50 Facts You Didn't Know About Saving Private Ryan

This movie despite being released in 1998 still to this day is better than most movies that come out. Does not look or appear “old” in anyway. Hands down the best war movie over all that was ever created

12:50 My father took my grandfather to see Private Ryan. My grandfather was a British D-Day veteran, and he said he spent most of the beach scene with his eyes closed, just listening. After, he said "that's exactly what I remember". My father said it's the only time he'd ever seen his father cry.

I had a patient that was born in 1919. He fought in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. He refused to watch any war movies regardless how accurate they were. He stated “why would I want to relive the horrors that I’ve spent decades to forget?” He sadly passed away in 2017. I enjoyed listening to the stories he had to say from all the wars but specially WW2. It was better than any movie I could ever watch. We forget that they were the greatest generation. RIP John.

My dad (1925-2002), a WWII veteran who saw action in the Battle of the Bulge, said this is the most realistic depiction of the war he had ever seen.

I enlisted in 96' as a Combat Medic. I saw this movie and the part that affected me the most was when they were asking "doc" how to fix him. My first Combat tour was in 2002, then in 2008, and finally in 2011. It still haunts me to remember those I couldn't save.

Those guys being sentenced by a judge to watch this movie after destroying veteran memorials is probably one of the best examples of justice I have ever heard of

When my wife and I saw this movie we were both physically ill afterwards. Her grandmother, whose husband was a paratrooper on D-Day, said the movie was as perfect as any she’d seen about WW II. I think this movie is easily among the 10 best ever made, all genres, and had a superior cast, totally top notch! God Bless the Greatest Generation!

I remember going to see this movie in the theaters with my wife. I’ll never forget when I looked over to my left there was a older gentleman sitting by himself. I remember looking over at him and seeing him with tears in his eyes. There was no doubt in my mind that he had served. When it was over I went over and thanked him for his service. He nodded and tried to smile. He gave me a silent thank you and walked off. I’ll never forget that.

I remember when “Saving Private Ryan” came out and there were many calls to tone down the graphic violence, especially at the beginning. Some of the loudest voices to leave it in came from World War Two veterans who had landed at Normandy. They said “That was what it was like.”. I have never heard of, much less seen, a censored “Saving Private Ryan”,so I guess they carried the day.

I'll never forget seeing this film when it was first-released and the stunned silence at the end of the movie. I will also never forget seeing an elderly man - probably a veteran of that war - sitting alone and weeping silently to himself. Shortly afterward, a brief but impactful volume came out, called "Now You Know," which was guys reflecting on what they had experienced in the invasion and their reactions to the film.

I went to see this movie in the theater. It was very powerful. Surroundsound was perfect! Perfect! The whistling sound of the rounds made you duck. That’s how good it was. There were a bunch of World War II veterans near the front row with their families. When we found out, a bunch of us went over to shake hands with them at the end of the movie. Wasn’t a dry eye among us. Some of them visibly shaken with their grown kids and teenage grandkids having their arm around them for support. You must understand. This was shockingly realistic to us all. One old fellow among the veterans said that it was so realistic, he felt he could smell the diesel. Spielberg really nailed it with this one.

As a photographer that did his end thesis on Robert Capa when I studied. And someone who has worked in The film industry for over a decade. Thank you for including the information about him and his work in this video. His work was so integral to bringing the gritty realism to the film. It often gets over looked. I literally watched the whole video hoping you would have a spot for him.

It's true that Spielberg didn't storyboard the beach scene, but he didn't just "set up cameras and hoped he caught something" as you said. He made up his shots on the fly before takes. The scene was properly orchestrated, just not in the traditional way with a storyboard. Spielberg would have never spent all those millions and 25 days for that scene just to "hope he got it". The beach scene shows his brilliance as a director because he was able to give the chaos clarity, which would have never worked had he just let things happen on their own.

I worked as a police office near the airfield where they filmed a lot of the movie, I remember on night shift being called out to a report of a dozen men with firearms in the nearby farmers field. We went around and couldn't find them so went to the airfield and spoke with the production staff (they worked 24hrs during the making of the movie) and they said it was their actors doing their roughing it training. They then gave us a guided tour around the outside sets and all the inside departments including prosthetics, the horse blown in half was so realistic and they had the best canteen i have ever been into. We were invited to go back many times and one time included watching a scene being practised in the town set standing about 10 metres behind Mr Spielberg, great memories brought back to me by your video, thanks :)

Watched it for the second time this past weekend! There is something about war films that makes me break down every time I see one- and Saving Private Ryan was right up there with the rest. Our greatest generation!

This is one of my favourite movies and just thinking about the scene where Ryan visits the grave with his family makes me shred a tear

The scene where Ryan talks about his brother with the ugly girl is so fucking genuine. It's the exact type of story real soldiers tell. The number of stories like that I've heard while in the military is insane

Although that opening scene is truly horrific, the one that sticks with me is Pvt Mellish’s death at the hands of the SS soldier. I’ll never forget the blade slowly sinking into Mellish's chest as the SS soldier says in untranslated German: "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." I can’t recall a most disturbing scene ever.

One of the greatest films ever made, that was beaten by “Shakespeare in Love” for best picture. It was the last time I watched the Academy Awards. We owe those men who stormed those beaches a debt we can never repay. RIP.

Just lost my grandmother recently, she was 97 years old. During the funeral, I learned quite a bit about her younger years that I had never heard before ... makes me wonder if my grandfather hadnt died in 1994, and made it to my adult years or even teenage years, how much I could've learned about his war experience. Normandy, Battle of the Bulge, and what it was like upon his return home....