Saving Private Ryan [Sapphire Series] [2 Discs] [Blu-ray]

Director: Steve Spielberg Steve Spielberg

Overview

Steven Spielberg directed this powerful, realistic re-creation of WWII's D-day invasion and the immediate aftermath. The story opens with a prologue in which a veteran brings his family to the American cemetery at Normandy, and a flashback then joins Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks) and GIs in a landing craft making the June 6, 1944, approach to Omaha Beach to face devastating German artillery fire. This mass slaughter of American soldiers is depicted in a compelling, unforgettable 24-minute sequence. Miller's men slowly move forward to finally take a concrete pillbox. On the beach littered with bodies is one with the name "Ryan" stenciled on his backpack. Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall (Harve Presnell), learning that three Ryan brothers from the same family have all been killed in a single week, requests that the surviving brother, Pvt. James Ryan (Matt Damon), be located and brought back to the United States. Capt. Miller gets the assignment, and he chooses a translator, Cpl. Upham (Jeremy Davis), skilled in language but not in combat, to join his squad of right-hand man Sgt. Horvath (Tom Sizemore), plus privates Mellish (Adam Goldberg), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), cynical Reiben (Edward Burns) from Brooklyn, Italian-American Caparzo (Vin Diesel), and religious Southerner Jackson (Barry Pepper), an ace sharpshooter who calls on the Lord while taking aim. Having previously experienced action in Italy and North Africa, the close-knit squad sets out through areas still thick with Nazis. After they lose one man in a skirmish at a bombed village, some in the group begin to question the logic of losing more lives to save a single soldier. The film's historical consultant is Stephen E. Ambrose, and the incident is based on a true occurance in Ambrose's 1994 bestseller D-Day: June 6, 1944.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/04/2010
UPC:	0097360748451
Original Release:	1998
Rating:	R
Source:	Dreamworks Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	2:49:00
Sales rank:	265

Special Features

Looking into the past; Miller and his platoon; Boot camp; Making Saving Private Ryan; Re-creating Omaha Beach; Music and sound; Parting thoughts; Into the breach: Saving Private Ryan; Theatrical trailer; Re-release trailer; Shooting war

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Hanks	Captain Miller
Tom Sizemore	Sergeant Horvath
Edward Burns	Private Reiben
Barry Peeper	Private Jackson
Adam Goldberg	Private Mellish
Vin Diesel	Private Caparzo
Giovanni Ribisi	T
Jeremy Davies	Corporal Upham
Matt Damon	Private Ryan
Ted Danson	Captain Hamill
Paul Giamatti	Sergeant Hill
Dennis Farina	Lieutenant Colonel Anderson
Joerg Stadler	Steamboat Willie
Max Martini	Corporal Henderson
Dylan Bruno	Toynbe
Daniel Cerqueira	Weller
Demetri Goritsas	Parker
Ian Porter	Trask
Gary Sefton	Rice
Steve Griffin	Wilson
William Marsh	Lyle
Marc Cass	Fallon
Markus Napier	Major Hoess
Neil Finnighan	Ramelle Paratrooper
Peter Miles	Ramelle Paratrooper
Paul Garcia	Field HQ Major
Seamus McQuade	Field HQ Aide
Ronald Longridge	Coxswain
Rolf Saxon	Lieutenant Briggs
Corey Johnson	Radioman,Soldier on the Beach
Loclann Aiken	Soldier on the Beach
John Barnett	Soldier on the Beach
MacLean Burke	Soldier on the Beach,Soldier on the Beach
Aiden Condron	Soldier on the Beach
Paschal Friel	Soldier on the Beach
Shane Hagan	Soldier on the Beach
Laird Mackintosh	Soldier on the Beach
Brian F. Maynard	Soldier on the Beach
Martin McDougall	Soldier on the Beach
Lee Rosen	Soldier on the Beach
Matthew Sharp	Soldier on the Beach
Vincent Walsh	Soldier on the Beach
Grahame Wood	Soldier on the Beach
John Sharian	Corporal
Glenn Wrage	Doyle
Crofton Hardester	Senior Medical Officer
Martin Hub	Czech Wehrmacht Soldier
Raffaello DeGruttola	Goldman
Nigel Whitmey	Private Boyd
Sam Ellis	Private Hastings
Erich Redman	German #1
Tilo Keiner	German #2
Stephan Grothgar	German #3
Stephan Cornicard	Jean
Michelle Evans	Jean's Wife
Martin Beaton	Jean's Son
Anna Maguire	Jean's Daughter
Nathan Fillion	Minnesota Ryan
Leland Orser	Lieutenant DeWindt
Michael Mantas	Paratrooper Lieutenant
David Vegh	Paratrooper Oliver
Ryan Hurst	Paratrooper Michaelson
Nick Brooks	Paratrooper Joe
Sam Scudder	Paratrooper #1
John Walters	Old French Man
Dorothy Grumbar	Old French Woman
James Innes-Smith	MP Lieutenant
Harve Presnell	General Marshall
Dale Dye	War Department Colonel
Bryan Cranston	War Department Colonel
David Wohl	War Department Captain
Eric Loren	War Department Lieutenant
Valerie Colgan	War Department Clerk
Amanda Boxer	Mrs. Margaret Ryan
Harrison Young	Ryan as Old Man
Kathleen Byron	Old Mrs. Ryan
Rob Freeman	Ryan's Son
Thomas Gizbert	Ryan's Grandson
Nina Muschallik	Ryan's Granddaughter
Taylor Murphy	Sergeant Blaine
Mac Steinmeier	Waffen SS Soldier
Derek Lea	Bangalore Assistant
Leo Stransky	German Sniper
Vincent Ventresca	Soldier on Beach

Technical Credits

Steve Spielberg	Director,Producer
Ian Bryce	Producer
Gary Levinsohn	Producer
Teresa Eckton	Sound Effects
Ethan Van der Ryn	Sound Effects
Frank E. Eulner	Sound Effects
E. Larry Oatfield	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

Saving Private Ryan marked another foray into World War II for Steven Spielberg, this time examining the soldiers' struggles to maintain their sense of mission even in situations that seemed to defy reason and hope. To show the carnage of the D-Day Omaha Beach landing, Spielberg used a barrage of sound and the unpolished immediacy of a hand-held camera to thrust the viewer into the conflict for a 24-minute sequence of relentless, random violence more intense than in any previous Hollywood war movie. The desaturated color further recalled WWII newsreel footage while rendering the blood a matter-of-fact part of the landscape. Adapted from an incident recorded by historian Stephen E. Ambrose, the mission to save one man after the Normandy invasion becomes a means for Capt. Miller and his troop of WWII film archetypes to debate the sacrifices of war, even a "good" war. Critically hailed for its stunningly realistic battle sequences and heartfelt performances, the film became a summertime hit despite its realistic violence and serious subject. After winning several critics' prizes, Saving Private Ryan garnered 11 Academy Award nominations and won five, including Spielberg's second Oscar for Best Director and Janusz Kaminski for Best Cinematography.