Saving Private Ryan

Released: July 24, 1998

Studio: DreamWorks

Genre: war drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 217.00 Worldwide: 482.30

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 412.69 Worldwide: 917.70

Directing: Steven Spielberg

Screenwriting: Robert Rodat

Starring: Tom Hanks, Edward Burns, Tom Sizemore, Matt Damon, Adam Goldberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Barry Pepper, Harve Presnell, Vin Diesel, Jeremy Davies

Review:

Because of its “realistic and uncompromising account of the war often romanticized by Hollywood,” ^AFI07 Saving Private Ryan is “considered as one of the greatest war dramas ever made.” ^MSN “The film was a critical and box office smash and brought Spielberg his second Best Director Oscar (his first was for his other World War II era film, Schindler’s List (1993).” ^FS

The first half hour of the film is marked by “the brutal, uncompromising, and graphic depiction of the landing at bloody Omaha Beach on D-Day (June 6, 1944) .” ^FS Most of the film, however, “revolves around the rescue of a downed paratrooper in the French countryside, Pvt. James Ryan (Damon), whose three brothers have recently been killed in action.” ^FS Thanks to a “morale-lifting, propagandistic, PR effort for the military brass (Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Presnell),” ^FS “a unit of war-weary soldiers is forced to risk their lives to find the young man and bring him home.” ^AFI07

Captain John Miller (Hanks) leads a platoon of “seven stereotypical characters…hard-nosed Sgt. Horvath (Sizemore), a frightened, militarily-inexperienced translator Cpl. Upham (Davies), and five privates (Burns, Ribisi, Diesel, Pepper and Goldberg) – including a cynical hothead from Brooklyn, an introspective medic, a decent soldier, a religious Southern sharpshooter, and a tough Jew.” ^FS

“Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks had been longtime friends before this movie, yet somehow had never worked together. Once each learned the other was reading Robert Rodat’s script, discussions ensued.” ^MSN

Sources:

^AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”
^MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Oscars:

Wins: 5: Best Director – Steven Spielberg, Best Cinematography – Janusz Kaminski, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing

Nominations: 11, including Best Picture, Best Actor – Tom Hanks, Best Original Screenplay – Robert Rodat, Best Original Score – John Williams, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Makeup