwegian and Polish would fancy correcting this natural but incorrect assumption. That's before you include the West Indian, Indians [and soon to be Pakistanis], Algerians, Moroccans, Libyans, Egyptians, South Africans, Irish and Spanish fighting in the British & French armies. And there's other nationalities I'm sure I've forgotten.
UlsterGroundhopper Sigh. Yes, I know that. But ours was one of three that were specifically designated to take part in the landings. The others were all included under the British flag.
***** Only 36 million people. And we feel it next to the behemoth to our south. The rest of the world thinks it is bad watching the craziness of the US election, but I'd say only Mexico is more on edge. We had 10 million people at the time, although we had a million people in the military during WW2 and the fifth largest navy. Canada has a very heavy impact on the world in two ways: food supply and natural resources.
Given saving private Ryan is historical fiction, with fictional characters, locations and events within a larger historical context, I think it’s really an incredible film historically speaking.
I know Spielberg borrowed from some of the soldier's memoirs. For example, Hal Baumgarten mentions in his book about the battalion surgeon for the 116th Regiment who decided he should be in the first wave since his skills would probably be needed. Unfortunately, he was killed during the battle. He incorporated this into the film by having Wade working on a wounded man and being told to move on to someone he could help. Wade answers back that he's working on the battalion surgeon. Also might interest you to find out that the actual Captain of "C" company, 2nd Rangers(played by Tom Hanks in SPR) was Ralph Goranson aged 25. After exiting the landing craft, he felt numerous hits until he made it to some cover. He counted 9 bullet holes in his gear and clothing but was miraculously untouched. Then a German greande landed at his feet and he just barely got out of harms way. The events shown on the landing are a bit contrived due to time constraints but he did lead his men on an assault that took out a key German weapons nest that was decimating the troops on the beach. He's widely considered the first man to make it up to the bluffs that were so instrumental in taking Omaha Beach. He survived the war and passed away in 2012 aged 93.
I remember watching this as a young boy with my Great Granddad, he told me before he died just a few years ago that he got up and left when the DDay section occurred because, despite the fact that Sword was not as bloody as Utah, his American Friends told him in brutal detail and said that he was lucky to be British on that day. Rest in Peace to all men that fought on that day, on that beach.
There was actually a 17 year old high school student that lied about their age to get on the battlefield. He was a medic, and while he was healing somebody, a mortar hit and the shrapnel killed the wounded man, and went through him and the guy behind him, killing them all instantly. Virgil Mounds. Edit: if you want the full story look up "Surviving D-Day" on TH-cam and skip to 40:09
I was USN and I agree with you 100%. Only 1 US Navy Battleship could have pin pointed each pill box with a 16" Cannon. WHERE WAS THE LEADERSHIP? Eisenhower failed our Troops, should of had ONE US BATTLESHIP on the Scene, not Destroyer Tin Cans who were in harms way. FINALLY BEFORE ANYONE TRIES TO GET WISE: Naval Caliber (Cannon) is measured as the Length of the Barrel / Bore, so 16" * 50 means the barrel is 67 feet long. Not the same as Army Caliber (Small Arms) which is only the bore width. MORE INFORMATION: North Carolina Class BB55 - BB60 - had 16 /45s where the Iowa Class BB61 - BB64 had 16 / 50s. Many died because of stupidity.
@@kochan1147 That was because of their honour. How do you think they lasted so long? They weren’t stupid, it was just how they were told to be. Even the men would do it, because they believed it was honourable.
And Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over this masterpiece. Not that the Academy Awards mean anything, it just astounds me that this film didn't win every award it was nominated for. Fantastic video, love this channel!
it is possible that many people's visceral gut reaction had a negative impact. One can appreciate the movie on a technical level, but in the same breath say "I hated this movie" not able to fully vocalize why. Its not the plot, its not the structure, its not the characters, its just a physical and emotional response to how horrifying it is. While this works in the favor of horror movies, as some people strive for that kind of reaction,... movies like this are a completely different animal, and there is no real "desire" for a moviegoer to see THAT kind of violence. The horrors of war touch a different nerve than horror films, in a distinctly different way. I am not saying this justifies it losing to a sappy romance, I'm merely saying I understand how that decision could have potentially have been made. I don't agree with it, I just understand it.
That's the thing, Oscars used to mean something, but that virtue-signaling decision was the start of their long fall from grace that led to where they are today. Ignored, horrible ratings, and can't even find people willing to host them anymore. One of the few times where "get woke go broke" is actually true. You can market products with your wokeness and profit, but once you start handing out awards for it over more deserving candidates, that's when people tune out.
The mid section of the movie is mediocre and drags. Should have been edited down at least half an hour. The characters aren't engaging enough when there is no action on screen (Zulu, The Great Escape, Kelly's Heroes is how you present characters). Hardly any of the dialogue is memorable, nevermind iconic. The film is revered for the first half hour and little else.
The scene that stuck with me as a kid was the stabbing scene. The way the knife is driven in slow is so visceral and I could feel the sense of helpless horror wash over me. Absolutely terrifying way to die.
you dont actually need to know ANYTHING about being a sniper to know how physics work and mathematical problem solving. The shot taken is not 'impossible' but also not possible.. Doesnt make sense, but it would not come down to the individuals skill cap, but more of pure 100% LUCK. LIke Chris Kyle's longshot. He even admitted he did not intend to hit a target, but more of was just playing around and sent out a round, that just happened to hit! it was a freak of nature kinda thing.
X-Cal you don’t even have to know about physics, every marine know that this shot is possible because it has already been done. No expertise required or experimentation is needed.
Actually, saving Private Ryan's sniper scene actually was inspired by a Vietnam war soldier named Carlos Hathcock he was the sniper that shot through a NVAs scope
My grandfather was in Vietnam, even so, he told me he can’t watch Saving Private Ryan due to the sounds, mostly the bullets and screaming. My great grandfather landed on Normandy.I never met him, of course. But he left notes and writing to all of his descendants. I read it every time I can. The sheer emotion I get from seeing his handwriting falter and mess up as he writes amazes me. These men are heroes and were a different breed than me. 29th infantry 23rd infantry
PFC Joseph Foster Walker 101st Airborne, dropped on Normandy, buried at Arlington Cemetery, passed tonight 26 years ago 6-28-1992. Miss ya Dad. Truly the greatest generation.
Sorry for your loss Mr. Walker, and I also am thankful for those wonderful men (and the strong women who kept the country going at home). Tough as grit indeed.
I can't believe my Saving Private Ryan review is on the front page of Reddit/movies! That's so awesome! Thanks to everyone who just subscribed today. I'm crossing my fingers but History Buffs might be going viral again. Wish me luck :) www.reddit.com/r/movies/
Although it’s interesting to me what the logic of the actual soldiers would have been in that situation. Czechs in that time usually spoke a bit of German, and in their case they probably spoke it pretty well as they had been dragged into the German vermacht. So wouldn’t Czech soldiers in that scenario be more likely to try and speak German to American soldiers, given they would be more likely to be understood? Then again maybe not, because they would also not want to be mistaken as German. So it’s a tough call what you should do in that situation. Just an interesting thought for you.
as a german, i've never noticed these guys where actually czechs. sure, they looked more like slavs than germans, but i thought it was just really bad "german" dub which is very common in hollywood movies, where the bad guys actually *trying* to speak german to make it loook more authentic...
as german...you should just apologize and just shut up! we all (freedom loving peeps) know your parents where just members of the greatest army bands ... that’s all
But wasn't it ture that much of the German forces at Normandy were not the cream of German Army--I read somewhere that the Germans would round up a bunch of locals and tell them to fight or die. One such guy was a Korean--don't know how he got to France but its documented.
@@hddun yeah, with some exceptions, the best german units where at the east front against the soviet unit Hitler knew he had to get rid of the soviets as fast as possible and needed their oilfields to avoid a two-front warfare like in WW1 before. still didn't work... damn snow and unlimited soviet manpower ;-)
@@hddun The Korean was originally impressed by the Japanese, then captured and impressed by the Soviets, the captured and impressed by the Germans, then captured again by the Americans. Pretty crazy story.
Ironically my grandfathers 3 brothers were killed in WWII. Look them up if you get a minute, the Lewandowski brothers from New Jersey. My grandfather enlisted after he got word of their deaths. He was sent home before even reaching boot camp. Great channel!
The only "major movie star" I could think of who would have been roughly "Capt. Miller's ""accurate" age (roughly in his mid-late 20's), at the time SPR was filmed was Leo DiCaprio, who was about 24. Problem with Leo is he would have looked much younger and boyish than the men he was supposedly leading (except the corpsman and the clerk). Problematical also, because even a young Army officer was often referred to as"the Old Man" by his much younger Grunts. With the $$$$ this move cost to make, I doubt that Spielberg would have hired an unknown actor to play Tom Hanks character.
A ship was named The Sullivans for those brothers, it launched in 1943, she earned nine battle stars in World War II and another two more during the Korean War. She was recently in the news when as a museum ship her hull was breached and she partially sank. Donations would be appreciated.
And what makes it scarier (as many commenters have pointed out) when one asks actual D-Day veterans if it was that bad, they would reply "it was worse"
If you are taking about scary war movies, the scariest one for me is the russian movie "Come and see" from the 80s. It feels so real and almost like a documentary and its very disturbing.
There is absolutely historical precedent for an officer putting their rank on their helmet during WWII. A simple google image search will give you tons of examples.
@@malcondrion yes but the same can be said for officers and NCO's who ignored or did not know of this as you will find plenty of pictures of men wearing their ranks in frontlines. Its not a historical inaccuracy as not everyone did it.
I’ve seen loads of WWII documentaries and films, but this movie takes the cake. You see the story of battle unfold with characters that you may have only known for 2 minutes ripped away by machine gun or mortar fire. Screaming for their mother or refusing to move forward out of the realest fear they have ever felt. You see Americans who have just been through the horror of taking Omaha take that trauma out on those who were forced to fight against them. You see what it’s like to be suddenly pinned down by an enemy you can’t even see. You see the conditions some poor civilians were left in as fighting raged on around them. You see war. I wish more movies like this existed.
Not to mention the scene with ryan’s mother. Even after seeing this movie at least 6 times, that scene is heart wrenching and I cry every time. *Knowing* that your worst fear as a parent has come true, and not knowing how bad has got to be torturous.
My Dad's been to Omaha Beach back in the 2000s - he said they still have those American landing craft on display there and when he reached out to touch one, he was amazed to learn they were actually made of wood. I can't imagine how big your balls would have to be to jump in a wooden boat and plow headlong into beachfront defenses like they did.
@@shelldie8523 WW2 was fought by many countries. He clearly stated WW2 in general. Wars have been fought ever since the dawn of time. Stop being a little prick about someone else’s fascinations.
My friend is a film maker and has a bunch of props from Saving Private Ryan. A TON of rubber rifles and other generic WWII props were made for this movie, and they basically went into circulation to be used in various other WWII movies or documentaries. It's pretty fun to play around with the rubber rifles used during filming
I watched this film with my dad when I was probably a little too young and I was doing somewhat ok until the knife fight scene, which is definitely the biggest noire of the film in my opinion. It seriously gave me nightmares for a LONG time. I have a serious fear of getting stabbed and it is 100% from this horribly realistic scene. It still bothers me to this day to be honest and Im 32
I'm right there with you dude. This movie was one of the most impactful ones I ever saw as a kid. And that knife scene where the German was shushing melish as he stabbed him made me sick and it really bothered me for years after seeing it. It still is a scene I don't watch to this day because it bothers me and I'm 32 as of this moment.
