Saving Private Ryan

[TheVTCGuy]

I watched that movie for probably the 50th time tonight, it still effects me. The emotional scenes of Private Ryan (current day) in the begining and at the end, asking his wife to tell him he's lead a good life, (earned the sacrifice the guys made for him in WWII), still choke me up. The horrendus battle scenes, men dying like insects. My heart still races in the scene where the Tiger Tank stops, turns and starts coming down the street towards Tom Hanks and his men. It is just such a POWERFUL movie! I flew during the (first) gulf war, in 91, but never below 5,000 feet; nuff said on that subject. But the absolute bravery of these men that fought up close and personal, and died in horrible ways, in WWII and the others since then, they are far braver then I could ever hope to be.

May we never forget them.

[S52]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I watched that movie for probably the 50th time tonight, it still effects me. The emotional scenes of Private Ryan (current day) in the begining and at the end, asking his wife to tell him he's lead a good life, (earned the sacrifice the guys made for him in WWII), still choke me up. The horrendus battle scenes, men dying like insects. My heart still races in the scene where the Tiger Tank stops, turns and starts coming down the street towards Tom Hanks and his men. It is just such a POWERFUL movie! I flew during the (first) gulf war, in 91, but never below 5,000 feet; nuff said on that subject. But the absolute bravery of these men that fought up close and personal, and died in horrible ways, in WWII and the others since then, they are far braver then I could ever hope to be.

May we never forget them.

Amen. I spent my summer flying in West Asia, and although we did find our selves in some dangerous situations, nothing comes close to what the guys on the ground face. I saw some things over there that I will never forget, heres to all veterans past and present!

[threemonkeys]

I get chills just thinking of the battle scenes in that movie. And to think of the innocent bravery of those amazing real-life kids that stormed Normandy. That generation is disappearing all too quickly these days.

[Dr. Robert]

The realism of the film was impressive........the production, battle scenes..... uniforms, equipment, etc. One of the top WWII films.

[Demosthene]

The Thin Red Line is an underappreciated film worth watching as well.
Unfortunately its release was overshadowed by Saving Private Ryan considerably.

[Colnago]

Paul I agree whole heartedly a fantastic and moving film.....never served myself but I live in the very close proximity of both army and airforce bases.....you can imagine the general feel towards the military over the past few years....we have watched them leave for Iraq etc and then watched them come home, somewhat changed...... I am fiercely patriotic and I attend every home coming parade I possibly can.....I find it impossible to understand mans inhumanity to his fellow man but understand sometimes war, no matter how terrible is the only option remaining

[dddrees]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I watched that movie for probably the 50th time tonight, it still effects me. The emotional scenes of Private Ryan (current day) in the begining and at the end, asking his wife to tell him he's lead a good life, (earned the sacrifice the guys made for him in WWII), still choke me up. The horrendus battle scenes, men dying like insects. My heart still races in the scene where the Tiger Tank stops, turns and starts coming down the street towards Tom Hanks and his men. It is just such a POWERFUL movie! I flew during the (first) gulf war, in 91, but never below 5,000 feet; nuff said on that subject. But the absolute bravery of these men that fought up close and personal, and died in horrible ways, in WWII and the others since then, they are far braver then I could ever hope to be.

May we never forget them.

Huah!!!

[Art 1]

That's a good movie for sure.

[eman1200]

I watched it (again) as well. Powerful stuff.

[DiamondJack]

Unbelievable film and you're spot on on the choking up front.

You should check out "Band of Brothers" if you haven't already - same production team and a brilliant series..... although if you've watched Saving Private Ryan 50 times you will have seen it already

As a teenager, I used to go fishing with a really nice and interesting old guy (James Potter from Liverpool) who was in WWI at the Somme in France and incredibly somehow managed to survive that. It was only after I got to know him pretty well did he even talk about it. Virtually everyone he ever knew all the way from training and the months/year leading up to that battle was killed within an hour on one morning....... He had a blacksmith in his home town make him an iron plate fastened on with leather straps which he wore under his tunic. Apparently saved him on a few occasions and the best investment he said he had ever made. On a recent trip to the Imperial War Museum in London, I was amazed to find a whole section on home made armour designed and worn by these guys. Incredible foresight...... but rare at the time....

[masterserg]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I watched that movie for probably the 50th time tonight, it still effects me. The emotional scenes of Private Ryan (current day) in the begining and at the end, asking his wife to tell him he's lead a good life, (earned the sacrifice the guys made for him in WWII), still choke me up. The horrendus battle scenes, men dying like insects. My heart still races in the scene where the Tiger Tank stops, turns and starts coming down the street towards Tom Hanks and his men. It is just such a POWERFUL movie! I flew during the (first) gulf war, in 91, but never below 5,000 feet; nuff said on that subject. But the absolute bravery of these men that fought up close and personal, and died in horrible ways, in WWII and the others since then, they are far braver then I could ever hope to be.

May we never forget them.

