Saving Private Ryan is 19 years old, this year, and is STILL one of the best war movies ever made. Chiefly, of course, for its brutal and visceral combat scenes, which managed to put the audience right into the action.
Let’s dissect the most famous: the Omaha Beach D-Day landing.
Of course, this is not the only great scene in the movie. Truth told, nearly all of the combat or conflict scenes are incredible: the sniper in the tower, the sudden Mexican standoff in the ruined French village, and of course the final battle.
But Omaha Beach surpasses them all.
For those who can stomach the explicit violence, Saving Private Ryan is a much-recommended movie. It has some thematic weaknesses here and there, but on the whole is an amazing cinematic experience.
Been out for awhile so just saw this on your site. My father was a D-Day vet, Omaha, Easy Red, and it was actually his third amphibious invasion (the others were Oran and Sicily). He also was awarded his Silver Star for that day. When the movie came out I asked him if he was going to see it, and his response was “I was there, why do I need to see the movie?” My mother, they were engaged at the time, asked to go see it with him. To put it in perspective, this may have been the only R rated movie my mother ever saw. As they were driving home, my mother asked about this scene “Did they get it right?’ Dad’s response was “Pretty well, except it lasted all day.”