SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (first time watching + lots of tears)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 มี.ค. 2021
- OPEN ME FOR THE THINGS!!
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Original Movie: Saving Private Ryan
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Saving Private Ryan came out the summer when I was 16 and working as an usher at a theatre. For at least a month I would wait until the very end of the credits to clean (didn't need do that for any other movie) because there were always at least a few elderly men (most likely veterans) at every showing quietly weeping through the entire credits. I know I didn't fully appreciate their grief at the time but I'm so glad in retrospect that my younger self gave them that time uninterrupted.
Well, that just made me cry.
The veteran funeral for my grandfather who fought in WW2 was beautiful.
Well done, Eric. You "earned" it.
Earn this. Earn it.
I remember when this movie came out in theaters they had to give warnings about how graphic the storming the beach scene was
Natalie: I'm watching Saving Private Ryan on my phone
Spielberg: Digs a hole, jumps in, buries himself alive, ROLLS OVER IN HIS GRAVE
ROFLOL!
Yeah I cringed. This movie deserves the best viewing experience.
🤣🤣🤣
When she said she was watching it on her phone I paused the video to find this comment to respond to. Just lol
And no headphones either
I saw this in the theater when it first came out. At the end of the movie, everyone got up, didn't say a word, and we all filed out quietly...it was kind of eerie.
I had the same experience with 12 Monkeys in the theater.
I remember reading reports of people absolutely sobbing during the opening scenes because of the realism.
I remember watching We Were Soliders when I was 15, im still a kid but I thought it was a powerful movie and that was the first time I witnessed grown men crying in a packed theater. A great war movie even for a kid but now I understand how triggering it must be for someone who lived through the real deal
People usually run out of films screaming where you live..?
@@charleshowie2074 Who leaves the theater as a crowd in COMPLETE silence?
I’m 74. My father went in on D Day at Normandy. He was in 5 campaigns including the Battle of the Bulge. Before the war he never drank. After the war he was an alcoholic the rest of his life.
100% understandable.
War is hell
I am so sorry for you. Your father went through hell definately. I hope you are doing well..
Saddest thing is the alcohol never helped.
Your father still lives on through you, glad that his suffering is over.
"Corporal you need to get wherever the fuck you need to get."
Literally the most military phrase I've heard since I got out, I lold.
That was exactly my thought the moment she said it. She even got the tone of voice right! It was too perfect! 🤣
I don't think he swore
@@morethanjustforkicks No, she did!
All she was missing was the knife hand!!
I was rolling for a good minute hearing that. The verbiage of the military is brushing off her lol
The scene where Ryan is telling the story about his brothers was actually unscripted Matt Damon improvised that whole thing.
He had the idea to tell the story because in Good Will Hunting, Robin Williams improved telling a story to Matt Damon character. Matt Damon was so impressed that he wanted to try something to see if he could do it too.
@Citizen Cat why?
@Citizen Cat sounds super overly hateful. It was a good improv from damon.
@Citizen Cat And then Spielberg left it in the movie because it was so shitty? 😆
@Citizen Cat Right. I'm questioning your line of thinking that Spielberg thought it was bad acting, but still left it in his movie. You think Spielberg felt bad for Damon enough to leave a bad scene in his movie through all of the edits and cuts? It doesn't make sense lol.
When I was in the Coast Guard back in the 1980s, I knew a Chief Petty Officer and a group of us were talking about war. There were quite a few Vietnam Veterans in the Coast Guard at the time who saw combat in one of the other services, then joined the Coast Guard because they couldn’t handle civilian life. He told us the story of his uncle.
The Chief's father served in the Army in WWII and was badly wounded in New Guinea in 1944, which knocked him out of the war. His father’s younger brother, the Chief’s uncle, was also in the Army and he fought in Okinawa. His uncle was about 18 at the time had to flush out caves with a flamethrower. There were Okinawan civilians and children in many of the caves with the Japanese soldiers and he burned many of them to death. It wasn’t just one cave or one day. He did it several times a day for months. Sometimes, people ran out of the caves on fire.
When the uncle came back from the war, he was very quiet and didn’t talk about the war. He also began drinking heavily. His brother only knew about what he did in the war when they both got really drunk one night and he said a little about what happened, but never went into more detail than was said here.
Anyway, in the late 1950s, the Chief was a little boy then and he went to a house on Long Island, New York for a cookout with his family. His uncle was married with children by then and they went to the cookout together. Everything was going well, then someone used too much lighter fluid while cooking on the barbeque grill in the backyard. The flames went high and the meat was burning. The smell of burning meat and lighter fluid triggered the uncle and he had a psychotic break. He had been holding that trauma in for years and he completely lost it. He was screaming and no one understood what was going on with him except the Chief's father, who realized what was happening and told the other men there.
All the men there were WWII veterans, many of whom had seen bad things themselves. They tackled him and held him down in the backyard. Two other men grabbed towels to pick up the barbeque grill and ran some distance to a nearby swimming pool, then threw the grill into it, meat and all. They had burns on their hands from it, but they didn’t stop. The men were speaking softly to the guy telling him it was alright. Some of the other women were freaking out and saying they needed to call the cops and their husbands were telling them to shut up and get the kids in the house. They held him while he screamed, wept, cried and vomited for literally hours. The cops were not called and eventually he passed out.
Afterwards, he went to bed and didn’t leave it for a couple of weeks. His boss, who was also a WWII veteran, when told what happened, just told his wife for him to come back to work when he was ready, which he did. If anything else happened like that, the Chief didn’t know about it. The Uncle eventually died of cirrhosis of the liver in the mid 1970s.
Thank you for sharing and thank you for your service. I'm a young soldier currently in the army and I think many soldiers have a bad habit of complaining about petty bullshit on the day-to-day, shitty details etc. We take for granted the fact that this is the easiest time in history to serve, and that 80 years ago we would be the ones sent in the caves torching people. Your post reminded me to stay humble and not to get caught up on the mundane. Have a nice day.
Veterans understand each other more than anyone else can ever dream of.
Both the US and the UK have got better at "decompressing" their veterans after a tour of duty, but such scars cannot be erased.
Recently I saw an interview with Tom Hanks where he said he grew up after WW2 and he could feel how this war affected every adult in his life and I really get that effect from this story seeing as almost everyone mentioned is a veteran. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like on a personal level let alone an entire generation of people all coping with the same traumas, thank you all for your service.
How Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love in the Best Picture category is beyond me. It’s a joke.
Great reaction by the way. Very true and raw.
Because the other one had the words "Shakespeare" and "love" in the title.
Saving Private Ryan never had a chance. Oscar bait always wins.
yes TYpical HOLLYwood bull cr p, I got one even better- 1956 BEST PIC- AROUND the world in 80 days witha BALLOON as main subject over KING and I wth YUL Brinner, TEN Commandments, GIANT with R Hudson, LIZ Taylor and JAMES Dean
For those of us who know anything know that Saving Private Ryan won the Oscar that year, it's simply a typo that that other filth of a film was marked as having won.
Because Harvey Weinstein pushed a massive, months long ad campaign for it to win.
Yeah, this was the first, major big step in Hollywood going to s***. Ever since then so many movies are these weird insider type movie that audiences do like and don't watch. The Oscars become so backslapping, and then got super political ad nauseum when trump became president. I don't even watch the telecast anymore, don't even care who's nominated or who wins.
The opening 15 minutes of this movie was filmed so realistically, that many survivors of Omaha beach, veterans of that assault, had to leave the theater because it was too real for them.
My Pop wasn't there - he's too busy at Monte Cassino at the time, but the production and presentation was too much for him. It was the sound of it - it triggered his PTSD, 50 years later.
Not just them. I didn't see a ton of stuff when I deployed as a medic, but enough people torn up that I can't watch this movie again. Just. Can't.
Depends on what beach they were on. Some beaches were hardly defended. Omaha beach was one that was defended well.
bollocks
@@amazingusername8925 how so?
"The one I know is gonna survive is Tom"
Yeah, about that...
They really got me there...
@@NatalieGoldReacts Hi natalie could you please react to a league of their own. It has tom hanks and it definitely a good movie to react to
A league of their own is great. Another great Tom Hanks and Spielberg movie is Bridge of Spies.
tom hanks is the reason i havent watched mr. rogers yet. i dont think i would survive the feels..
@@NatalieGoldReacts You should watch Philadelphia with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington. It helped Hanks tie Spencer Tracys record of two best actor oscars in a row
As someone who deals with what the character Ryan is dealing with, survivors guilt is one of the worst combat wounds that any service member deals with daily. We try to carry the torch for those who have been lost in combat and hold their honor and hope that the life we live will be up to the standards that will bring honor to their sacrifice. F**ked Up Beyond All Recognition (FUBAR)
Thank you for your service.
2 hours and 50 minutes of cinematic perfection.
The filmmaking and production are god tier all around.
And boy it’s a rough ride
Still hurts how they STOLE Spielberg the Oscar to Best Movie to give him to "Shakespeare in Love". Ridiculous.
The guy that volunteers to go LEFT is the sniper, not WADE, the guy who dies in that fight. Wade was the medic, and the guy with the closeup in the night church, talking about his Mom getting home from work and pretending to sleep. That is why it is so sad when a second before he dies, all he wants is his Mother.
It’s been said a lot of people dying in combat, scream out to their mothers. I think very few folks die stoically like in the movies.
Soooo, following your logic, if he didn't call for his mother, it wouldn't be sad?
@@technopirate304 its said in the book "we were soldiers and young" that most dying men call for their mothers and their last words are usually to tell their girlfriend or wife that they love them
@@eatsmylifeYT I think it's safe to say it would be sad regardless. Ribisi's performance is incredible.
@@eatsmylifeYT What? Lol, you should google the word "semantics," because that was dumb af.
Watching this movie on a cell phone should be against the law. It deserves a big screen.
This movie in particular!
It’s a real shame
Regarding the 2 guys above me⬆️⬆️
Yea they both joined YT a week ago and it's their only comment Here:)
@@joramsim they're too legit to quit
for real... she says she has to watch it on a phone meanwhile there's a 65" flat screen right behind her
When it comes to a combat veteran having survivor's guilt, it's a double-edged sword that haunts you for life.
One edge of that sword is that you feel guilty for surviving in the first place, you wish that you could trade places with your buddies (especially with the younger soldiers you were in charge of), and it's exceedingly painful the amount of guilt you feel when you see their families afterwards.
The other edge gets you when you think "What would happen to my family if it had been me? How much pain would I have caused my parents, wife, kids? How can I look his parents in the eye knowing that I failed to bring their kid back home safe?
Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg also helped in the production of the miniseries Band Of Brothers. It is only 10 episodes long and its about a company of the 101st airborne and their experiences in WW2. Its an absolute masterpiece and I really think you will like it!
Definitely an absolute watch, also The Pacific!
The company from Band Of Brothers is from 506 parachute infantry regiment. Same as Ryan.
I could not recommend Band of Brothers enough.
Agreed. Band of Brothers is a masterpiece! I have watched it every 3-4 years or so since it first came out. And yes, The Pacific is very worthy as well. Veteran's Day is coming up, and that's why I chose to watch this reaction. Band of Brothers & The Pacific do very well to honor our veterans, too, perhaps even more so.
The 20th anniversary official podcast series is excellent.
“The only one I know who’s gonna survive is Tom...”
“Oh, you sweet summer child.”
she meant the initial storming of the beach
@@jannerantanen5121 I’m pretty sure she thought that the old man at the beginning was hanks not private Ryan
@@fayeeg718 they definitely tricked everyone into thinking that the old man is Tom Hanks’s character because of the close up on his eyes
Loved the fact she didn't notice Nathan Fillion till way after the fact.
Gotta pull her brown coat card
Tbf she was watching on her phone, and warned us that she would not recognize some people.
@@armchairnixon I did forget that excellent point. Shiny
WWII infantry uniform versus space pirate? Yea, I'll give N a break for not recognizing him. LOL
Or vin diesel?
Lots of people miss the part at the beginning where they shoot the two guys surrendering at the beach in Normandy they aren't speaking German. They are actually speaking Czech and are saying. “Please don't shoot me! I am not German, I am Czech, I didn't kill anyone! I am Czech!"
I guarantee you missed that part when you first watched it. But good for you for being able to read IMDB trivia.
@@DavidBennet your half right. I dong understand Czeck but my house mate is Czech so she told me what they said.
That one shot in the Church where they were getting sleep was to show "Capt Miller" watching over his men, showing the fatherly concern that comes with Leadership. I love this movie, Steven Spielberg was put on earth to be a Story Teller.
