Product Description

A small band of u.S. Soldiers are sent on a mission during the tumultuous battle at normandy to find the lone survivor of four brothers in steven spielbergs brutally honest world war ii epic. Special features: cast and filmmakers bios: production notes: interactive menus: two theatrical trailers and more. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 02/14/2006 Starring: Tom Hanks Tom Sizemore Run time: 169 minutes Rating: R Director: Stephen Spielberg

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #580 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 1999-11-02
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Limited Edition, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 170 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
When Steven Spielberg was an adolescent, his first home movie was a backyard war film. When he toured Europe with Duel in his 20s, he saw old men crumble in front of headstones at Omaha Beach. That image became the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, his film of a mission following the D-day invasion that many have called the most realistic--and maybe the best--war film ever. With 1998 production standards, Spielberg has been able to create a stunning, unparalleled view of war as hell. We are at Omaha Beach as troops are slaughtered by Germans yet overcome the almost insurmountable odds.

A stalwart Tom Hanks plays Captain Miller, a soldier's soldier, who takes a small band of troops behind enemy lines to retrieve a private whose three brothers have recently been killed in action. It's a public relations move for the Army, but it has historical precedent dating back to the Civil War. Some critics of the film have labeled the central characters stereotypes. If that is so, this movie gives stereotypes a good name: Tom Sizemore as the deft sergeant, Edward Burns as the hotheaded Private Reiben, Barry Pepper as the religious sniper, Adam Goldberg as the lone Jew, Vin Diesel as the oversize Private Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi as the soulful medic, and Jeremy Davies, who as a meek corporal gives the film its most memorable performance.

The movie is as heavy and realistic as Spielberg's Oscar-winning Schindler's List, but it's more kinetic. Spielberg and his ace technicians (the film won five Oscars: editing (Michael Kahn), cinematography (Janusz Kaminski), sound, sound effects, and directing) deliver battle sequences that wash over the eyes and hit the gut. The violence is extreme but never gratuitous. The final battle, a dizzying display of gusto, empathy, and chaos, leads to a profound repose. Saving Private Ryan touches us deeper than Schindler because it succinctly links the past with how we should feel today. It's the film Spielberg was destined to make. --Doug Thomas

DVD features
This "special edition" contains the 25-minute featurette Into the Breach. Besides interviews with the film's actors, there are interviews with D-day veterans and World War II historian Stephen Ambrose. Real D-day footage is edited together with scenes from the film that have been changed to black and white. The highlight is a glimpse of Steven Spielberg's early films. Using his dad's camera and his friends, the teenage Spielberg made two relatively impressive short war films, Escape to Nowhere and Fighter Squad. There are also home movies his dad made while stationed in the Pacific and a short visit with the Nilands, a family that lost four brothers during the war. --Doug Thomas

From The New Yorker
Steven Spielberg's new picture, one of his best, is a sandwich. The meat of the tale concerns a bunch of U.S. Army Rangers, led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), who are sent into Normandy to rescue Ryan (Matt Damon), the sole survivor of four brothers. On either side of this bold endeavor you get half an hour of unyielding combat: first, the D Day landings on Omaha Beach and, later, a consummate last stand in which too few Americans try to hold an inland bridge against too many Germans and too many tanks. Most viewers will be impressed but unsurprised by the central section; it feels wrought, and finely scripted (by Robert Rodat), and nudged by sentimentality. The reason that they will carry the movie lodged in their minds is the infernal, brain-shaking quality of the battle scenes; Spielberg obviously decided that blood and guts meant just that, and so he arranged his violence into a semblance of pure disorder. The illusion holds, complete with severed limbs and wellsprings of blood, and it feels honorable; Spielberg's preachy movies can be an awful grind, but, apart from a disposable coda, this new work is too swift (and often too inaudible) to weigh you down. It feels like an atonement for the sins of "Amistad." -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

One of my top favorite WW II movies
Impressive. All 5/5 stars for the first 15-20 minutes of the movie and the whole story of course is magnificent. Awesome! This is my favorite WW II movie. Great job and a fitting tribute to those who died trying to liberate Europe from Nazism and Fascism. Extremely well-done and a great movie. Makes me tear eyed when the army car comes by to notify Ryan's family of their sons' death. The acting is great and the visual effects are very well-done. Moreover, the Robert Kapa's style of photography is amazing. Spielberg might be a typical liberal Hollywood star but his movies are fantastic. He's got better yr by yr. I think this is thus far the best WW 2 movie of the recent yrs. loved it!

The best war film ever
Reviews for this movie are pretty much ineffectual. Everyone's seen this movie and if you haven't you probably don't like war movies. The hype for this movie is right on. It's Visually stunning. It has The best opening scene in any movie. You won't be disappointed in this movie.

After this movie, Steve Spielberg decided to do the Band of Brothers which is also very good.

If you like War Movies and you haven't seen this, you must see it.

A MUST SEE movie
I hope that this is the closest that I ever come to combat in my life. Thank God for the men that put their lives on the line to keep us, and the world, free. Hats off to Spielberg for the realism of the combat. That should be enough for all of us to make a promise to ourselves to personally thank as many vets as we can for serving to keep us free. War is no walk in the park, and this movie comes closest to capturing just how close to hell it really is. This movie teaches a lot about sacrifice, courage, heroism, and emotion. Sometimes there are causes greater than our own selves which are worth sacrificing for. A great movie for this era. Too many men of that generation have passed away - this captures a little bit of what was special about that generation. A must see for all kids as soon as they are capable of handling it.