The bit towards the end, yeah it makes me so angry, Upham is just crying listening to his friend slowly die and he just cowers on the stairs, and the fact it's the same German they let go earlier that everyone except Upham wanted to kill😤😞😒
This movie is almost considered a rite of passage for us. I watched this movie with my Dad, a former Army Ranger, explained things to me, even reminding me it's a movie and those people laying dead are all acting, but the event they were showing really happened. It's hard to separate that, but I appreciate the film as an adult. We did the same for my younger sibling when they were 14; both me and my dad next to them and they got through ok. Salute to the Veterans who fought at Normandy.
you are right, i saw the film when it came out and the scene made me feel so upset it was so real the sound the look in the GIs eyes, nightmares for years. but still a great film
@@nomadjensen8276 What makes it so bad is it isn't even personal. Two strangers in a deadly hand to hand fight just because that's the world they lived in.
The shooting through the german scope never happened there, It was performed by the famed sniper Carlos hathcock during the Vietnam war. Shooting through the scope
And is more than a little unbelievable, due to the parabolic nature of a bullet flight at the "claimed" ranges which would prohibit the bullet going straight down the scope
@@duncanpetford1138 at 450 yard the bullet flight path would still be rather straight. Considering the powerful bullet used to shoot it wouldnt have needed to adjust very much for a short range sniper shot. I skilled sniper could have shot down a scope at that range. Ive made shots with normal iron sights at 500 yards. without adjusting for bullet drop.
@@Mike_W78 having just watched the second experiment by myth busters which under "laboratory" conditions required an armour piercing bullet to get through the scope with sufficient power left to enter the sniper's skull, I still question whether a snap shot in combat would be capable of doing the shot illustrated in BOB if it did I would advise the shooter to play the lottery as obviously he was extremely lucky
B Oates fuck you, you have no idea who rommel is. hes a respectable german commander even though im dutch and nazi's ruined my family in ww2. go read about rommel dickstain.
sksmasine do some research on him. he was against Hitler's policies. and even winston Churchill had a fantastic amount of respect for the man. Sadly he was forced to commit suicide by a cyanide pill.
I grew up reading articles about D-day whenever June came around. But never in my wildest imagination could I have understood what our solders went through. This movie is a paradigm shifter and really opened up our eyes on the true nature of the horrors of war.
Earn this! A good mantra for life. My grandfather fought in WWII, worked hard, raised a family and chose not to talk in depth about his service until he was in his 70s. A strong, proud yet humble man. To those and those like him...damn few left!
My grandfather (German Wehrmacht) fought in France against the French and he always told me how frightening it was and how scared all the "normal" soldiers were... He was a pow until around 4 years after the war in France.... Even so many years later he had tiers in his eyes when talking about ww2. It was horrible for both sides.
A similar occurence happened in World War One for the British Army. I believe it was a Mr Bell in Yorkshire who sent all his sons, of which there were 5, to fight. All would die except one, the youngest, and he was only spared because the sister sent a telegram to the British Army who acted in returning the youngest son to his family. A First World War Saving Private Ryan, if you will.
In WWI, British Army battalions often consisted of men who all volunteered together--brothers, friends, colleagues, classmates, and neighbors--in so-called "Pals" battalions. The idea was to boost morale and promote camaraderie, since they all knew each other before the war. However, many of these units were unfortunate enough to see their first action at the Battle of the Somme, and suffered terrible losses. The effect was especially devastating on some small towns, that lost nearly a whole generation of their male population in a few months. After the Somme, Pals units were mostly disbanded, and those that remained were in name only, being reinforced with conscripts.
@@dzk33 I was going to mention the " Chums" battalions as well. Not only to boost morale , camaraderie, and such, but High command felt that the men would be more inclined to fight ,more fiercely, to protect someone they knew, rather than a complete stranger.
@@dzk33 Its about that you cant leave a household with no male heir or ability to make descendants, it wasn't right to end an entire family line because of a war, they felt that was wrong as well as unfair, asking to much of a mother too give to her country
Theforcer 1 Then you should include Hitler in your thanks because he saved Europe from the Russians. Stalin was gearing up to invade and head west to the English Channel. Hitler knew this and why he invaded Poland to head of the attack. He then invaded Russia when he thought they were at their weakest. If you would research actual history and not the history we are spoon fed you would realize what I say in accurate.
@@chrisj197438 whao truly a genuine chump. Keep your bias twisted view of history to yourself. Kills me when people like you talk about history with a agenda, and rearrange the facts to suit the agenda your pushing/supporting.
Irish Dragon You should really research history for yourself and not base your opinion on the history that is spoon fed to you by School or a box in your living room.
Saving Private Ryan does a great job in portraying the real soldiers and conditions of WW2. I Thank God for all these brave soldiers (in real life of course). We are enjoying the freedoms that they died trying to provide- the millions of unknown allied soldiers. Thank you with all of my heart. May your reward be great in heaven.
The Sole Survivor rule has a personal connection to me. My father and his twin brother signed up for the Army Air Corps near the end of the war, and once they went into service, they were split up. My dad was sent to Guam, and his brother became part of the occupying force in Japan. By 1946, by uncle could not stand being away from his brother, and wrote a letter, to Truman himself, begging to be stationed with my dad. I actually have a copy of the letter somewhere. However it happened, it worked, because my dad was sent to Japan to bring his brother back to Guam with him. They served together until 1949 or 1950.
One teeny tiny detail almost most people miss, the bunkers on the beach are wrong. Instead of the machineguns pointing straight forward towards the sea, the front of the bunker was mostly a solid wall. The gun ports were at the side of the bunkers looking down the beach as to maximise the amount of bodies a round could hit. It was part of the interlocking fire tactic. Not to say there where bunkers like that but, when I visited Normandy with the army on “Realities of War” battlefield tours this was one thing the old boys pointed out.
Mostly Tobruk stands...which are just holes in the ground a machine gunner stands in. In northern France there were this bigger style widerstandnests. The closest one I found to those portrayed in the movie was one in Etreat. Looks similar but smaller. Still there today. Also if you were wondering this was filmed in Ireland.
Crazytechnition At Dog Green sector Omaha where the opening scenes are supposed to be asked on there were slit trenches and small Tobruks, casemates like the ones shown were further inland.
It truly brings tears to my eyes when history is told in such a way. To know exactly how much each of these men gave, and how the gave their lives. How it makes them more than just numbers on paper or dots on maps. War is hell.
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From what I read, some Veterans of D Day actually got up and walked out when they saw the Omaha Beach Landing re-enactment. Not because it was wrong, or phony, it was SO REAL that they didn't want to re-live it and walked out. Unbelievable.
Very believable
You're right... that's unbelievable. I don't believe it.
While watching the movie in the theater, the guy behind me started laughing at the scene where the soldier reaches down and picks up his amputated arm. I turned around to see what kind of person would react this way. What I saw was not a person who thought the action was funny. What I saw was a person reacting that way due to sheer terror. Yet, we got to watch this scene from a comfy theater seat and not the exploding, horrifying, blood-soaked sands of Omaha Beach. As accurate as this movie's scene surely was, in actuality the event was far worse than anyone not actually there could possibly imagine.
TomKaren94 ever see the Joe Rogan Clip talking about it? I forget who the guest was but his great grandfather had to leave the theater because “he smelled diesel”
While no movie can ever present the shear SCALE of the horrors of D-Day, this movie gave an accurate depiction of one part of it.
I remember hearing about vets having to leave the theater because it was... a little too close.
The reveal about the 2 "German" soldiers actually being Czech conscripted soldiers blew my mind.
I was wondering the entire time, why I (as a german) couldnt understand what they were saying and thought it was just the general noise being too loud
Oh yeah, they’re saying that they didn’t kill anyone and telling the americans to not shoot.
Oh, nvm. They said it in the vid
And made me very sad. I am from Czechia and i was stunned, to hear my language at this.
To be fair, hypothetically they could also have been Germans from Czechia speaking Czech, hoping that the Americans would spare them.
I think one of the more emotional parts is a medic Wade tending to a wounded GI and is happy he stopped the bleeding only for the GI to be shot in the head and killed with Wade yelling at the Germans to give them a chance. Absolutely horrific.
Listen to that scene again. Wade and the others are actually trying to save the battalion surgeon. I always thought that didn’t make sense since the battalion surgeons would have stayed on board the troopships and waited for the worse off casualties to be brought there. This scene gives you a pretty good idea how knowledgeable Spielberg is about the invasion. I read a book awhile ago and it’s mentioned in that there actually was a battalion surgeon who insisted he be included in the first wave as he strongly felt he would be able to save more lives that way. Unfortunately, although the circumstances weren’t mentioned, he was killed shortly after landing.
He was shot in the head by an American GI to get him to stop treating a dead man and take cover at the shingle.
Man the frustration that was going through Wade's head must have been unbearable . I can get grumpy by much much much tinier problems than that . If I was inches away from saving the lives of another comrade and a german just takes him out , I would want to curbstomp every single gẻman soldier I see .
But war is war.And such a way of thinking and behaving would have been childish.
@@JetEngine787 what???
@@averagejoe6617 Watch the scene again. Miller tells his guy to " get him off the beach", so he shoots the dying guy in the head to get Wade to stop wasting his time and staying in the kill zone
This movie came out just a month before my grandfather passed away. He was on Omaha Beach on D Day. I took him to see this an was very effected by the opening scene telling me that it was almost exactly like what happened. I have always been grateful that we got to share this experience together. He said the forgot to show the large rock walls they had to climb.
Shout out to your grandfather. I think some of the beaches were more of a sandy hill type while other landing areas had the sheer cliff like your grandpa had to climb
Damn you took grandpa into a flashback
@@jameskemp9960 Yeah had no idea it would have this effect but at the end he was happy he saw it and the rest of the world had a some type of idea what they actually did on dday.
Your grandfather perhaps was at Pointe du Hoc, where Rangers scaled a 100 foot cliff while under fire from above, in order to destroy German artillery batteries which were threatening the beach landing zones. I offer a tip of the proverbial hat to your grandfather, as that was no small accomplishment.
@@ghostfeller8028 Exactly Pointe du Hoc, was a bit different then the sandy hills of Utha Beach. The Rangers here had to climb in some cases 100 foot rock walls with nothing more than a rope shot up from the beach, while under gunfire the entire time. In the movie they blended both locations into one. The big guns the had to take out were at the large rock walled beaches of Omaha Beach while Utha Beach had the large open stretches of sand these poor guys had to cross to take the beach. Either way at both locations the gunfire was the most intense. The British and Canadian beaches of Gold, Soward, and Juno were also heavily fortified.