Some of WWII Vets walked out of the theaters when this scene is playing played out on June 6,1944. One of the vets stated it was like it, but only difference is that you can't smell death on the screens.
That’s what my dad said about serving in combat.
He also said that to make a war movie realistic, you would have to turn the volume up so loud, that it would hurt your ears.
@@brettfromla4055 yeah that makes sense. During combat training, shooting drills etc.. we would always use earplugs. I cannot even imagine literally hundreds of mortars, AA guns.. just blasting off all around you 😐
When Captain Miller says his last words, “Earn this” to Private Ryan, he’s saying it to ALL OF US. We have to be the best people we can be so that those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom would not have died in vain.
Especially considering they were drafted and didnt have much choice in the matter.
@@Kronical69420 There was some draft in WW2 but most volunteered.
@@Kronical69420 I'm sure those 16 and 17 year olds that lied about their age and who volunteered would really appreciate your remark. You might want to be sure before you make exclamations.
@@Kronical69420 some were drafted but most enlisted in WWII because everyone understood that it had to be won for the sake of the world. Vietnam, on the other hand....
And yet, a friend of Nazis became president...
Saving Private Ryan was one of the greatest films I ever saw, and one of the most intense theatrical experiences of my lifetime. I literally felt pushed back in my seat by a great weight until it was over. Steven Spielberg totally re-invented the look and feel of war movies with this one; all of them since have followed his example with the style created in this movie.
When Natalie said that Tom was going to survive in the beginning of the movie, I had a "Oh honey..." moment.
Hope she checks out Band of Brothers after this. So glad she finally watched Saving Private Ryan. Great reaction as always.
In my honest opinion, the best miniseries ever put to television.
After Band of Brothers, the Pacific!
@@TheMightyKent Agreed 100%
Agreed!
@@Scott-on-the-Beach Yeah. Band of Brothers is easier for the more casual person to follow. The Pacific sort of requires that you know a little about Guadalcanal to fully appreciate the clusterf*ck that's happening. It doesn't hold your hand as much as Band of Brothers, plus a lot of people have at least a vague idea of where and what in European WW2. The Pacific Campaign was much more nuanced. Great mini-series, but more of a post graduate course. That's why it didn't resonate as much with people.
The two Germans at the beginning of the movie surrendering during DDay weren’t actually Germans, they were Czech who were forced to fight for Germany and they were saying “we didn’t kill anyone, we are Czech, we didn’t kill anyone”
Yeah the vast majority of people will never know that. Pretty crazy.
War is hell
Little known fact is they also captured several Koreans also. How they got there is a pretty incredible story in itself.
A lot of the garrison troops at Omaha Beach were staffed by foreign troops. A lot of these were actually captured when the Germans invades their home countries, and they were given the "option" of being conscripted into the Wehrmacht.
Stupid Spielberg doesn’t like putting captioning in his movies. I’ve seen it in many of his movies that when someone is speaking in a foreign language there is no captioning. Thank you for telling about this Czech thing. It’s twenty years later and I’m just finding out.
Wow, feels like I had more pent up to say about this movie than I thought I had.
Tl;dr: This shit hurts.
So my perspective on this movie changed a few times over the years. From hating the gratuitous violence to admiring the authenticity to hating the cinematography&storytelling to loving it.. I was born in Germany in '93 and tried watching this movie for the first time when i was about 14-15 yrs old. By that time, I had studied WW2 history in school for about one and a half years, we had had school trips to 2 different concentration camp memorial sites, an uncountable number of holocaust museum visits and a fair share of tours with ppl who had witnessed the war first hand. Since my first language in school was French, we did an exchange program to France in grade 7 and one of our day trips was a tour where we were guided through one of the villages where the German army had carried out a so-called "vengeance-action" (kill as many civilians as possible) by the only remaining survivor.
Essentially, the orders for retreating troops were to murder the entire village while using as little resources as possible. They rounded up 500 women and children in the town church, then blew the roof so it collapsed in on them. One woman managed to climb out of a church window but the screams of her newborn baby gave her away so they were both shot 5 seconds after escaping the church. All males over 14 yrs old were rounded up in a barn and then executed by a soldier on a machine gun who was eating sugar cubes up until seconds before opening fire, as the guide told us. The survivor escaped by hiding under his friend's corpse, he said he was lucky he'd been "only shot 4 times in non lethal places". There's a cemetery and a crypt next to the ruins of the town, in which the victims' remains of this atrocity are enshrined. It's just ash and unidentifiable bones of the victims. I know now, that my feelings of unutterable disgust for fascism and WW2 come from trauma. Knowing I was traumatized, I'm still not sure how to educate a teenager on what their great-grandparents did without traumatizing them (i.e. whitewashing the horrors), honestly.
What I'm getting at is this: I was and possibly still am too emotionally invested in the story for my own good. It took a few years for me to feel sympathy with anyone on a battlefield, not just the "good guys". I know many Americans wonder if Germans feel pride for their ancestors.. I don't think I'll ever feel that way. My great grandfather died a hundred miles from Berlin as cannon fodder 2 weeks before the war was over at the age of 24, leaving behind a pregnant wife and an infant daughter who'd one day be my mother's mother. In my eyes his fate was sealed by not deserting when the war was young and I have to conclude he didn't act in anyone's interest but Hitler's by laying down his life at a point the war had already been lost for months, arguably years. I feel about him the same way I feel about most of the German soldiers depicted here: They MAY just be victims of their circumstances of being born in Germany under conscription. But enough ppl drank the nazi kool-aid to create the world they lived in back then, and that I will and cannot forgive, ever. BTW, my dad is English and his father worked on radio&radar installations in Tunisia and Egypt, northern Africa from the age of 19. Imagine my grandparents meeting each other for the first time o.O Yes, there used to be a language barrier which doesn't help reconciling the past at all.
Many comments talk about the invisible weight they felt on their chest throughout the movie and even though I feel somewhat similarly, I can't describe that feeling from back then as vaguely as "weight". From the very beginning of the movie, it felt like a truckload of anvils on every square centimetre of my body, emotionally excruciating. Back then at age 14-15, I HAD to stop watching after the flame thrower scene and had wanted to stop many times before I eventually did. Yes, the gruesomeness of disemboweled soldiers bleeding out on the beach didn't help, neither did Spielberg's repeated "He wants to help... oops, he dead now" motive on the beach. I eventually watched it again some years later (under protest) bc I was convinced by my friends I had played enough Call of Duty to not be as emotionally scarred by the display of machine guns firing into packed landing boats. they were partly right, but that scene and the utter inhumanity of war still haunts me today.
