Private Caparzo: Captain, the decent thing to do would be take her over to the next town.
Captain John Miller: We're not here to do the decent thing, we're here to follow f*cking orders!
After the taking of the beaches, and Miller returns for revised orders, the fleet in the background appears/disappears. See more...
Some of the extras in the film were real amputees with one arm or leg missing so the effect of seeing someone blown up and lose their limb was as realistic as possible, as opposed to having a leg or arm "tucked away." There was uproar in Ireland because of this, but the extras loved meeting the actors and getting paid handsomely as well. See more...
Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Adam Goldberg, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel (add more)
The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!
Rumor has it that the soldier Captain Miller helps to get on shore in the beginning of the film is one of the Ryan brothers. Supposedly you can see his name on his uniform at some point. Since I don't have the movie I can't check for myself. Anyone who can verify this? [If you mean the soldier that is wounded and Miller drags him up to the beach by his pack strap, that soldier's name is Briggs. I don't notice any other soldiers being helped to the shore by Miller.]
Answered by ChiChi
Why, when the radar attack, the 7 of them attack it, but some men get blown up. Who are these people? [They aren't attacking the radar, technically, they are attacking the German machine gun nest guarding it. "Steamboat Willie" is the only surviving gunner.]
When the higgins boats were blown to bits, before we see Jackson in the front of the boat, when the ramps go down, the whole people in screen were shot, also where Jackson was, but later Jackson is there with Miller at the seawall, how could this be? [Jackson could simply have been slightly wounded, or even missed completely, and was simply knocked to the floor by those around him who were hit. He could even have just hit the deck when the guns opened up.]
Answered by Tailkinker
In the beach scene, they keep talking about something called "dog one exit". What is "dog one"? [The Allied forces identified five heavily-defended "exits" off Omaha Beach, which had to be cleared in order for the invasion to proceed inland: Dog One, Dog Three, Easy One, Easy Three and Fox One. The real Dog One was a road off the beach, although the movie portrays it as a stepped footpath.]
Answered by Sierra1
At Omaha Beach, there were large metal things strewn along the water line (they sort of resembled gigantic jacks). First, what are those? Second, were they at the actual Omaha Beach on D-Day? [Nicknamed "Czech Hedgehogs", they're designed to damage incoming landing craft or to stop tanks making their way up the beach. They were indeed present on D-Day.]
Answered by Tailkinker
What did Miller mean when he said, "Give me Rieben on B.A.R."? What is "B.A.R."? [The BAR is the Browning Automatic Rifle; it was the heavy machine gun of this area for US forces, when he says, "Give me Rieben on B.A.R." he is picking squad members, he would want people with certain specialties in the squad, a medic, a sniper, a demolitions expert, a heavy machine gunner, which is the BAR, etc.]
Answered by pross79
Jackson, the sniper of Miller's crew, states that if he was in a mile of Adolf Hitler, he would kill him. So, as they were driven to the beach, why didn't Jackson and other snipers try to pick off the the German guys who were firing the at the boats as the Americans left them? [Sniping needs stability - the movement of the waves under the boat would disrupt their aim so badly that they wouldn't have much hope of hitting anything.]
Answered by Tailkinker
In the opening Omaha beach scene, we see soldiers being mowed down as soon as they leave the LCVP's. Was this really the case in 1944? Were the bunkers really that close to to the shoreline? [Yes, this was the case unfortunately. Many soldiers lost there lives before exiting the boats. Several Normandy survivors say that the scene was the best interpretation of what actually happened on that day.]
When they let the German who shot Wade walk away blindfolded, why on earth did they not handcuff him as well? They did not assure that he was picked up by the allied, and he could easily remove the blindfold. After all it was bad judgment as he was the one who killed Capt. Miller. [Why not tie up him and put him in a ditch? There's a million things he could have done. One reason he just made him walk away blindfolded was to scare him into thinking he was going to be executed. Its not really shown whether they even had handcuffs, so it's hard to determine if they could have done something like that. Their main concern was with the mission, not what would happen to him. Last thing with letting him go, Miller could have been shot by any one of those German soldiers so it's more just ironic that he killed him.]
Answered by Lummie
After the D-day battle and Capt. Miller is informing the Colonel about the types of mines, what was the purpose of Capt. Miller taking such a long pause during his discussion? [Their discussion was talking about a mission they recently completed and that it claimed a lot of troops lives. Throughout the film every death seems to affect Miller and was probably reflecting on the tragic situation.]
Answered by Lummie
This applies to a lot of war films, but what is a klick? [It's American military slang for a kilometre.]
Answered by Hamster
What is said between Upham and Steamboat Willie right before Willie gets shot? It's all in German and a very dramatic scene, one of my favorites. All I have is VHS and I can't find a complete script on the web. [Upham surprises the group of Germans, yelling at them to put their hands up and their weapons down. Willie says, "I know this soldier. I know this man." Upham says, "And shut your trap." Willie says, "Up-ham," and Upham shoots him.]
I noticed that during the whole film, when bullets hit the soldiers' bodies, dust comes out (even on a wet Omaha Beach). Why is that? [It's not dust, it's particles of sand, water, blood and flesh that spray out when they are hit. Even though the beach is wet they still have sand clinging to them.]
My tape ran out right at the end due to all the ad breaks and new bulletins so I missed the last 5 minutes. I saw right up to the bit after old Private Ryan does his speech to the grave and then his wife, presumably, comes up and says, 'James' and kaput. Can anyone tell me what happened in those dying minutes? [James asks his wife if he is a good man. She assures him that he is. He then salutes the grave and the camera zooms in on the American flag fluttering in the wind and then the film ends.]
Almost after the D-Day battle is over, Caparzzo picks up a Hitler Youth Knife and hands it to Mellish. Then Mellish calls the knife a "shabbat challah cutter." What does that mean? [I do not know the exact signifigance for the Jewish faith but Shabbat Challah is a Jewish Bread and the Challah Knife is used to cut the bread. So using a knife from a Nazi you killed for this would be a pretty good F You to Hitler and the Nazis.]
Answered by pross79
After the D-Day battle, Capt. Miller and the Colonel are discussing whatever. They keep mentioning something called "the 88's." What are the 88's? [An "88" is a German 88-millimeter gun, a lethal and extremely versatile gun which was often thought of as the best gun in the war - on ANY side. It could appear on a tank, as an anti-tank gun, as an assault gun or as an anti-aircraft gun.]
This may have been obvious but I wanted to check, the guy that kills Adam Goldberg horribly with the knife and shoots Tom Hanks, he was the guy they let go with 1000 paces, right? Nasty thought. The translating private shoots him at the end as well, right? [You're absolutely right.]
Does anybody have an explanation to the apparent violation of orders by Miller's team? Their orders are to find and bring back Pvt Ryan, yet they engage themselves in one battle after another, repeatedly jeopardizing their mission. One would expect the mission objective to be exclusive, and that engagements with the enemy should be avoided of possible. [Miller is a good officer. He won't carry out his orders at the expense of having American soldiers die. Losing Ryan at the battle would have doomed his unit. He knows that not losing this town is more important to the war effort than saving Ryan.]
Answered by Grumpy Scot
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