I remember my mother taking her father to see this movie in the theater. My grandfather was on the beach at Normandy and was in a bastard unit in Europe. He cried and clasped my mother's hand which was not his character. He said that he felt like he had been taken back and no movie had ever captured that. He was one of the few American units to liberate of Dachau. He passed away in 2000. His name was Deward Pepper born in 1920 Halifax N.C moved to the Raleigh orphanage in N.C. then willingly drafted.
alice wiley rip to a hero. God bless
We thank him for his service
Americans and the Allied countries are indebted to your grandfather. It is a debt we can never repay.
i am so sorry for your loss at least you can be proud that your grandad fought in the biggest war ever (i think)
This was the only movie that truly depicted the horrors of war and didn't romanticize it. Your grandfather was truly a part of the greatest generation. May he rest in peace.
The soldier picking up his dismembered arm is an image that has been in my head for my entire life.
It reminded me of one story that my grandfather told me about his unit, fighting in Market Garden. Guy broke his ankle during landing but fought on. Was wounded in a face by grenade but fought on. Had his left hand blown off but he just rest his Lee rifle on a broken wall and fought on. Germans caught him when he was trying to reload with his remaining hand. Surprisingly, he survived and lived well into his 80s.
It's the guy holding his own entrails for me, i remember wanting to rewatch the movie but that scene came up in my mind and i was horrified 😂
Yeah he was in shock. It’s not like he would be able to do reattach that arm. People do weird things when they’re in shock that seem rational to them
Yeah that's big facts especially if you saw this movie when a first came out like for the rest of my life I've always remembered that and the guy crying for his mother was guts out I got never ever forgot that. That is a testament to how good this movie is he is right this is probably the only movie that accurately show the horrors of war in particular world war II cuz even right now I'm sitting here thinking could you imagine all this s*** going on around you and probably within the last 60 to 90 seconds you had your arm on your body and now you're looking for it and everything's happening so fast and it's so chaotic you don't even know why you're looking for your arm you just know that it's gone and you need to find it you don't even have time to comprehend the fact that the closest person who can possibly reattach your arm is far far away and you're probably going to be a one-hour man for the rest of your life that is a powerful ass scene
@@beatzbyreefah That's if he doesn't die from the massive blood loss and the probability he will most likely be shot or blown up since he isn't paying attention to people trying to finish what they started with his arm.
14:06 The Asian man in a Nazi uniform is known as a Korean man conscripted by Japanese, captured by Soviets in Manchuria, sent to a Gulag and later to the Eastern front to fight against Nazis. Then, he was captured by Nazis and sent to Normandy together with other Soviet POWs. Later he became a US citizen and died in the US. What a story.
SH Kim Great story with a movie based on it called My Way.
There's a story worth telling...
wow
We never see a Asian based history movies on the Vietnam war or WW2
Kind of like in WW1 when the French colonial Africans were fighting in Belgium because a Serbian nationalist shot an Austrian noble in Bosnia
My dad has a friend who’s father fought in WW2. And they have their father’s letter that he sent the day before D-Day. The letter is absolutely haunting because the father survived, but he was convinced that this was the last his family would hear from him. And in the lower corner, there is a single tear stain. The man was crying as the weight of the D-Day invasion was sinking in for him. And he ends the letter with: “I have one job, to make it up a beach. But that may be the last thing I ever do.”
Damn that’s an awesome piece of history
What a story brother, your friends father is a brave man and a hero.
My father had a friend whose father had landed on Omaha Beach. He showed his father the movie and right after the beach scene he turned to him and asked, "Was it that bad?" He replied, "Worse."
I remember a relative of mine ( i cant remember exactly who, they were extended family) served in WWII and was one one of the beaches, i also cant remember which beach specifically, i didnt know too much about him. The family was going to watch the movie and he was all too excited to tear it apart and look at hollywood bullshit and all that and how they didn't care about what people went through back then. He watched the start of the movie and was nitpicking about really anything he could but when they got to the beach landings, he had to step out of the room. He came back some time later and watched in silence except for telling a few stories related to certain things in the movie.
my friend’s grandfather told us that this scene (which he could never watch entirely in a single go) is the closest thing to what he saw and experienced, and even then it wasn’t even close to the horror of what actually happened.
he said it was significantly more crowded. there were dead men every 3 feet, men with limbs blown off, pieces of human bodies strewn everywhere, blood everywhere.
he said the thing he remembers most vividly was the “smell of death.” human carnage. burning bodies. vaporized blood. and the smell of feces, which came not from (understandably) frightened soldiers, but from an automatic bodily response during and after death, or blown out of the body and into the air by mortar explosions that ripped people’s insides out.
absolutely fucking horrifying.
I believe it
@@devinosland359 Show some respect....God and their fellow soldiers only know the horrors they must have seen....Marching for, fighting to the death knowing there's a good chance they will not leave that beach alive. So, maybe, learn the names of the beaches where these men sacrificed their lives for Freedom.
a movie can only do so much to make us experience the scene. The glimpse at the dread these soldiers must have felt at their impending doom and the desperate situation they were in, with the almost sure knowledge that they were walking to their death is just that. A glimpse..
Wow after all these years of watching this movie countless of times, they weren't speaking german and that they were actually Czechs. That blew my mind.
I just realized it last week when I saw it again with subtitles [speaking czech]
Before that I thought it was actually french they where speaking hahah
Same. That blew my mind.
I knew it instant...but im german so i should have. Right?
Being Dutch and speaking German I knew they weren't speaking German and not being SS I figured they were probably conscripts from some occupied area. I just never knew they were Czechs. I always thought they might be Hungarians or Bulgarians or something.
Yup, conscripts from Czechia. I am Czech, and they said something along the lines of "I'm Czech, I didn't kill anyone." That was a particularly upsetting part to me and my countrymen.
that czech soldiers detail was amazing
it gave me chills
It showed that the allies werent always the 'good guys'.
Yeah, I'm Czech. I don't like this movie much but this scene, this fucking scene, has stayed ingrained in my memory ever since.
@@jh565bb it's hard to be good with how brutal the Nazis were. You have no idea if they are lying or if they are about to whip out a gun and shoot both of you. Would you take chances and put you and your brothers lives on the line like that. It is a hard choice to make and war is fucked but none of the allies wanted this.
@@rylandavis2976 Sadly neither did the Germans, only Hitler and his lot wanted this. The German army tried to kill him a few times. Sadly both sides did this. In this situation they were wrong as the guys had surrenderd and they were under no Orders to shoot POW's, but it wasn't uncommon for men on all sides to kill POW's if they had an objective or lacked the facilities to hold them. I doubt these men would have been lying had they been real though, as not many Germans could speak Czech. The allies and the axis were just as brutal to each other sadly, it was war and many soldiers were traumatised and angry. That being said there were also many stories of both sides showing respect and even risking their lives to help individuals out.
That scene where Mother Ryan collapses on the porch when she sees the chaplain gets me every time. She knows it's bad and the sad part is, she doesn't know how bad.
..........ripped my guts out !!!!
She'd probably died on the spot hearing 3/4 sons are dead and 1 is missing.
No joke dude at least they were all delivered at once I couldn't imagine having to go through that 3 times in a row.
I felt my heart break watching that scene.
Assuming of course that they gave her the news of the 3 brothers on THAT trip to see her. In her case (if you had a choice) would you rather have the one trip or multiple trips?
I am a Czech national, so when i watched the scene with the Czech conscripts, i had to rewind and watch it several more times, because i could not believe i hear my own language in a Hollywood movie
You were not the only one.
You're not wrong. I'm American and speak about a dozen words of Czech which has to be 1200% more than the average.
I remember that scene and think it was mess up but they were German and they were the enemy so o well its war they did worse to our guys surrendering but after this video I feel bad for them. all that I've learned about this war i forgot all about the some of the people that the germans forced in there ranks. @Jimmy the movie anthorpod great Czech war hero movie held out in that church for a month. and hit one of the highest ranking Nazi's. yeah great Czech heroes and story
I knew it wasn't German but the Czech girl I later dated pointed out they were Czech, not happily though.
Chris Scerbo Chris, you got so many things wrong. Czech did not sundered to Germany, but was forced to comply with Munich dictate, which was signed by Germany, France and England. So after that Germans created "protectorate" state in former Czechoslovakia. At that moment Slovakia created independent country and was never fully occupied by Germans. However there were Germans army in Slovakia. Especially after August 1944 when Slovak army upraised .... Also one of soldiers who killed Heindrich was Slovak not Czech. His name was Gabcik. Cheers
"Never, for a second, do we look down on the men who were too terrified to move."
Very well said, Sir, given the circumstances.
Except for Upham...Upham was really an annoying character and a coward.
Marc Andersen and what most beta men that were forced to be there would act like, killing and war isnt for everyone
@@TheDelethar
Correct.
But this is a Hollywood production and Upham is annoying and a coward. I really don't like him in the film.
But of course you are right about war isn't for everyone.
The US military did several surveys into the behavior of the frontline troops and the rear area support troops.
I'm not sure of the exact facts and figures, but the vast majority of combat troops (of most countries) either put their heads down and didn't try to fight, or they would fire their weapons in the general direction of the enemy, but without even trying to aim for specific targets.
Something like 10-15% of the frontline combat riflemen actually actively particpated in the fighting. The others would only fight when it was absolutely necessary or if they were ordered to fight by their officers and NCOs.
The only exceptions in recent history are probably the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy and the elite units like the German Waffen SS, the British and American airborne and marines, Gross Deutschland Division, and special forces (whose personal are chosen for their aggressiveness and determination etc).
The point is, we should stop trying to criticize people who behaved in a particular way, in circumstances that the vast majority of us have never experienced.
Even trained soldiers who were not experienced infantry (such as drivers, mechanics, technical support and logistical specialists were not always able to cope with the fear and the hardships and the brutality of front line combat.
During the various occasions when the German forces were surrounded by the Soviets in Russia, the German commanding officers usually tried to either evacuate the non combatants if possible, or tried to keep the experienced fighting troops away from those from the support and non combat units, because the German Army knew by experience that only fully trained and fully motivated troops would have any chance of breaking through the encirclement and reach friendly lines, so even trained soldiers who were members of the logistics and rear area support units were not expected to be able to go into close combat unless they had been fully trained in infantry tactics.
All men want to be heroic and brave and noble, but until we have been in positions like the situations depicted in war movies, and we have proved ourselves in combat, none of us are in a position to judge others.
@@TheDelethar "Most beta men"?? What a ridiculous fucking comment.
When I saw the movie when it first came out, there were old men in the audience that were crying. It was as moving a moment as I've ever had in my life.
Yep, I saw it in Florida as a kid. There is a large retirement community here obviously. The theatre about emptied out during the Normandy scene. They came back a few minutes later. I guess it was a "been there, done that" moment for them
same. Saw it opening weekend and there were groups of older men wearing their hats that have what formation they served in during the war and they had tears in their eyes when I saw them leaving the theater and I heard at least one say he never thought he would ever see anything like that depicted on film.