If you know anything about post war Germany and the unambiguous disdain and horror for the WWs and fascism I've been brought up in, you'd CERTAINLY expect there was no love lost for my compatriots. Or put another way: The look of nazi uniforms, bunkers on beaches, machine gun positions and concentration camps turns my stomach so violently, I used to have to be alone for a few minutes bc I had to reconcile my great grandfather's generations actions with the world I get to live in today. It feels a bit like mix of panic attack, unspeakable rage and imposter syndrome. I'm happy to say revisiting this isn't like fingers on a chalk board but it's not a walk in the park, either...
Now that I'm older, I can see more clearly the horrors both sides had to endure and I wouldn't put that kind of suffering upon anyone except the upper echelons of the nazi party in some self serving sense of administering karma, like: "you created the horror, now die by it". So in the end, this movie helped me get over my feeling of helpless rage.
Well done and much love to anyone making it through my TED talk
The last couple of minutes makes me cry my eyes out. When he asked his wife to tell him he was a good man, that he lead a good life. Wow. So powerful. Poor Ryan with that guilt around his heart for 70+ years!
"He's using that man's radio...does he not have his own radio?"
This is WWII, my sweet summer child. The smallest radio transmitter was 25 pounds and the size of a very large backpack.
Only Radiomen had radios...and that's all they carried.
No. A radio man’s T.O. Weapon was the 1911. Sometimes an M1 carbine.
They were large because they were all valves (vacuum tubes) and large batteries. No transistors there.
Today there's an RTO and he's usually the only one who has a large radio. Radios and their battery and antenna are pretty bulky.
"Sweet summer child"? Gross, could you be any creepier?
@@rollomaughfling380 It's OK, it's a game of thrones quote suggesting someone who is a bit innocent of realities :D
I never for once thought those scenes were "overly sentimental".
I had some issues with that as well. Definitely not my go to movie for a good cry.
Me neither... it's about an extreme life or death situation.
Ofc you'd reevaluate a lot!
Some people get emotional, some freeze up.
I loved that movie watching it the first time.
@@Lightningrod75 Depends on the scene, but old Ryan always gets me.
"Tell me I've lived a good life. Tell me I'm a good man."
Yeah, but the ending when the old man begs his wife to tell him he's a good man breaks me. Every time. But maybe that's just because I'm a veteran, and an old sentimental fool.
@@dennispanko6311 To clarify, it's the 'overly' I had a problem with, not the sentimental. This is a perfect movie to me and not overdone in any aspect.
This movie is a masterpiece of a film. The message the captain leaves with Ryan "earn this", is a message for all of us. A reminder to never forget what those boys did and to live a life worthy of their sacrifice.
It didn’t come to me the first time I watched it, but I’m pretty sure Spielberg intended that Ryan stand in for all of us, who get to live safe, comfortable lives thanks to the sacrifices of the men who fought the war. We should feel gratitude. We should “earn this”.
"Give up, you have no chance. Let us end this. It's easier for you, way easier. You will see, it's over in a moment." SS soldier to Mellish if your interested.
This scene....I just cannot watch this scene anymore. The first time I saw this I felt really sick.
The one to watch is “Schindler’s List”. Talk about having a cry. A heart wrenching true story that had me bawling, especially the ending.
Yes. Schindler's list is absolutely phenomenal and heartbreaking
As acclaimed and phenomenal as that movie is, it is by far the hardest film for me to rewatch. It's so dark and visceral its crushingly depressing throughout the majority of it run.
@Rasmus I’m also Jewish, and it is a very difficult watch. But imo every Jew needs to watch this film, even if she doesn’t do a reaction it is an important film to watch.
I could only watch it once
Liam Neeson was fantastic in that movie.
In the beginning during the office scene you hear them mention " the Sullivan brothers" there were 5 all died on the same ship. They were from Waterloo Iowa.
Find the movie "The fighting Sullivans" old black & white movie. It's a heart braker !!!
FUBAR = Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition
This movie honestly hits me super hard everytime.
"This one is going to make me cry"
-Band of Brothers checks in*
Just the theme song for that show makes me feel all sorts of emotions
Enter Schindler's List
@double endemnity I haven't seen anything similar, and even then it's good. Only let down for me is when the German tanks roll up and they're not actual German tanks.. Only very few of them are, just as in SPR.
@double endemnity You are an opinion of one it would seem. I have never heard anyone shit on BoB, until you, that is.
@double endemnity your entitled to your wrong opinion...
“I like him but I’m also afraid he’s gonna mess some stuff up.”
...well...
"This Ryan better be worth it."
This Ryan is the only member of his generation of the family still alive. If his family is going to have a future, it's going to be through him. Otherwise, WWII _took his family's entire future._
When he said that; I thought “He is worth it you idiot!” I was so mad
a ww2 veteran said in a movie theatre the opening scene was so accurate that the only thing missing was the smell of blood and gun powder and he could still smell both while watching the scene. thank you so much to all who serve and have served. thank you and god bless.
When I was a kid and first watched this, I remember being so pissed off when Upham freezes up. After being in the army, I just feel bad for him. You never know how you're going to react until you're in the moment.
We would all like to imagine that we would be the hero to save the day. But that's not how it always turns out unfortunately.
Upham wasn't even combat trained. He even says that he hasn't fired a rifle since basic training.
Comparing Upham's combat performance against highly trained infantry with combat experience is like comparing a guy who literally just joined a gym against pro MMA fighters.
Watching this movie for the first time on a phone screen is some kind of crime. :(
To quote David Lynch, "Get real!"
@@HankMeldrum 😁
@@HankMeldrum Right! The *only* time I've ever heard Lynch use a profanity was when he talked about watching his movies on a phone.
That "fucking" had more value than any other adjective I've heard.
Next week on Natalie Gold's iPhone:
Gravity
Natalie, for your benefit: FUBAR means "Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition." A little advice...your comments are very smart but you talked way too much, causing you to miss some important things. I also suggest that for an historic event like this you do just a little research, such as the fact that the opening scene was known as D-Day, and these guys landed on Omaha Beach, one of the bloodiest battles of the war. I only saw the TH-cam version, and I don't mean to be hard on you. I hope instead that my criticism is constructive and helps a little in your future projects.