Ditto. Nothing to add to that.

[Lisa]

Thanks for reminding us, Paul!

Dad was with the Eighth Air Force (B-24 armorer/gunner) and stationed at Rackheath in WWII. Wish he'd talked about it more... he never really took an interest until the last few years of his life.

[garGARgar]

A great movie I could watch over and over again.

Were you tuned in on TBS or TNT? That's where I caught it on yesterday. Pretty sure they had some Tom Hanks special going since Forrest Gump (another classic) aired right before it (yes, it was a very lazy Sunday for me).

[NYC6]

"The Greatest Generation"

[dnagwhogas]

Originally Posted by TheVTCGuy

I watched that movie for probably the 50th time tonight, it still effects me. The emotional scenes of Private Ryan (current day) in the begining and at the end, asking his wife to tell him he's lead a good life, (earned the sacrifice the guys made for him in WWII), still choke me up. The horrendus battle scenes, men dying like insects. My heart still races in the scene where the Tiger Tank stops, turns and starts coming down the street towards Tom Hanks and his men. It is just such a POWERFUL movie! I flew during the (first) gulf war, in 91, but never below 5,000 feet; nuff said on that subject. But the absolute bravery of these men that fought up close and personal, and died in horrible ways, in WWII and the others since then, they are far braver then I could ever hope to be.

May we never forget them.

Omg it is such a powerful and moving movie. All the battle scenes are crazy. one of my fave movies though....

[Rebel]

Great men and women held the line for us.

[bodybump]

One of the best movie i ever watched...

[Dr. Robert]

A little "Hollywood" but a pretty good WW2 war film nonetheless....."A Bridge Too Far"

[316lad]

Incredible rendering of a piece of absolutely mad history -
When I watch it I have to clear the decks - no mobile phone, no interruptions of any kind, a darkened room and the window of about an hour or so after where I simply want to be alone and reflect on the utter pointlessness of it all.

10 out of 10

[gqllc]

My Dad was a B24 Liberator Pilot and he use to tell me that when they would fly a mission they would not even bother to put on their chutes. he would say there was no way to bail out of the bombers. He said he would watch his friends planes go down all around him. He was stationed in Germany. Even on his death bed he was commanding troops in his mind.

[Dr. Robert]

My dad & my uncles served in WW2 in the Pacific theater.....they never talked about the war.....only the goofy stuff....making homemade booze, they called it "jungle juice".....my Uncle Paul was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Correigidor in the P.I., he was a major & was sent to POW camp in Japan....he never talked about anything about WW2.
I was in the Imperial War Museum in London many years ago & there was a wall that had sayings about war.....the best one is "make love not war"

[cedargrove]

Originally Posted by Dr. Robert

...they never talked about the war.....only the goofy stuff....making homemade booze, they called it "jungle juice"....

My Grandpa also fought in WWII. He, too, never talked about the serious stuff, just the goofy stuff.

My favorite is when he positioned himself with Bren gun on top of a huge wooden wine vat in Italy. The weight of the sand bags caved the roof in, along with him and his gun. He had to swim around to find his gun. Red wine too.

This movie let me understand why they don't like to talk about, or even try to remember, the serious stuff.

[GTS Dean]

My father-in-law was a command pilot of a B-17 in the 8th AF. He flew 50 combat missions and never lost a plane over enemy territory. He flew the Berlin Airlift, Air/Sea rescue in Korea, and retired flying B-52's for SAC.

One of my uncles was a combat medic that followed the D-Day invasion 3 days after, all the way to Germany. He never talks about what he saw, but he's always been the coolest uncle a kid could ever have. Both men are in their 90's now.

God Bless them all.

[capote]

The real guys immortarlized by legendary war photographer Robert Capa.





I don't really care for the movie though, sentimental Hollywood BS IMO, same goes for Band of Brothers. I really like The Thin Red Line though, but my favorite in the genre is Come and See (Idi i smotri) portraying the atrocities in Eastern Europe at the time, but I can't stomach to see it again.

[bayerische]

Paul, that really is a superb movie!

[JACBMW]

Thanks Paul for reminding me that I should watch it for the 40th time. The first time I saw it when it came out, the movie theatre was full of WWII vets. I was able to hold back the tears throughout the movie, but at the end when I saw those vets weeping after the movie, I lost it.

[Saxon007]

Originally Posted by capote

I don't really care for the movie though, sentimental Hollywood BS IMO, same goes for Band of Brothers.

Band of Brothers is not sentimental Hollywood BS, it is a true story based on the non-fiction book by Stephen Ambrose.

Saving Private Ryan is a fictional story derived from one paragraph in the Band of Brothers book.

[blackmsport]

I still love that movie

The Modern version of "The Longest day"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056197/

[Demosthene]

Best “war” film of all time is Grave of the Fireflies.
The single saddest work of fiction I’ve seen in my life.

[Dr. Robert]

The WW2 vets are going fast.....if you know one, give 'em a big hug.