Bunch of sissy boys
@@w3r0ification alright tough guy I'm going to ask you a simple question. How would you react if you watched a movie and it made you relive some of your darkest memories? Memories that you never forget and haunt you every second of every day
Si vis pacem, para bellum grow a pair
The veterans affairs (VA)had to designate a special 24/7 caller hotline when this movie hit theaters. They were flooded with calls of WW2 veterans having PTSD flashbacks after seeing this movie. Those men who stormed the beaches and the paratroopers who jumped in are heroes. It was an absolute privilege and honor earning my jump wings and serving in the 82nd airborne. I salute these men🫡
@Patrick O'Brien it’s okay buddy you meant to type “yes”. See it’s not so hard. I did it for you.
goddamn! Kind of sad because they ya kno, got PTSD once again
@Patrick O'Brien it took me a whole 3 seconds to find an old article online. They absolutely opened a Saving Private Ryan hotline.
You are obviously a troll or don't know how to Google. Either way, yes.
@@JR-ly2puno
I find this very difficult to believe.
The VA has no issue seeing homeless veterans hungry on the streets, forcing them to go through a list of requirements before they can even get as much as a piece of bread.
Now you're saying they willingly created a hotline to help them? 😂
I had no idea that those two who surrendered were Czech. It really adds another level to that moment. 10/10.
The part about conscripts was true; even Koreans were found in Normandy in Nazi uniforms.
@@jennifergruber3963 german uniforms* they were wermecht troops not waffen ss
Additionally, the Axis soldiers deployed were more in the 25-34 age range, while the Allied soldiers sent to Normandy were a bit younger than that. The Axis soldiers had older equipment in these beaches than in other places as well, owing to how few expected an Allied invasion here.
@@jennifergruber3963 I was just going to post that. Koreans, captured by Japanese, captured by Russians, captured by Germans and finally Americans. What a story they could tell.
It was really obvious to me that they weren't speaking German (I speak French and some German, some Spanish) but beyond that I couldn't identify the language. I suspect that Spielberg wrote that scene with the expectation that most Americans would make the same realization, that it wasn't German. He overestimated us. Most Americans are too insular to bother learning any other languages, and it further contributes to our reputation as too prideful to consider ourselves part of the world. Our loss.
I think an old veteran put it best one time in an interview "the plot isn't true, but the stories sure are"
Veterans said the only thing you missed in that movie was the smell
I read that the veterans consulted said (about storming the beaches) that the only innacuracies were that in real life it was worse, and that the men were all too old.
Jake Makes which men? The men in the war or the actors?
@@steventapp1375 The actors were all too old. In real life the average age soldiers was 25 I believe
@@steventapp1375 Actually scratch that just looked it up the average age was 20.
Jake Makes that’s crazy
My grandfather lost 3 brothers in WW1 and his young sister in WW2. He was the only surviving member of my great grandparents' family. My aunt wrote about it in her book, The Flowered Box Stories.
my Grandad survived the war but strangely it did take his life later, as he eventually died from gangrene in 1975 he got the gangrene from shrapnel from the war decades before in WW2, he was a brave little Scotsman
What's gangrene
Glentoran fans it’s an infection that causes necrosis, the tissue begins to die and rot, it’s not pretty at all. It’s what you get tetanus shots for. To prevent it.
@@petahthegregwaa6480 some how you managed to be even more confusing in your explaination
How did he die from gangrene in 1975 from a wound sustained in 1945?!
The Amazing Question that’s an amazing question
My Great Uncle was there, he actually had to walk out of the beach scene because it was so accurate. His only criticism was you couldn't see shit because there was so much smoke and debris in the air. But, despite his flashbacks he was honored that they did their best to show the horror of that day.
Angela Daley my great grandad was in the navy during the war but died when I was young and I didnt know he was a soldier until I was 11 I wish he was still alive I want to sit and talk with him about his experience during the war
@@swifty8224 I think many veterans of World War 2 don't like to talk about what happened, my grandfather certainly didn't
I work in the care home where many of the residents took part in WW2 in some way. A couple are even old enough to remember parts of WW1. some of the stories I hear are incredible! I've spoken to Navy vets who were in the pacific, D-Day vets, Ex pilots and its a privilege to hear their experiences.
Patrick O'Hare Do you have something I can contact you on?
My grandfather flew a B-24 Liberator Bomber. I remember some planes were touring and he took me to see it when they got close to where we lived, I was maybe 9 or 10 yrs old. I remember touring the plane but I can't really remember any of his stories. He died when I was 13 and I'm 30 now. I wish I had listened so much more.
The scene when the mother sees the car coming and comes outside, her legs shake and she slowly kneels on the floor that breaks me every single time.
Very sad. Even to lose one young child in any situation is bad enough but to lose all your sons as many families did in WW2. One of the worst aspects of WW2 dead was the notifications that went out by Telegram...that is just too terrible...
The mother part looks good. However, what is the chance of a camera that was there? Plus sound-man? Proper light, proper focus? Maybe a director? Good acting = staged.
kw0s No shit it’s a movie
@@antonioricci5465 Hey, it made KwOs cry---she should have gotten an Academy Award for her acting as the distraugh Mother...LOL!
I was on Omaha Beach in 44. It was hard watching my men getting chewed up and spat out by the Germans.... But we knew we had to fight on for Stalin.
Saw this movie in theaters with my dad when I was about 10. He’s a stoic type who never shows much emotion, and I’ll never forget how blown away I was that he cried at the end. Years later as a grown man, I understand.
He served?
Excited for stormlight 5 brother?
So Forest Gump served in World War 2 AND Vietnam? Now that's a true American hero.
John Wayne apparently fought in every war USA ever fought, through Vietnam, sometimes on both sides. Hanks is a pussy in comparison.
Yeah he was also Russian. Heard he had difficulties getting a jazz dude's autograph....
is that really the best joke you could come up with?
“7.62 millimeter FULL METAL JACKET
He also charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping pong competition.
I have so much respect for the soldiers who fought in this. My great grandfather landed in Normandy after the invasion and was caught and imprisoned by the Germans while trying to liberate France after catching grenade shrapnel in his back. He was imprisoned in a German PoW camp named Oslag-6. He was one of the few in his group to survive. He ate things like grass soup and rats. Went into the Army weighing 195 lbs, and came back weighing only 75 lbs. I cannot possibly imagine the suffering he felt as his comrades were executed in front of him. He survived though, made it home and met my great grandmother and went on to have 8 children, 7 boys and one girl, who was my grandmother. He had a long career working with Crouse-Hinds in Syracuse, NY. All in all, he was awarded 2 Purple Hearts as well as Marksmanship medals for his combat group. In the late 80s, he developed spider cancer due to the metal stuck in his body. He passed away a few years before I was born, and not a single week goes by where I do not wish I could have met him. With the state of our nation today, I often think about how angry he would be to see what’s going on, after sacrificing so much. I will never allow this mans story to not be told as long as I am still alive. His name was Clifford Brown Sr. and he will always have my honor and respect.
Rip
Dan, I had two uncles in WW2 - One fought in Europe, the other did the island hopping in the Pacific. They both came back, married, had a family (my cousins) and got on with their lives. I know now that they suffered from PTSD, but back then, they knew little about it (It was called battle fatigue or shell shock) Yet, they were men who were cut from a different cloth. Somehow they found a way to get through it and lived normal, productive lives. So, how do I know it was PTSD? Because neither of them would speak of their time in the war - EVER. They put it behind them. I can only suppose that they both considered that they did what had to be done - and they did it. It was war and they did their part in helping to bring it to end. And, no, they too would not be happy about the state of our nation today.
Jim Johnston thank you for sharing. I asked my Aunts and Unclesif my great grandfather ever talked about his experiences, and his story is much the same, he never did much until his later years in life. I agree with you, these men were cut from a different cloth. I think that’s why I admire my great grandfather’s story so much, because he had a completely different mindset due to his experiences than I do because of mine. I never went through the kinds of horrors your uncles or my great grandfather went through, yet they were able to adjust and have a career and support their families. I am a single 31 year old white male with no children or spouse, and I have job hopped my entire life. What is my excuse? I have none, yet I feel completely unable to do the kinds of things he was able to achieve. Now, this doesn’t mean I am unhappy about my situation, as I am a musician and music is my passion, and I don’t see the point in marriage or having children in this day and age, yet I still feel a sadness because I am denying that almost primal urge to start a family. Geez, I may have gone onto a tangent here but the point is, his experiences and his story mean a lot to me, and despite his suffering and most likely PTSD due to his experiences, I can’t help but admire the man and others like him as an example of what I wan idealistically. However, we all know that having classic ideals in 2019 is almost a sentence for disappointment. I don’t know what I am trying to say here.... Guess I just wish I knew that my life mattered. I have never had a great cause to contribute to. I have never felt as if I am truly a part of this world, when that is all I desire.
@@HumanScourgeYT I'm going to reply to what you've said here, but not right away. I'm going to give it some thought. You will hear from me.
@@jimjohnston5092 i patiently await your response
Yeah that Czech scene made me drop my jaw, I am Czech and that just hit too damn close to home.
The shock you experience when you understand what they're saying while you're watching the scene for the first time, and the fact that most people under youtube videos also can't distinguish German from Czech just gave me this feeling of despair that i can't really describe
Digital Dynamics Software
What? No! What the hell’s with you? I was describing how this makes you feel
Digital Dynamics Software
And there’s other people, people that don’t even know czech exists, people that wouldn’t know a slavic language from a germanic language
My German language skills are basic at best, and my Slavic language skills are even worse... but I did recognize it as *not* German; I just couldn’t put a finger on exactly what I was hearing.
I’ve had the good fortune of visiting your beautiful country multiple times; Česky Krumlov, Pilsen, Chodová Planá, and of course Praha; and I look forward to returning again.
Na zdraví! 🇨🇿
When they spoke I knew it wasn't German at least.
@CegeshI don't understand what you're saying but hell yeah everyone do the freak! sounds pretty fucking rad for a dance move ain't it
Can't believe no one talks about the scene where the German soldier slowly inserts the knife into that American soldier while shushing him all the while his comrade is too afraid to act. That scene made me feel 5 feelings simultaneously. It was by far the most intense scene i ever saw and felt.
Sharing because I realize im not alone, I saw this scene when I was young with my dad and I cried watching the knife scene and ever since it has -genuinely, traumatized me and is one of my first thoughts every time I see anything related to private Ryan.
@@lol_linewire9482 yes that scene was more horrifying to me than anything from the D-Day landings
I actually have to stop the movie before it gets to that scene because I can’t watch that scene anymore. It just enrages me too much.
That is the scene that haunts me the most.
@@michaelgoldstein8516That's why Spielberg made the movie: It's anti-German propaganda 80 years-on and still being pushed.
I have been to Omaha and Utah beach many times. Each time I visit I never see the war vets get too close to the beach.
Was there yesterday, very true. You don’t see them walk the beach. I completely understand.
Which are the best months to go visit. I wanna go when weather is good stable.
@@matthewmatthew9485
well obviously you cant go now...
@@livethefuture2492 why not pal? not sure the beaches will be closed lol.
@@matthewmatthew9485
has the lockdown opened up in your country?
if so which country are you from?
I grew up in Lebanon during the civil war. On one occasion, I was fired at with a Dushka machine gun (12.7 mm). I managed to run and hide behind a stone wall, some people around me got hit and were shredded. When I saw the scene in "saving private Ryan" where they are fired at as they are trying to get off the landing crafts, I had a flash back of that incident in Lebanon. The film rendered perfectly the sound of the heavy bullets flying, the sound they make when they hit something, the feeling of helplessness. I wanted to throw up.