Thank you for sharing your first-time reaction to watching this movie. Two years after this great film came out, my grandfather passed away from cancer in 2000. He enlisted in 1942 & served in the 5th Ranger Battalion that trained in Tennesee & eventually shipped out to Britain in late 1943/early 1944. Trained in the Highlands of Scotland in early 1944 alongside his fellow Rangers before D-Day.
On June 6th, 1944, he subsequently climbed the cliffs of Point du Hoc. He had to carry his BAR into battle in rough terrain under heavy fire, search & eventually destroy the German Howitzers that greatly saved thousands of his fellow countrymen on the beaches. As history goes, the Rangers had to traverse miles of the French countryside for the repositioned guns after hours of naval & air bombardment prior to the invasion forced the Germans back from Point du Hoc. My grandfather was one man out of 75 men (out of 225 Rangers, 67% of the unit were wounded or killed) who was able to reach the top of Point du Hoc & keep on fighting beyond the Longest Day. Played a part of Operation Cobra in the breakout out of Normandy.
Into the battle of Saint-Lo in July 1944, he got wounded when a piece of mortar shrapnel hit his leg (from his calf to above his ankle) & took him out of action. The 29th Infantry Battalion alongside another American division with small groups of Army Rangers took massive losses from German artillery destroying the town. My grandfather would have met his end at Saint-Lo, but thankfully he had a guardian angel over him.
Over the years, I was told by my father & my aunt that after he got wounded, my grandfather was saved by a Sherman Tank Crew from the 747th Independent tank division that came to support the 29th Infantry division to take ruins of Saint-Lo & were attempting to gather all the wounded GIs during the course of the battle. It's still very unclear how many were saved on that day alongside my grandfather, but as a result of them saving lives, the Sherman Tank Commander was the only casualty while gathering up the wounded men under heavy fire. Due to their courageous actions, my grandfather lived, was able to go home to raise a family, & eventually serve as a police officer/sergeant for nearly 25 years until he retired in 1978. He got the Bronze Star for his heroic actions on D-Day & 2 Purple Hearts in the Fall of 1944. In both civilian life & his long days in law enforcement, he had to take small amounts of morphine (inside a capsule attached to a sliver neck chain around his neck) every day due to the wounds he received in the war until his last days on this earth. A reminder of the sacrifices he made in the defense of America, her people & the liberation of Europe.
Like everyone else who first watched the movie, I began to truly understand & greatly appreciate the sacrifices my grandfather & the millions of soldiers made in WWII. That includes the common German Soldier (non-SS/Nazi) who fought not for Hitler, but for their family & their country. This film will always be one of my favorite films about WWII despite some of its flaws. I always got emotional at the end of the film when Miller tells Ryan that "Earn this" & it cuts to Ryan asking his wife if he was a good man. My grandfather never ever saw Saving Private Ryan in the last years of his life (did like the movie The Longest Day), but like most veterans, he would have attempted to avoid seeing the horrors of war again. I was immensely grateful to have known him before his passing & I am proud to be his grandson.
His story is what I like to share with those who first watch & react to this movie on TH-cam because we take our lives now for granted that the Greatest Generation including my grandfather made the ultimate sacrifice for us.
@@YourInASoulTrap oh look an ungrateful little troll who wants nothing other than to utterly disrespect those who fought in WWII and look for fame. Bless your heart.
Typical ignorance and bias, especially for those of this current new generation.
My grandfather's story was genuinely common with millions of others who fought for their nation and their loved ones.
The very idea you "don't give a shit" shows the kind of human that you are in regards to those who made the ultimate sacrifice. You basically insult everyone who wants to express their loved ones' stories during that chaotic era. Show some fracking respect for those who do share these kinds of WWII stories and the heroes who fought on both sides of the conflict. I don't seek popularity or tons of views, but to share the story of an American hero.
But you are the one seeking attention either because you are jealous or simply got nothing better to do than troll others. You spit on the graves of every person who fought in that war. They were better human beings than you are and that's why they were called the Greatest Generation.
I am laughing back at your incompetence and blind disregard of humanity, but I won't waste any more of my breath on you. Instead, I'll leave you with a string of a quote from A Few Good Men
"We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline.....I would rather you just said thank you and went on your way.....I don't give a damn what you think....""
- Colonel Jessup
Tom Sizemore as we all know struggled with drug addiction, especially during this film. Spielberg caught wind of it and told Sizemore “you got two options, 1. We drug test you everyday from here on out or 2. I will reshoot every scene with you in it with another actor”. He gave a career performance and stayed clean thru the rest of the shoot. It’s so sad he couldn’t stay clean afterwards
“FUBAR”: f$&ked up beyond all recognition.
Similar to SNAFU: Situation Normal, All F@#$*& Up.
She has never seen Tango and Cash.
I am still waiting for 8Up to show up in a movie.
The r can also be Repair when used with machines
I checked the German English dictionary and no FUBAR.
0:25 “Was it worth it?”
Extremely , yes. What a nice boi!
I honestly think this film is so important educationally and historically. It's so vivid I remember young me watching this and WW2 seemed so distant, this brought it to life and I sat there in silence for the duration.
When Tom Hanks’ character, Capt. Miller, tells Matt Damon’s character, Pvt. Ryan, to “Earn this.”, that’s director Stephen Spielberg’s way of telling us, the viewer, to earn our freedom because of that generation’s sacrifices.
Leading assumption. So tell me, what am I "obligated" to do because people who died decades before I was born died decades before I was born?
@@stefanpieper3757 you are obligated to appreciate what you have, because there are many people who can only dream to live in a peaceful country
@@stefanpieper3757 you are obligated to appreciate what others would do anything to have. just living in the US is a something billions of people would give up everything for, all because of people like the ones portrayed in this movie.
@@cshepard09 Appreciating something is not the same as earning something. The latter implies I have to do something in return. I don't.
Fun fact: Matt Damon's monologue about his brothers was (reportedly) completely improvised on the spot.
😢😭
I think it was confirmed!
It was. As was Tom Hanks' reaction. :)
I saw this movie in an IMAX theater when it came out ... it left me an emotional wreck ... watching it on your phone just doesn't do it justice.
It tore her up on a phone. When she does see it on a TV, she's going to be very not okay.
