Steven Spielberg said the challenge for him was finding honour in the hell of war, and that�s what interested him about the project. Spielberg does something in this film with his direction that is quite effective. It�s a technique used by Lewis Milestone in his 1930 classic All Quiet on the Western Front � and it works. If you�ll notice, there�s no music during the battle scenes. It�s just like you�re there. An excessive or improper use of music can leave the viewer feeling cheated � sometimes the music even drowns out words, and/or interferes with the plot. This should not be. Music should only be used to complement the story and improve the film. All too often music takes away more than it gives in return, and we all know that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Saving Private Ryan nearly received 
the NC-17 due to its shockingly realistic depiction of violence. Spielberg was not willing to back off or make any edits in the film however, and perhaps this is why the MPAA did not rate it NC-17. Maybe they felt the film needed to be seen by the American population to increase their appreciation for what has been handed to them. This is the best WWII film ever made, if not the best war film ever made period. The fact that Shakespeare in Love beat this film for the Best Picture Oscar is a shame unto the Academy in itself.
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Trivia about Saving Private Ryan:
� Real amputees were used for the shots of people with missing limbs.
� Revealing mistakes: Several times when Corporal Upham is seen carrying .30 Caliber amunition belts just prior to and during the holding of the bridge scene, you can see that more than half of the rounds have the primers missing, thus making them useless.
� Factual errors: In the scene with the mother finding out about her three sons, we see a picture of all four boys IN UNIFORM. Later, though, Ryan says that the last time the four of them were together was when his oldest brother went off to basic training.
� Anachronisms: Miller states that the Air Force will provide air support, however there was no Air Force in 1944, there was the Army Air Corps. The Air Force was not established until July, 1945.
� Anachronisms: The phone cord in the Ryan farmhouse is coiled. Phone cords in 1944 were straight.
� Miscellaneous: When the army car drives toward the Ryan farmhouse, the fields are brown. Iowa farm fields in are green in June.
� Plot holes: In the beginning of the film, an aged Ryan flashes back to the beach landing at Normandy. But Ryan wasn't at Normandy; he was a paratrooper dropped behind enemy lines.
� Factual errors: As the squad travels at night, the flashes and sounds of far distant explosions are seen and heard simultaneously. (The sound of an explosion a mile away should be heard some 5 seconds after the flash is seen.)
� Continuity: Upham nervously knocks over a shelf full of items, including two helmets (his own and a German souvenir). A moment later, he reaches back to take a helmet, which has magically replaced itself on the shelf.
� Crew or equipment visible: During the opening scene on the beach, blood is visible on the lens of the camera.
� Continuity: The blood coming from Wade's mouth appears and disappears.
� Factual errors: Miller refers to the two types of German tanks as Tigers and Panzers. The word Panzer is simply the German term for "tank" or "armor" while the German Army had begun naming their tank models after wild cats. What Miller and the other Rangers refer to as a Panzer tank should have been referrred to as a "Panther" tank. A Ranger Company commander like Miller would have been aware of the proper terminology.
� Miscellaneous: Ryan does not have a rural Iowa accent.
� Miscellaneous: Not to nitpick a beautiful movie, but in the scene with General George Catlett Marshall the General is wearing General Staff lapel insignia. Generals wear no branch lapel insignia at all. Their staff officers wear General Staff insignia.
Quotes from Saving Private Ryan:
Captain John Miller: �The Statue of Liberty is
kaput��that�s disconcerting.
Private Caparzo: Captain, the decent thing to do
would be take her over to the next town.
Captain Miller: We're not here to do the decent
thing, we're here to follow fucking orders!
Private Reiben: Hey, Wade, I got a mother, you
got a mother, the sarge has got a mother. I'm willing to bet that even the
captain's got a mother. Well, maybe not the captain, but the rest of us have
got mothers.
Sergeant Horvath: Captain, if your mother saw you
do that, she'd be very upset.
Private James Ryan: What is this all about?
Captain John Miller: Your
brothers were killed in combat.
Private James Ryan: Which,
which ones?
Captain John Miller: All of
them.
Lining up a shot.
Private Jackson: My Goodness, and my Fortress; my
High Tower, and my Deliverer; my Shield, and He in Whom I trust; who subdueth
my people under me.
Private Jackson: What I mean, sir, is if you was
to put me with this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile
from Adolf Hitler... with a clean line of sight... well, pack your bags, boys.
War's over.
Captain John Miller: He better be worth it. He better
go home and cure a disease, or invent a longer-lasting light bulb.
Cast
overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks .... Captain John H. Miller
Tom Sizemore .... Sergeant Michael Horvath
Edward Burns ....
Private Reiben
Barry Pepper .... Private Jackson
Adam Goldberg .... Private Mellish
Vin Diesel .... Private Adrian Caparzo
Giovanni Ribisi .... T/4 Medic Irwin Wade
Jeremy Davies .... Corporal Timothy E. Upham
Matt Damon .... Private James Francis Ryan
Ted Danson .... Captain Fred Hamill
Paul Giamatti .... Sergeant Hill
Dennis Farina .... Lieutenant Colonel Anderson
Joerg Stadler .... Steamboat Willie
Max Martini .... Corporal Henderson
Dylan Bruno .... Toynbe