I hope you're doing well friend, I can't imagine the weight of the trauma you have to carry.
MAD LAD
THE CIVIL WAR!!!! wow, I hope your life has been long and prosperous.
Katie Ann Just to be sure you are being sarcastic, right?
@@sirboomsalot4902 No he literally said he grew up during the civil war how am I being sarcastic.
The subtle way how captain miller whispers “Earn this” in Ryan’s ear gets me everytime
what does he mean
@@ItsameAlex
He means to live a life that is worth the cost payed to save it, in bodies and blood.
@@ItsameAlex Captain Miller wants to remind Ryan that he and other soldiers sacrificed their lives just to save him and everyday he wakes up he must live his life to the fullest, like he gotta earn everyday he lives. That’s what I think he meant. Pardon for my incorrect English if any.
@@themillenial28 thanks a lot guys
kunal kaklij - For years I'd always wondered what Miller whispered (didn't get a computer 'till 2012). But yeah, it's pretty profound. I think your interpretation & reply to @itsamealex was spot-on.
IMHO one of the best bits of acting in this movie is Ryan's mother when the car comes to give her the terrible news - we don't hear a single word from her, but the way she collapses on the porch ABSOLUTELY captures the physical impact - as far as we can even begin to understand it - of the realisation that they were bringing the terrible news of the loss of one (or, as it turns out three!) of her precious sons. Brilliant. Massive credit to the unnamed middle-aged lady that played that role.
I have to agree and was doing a bit of reading about The Sullivans brothers and when the naval officer comes to tell them both the mother and father there, and the navy officer says, "I have some news for you about your boys" and the father (Tom) asks "Which one?" and the officer replies "I'm sorry all five." Like I can't imagine the world shattering realisation that this would cause someone
@@thepodcastcrew1113 - absolutely!!! Impossible to imagine how crushing that moment must have been! 😭
@@thepodcastcrew1113 There’s a 1944 movie titled The Fighting Sullivans about them. The way it’s portrayed in the movie starts with a Father Francis visiting as he often did. He appeared to just be on a social visit until he delivers the devastating news pretty well the way you mentioned. Looks like they decided on that instead of the way you read it. If it had been a naval officer showing up they would have known right away bad news was coming. Of course nobody could imagine just how bad.
Absolutely agree. Everything you need to know we get from her performance, while also giving us a real emotional reason for the mission to find the last son.
In one of the real life situations, after the second time (that woman also had several sons fighting) the telegram messenger refused to deliver another death notice. That poor woman also fainted.
I'll never forget my grandfather having to leave the theater during the opening scene.
This may be stupid to ask but i Presume it was to difficult for him to watch I wasnt even there and it was hard to watch
I cryed at the beggining It sucks when you understand the meaning nd the purpose of these poor people .. true meaning of a heroe to give their life in order to have peace ..
@@joelruiz82596 It hurts to see men got through such pain
My grandfather fought for over three years on the eastern front. He never spoke about the war. It was tabu to even bring it on. He died in 1999 at the age of 91 years. He was a Anti-Tank-Gunnery NCO ( I can't translate it otherwise...) and destroyed russian tanks by the dozens. His war journal was filled with grief, anger and hopelessness. He described the horrors of the war. The burning tanks, the screams,the cold, the smell everything. It must have been horribile.
I was a soldier myself and was stationed in former yugoslavia for six months. I served as a medic and had no combat duty. I consider myself lucky and cannot grasp the horrors which the soldiers back than went through. German, American, French, British etc.. it doesn't matter. War is terrible. Let us hope that mankind will someday evolve from this nonsense.
@@cookiemonsterdayz I agree
War is terrible
Respect to your grandfather
My [British] grandfather went ashore on Sword Beach, at Arrowmanches. My father took him to see the movie, and said he didn't watch the first 10 minutes, but just closed his eyes and listened. He said it's the first time he'd ever seen him cry.
I proudly visited Normandy with him several times before he passed away, and have the highest respect for all of the Allied servicemen regardless of nation. It's so sad that many like to bicker about "who saved who's ass", rather than appreciate what people like my grandfather stood up for. I imagine most have never even spoken to a veteran of any conflict, let alone visited the battlefields, and cannot imagine the current generation ever standing up the way they did! Without exception, every serviceman I have spoken to has had nothing but respect for other service personnel, and rather than having a pissing contest about it all, we should respect them all too.
I always see history portraid by the allies seeing them as the good guys everytime never see what the soldiers of the Wehrmacht went through , my great grand father died in france 1940 i only know him by what my grandmother told me and by a bronze placket in a town in austria, and never gets one soldier of the Wehrmacht portraid as a person who just wanted home , who just wanted to see their family again always just as nazi scum.
just stop writing long comments it's TH-cam cares about you
I had an experience not unlike yours. When I saw "Saving Private Ryan," there were a few elderly gentlemen in attendance who were obviously very moved by the film, especially the first ten minutes or so of the movie. My respect for those men, the ones who were there, knows no bounds.
You're right. The allies did much together, not alone.
@@rovanthur5719 That's a sad truth of soldiers who fought on the wrong side. The Nazis were pure evil, the SS were pure evil that's pretty clear. But the German squaddie/pilot/tank crew? No different from their British/French/Canadian/American counterparts.
I remember watching this movie as a kid. I felt the horror. I was afraid of death.
.
War is about old men talking, and young men dying.
Or, poor people killing other poor people to make rich people richer
watching this movie, and many other war movies, and just learning about history in general, rather made me realize the Importance of life, and living one's life to its fullest. as captain miller said 'earn this'.
i would say, not to be afraid of death, but rather take this as inspiration to do something meaningful in your life, and hopefully do some good in the world. cuz after all that's all that matters in the end.
I've seen this as a kid too although I wasn't scared watching this as I should be, I've watched many war movies with gritty bloody scenes especially this one yet none of that gore scare me, but the only thing that scares me in movies are horror ones
In fact, one horror scene is enough to scare me so much I refused to continue watching any horror movie but not war movies.
"War is when the young and stupid are tricked by the old and bitter into killing each other."
@@muertolamento remove the stupid part……show respect nothing more!
My dad went and saw this movie in theaters several times when it came out. He’s a college history professor that teaches American history so it makes sense that he would be borderline obsessed with this movie. One of the times he went and watched it, he sat behind two older couples, both husbands being of appropriate age to have served during WW2. He says that when the opening battle sequence happened, both men were desperately clutching their wives’ hands. Both were crying by the time the battle scene has ended and the camera pans across the beaches littered with dead bodies. Then by the end of the movie, both men were crying. After the movie, he heard the men discussing it and it turns out both men had been apart of the Omaha beach landing and both men repeated several times how realistic it was. As an adult who works in law enforcement, I can’t claim to understand their experiences, but after seeing something in a movie that nearly perfectly recreated an event that was particularly traumatizing for me, I did experience the desperate clutching of my wife’s hand. Those men were heroes and I can’t even imagine how horrific it must have been to actually be there.
I remember watching the Czech soldiers scene with my family. I speak German so when it happened my sister asked,"Was that what they said". I couldn't understand a word so I just replied," I don't think they were really speaking german". I thought they were speaking fake German or a different language, but what they actually said fits so much better and is an extra touch of history.
Hitler was running out of actual german soldiers by this time in the war. He took soldiers from every country they conquered
Are you really a basement dwelling cosplayer
@Him it's a simple question and, regardless, my waifu is Tomoko Kuroki.
@@seronymus Honestly pretty good choice.
@@GriffinatorOriginal Thank you very much - I'm also fond of Hex Maniac (Tomoko but thicc), Kikuri from Bocchi the Rock, Misato from NGE, Rin and Mama Raikou and Mordred and JInako from Fate, Darjeeling from Girls und Panzer, most of the Chainsaw Man girls, a lot of girls from gacha like Girls Frontline and Blue Archive and Kantai Collection, the girl from Netoge, Annie from AoT, vampire girl from Call of the Night, and many many more! I have wide taste with common themes haha
My Grandma knew the Sullivan brothers as children and she was devastated when she heard they died, I don't blame her, hearing that five of your childhood friends were gone...
Oh I'm well aware, I just had to comment about how my Grandma knew them hahahaaha.....
@@Darthoblivion24 They were from Waterloo Iowa, my home state here.
@@MrKirbanator Yes, so was my Grandma, that's kinda why I made the comment.
aw man that sucks 😦
I go to school with a guy who’s related to them he told us in class he had a movie named after some of his relatives named “the fighting Sullivans” I didn’t realize it was of historical importance.
And this lost the Oscar to Shakespeare In Love?! This is why I never paid any attention to the awards again after that
Preach.
Words of truth
ShotgunShell Why do you think that?
ShotgunShell so, basically you believe that the movie is horrible just because of a few minor inconveniences and your political opinion, completely ignoring the fact that the movie is a brilliant movie, all history and politics aside?
@ShotgunShell German soldiers did have shaved heads. Whether is was required or not, I don't know but being a skinhead had nothing to do with this though. I've seen pictures of my great grandpa in uniform and his head was shaved as a German soldier. Not sure how you managed to bring skinheads into this movie since they didn't even exist back then. To say this movie is shit really makes it hard to take anything you say seriously since this is considered one of the greatest war movies ever made. Veterans of WW2 praised this movie and many even said it's the closest representation to their experience of the war.
This movie had special meaning to me for many reasons. The one I keep thinking about is I was going through a very rough patch in my life and a really good friend came over and said he had a surprise for me. Knowing I’ve always been a bit of a history buff he (Ian Marston) took me to the show to see the movie for the first time. My yr long GF had moved out and I was in the dumps and Ian knew the movie was what I needed. It shocked me out of my slump and back into myself. I bring this up because Ian died of colon cancer about a yr later. He was in his 20s. It’s hard not to watch the movie and not think of my dear old friend.
They made us watch this film in history class. Must've been like 12-13 years old. Shit was horrific. One kid passed out and a couple of others cried
The scene with the guy that’s holding his guts in was terrible for me lol
WashYourHands yeah, when I was around 10 I came across the scene and the guy with his entrails calling for him Mum freaked me out. Could not get it off my mind
nicculess man same except I was way maybe 6 or 7. I was on TH-cam looking at Ww2 vids and then I saw the beach clip. I almost vomited when I saw the guy calling for his mom
"They made us watch this film in history class. "
Haha...fail.
@ " didn’t bat an eye"
Didnt get a bit teary when Wade cried for mumma?
I watched this film last week. I’m ex military, 67 years old and a cynic but I bawled my eyes out towards the end. For Spielberg to generate such emotion is a masterclass in storytelling. Yes he had good factual material to work from and he made the most out of it without turning it into parody. Great story, great film, great acting and great direction. I will never forget it.
thank you for your service
If you liked this, you should definitely watch Band of Brothers, it's widely considered one of the best historical shows ever made. And was also made by Spielberg and tom hanks, with much the same style.
Thank you for your service sir. Accurate commentary.
@@livethefuture2492
Thank you. On your recommendation, I will give it a try.