When this movie showed in theatre's many WWII veterans couldn't watch the opening scene and would walk out. So realistic it brought back painful memories
The sound engineering in six channel stereo and viewed in an imax theater is the only appropriate way to really appreciate this film
The bumpers in this movie (the parts with the elder Private Ryan) show his torment of measuring every moment of the rest of his life against those two words from the captain: "Earn this." And, it is clear that, no matter how much good he's done, he has never felt that he measured up, even though everyone around him feels as though he has more than earned it.
I saw this in the theater when it first came out and there were a lot of veterans in the packed theater. The opening scene was jarring to everyone and even at that time I was thinking, "what's going through these guys minds?" When the movie was over I remember a lot of young family members fiercely hugging the "old guys" wearing their veterans caps. It was absolutely silent as people walked out of the theater.
The moments that feel overly sentimental are for a reason. Spielberg has a VERY short amount of time to get you to understand how close the men in a unit got. They told their lives to each other as they walked, or sat, or tried to sleep. The knew each other better than just about anyone. Old girlfriends, fears, everything. But the movie doesn't have a week or a month or years to get you to that point with the characters. He has minutes to create this for each character so he lays it on thick. It works because you very quickly care for each one of them. Very few war movies are as good as this one is at going from serene and peaceful, beautiful moments, to gut wrenching full horror of war in a single breath.
ive NEVER heard that criticism before. Overly sentimental???
@@dturasky19 It is a common critique of Spielberg.
@@joelwillis2043 he's making movies, they are supposed to be sentimental. I don't think "overly-sentimental" is a term that accurately describes Spielberg's movies. I think he hits the perfect amount of sentimentality. I would characterize something like X Men: Dark Phoenix as overly-sentimental with the whole "My emotions make me strong" bullshit lol.
@@mikehunt69981 Thanks for your opinion. I reject the hypothesis that movies need to be sentimental.
@@joelwillis2043 Thanks for your opinion, but who said movies “HAD” to be sentimental?
It’s pretty clear Spielberg knows how to make movies that sell and that literally billions of people have enjoyed watching them.
Of course people are allowed to be critical if they like, but that doesn’t make their opinions right...or interesting.
Glad we got to watch this with you, but man is it a bummer to know you had to watch it for the first time on the smallest screen you had. The film is so grand in its scale it really deserves the biggest screen you can use
I saw it on first release in the cinema. I came out saying to myself "It can't be that bad. Surely it's not that bad. It's that bad, isn't it?. It CAN'T be that bad". Knowing it was worse. The beach scenes left a permanent mark on me. I think this movie should be mandatory viewing for all students at the age of 14 or 15. At the local cinema. On the biggest screen possible.
I teared up more watching this with you than in the original viewing. You have such an empathic spirit, thanks for sharing.
Survivor’s guilt is something really hard to live with wondering why you got to live while your friends and brothers die, lose limbs and you walk away with no physical scars
Spielberg made this film as a love letter to his Dad, a WW2 vet who was still alive when he made the film. Hence, the sentimentality.
“Dear madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department, a statement by the adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are to mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be, any word of mine that would attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved, and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have lain so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.
Your very sincerely and respectfully,
Abraham Lincoln.
And lets not forget the 5 Sullivan brothers who served together on one ship that was sunk in the Atlantic during WWII.
Boy is alive. We’re going to send somebody to find him. And we’re going to get him the hell out of there.
@Heather Stephens I have no doubt that it was of no comfort at all. These words, however supportive and praising they may be, were written by a man who, despite being an obviously gifted leader, never fought in a battle a day in his life. I have no doubt he believed the words as he wrote them, but he had no personal reference as to the horrors of battle.
Also, from a cold and practical perspective, if leaders didn’t convince young men that it was glorious to die in defense of their country, there would be no armies to defend those countries. There is no glory in war, only cold and bloody necessity.
@Heather Stephens I doubt she knew what assuage meant either, however it was a different time, and plain speaking and upfront conversation were not expected from the educated, especially the president.
@@sullyway51 in the Pacific. It was the USS Atlanta. It sank during the battle of Guadalcanal.
My Great Uncle (RIP) was a tank commander in WW2 and used to tell us stories all the time (but not the horrifying things). He lived through... a lot of stuff. He wasn't really into movies, but he couldn't finish this one. He had to leave the building and cried for a good hour or so while he just muttered the names of his unit/friends that were lost and he had to witness. It was shocking, to me. He was a tiny little old man with a long white beard who would do magic tricks for us and make up fun nicknames and generally goof off. Once we were old enough, and he was on his way out, he told us the REAL stuff about being in WW2. He passed less than a year later.
The death of the guy who missed his mom was one of the few times I’ve cried from a movie. Another time was at the end of 1917 when he delivers the news to his brother, which mainly hit home because I couldn’t imagine hearing that about my brother. Anyways though, this film is a masterpiece
What makes me cry: this lost in the Oscars.
To Shakespeare in Love, of all things
I know. Fucking Shakespeare in Love. Such bullshit.
THe production value is some of the best you will see in a war movie. However the script was Hollywood melodrama crap.
I do not think this was worth being best picture.
@@dirus3142 Alright, Shakespeare In Love, Saving Private Ryan, Thin Red Line, Life is Beautiful and Elizabeth... which one would you have picked? Cuz it definitely wasn't gonna be Shakespeare in Love.
" I was having issues with my laptop so I decided to watch this movie (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) on my PHONE..." ~facepalm~
When Captain Miller says "Earn This" to Ryan on the bridge, don't just see it as a message to him but a message to all of us who live under the freedom that those men sacrificed their lives for, because that is the debt that we owe to the future.
Exactly. The generations of the free world who came off WW2 owe an eternal debt to the “greatest generation” who sacrificed to liberate the world from fascist tyranny. On a geopolitical note, the western Allies then was well aware that they have to deal with the post-war threat of Communism in Soviet Russia and Red China that prompted the Allies to help rebuild Germany and Japan as buffers to this threat. The West may have won the Cold War with the collapse of the Soviet Union, but now in the 21st century there’s again a rise in authoritarian ideology and expansion where Putin’s Russia has inflicted a full invasion of Ukraine, and China is threatening to reclaim Taiwan by force and has built bases in contested coral islands in the South China Sea. The free world may have to face down again this new challenge to world peace and stability.
The part where Upham was paralyzed with fear is something every soldier goes through in their first fight.
