Saving Private Ryan (1998)

The recent passing of great character actor Tom Sizemore prompted me to look at one of his best performances, which happens to be in one of Steven Spielberg's best films.

There really isn't much to say about this film that you probably haven't already read or heard elsewhere. Like Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket 12 years earlier, Private Ryan has a horrific but brilliantly crafted opening act that could concievably work as a short film. In this case, following a man in the present day breaking down as he visits a graveyard where numerous veterans are buried, it's a recreation of the invasion of Normandy in June 1944, also known as D-Day. Many consider this invasion the beginning of the end for Hitler's Third Reich. In the midst of this carnage is the group of soldiers that serve as our protagonists. They are led by Capt. John Miller (Tom Hanks), whose eyes become the eyes of the audience as this nearly half hour sequence plays out eventually resulting in Miller and his men successfully taking the hill the field they are engaged in. This sequence is all the more overwhelming when you realize that this is simply a small glimpse into how extensive this battle was, as it stetched across the entire northern French coast.

We next cut to the generals at home, who realize that three brothers have died in quick succession in battle. General Marshall (Harve Presnell) sends orders to have a team go and retrieve the last Ryan brother James (Matt Damon), who was one of countless soldiers who were paratrooped into Europe. Hence, finding him won't be easy.

Miller receives these orders and heads out with his men Sgt. Horvath (Sizemore), Corporal Upham (Jeremy Davies), Medic Wade (Giovanni Ribisi) and Privates Reiben (Edward Burns), Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Jackson (Barry Pepper), and Mellish (Adam Goldberg). During their odyssey, Upham attempts to ingratiate himself amongst the men, as he was brought in late in the game for his fluency in German and French. They eventually find Ryan but not before losing Caparzo to a sniper, in another moment nicely reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket.

After fending off more German soldiers with the help of another regiment led by Capt. Hamill (Ted Danson), they find a Private Ryan only to find out he's not the Ryan they are looking for. Our heroes hole up in an abandoned church for the night to get to vent and for Upham to discover that there's a pool among the men to see how much personal info they can learn about Miller. The men resume their quest before the sun rises. After finding out where Ryan is from a passing soldier who is in his regiment, they stumble upon another German contingent and, against orders, Miller orders his men to take them out. They do so, although Wade ends up dying. They consider killing a surviving German out of revenge, although, following Upham's pleas that they spare him, Miller simply sends him off blindfolded while he and his men move on. Before they do, though, Reiben expresses how pissed he is by both Wade and Caparzo's death, taking those Germans out against orders, and all this to save one man. Mellish and Jackson share his sentiment while Upham and Horvath do not. The latter makes that clear as he even pulls his pistol on Reiben when he expresses that he's just going to leave, Ryan be damned!

Fortunately, Miller gets his men to calm down before things escalate. Having revealed earlier to Upham that he knows about the pool, Miller shares some info about himself before expressing that he has no emotional attachment to Ryan but they still have their orders and they should follow them. This convinces Reiben not to leave and they carry on. Sure enough they find Ryan, who is with his regiment at a village with a bridge that they are ordered to protect as they wait for reinforcements. Miller informs him of his brothers' deaths and that he's going home. But Ryan states that he can't just leave his comrades, saying that they have a right to go home as well. In a nice moment, Reiben tells him of Caparzo and Wade's deaths, which prompts Ryan to ask for their names. He is clearly humbled by the fact that two have already died looking for him but he states that his regiment are the only brothers he has left and he can't desert them until reinforcements arrive. Miller considers Ryan's words as he and Horvath walk together and have a brief chat. Horvath agrees with Ryan's sentiments, adding that they should stay and help his regiment out as they wait for reinforcements. Miller and his other men agree. Soon, German troops begin to arrive and the subsequent battle scene matches the one at the film's beginning in terms of impact. Miller, Horvath, Mellish, and Jackson all end up dying before Allied reinforcements finally show up. Miller's last words to the surviving Ryan are to earn being rescued.

This leads to the final scene with the man revealed to be Ryan over 50 years older. He asks his wife if he's led a good life before saluting in front of Miller's grave.

Some have complained about the scenes with the older Ryan (Harrison Young), but I was fine with them myself. This is because they show a man still affected by his war experiences decades after the fact and in tears over the fact that him returning from war came at the cost of good men. As I noted earlier, this is one of Sizemore's best roles. His scenes with Hanks especially hit the mark as Miller, who is rather a quiet man, seems to truly open up only to Horvath during the course of the film. This makes their respective death scenes especially poignant. Like Apocalype Now (1979), this is a war film involving a small group of men on a nightmarish quest to find one man. The film not only deservedly won Spielberg an Oscar for directing, it was also the first of (so far) five films he made with Hanks. The rest of cast is fine, too, including Damon, even though his part is relatively small. The resentment the men carried for his character somewhat spilled over onto the actor as, unlike them, Damon was not required to undergo a rigorous week-long boot camp to prep for the film, led by real life veteran Dale Dye, who appears in the film as one of Marshall's aides.