@@Sam-ch9mn how do you like it so far? :)
My neighbor growing up was a Sherman tank driver at the end of WWII and served in Korea. He said if this situation ever happened, it would have been far more effective to disseminate this information across the front rather than send 8 men on a rescue mission. The name would have been issued to officers and NCOs and instructions would have been to get the order for his extraction out by word of mouth to any other officers and NCOs met during the invasion.
DarkLight523 tanks aren't normally dropped behind enemy lines
Snaggle Toothed yeah it would be quite a long boring movie
There was a lot of communications being sent back and forth, a lot did not get delivered. And there might be German mis-information being inserted into the mix. When I watched the film, I thought it to be a foolhardy mission. The group tracking Private Ryan would surely get killed by Germans or friendly fire. Unrealistic, right?
Snaggle Toothed and Neil Anderson: you both made excellent points. It would've been a dull movie and our lines of communication lacked the 100% guarantee of success. Radios were regularly damaged or lost during airborne deployments (those damned leg bags).
This is why disseminating the message through the NCOs and officers would have been best: there were nearly 1.5 million Allied troops invading Normandy on D-Day.
I tried to calculate how many NCOs and officers would've been out there, gave up and decided to just call it a *shitload of badasses.*
The actual saving of Private Ryan is what completely killed the the movie for me. The characters even point out how stupid the plot is.
As a war veteran, i will say... most people have no idea what it takes, the sacrifices, the toll... it takes everything. And this is a beautiful tribute
It's very rarely mentioned that these heros that landed on the beaches had two choices, win or die. There was no evacuation plan in place or even possible in the scenario. Crazy brave if you ask me.
it was a brilliant plan to begin with and a masterpiece of logistics and mass-coordination. Of course there were going to be casualties, but securing the beaches in less than 12 hours was expected. Getting to Caen was the hard part.
JJRJ 85 it was always going to be a risky plan, in fact, I would say it was a horrible situation with a great plan and great execution. A lot went into D-Day, counter intelligence, planning, logistics, coordination, and more all had little room for error. It is unfortunate though, because no matter how great the plan was, it still couldn’t avoid running into machine gun fire.
@@Redbird-dh7mu yes, some parts of it still reeked of WW1; i will never understand why the navy didn't obliterate the bunkers at the beaches; word is out they wanted them intact for the allied troops (to face german counter-attacks, which happened).
Also, Normandy was less fortified than the calais-dunkirk areas; other than Omaha, casualties were "tolerable" (high command thinking), and the work of the 101 behind enemy lines was priceless. There were far more casualties in the push towards Caen, and then at Holland, the Ardennes or at Lorraine, or northern Italy, which the Allies never liberated.
Yes Sloan. My dad was US Navy--Pacific War. At Iwo Jima he shuttled men, supplies, ammo, and vehicles up to the beaches which were under heavy cannon fire for over 4 days. And to make for huge PTSD--he had to bring the wounded back to a hospital ship. No protocol, the wounded were quickly loaded any which way to get them out and my Dad's boat away...
@@jjrj8568 They did bomb/shell the beach fortifications before the landings. The bombs landed too far inland. The ships couldn't get too close, for risk of running aground and being hit by artillery. Same thing happened in the Pacific. Only difference there was the Japanese had dug tunnels and made bases inside of mountains to avoid the bombings/shellings.
In that year, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line and Life is Beatiful all lost the oscars best picture award to Shakespeare in love. Just let that sink in. Original movies like the Truman Show and American History x were not even nominated.
You can thank Harvey Weinstein for that
Then again, how many other films were tossed aside for some Hollywood nonsense?
"Tale about a fictional relationship between William Shakespeare and a young woman who poses as a man in order to star in one of the writer's plays." Feminism + Transgender + Jewish female in lead role = LGBTQ wet dream.
Shakespeare in Love is a goddamn masterpiece you troglodyte.
@@a.hollins8691 love your response. 😂
And the award for ACTOR PLAYING HITLER WHO LOOKS THE LEAST LIKE HITLER goes to...the dude from this video.
Exactly. Like wtf was that?
Introducing: Randy Hitler, Adolf’s awkward little brother!
go watch Kill Hitler on Netflix. there's a real contender there
Watch Downfall if you haven't heard of it. Holy Shit, you forget you're watching a movie and not in the bunker. It's actually done by the Germans too, which is kind of shocking and rare. So deal with the subtitles.
@@krisfrederick5001 Haha, I feel like every second german film is about World War 2. The actor Bruno Ganz did however recieve heavy criticism for depicting Hitler as a human and not a monster. He and the director were certain, that if we forget that Hitler was a human, we don't expect that any other human could commit such atrocities again - and are in danger of repeating the past.
Many many years ago when I was still a teen, hurrying about my day and running into the grocery store, an elderly gentleman struck up a conversation with me and showed me the photo he took during D-Day. He was a photo journalist who was there to take pictures, and was in the middle of it. The photo he showed me was impactful - this film opened my eyes to how even more momentous that moment was - and how amazing it was for me to have the chance to meet that man and see his photo. My grandparents hide Jews, and my great-grandfather helped train English sailors to cross the channel (we're from the Netherlands). My family history couldn't have continued to me today if not for the valiant efforts of the British, Canadians, and Americans to free the occupied nations of Europe. Some of us will never forget.
I loved the sniper in this film ,and the part on the beach where hes dragging a guy , an explosion happens, he looks back and hes dragging half of the guy has always stuck with me. War is hell and this is the kind of memories you come home with if you do go to war. Great movie and a snub for an oscar of all time
✊🙏
and that medic try to save a guy, but that guy get shot again.
war is war
and hell is hell
war is hell for the innocent people caught in the chaos
"People sleep on Barry Pepper"- Spike Lee
Absolutely. Best movie of the Decade.
I watched this film on DVD probably in 1999 - 2000 and would have been 46 years old. My wife came into the room and asked if I was enjoying the film, it was during the Omaha beach landing and I was a blubbering wreck. I was born just 11 years after the D Day Landings. I have a huge respect for all the allied troops - Thank you all for your service.
That scene where the mother watches the priest getting out of the car and falls apart. That is the genius of Spielberg. No words, no close-ups, just message.
Yeah ... Which mother wont do that? A very heartbreaking scene.
In fact this is the most disturbing scene. The dead don´t feel anything, the living do the suffering.
From the last conflicts, especially the Balkan wars, there are many fathers, mothers, sons and daughters left alone, wandering around in this world like living dead. They can´t die, but they don´t want do live. Spoke to many of these people in during a report. Every day they are living the same day, when their and the life of their familly ends.
Plus, notice she is not centered in the shot. As she leaves she walks past several pictures on her right, including all 4 of her boys in uniform. She will never look at those pictures the same way again.
I agree, that was a great scene.
ALOT miss the placard(sign) in the window with the gold stars. It is significant, it shows that she has already been through it .
Knows the message walking up the steps,
Hits her knees weeping.
My god the suffering never spoken of.
I grew up in the Australian military. My father and Uncle were both in The Battle of Long Tan in Vietnam, artillery. Both in charge of seperate guns ( Charlie & Echo). Thankfully both survived and came home. My grandfather served in WW2, first in Egypt and then in South Africa training the local men there, preparing them in case Hitler ended up invading their country. His brothers served too in different places across the globe. They all came home safely too. And my great grandfather and his brothers served in WW1, all coming home safely. We are a very lucky family. When so many others never made it home.May they rest in peace.
that is such an insane family history you got their mate, stay safe and take care
I'm a Canadian military veteran... the son and grandson (along with great uncles, uncles and cousins) who served in South Africa (Second Boer), War 1, War 2, Korea and (little old me) the Cold War. Thankfully we stayed tf out of Vietnam.
Not all of mine came home safely... but most did.
Anyway... good on ya my Aussie cousin... and good on your family for serving. Sending my regards from the Senior Dominion 😎
As a Canadian, I feel proud that our small country was one of the three nations whose forces landed at Normandy on D-Day, alongside the heavyweights.
3? I think the Australians, Belgians, Czech, Danes, French, Greeks, Dutch, New Zealand, Norwegian and Polish would fancy correcting this natural but incorrect assumption. That's before you include the West Indian, Indians [and soon to be Pakistanis], Algerians, Moroccans, Libyans, Egyptians, South Africans, Irish and Spanish fighting in the British & French armies. And there's other nationalities I'm sure I've forgotten.
UlsterGroundhopper
Sigh. Yes, I know that. But ours was one of three that were specifically designated to take part in the landings. The others were all included under the British flag.
*****
Only 36 million people. And we feel it next to the behemoth to our south. The rest of the world thinks it is bad watching the craziness of the US election, but I'd say only Mexico is more on edge.
We had 10 million people at the time, although we had a million people in the military during WW2 and the fifth largest navy.
Canada has a very heavy impact on the world in two ways: food supply and natural resources.
valar small country? Canada is the second largest country in the world behind Russia..
+WaKaWaKa Whisky He's talking about population
And yesterday in a coffee shop I heard some woman say "who cares about history?"😖
You can't help those who choose to stay ignorant.
"Ernie prepares to commit a hate crime"
Somebody send her to 1944 Normandy and ask her again.
She probably has the REAL hardest job ever.... being a mom.
what a moron
Given saving private Ryan is historical fiction, with fictional characters, locations and events within a larger historical context, I think it’s really an incredible film historically speaking.
I know Spielberg borrowed from some of the soldier's memoirs. For example, Hal Baumgarten mentions in his book about the battalion surgeon for the 116th Regiment who decided he should be in the first wave since his skills would probably be needed. Unfortunately, he was killed during the battle. He incorporated this into the film by having Wade working on a wounded man and being told to move on to someone he could help. Wade answers back that he's working on the battalion surgeon.
Also might interest you to find out that the actual Captain of "C" company, 2nd Rangers(played by Tom Hanks in SPR) was Ralph Goranson aged 25. After exiting the landing craft, he felt numerous hits until he made it to some cover. He counted 9 bullet holes in his gear and clothing but was miraculously untouched. Then a German greande landed at his feet and he just barely got out of harms way. The events shown on the landing are a bit contrived due to time constraints but he did lead his men on an assault that took out a key German weapons nest that was decimating the troops on the beach. He's widely considered the first man to make it up to the bluffs that were so instrumental in taking Omaha Beach. He survived the war and passed away in 2012 aged 93.
+Logan Bradley Lay off the edge mate.
@Logan Bradley
America liberated Europe. Twice. You can bitch all you want, but facts don't care about your feelings.
Brendan Davison actually the movie is based on a true story. I only know that because my friend was in the navy
+Leonardo's Truth Wut.
I remember watching this as a young boy with my Great Granddad, he told me before he died just a few years ago that he got up and left when the DDay section occurred because, despite the fact that Sword was not as bloody as Utah, his American Friends told him in brutal detail and said that he was lucky to be British on that day.
Rest in Peace to all men that fought on that day, on that beach.
The part where the medic dies crushed my heart
Such a brutal and well acted scene. I've watched this movie at least 15 times-still gets me worked up to this day.
@@GAME4WAR To be fair to you, he IS a scientologist, and no a garden variety one. He was raised by his parents as a scientologist.
There was actually a 17 year old high school student that lied about their age to get on the battlefield. He was a medic, and while he was healing somebody, a mortar hit and the shrapnel killed the wounded man, and went through him and the guy behind him, killing them all instantly.