General Patton said it best as he gave a speech to the Third Army before the invasion of France:
"Every man is scared in his first action. If he says he's not, he's a goddamn liar. But the real hero is the man who fights even though he's scared. Some men will get over their fright in a minute under fire, some take an hour, and for some it takes days. But the real man never lets his fear of death overpower his honor, his sense of duty to his country, and his innate manhood."
Natalie: "They want to see you!"..."Your paws are dirty and wet."
Dog: "I tried to warn you in my own doggy way."
hahahaha
I can't believe she watched this on her phone.
This is one of the best movies of the 20th century.
I love Nat but this film deserves better.
Yeah, as a subscriber I'd be fine with waiting an extra couple of days for the upload, if it means she doesn't have to watch an epic film on a 6-inch screen.
Yep. This would have been a good one to say "I'll wait till I get my setup working"
Yeah, imagine not recognizing that Tom Hanks character got shot (and the fact that the got shot by Steamboat Willie)
disaster -_-
Yeah, I watched it twice in the theater and have watched it a half dozen more times since.
This film was so stunning on the big screen with the surround-sound just thundering in the opening battle. I cannot imagine even trying to watch this movie on a cell phone where you can't tell who the actors are. I am still glad you watched it and you had a great reaction.
This was such an amazing film, the first time I watched it, I was captivated by the cinematography and the acting was impeccable. It was so sad, intense, and had such moments of sentimentality to help break up those tough moments.
Btw -- the first "Ryan" they find is Nathan Fillion
yeah, Captain Mal from Firefly :)
Dude, are you kidding me!? I watched this movie several times and I never noticed that this guy is Nathan Fillion 😮
Shiny!
Castle!!!
I was so surprised that she did not recognize him
Natalie please promise you will never watch a movie on your phone again. Of all the movies to do that with, it is legit heartbreaking that you saw Saving Private Ryan this way. You are one of my favorite reactors I love your content!!
Yep, I think she should have waited until she had a proper screening. If your room isn't showering you with ricochet sounds from the landing scene -- you're not watching this movie properly, IMO. Whereas I had the pleasure of watching this on a massive theater screen when it came out.
Heartbreaking lol. Little bit of a drama queen, aren't you?
@@DavidBennet Oh for sure
@@seanlittle2302 At least you can admit lol. Might want to work on that though
What an amazing way to forever rob yourself of the experience of watching this masterpiece for the first time, By not really seeing much on a tiny screen yet being spoiled on the magic of this movie.
Even though some films are upsetting you owe it to yourself to give them a watch to understand what people went through to give the world freedom
The thing to remember about the Omaha Beach sequence is that in real life, it was worse. In the movie, it was 15 minutes of carnage; in real life, it went on for *hours*.
Plus the smell.
The veterans said it was spot on, not the same times obviously but everyone of them who talked about that scene said it was 100% accurate. They even had to set up hotlines for veterans because it was so spot on. Look it up.
@@LexyThomas134 no they didn’t. I know this comment is 2y old but the scene isn’t 100% accurate. There were no bunkers on the beach. The pole-obstacles are facing the wrong way, and medics don’t perform medical procedures while being under constant fire. I love the scene nonetheless, I watch it a few times now and then and I see past the inaccuracies.
@@patrikcoh88 That's not what people remember, who remember the way things were placed? Haha I'm talking about what happened on the beach was "Spot on" said by the soldiers themselves
@@LexyThomas134 Ah, so what you mean is the horror and feelings it depicts. I misunderstood you, my bad. Thanks for clearing it up.
This is why this scene is one of my favourite, if not THE favourite scene of mine. It just feels like you are on site. I have full understanding of veterans not being able to sit through this scene, no matter what the historical inaccuracies there might be.
I'm just going to ignore the fact that Natalie committed the sin of watching this beautiful movie on a phone.
I'm....trying.....
She watched this in a phone?
When I first watched this film… the one scene that got me transfixed. About 7-10 minutes in and you see the soldier stand up and you see he has his lower arm missing and he’s searching for it and just picks it up… that’s the moment I knew I was in for a heavy experience
There were D-day veterans that saw this movie in theaters when it came out and the amphibious landing and taking of the beach was so realistic that a lot of them had to leave the theater. The greatest generation to ever live
I couldn’t think of a worse way to experience this film for the first time than watching it on a phone screen. At least some degree of its impact and resonance comes through.
Looking at his wife, "Tell me I have led a good life." This moment rips me to my soul, every single time.
Me too......... As many times as I have watched this, my throat gets tight and my eyes get blurry at the ending.
As a Jarhead it breaks me up also. Tell me I am a good man. Heart wrenching
That and when the mom falls down getting the news.
Saw this in theatres when they reran it a few years ago. Seems like I had the same kind of theatre when it first came out. Nobody spoke at the end and just left. It’s ‘funny’ how a 20 year old movie can still have the same effect on people. Even me who’s seen it so many times. The sound design in the theatre was intense. The talking being really quiet, gunfire making my hearing go out, and the tank tracks rumbling the seats. Was definitely an experience
Sorry I’m coming in late here-just discovered your channel. That church scene where Upham was trying to find out where Capt. Miller was from and what he did before the war-was one of the many captivating sub plots in this film. Miller has been an enigma for his men, that they’ve started a growing bet among themselves on who would first guess correctly or find out about where he was from, what he did before the war, etc. Unbeknown to them, Miller was aware of the bet but kept away from it until that tense scene after Miller freed the captured German soldier, that Miller decided to reveal his past to the astonishment of his men-which diffused the dissension among them.
On a side note, although the gripping D-Day landing scene was filmed in Ireland (because such scale of filming is not permitted on a war memorial site as Omaha Beach), the opening and closing cemetery scenes was actually filmed at the Normandy American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer on a beautifully cared 172.5 acre wooded memorial spot overlooking Omaha Beach where thousands of US military, who died in the Normandy landings and ensuing battles, are buried and are memorialized every June 6 with a military commemorative ceremony to honor the sacrifice of these brave heroes who perished in Normandy. Appreciate your covering and sensitive reaction to this Spielberg masterpiece.
Watching this movie on a phone screen...
while there is a huge TV behind her...
I don't want to live in this world anymore :(
one of the best movies of our lifetime.....and she watches it on her phone.
Could be worse. She could watch First Man on her Iphone.