Virgil Mounds.
Edit: if you want the full story look up "Surviving D-Day" on TH-cam and skip to 40:09
Hanks response to it too, kills me.
I can't handle that scene. I hate watching it. And this is my favorite movie.
This comment is a little late but-
Having served in the US Army, don't underestimate how stupid top Army brass can be.
I was USN and I agree with you 100%. Only 1 US Navy Battleship could have pin pointed each pill box with a 16" Cannon. WHERE WAS THE LEADERSHIP? Eisenhower failed our Troops, should of had ONE US BATTLESHIP on the Scene, not Destroyer Tin Cans who were in harms way. FINALLY BEFORE ANYONE TRIES TO GET WISE: Naval Caliber (Cannon) is measured as the Length of the Barrel / Bore, so 16" * 50 means the barrel is 67 feet long. Not the same as Army Caliber (Small Arms) which is only the bore width. MORE INFORMATION: North Carolina Class BB55 - BB60 - had 16 /45s where the Iowa Class BB61 - BB64 had 16 / 50s. Many died because of stupidity.
You haven't seen WWII Japanese commanders. They were actual dumbasses spending skilled soldiers to suicide.
@@bobbycv64 I wanna understand this but I can’t it’s to smart for me 😂😂
Would you still have enlisted knowing that?
@@kochan1147 That was because of their honour. How do you think they lasted so long? They weren’t stupid, it was just how they were told to be. Even the men would do it, because they believed it was honourable.
And Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture over this masterpiece. Not that the Academy Awards mean anything, it just astounds me that this film didn't win every award it was nominated for. Fantastic video, love this channel!
Because of fücking Weinstein.
I was just mortified that the owie gooey Shakespeare movie won. This is a well done piece of cinema. I had no desire to see Shakespeare in Love.
it is possible that many people's visceral gut reaction had a negative impact. One can appreciate the movie on a technical level, but in the same breath say "I hated this movie" not able to fully vocalize why. Its not the plot, its not the structure, its not the characters, its just a physical and emotional response to how horrifying it is.
While this works in the favor of horror movies, as some people strive for that kind of reaction,... movies like this are a completely different animal, and there is no real "desire" for a moviegoer to see THAT kind of violence. The horrors of war touch a different nerve than horror films, in a distinctly different way.
I am not saying this justifies it losing to a sappy romance, I'm merely saying I understand how that decision could have potentially have been made. I don't agree with it, I just understand it.
That's the thing, Oscars used to mean something, but that virtue-signaling decision was the start of their long fall from grace that led to where they are today. Ignored, horrible ratings, and can't even find people willing to host them anymore. One of the few times where "get woke go broke" is actually true.
You can market products with your wokeness and profit, but once you start handing out awards for it over more deserving candidates, that's when people tune out.
The mid section of the movie is mediocre and drags. Should have been edited down at least half an hour. The characters aren't engaging enough when there is no action on screen (Zulu, The Great Escape, Kelly's Heroes is how you present characters).
Hardly any of the dialogue is memorable, nevermind iconic.
The film is revered for the first half hour and little else.
The scene that stuck with me as a kid was the stabbing scene. The way the knife is driven in slow is so visceral and I could feel the sense of helpless horror wash over me. Absolutely terrifying way to die.
All of a sudden everyone in the comments is a professional sniper
Sniping is a good job, mate
-TF2 Sniper
you dont actually need to know ANYTHING about being a sniper to know how physics work and mathematical problem solving. The shot taken is not 'impossible' but also not possible.. Doesnt make sense, but it would not come down to the individuals skill cap, but more of pure 100% LUCK. LIke Chris Kyle's longshot. He even admitted he did not intend to hit a target, but more of was just playing around and sent out a round, that just happened to hit! it was a freak of nature kinda thing.
X-Cal you don’t even have to know about physics, every marine know that this shot is possible because it has already been done. No expertise required or experimentation is needed.
yep,opinions are like bungholes..
Yeah this kind of INTERNET material always attracts the smartest guy in the room types. Its as funny as it is nauseating.
“Please don’t shoot me! I am not German, I am Czech, I didn’t kill anyone! I am Czech!" 😢 what he say... what he say...
???
What do you mean?
@@jrsmith1998 go to 12:50
What he say? Did you finish primary school
@@obamareloadsyt629 That's what was said in the video you spaz
Actually, saving Private Ryan's sniper scene actually was inspired by a Vietnam war soldier named Carlos Hathcock he was the sniper that shot through a NVAs scope
Is that really true?
Seems kinda hard to believe.
David Mccann yes it’s true, and someone even stole Carlos enemy scope :(
Dude, 93 confirmed kills, that was one great fucking camper
@@H43339 white feather the guy was a badass . he grew up a poor kid and had to bring food home for the fam. whitefeather is a great book about carlos
You say Commy, I say Nazi, lol either way it's a good scene
My grandfather was in Vietnam, even so, he told me he can’t watch Saving Private Ryan due to the sounds, mostly the bullets and screaming.
My great grandfather landed on Normandy.I never met him, of course. But he left notes and writing to all of his descendants. I read it every time I can. The sheer emotion I get from seeing his handwriting falter and mess up as he writes amazes me. These men are heroes and were a different breed than me.
29th infantry
23rd infantry
What about the 23rd Infantry?
My teacher was a soldier and he said this movie’s opening scene was the most realistic depiction of war he has ever seen in a movie.
No offense but you are beautiful and should do makeup tutorials
@@Coffeeisnecessarynowpepper Awh, thank you 😊 but I seriously doubt anybody would watch. I’m not creative or interesting enough 😩 lol
@@Coffeeisnecessarynowpepper please go outside and touch grass
A soldier in which army.. Americans now just pick on third world nations who never stood a chance... Somehow they still can't win.
Wow he’s around 85-100 my god
Looked it up, the youngest you could be to have joined during the end siege, is 95
PFC Joseph Foster Walker 101st Airborne, dropped on Normandy, buried at Arlington Cemetery, passed tonight 26 years ago 6-28-1992. Miss ya Dad. Truly the greatest generation.
Sorry for your loss Mr. Walker, and I also am thankful for those wonderful men (and the strong women who kept the country going at home). Tough as grit indeed.
A true hero
Jim Walker rip my man
The guy calling for momma while holding his entrails gets me every time! :(
Same...
Exactly!
Yeah…
Exactly
He said medic, but the blood in his throat made a gurgling
13:35 Thanks for pointing that out. The fact that they included that detail and never addressed it makes it even better.
I can't believe my Saving Private Ryan review is on the front page of Reddit/movies! That's so awesome! Thanks to everyone who just subscribed today. I'm crossing my fingers but History Buffs might be going viral again. Wish me luck :)
www.reddit.com/r/movies/
Do you already know what you'll be covering upon your return? If so, can you please tell us? Enjoy your vacation!
good luck I just subscribed :D
thank you
Can you do Gallipoli or The Water Diviner ?
man your awesome sause for sure blue ribbon
Fun fact - the czech soldier in german uniform was very likely played by actual czech actor, as his accent is flawless.
Thats not fun fact, they are stuntmen. Czech stuntmens are one of the best on the planet ;) zdravím
Yeah, seemed like a North Bohemian accent to me. Live in that area and most of us speak like that.
Although it’s interesting to me what the logic of the actual soldiers would have been in that situation. Czechs in that time usually spoke a bit of German, and in their case they probably spoke it pretty well as they had been dragged into the German vermacht. So wouldn’t Czech soldiers in that scenario be more likely to try and speak German to American soldiers, given they would be more likely to be understood?
Then again maybe not, because they would also not want to be mistaken as German. So it’s a tough call what you should do in that situation.
Just an interesting thought for you.
Knowing Spielberg, NV most definitely true.
No do píči
as a german, i've never noticed these guys where actually czechs.
sure, they looked more like slavs than germans, but i thought it was just really bad "german" dub which is very common in hollywood movies, where the bad guys actually *trying* to speak german to make it loook more authentic...
as german...you should just apologize and just shut up!
we all (freedom loving peeps) know your parents where just members of the greatest army bands ... that’s all
@@wczapski sry bro, my parents are born in the 60s... didn't knew the war lasted for that long
But wasn't it ture that much of the German forces at Normandy were not the cream of German Army--I read somewhere that the Germans would round up a bunch of locals and tell them to fight or die. One such guy was a Korean--don't know how he got to France but its documented.
@@hddun yeah, with some exceptions, the best german units where at the east front against the soviet unit
Hitler knew he had to get rid of the soviets as fast as possible and needed their oilfields to avoid a two-front warfare like in WW1 before.
still didn't work... damn snow and unlimited soviet manpower ;-)
@@hddun The Korean was originally impressed by the Japanese, then captured and impressed by the Soviets, the captured and impressed by the Germans, then captured again by the Americans. Pretty crazy story.
They earned the title “American greatest generation”. Their stories inspired many generations and many to come, not only American but the whole world
Ironically my grandfathers 3 brothers were killed in WWII. Look them up if you get a minute, the Lewandowski brothers from New Jersey. My grandfather enlisted after he got word of their deaths. He was sent home before even reaching boot camp. Great channel!
salem trials you are descended from the Lewandowskis???
That’s insane may they Rest In Peace
Moment of silence please for them
Hoho Hoho because private Ryan lost all 3 of his brothers and so did OP’s grandfather
Hoho Hoho George Carlin does a routine covering this.
Uh, you missed a huge inaccuracy.
Tom Hanks wouldn't have been there. He was born after the war ended.
Pretty glaring gaff tbh.
Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) was also too young for Vietnam. He was born in 1956 which made him 18 in 1974. But the Draft ended in 1973.
Tom's just too good to not draft.
They did a shit job at casting.
@@GFSLombardo Ya but hes slow. Probably wrote his Bday wrong
The only "major movie star" I could think of who would have been roughly "Capt. Miller's ""accurate" age (roughly in his mid-late 20's), at the time SPR was filmed was Leo DiCaprio, who was about 24. Problem with Leo is he would have looked much younger and boyish than the men he was supposedly leading (except the corpsman and the clerk). Problematical also, because even a young Army officer was often referred to as"the Old Man" by his much younger Grunts. With the $$$$ this move cost to make, I doubt that Spielberg would have hired an unknown actor to play Tom Hanks character.
“That mission doesn’t make any sense” ...clearly you are not familiar with the army
lmfaoooo
Fubar!!!
Or the military for that matter
Michael Newell sacrificing 8 lives for 1 Dosent make since its not complicated wether it happend or not idk but it Dosent make any since
Trueeeee! God this made me laugh 😂
A ship was named The Sullivans for those brothers, it launched in 1943, she earned nine battle stars in World War II and another two more during the Korean War. She was recently in the news when as a museum ship her hull was breached and she partially sank. Donations would be appreciated.
This movie is honestly scarier than any horror movie i've ever seen, and it's not even aiming for the horror genre.
Thats why i love war flicks the truth is way scarier then fiction
It’s realistic. That is the scary part.
And what makes it scarier (as many commenters have pointed out) when one asks actual D-Day veterans if it was that bad, they would reply "it was worse"
@@k1productions87 That is horrible
If you are taking about scary war movies, the scariest one for me is the russian movie "Come and see" from the 80s. It feels so real and almost like a documentary and its very disturbing.
Also Tom Hanks would never have let his rank be seen on his helmet. Sniper bait for sure.
Nor would have Chuck Norris. Good eye.
you dont really know that, that is a common theme with ranked people in war zones but it wasn't as if it was a standard operating procedure
Snipers worked cities mostly, they weren't eveywhere
There is absolutely historical precedent for an officer putting their rank on their helmet during WWII. A simple google image search will give you tons of examples.
@@malcondrion yes but the same can be said for officers and NCO's who ignored or did not know of this as you will find plenty of pictures of men wearing their ranks in frontlines. Its not a historical inaccuracy as not everyone did it.
Seen this film loads of times.
Still brings a tear to my eye.
I’ve seen loads of WWII documentaries and films, but this movie takes the cake.
You see the story of battle unfold with characters that you may have only known for 2 minutes ripped away by machine gun or mortar fire. Screaming for their mother or refusing to move forward out of the realest fear they have ever felt.
You see Americans who have just been through the horror of taking Omaha take that trauma out on those who were forced to fight against them.
You see what it’s like to be suddenly pinned down by an enemy you can’t even see.
You see the conditions some poor civilians were left in as fighting raged on around them.
You see war. I wish more movies like this existed.
Not to mention the scene with ryan’s mother. Even after seeing this movie at least 6 times, that scene is heart wrenching and I cry every time. *Knowing* that your worst fear as a parent has come true, and not knowing how bad has got to be torturous.
WW2 fascinates me tbh, and I can’t even imagine just how much fear and courage went on during that time
My Dad's been to Omaha Beach back in the 2000s - he said they still have those American landing craft on display there and when he reached out to touch one, he was amazed to learn they were actually made of wood. I can't imagine how big your balls would have to be to jump in a wooden boat and plow headlong into beachfront defenses like they did.
The same amount of fear and courage that goes through the mind of native Americans, afgans, Vietnamese, Syrians, iraquis.... Yea it goes on.
@@shelldie8523 WW2 was fought by many countries. He clearly stated WW2 in general. Wars have been fought ever since the dawn of time. Stop being a little prick about someone else’s fascinations.
Interesting how american companies supplied Hitler
Nice!
Greetings from down under
Yessss
Jaaaa
Hello
Sorry not the place for you this is ww2 jk
The scene when the mother sees the priest coming off the car made me cry.
Me too :(
@tinwoods when I saw that scene, I felt the same knife going through her heart.
tinwoods I cried at the part when the bald soldier died when he was saying I don’t wanna die and crying out mama
I especially liked how they sat down on the porch steps next to her. It truly displays a sense of caring and compassion.
mommmaaa
My friend is a film maker and has a bunch of props from Saving Private Ryan. A TON of rubber rifles and other generic WWII props were made for this movie, and they basically went into circulation to be used in various other WWII movies or documentaries. It's pretty fun to play around with the rubber rifles used during filming
I watched this film with my dad when I was probably a little too young and I was doing somewhat ok until the knife fight scene, which is definitely the biggest noire of the film in my opinion. It seriously gave me nightmares for a LONG time. I have a serious fear of getting stabbed and it is 100% from this horribly realistic scene. It still bothers me to this day to be honest and Im 32
I'm right there with you dude. This movie was one of the most impactful ones I ever saw as a kid. And that knife scene where the German was shushing melish as he stabbed him made me sick and it really bothered me for years after seeing it. It still is a scene I don't watch to this day because it bothers me and I'm 32 as of this moment.
The bit towards the end, yeah it makes me so angry, Upham is just crying listening to his friend slowly die and he just cowers on the stairs, and the fact it's the same German they let go earlier that everyone except Upham wanted to kill😤😞😒
This movie is almost considered a rite of passage for us. I watched this movie with my Dad, a former Army Ranger, explained things to me, even reminding me it's a movie and those people laying dead are all acting, but the event they were showing really happened. It's hard to separate that, but I appreciate the film as an adult. We did the same for my younger sibling when they were 14; both me and my dad next to them and they got through ok.
Salute to the Veterans who fought at Normandy.
you are right, i saw the film when it came out and the scene made me feel so upset it was so real the sound the look in the GIs eyes, nightmares for years. but still a great film
@@nomadjensen8276 What makes it so bad is it isn't even personal. Two strangers in a deadly hand to hand fight just because that's the world they lived in.
The shooting through the german scope never happened there, It was performed by the famed sniper Carlos hathcock during the Vietnam war. Shooting through the scope
and from a further distance than 450m if I remember correctly.
And is more than a little unbelievable, due to the parabolic nature of a bullet flight at the "claimed" ranges which would prohibit the bullet going straight down the scope
@@duncanpetford1138 at 450 yard the bullet flight path would still be rather straight. Considering the powerful bullet used to shoot it wouldnt have needed to adjust very much for a short range sniper shot. I skilled sniper could have shot down a scope at that range. Ive made shots with normal iron sights at 500 yards. without adjusting for bullet drop.
Rifles during the 60's where more devloped in range and power.
@@Mike_W78 having just watched the second experiment by myth busters which under "laboratory" conditions required an armour piercing bullet to get through the scope with sufficient power left to enter the sniper's skull, I still question whether a snap shot in combat would be capable of doing the shot illustrated in BOB if it did I would advise the shooter to play the lottery as obviously he was extremely lucky
Aww... one of the most capable? You flatter me dear sir.
LOL
B Oates...
I hate people who say that about Rommel. Watch the Desert Fox.
Now Sir Rommel! I don't envy you.
Sorry Hitler made you commit suicide.
B Oates fuck you, you have no idea who rommel is. hes a respectable german commander even though im dutch and nazi's ruined my family in ww2. go read about rommel dickstain.
Guderian was the best by far
sksmasine do some research on him. he was against Hitler's policies. and even winston Churchill had a fantastic amount of respect for the man. Sadly he was forced to commit suicide by a cyanide pill.
RIP to Tom Sizemore. Thanks for all of your movies and performances.
I'm generally not affected by movies, but the opening scene had me literally sweating. Damn good movie.
I grew up reading articles about D-day whenever June came around. But never in my wildest imagination could I have understood what our solders went through. This movie is a paradigm shifter and really opened up our eyes on the true nature of the horrors of war.
Earn this! A good mantra for life. My grandfather fought in WWII, worked hard, raised a family and chose not to talk in depth about his service until he was in his 70s. A strong, proud yet humble man. To those and those like him...damn few left!
My grandfather (German Wehrmacht) fought in France against the French and he always told me how frightening it was and how scared all the "normal" soldiers were... He was a pow until around 4 years after the war in France.... Even so many years later he had tiers in his eyes when talking about ww2. It was horrible for both sides.
A similar occurence happened in World War One for the British Army. I believe it was a Mr Bell in Yorkshire who sent all his sons, of which there were 5, to fight. All would die except one, the youngest, and he was only spared because the sister sent a telegram to the British Army who acted in returning the youngest son to his family. A First World War Saving Private Ryan, if you will.
Of course something like this happened in real life
In WWI, British Army battalions often consisted of men who all volunteered together--brothers, friends, colleagues, classmates, and neighbors--in so-called "Pals" battalions. The idea was to boost morale and promote camaraderie, since they all knew each other before the war. However, many of these units were unfortunate enough to see their first action at the Battle of the Somme, and suffered terrible losses. The effect was especially devastating on some small towns, that lost nearly a whole generation of their male population in a few months. After the Somme, Pals units were mostly disbanded, and those that remained were in name only, being reinforced with conscripts.
@@dzk33 I was going to mention the " Chums" battalions as well. Not only to boost morale , camaraderie, and such, but High command felt that the men would be more inclined to fight ,more fiercely, to protect someone they knew, rather than a complete stranger.
@@dzk33 Its about that you cant leave a household with no male heir or ability to make descendants, it wasn't right to end an entire family line because of a war, they felt that was wrong as well as unfair, asking to much of a mother too give to her country
D-DAY was 75 years ago today. Thank you to every soul who helped save Europe and made it what it is today. Salute
Theforcer 1
Then you should include Hitler in your thanks because he saved Europe from the Russians. Stalin was gearing up to invade and head west to the English Channel. Hitler knew this and why he invaded Poland to head of the attack. He then invaded Russia when he thought they were at their weakest. If you would research actual history and not the history we are spoon fed you would realize what I say in accurate.
@@chrisj197438 Oh shut up and keep right wing politics out of this.
@@chrisj197438 whao truly a genuine chump. Keep your bias twisted view of history to yourself. Kills me when people like you talk about history with a agenda, and rearrange the facts to suit the agenda your pushing/supporting.
@Donald J. Trump china >>> usa
Irish Dragon
You should really research history for yourself and not base your opinion on the history that is spoon fed to you by School or a box in your living room.
13:33 : Wow... Spielberg left that in there without letting the audience know. How interesting.
lenny harry what the Fuck r u talking about
Saving Private Ryan does a great job in portraying the real soldiers and conditions of WW2. I Thank God for all these brave soldiers (in real life of course). We are enjoying the freedoms that they died trying to provide- the millions of unknown allied soldiers. Thank you with all of my heart. May your reward be great in heaven.
Saving private ryan is one of the greatest movies ever
The Sole Survivor rule has a personal connection to me. My father and his twin brother signed up for the Army Air Corps near the end of the war, and once they went into service, they were split up. My dad was sent to Guam, and his brother became part of the occupying force in Japan. By 1946, by uncle could not stand being away from his brother, and wrote a letter, to Truman himself, begging to be stationed with my dad. I actually have a copy of the letter somewhere. However it happened, it worked, because my dad was sent to Japan to bring his brother back to Guam with him. They served together until 1949 or 1950.
DLathrop thats a nice story. Im glad they both came back. I personally thank them for their service.
DLathrop thanks for sharing I love hearing stories like this.
That's an awesome story dude :)
Thank you for their service
DLathrop i
That is an awesome story. Thank you and your family for their service.
One teeny tiny detail almost most people miss, the bunkers on the beach are wrong. Instead of the machineguns pointing straight forward towards the sea, the front of the bunker was mostly a solid wall. The gun ports were at the side of the bunkers looking down the beach as to maximise the amount of bodies a round could hit. It was part of the interlocking fire tactic.
Not to say there where bunkers like that but, when I visited Normandy with the army on “Realities of War” battlefield tours this was one thing the old boys pointed out.
Crazytechnition Don’t forget about the many many tiny camo gun nests they left out.
Kabuki Kitsune That too.
Mostly Tobruk stands...which are just holes in the ground a machine gunner stands in. In northern France there were this bigger style widerstandnests. The closest one I found to those portrayed in the movie was one in Etreat. Looks similar but smaller. Still there today. Also if you were wondering this was filmed in Ireland.
Crazytechnition At Dog Green sector Omaha where the opening scenes are supposed to be asked on there were slit trenches and small Tobruks, casemates like the ones shown were further inland.
Yep spot on mate. I was there on Omaha beach last Thursday. I was amazed that the guns pointed down the beach, not out to sea. 🖒
It truly brings tears to my eyes when history is told in such a way. To know exactly how much each of these men gave, and how the gave their lives. How it makes them more than just numbers on paper or dots on maps. War is hell.