@@dirus3142 or galaxy
😂
@@Orangeflava or Moon
i remember in theaters it sounded like the tanks were comin right behind me ...🇺🇸☝🏼
Ryan not only had these guys trying to save him, but also he lost all of his own brothers. In some ways the living must go on and carry with them all those that gave their lives so he could live, he has to live a worthy life. But really we should all strive to live a worthy life anyway.
I am a empathic viewer. When I watch a movie I imagine how it would feel to be in that moment and feel really intensely, so after seeing the trailer and clips from the into of this movie it took me about ten years to draw the courage to watch it at home. The most intense opening scene in any movie.
A little tip about renting on TH-cam: if you rent it on your phone and start playing it, you can then access it from your TH-cam history on any device.
or on your purchase list on any device you do not need to start it
Natalie, you NEVER EVER watch a movie like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN on a phone.
Agreed, but also pls stop throwing lightsabers off islands.
@@jamesprins9735 Luckily, it was still there on the edge. :P
@@jamesprins9735 It wasn't me, but my evil step brother, Jake.
For what it’s a fucking movie and she watched it chill ouy
Chill out bruh she’s watching it how she wants. Go get a vaccine shot now
Can we just take a moment to recognise what an important film maker Steven Spielberg is.
An American treasure.
Me and my Apple coworkers love your reactions, very authentic.Not sure if someone already posted this but around 15:24 when you thought it was the guy who went left, that person was the sniper Jackson, the person who died was their medic Wade
The first "Private Ryan" they find, who turns out not to be the right Ryan, is played by Nathan Fillion the same actor who is Mal on Firefly.
He also play the lead on Castle , currently off air and the lead on The Rookie currently a running series. A very good actor!
Nathan Fillion also played a small part in another terrific movie that came out just one year after "Saving Private Ryan".
The title is "Blast from the Past" starring Brendan Frazier and Alicia Silverstone. Nathan's character is Cliff, who is Alicia's ex-boyfriend. I saw both films in the theater. 10 years later becoming a fan of "Castle" in it's early seasons, (I wasn't introduced to "Firefly" until 2016, even though that show preceded "Castle"}. I recognized Nathan in the small roles in both films, years later after one of the many rewatches, since I own both films.
It is so perfect how the movie shows Upham getting his first kill as a moment of triumph but in reality it is a moment of tragedy. Here is a man who has officially just lost everything he believes in. Perfectly crafted scene.
Likely the only shot he fires in the entire war. Killing a surrendering prisoner and his big regret is not doing it sooner. The man who's life he saved killed at least two of his friends so he kills him the second time and at that moment loses all his youth and formal moral compass.
Plus it’s unfortunate that the man didn’t jump in to save his comrade in action but felt the need to commit a war crime by killing surrendering prisoners. It would have been a better choice to have him take the guy out for shooting Tom Hanks during the fight.
@@5353Jumper no the guy who knifed the other soldier is not the same guy who they let go, that guy was the one who shot Hanks character. Either way Upham can still go screw himself, even today.
Upham gets a lot of hate from most, me included, but I think Spielberg uses his character as a representative of the "civilian" perspective, the one who has never seen combat trying to apply civilized morality ("this isn't right!") to war, a situation where morality and applying those civilized principles are totally thrown out the window because those rules do not apply in war. And trying to apply them will often get you, or others, killed.
@El Vato we do get it dude, him not being able to kill that guy meant his men got killed. But the whole point of the character is to try and apply a perspective where people believe that killing others is wrong which it obviously is, but in a war setting obv it goes out the window. Him reacting to being overwhelmed and scared in that situation isn’t unrealistic man, it’s wrong of you to judge this character’s representation of people in that moment because you don’t know how you’d react in that setting and scenario, when millions of others have and I guarantee that men who were in this war would be offended by your lack of empathy for who this character represents. But hey it’s the internet and people don’t really care about yours or my opinion so whatever I guess
Used to be an airport skycap and one time helped a D-Day veteran (101st) who came back from the memorial. Tom Hanks would often go to their memorial reunion in Normandy and was very close with the veterans.
Thanks for showing us your fluffy baby! A little bit of comfort for such a sad movie. :(
"Fun" fact, the two men who surrendered and got executed by the americans at the end of the first sequence were screaming:
“Please don’t shoot me! I am not German, I am Czech, I didn’t kill anyone! I am Czech!"
Yep. They were drafted by the Germans and didn’t want to be there
I love this detail that a majority of people don't know about.
The Germans “conscripted” Eastern Europeans and put them on the Atlantic sea wall. They also conscripted Frenchmen and put them on the eastern front.
Aye both sad and historically accurate...or use Russian (recruited out of POW/Death Camps), Belgian, etc, etc
It's an amazing detail that Spielberg put in that the vast majority of viewers wouldn't even understand but those that do get to reveal.
It'll be a bit of a journey, but I highly recommend Band Of Brothers. I'm over simplifying here to avoid spoilers, but after shooting this movie, Spielberg and Hanks took all they learned and shot a 10hr NON-fictional version following a group of soldiers through the whole war.
As a 38 year veteran, I would like to offer you this.
WWII veterans that watched this movie during a private viewing. After the movie started, during the D-Day landing part, most of the WWII veterans stood up and walked out. Most of the veterans that left the theater choose to stay outside and choose not to watch the remainder of the movie. Instead the simply sat outside and hung out and talked about the war in their own way.
So the only way to be able to tell this story without everyone recognizing all of the actors and actresses, to truly understand what these men and women went through, would be to have unknown actors and actresses portray the critical parts and make it more of a documentary. But I truly appreciate your reaction, it is always interesting to see peoples reaction to this movie.
Interesting thing about this movie, the first 25 minutes were SO realistic that the film makers set up hotlines for WW2 vets to call in because of how traumatizing the D-Day landing scene was for them to relive.
There is a spoiler early in the movie that tells you the Old Man is Ryan. He's wearing a Screaming Eagles Pin of the 101st Airborne....Ryan is the only major character who was with that unit, the rest were all Rangers.
Oh, Nat! How soon they forget. There's Nathan Fillion acting his heart out as Private James Ryan - Minnesota - and you didn't even recognise him…
“He’s using that mans radio, does he not have a radio?”
He dropped his cellphone in the channel...with the tanks, they’re floundering 🤣
Cellphones weren't as waterproof back then
Anecdotally, the original scene brought back many WW II survivors memories of the real events.