saving private ryan - Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 Academy Award winning film, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat, set in World War II. This film is particularly notable for the intensity of the scenes in its first 25 minutes, which depict the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. Thereafter it presents a heavily fictionalised version of a real-life search for a paratrooper of the United States 101st Airborne Division. Spielberg later pursued his interest in the liberation of Europe with the television mini-series Band of Brothers, which he co-produced with Tom Hanks. The story follows a squad of U.S. Army Rangers from the D-Day invasion of Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 6, 1944 to their defense of a strategic bridge in the fictional French town of Ramelle on the Merderet River. The film begins with a graphic recreation of the landing of the first wave of troops on the beach. The film focuses on Captain John Miller who eventually manages to lead a group of men through the German beach defenses to reach the heights overlooking the beach. The story shifts to the U.S. War Department offices where thousands of death notification letters are being typed for delivery to the families of the dead soldiers. It is discovered that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family have all died within days of each other and that their mother will receive all three notices on the same day. The fourth son, James Francis Ryan, a paratrooper, remains unaccounted for somewhere in France. General George Marshall orders that he be found and sent home immediately. The scene changes back to Europe, where Miller assembles a group of eight men to carry out the order of finding Ryan and returning him safely to the rear. One of the men, Upham, is a map maker and budding novelist who is included in the squad as a French and German interpreter. He is shunned by the others, who see him as an outsider and a liability to the squad; he clearly lacks the physical qualities of a soldier. They scoff at his plans to write a book about the bonds of brotherhood that develop between soldiers in combat. Upham also discovers from the others that they have a cash pool going to determine Miller’s home town and his peacetime occupation. Possessing virtually no information as to Ryan’s whereabouts or the location where his unit parachuted into France, Miller and his men must move from town to town and among other American units to find him. Shortly after the unit arrives in a small village under heavy counter-attack by German forces, Caparzo is killed by a sniper. They hear Ryan may be with a unit of Airborne troops fighting for control of the village. Unfortunately, he turns out to be an entirely different man, James 'Frederick' Ryan. Growing increasingly frustrated, Miller’s squad pushes ahead and comes across a field where wounded soldiers have gathered. A glider pilot has collected the dog tags of dead men and Miller’s men search through them. Ryan’s name is not among them, and, in desperation, Miller begins asking passing soldiers at random if they have seen or know him. Miller gets lucky and finds a friend of Ryan’s (the man has lost his hearing from a close grenade explosion and yells all his answers, in a rare moment of humor in the film). He tells them that Ryan has joined a mixed unit and is defending a bridge in the nearby town of Ramelle. Before arriving in Ramelle, the squad finds an abandoned radar outpost guarded by three German soldiers armed with an MG42 machine gun. The discovery of a squad of dead GIs, apparently ambushed by the gunners, leads to Miller's decision to attack the position despite the objections of his men. During the ensuing action, Wade (the squad's medic) is fatally wounded. The unit takes its anger out upon the only surviving German soldier, first beating him and then ordering him to dig graves for Wade and the other dead Americans. Miller takes a moment for himself, quietly weeping over the loss of Wade and Caparzo, and the stress of the situation he and his squad find themselves in. Upham develops a rapport with the German soldier (referred to as 'Steamboat Willie' in the credits, due to part of their conversation), and over the protests of the squad, who want to execute the soldier, Miller orders the man blindfolded and released. Hot-headed Brooklynite Reiben is pushed to mutiny by this action and threatens to desert the squad. The ensuing argument climaxes when Horvath points his pistol at Reiben and threatens that if he does not rejoin the squad, he'll be shot. Miller defuses the situation by revealing his civilian vocation (an English teacher) and his quietly emotional speech about duty and responsibility convinces Reiben to stay. As they approach Ramelle, the squad encounters a German half-track personnel carrier and hide, puzzled when it is heavily damaged by an unexpected explosion. After a brief firefight, the squad makes contact with a small Airborne patrol armed with a bazooka. By chance, one of the soldiers is Ryan. The squad joins the remainder of Ryan’s Airborne unit holding the bridge in Ramelle. The bridge is strategically important; the German and American armies both need to hold it in order to cross the Merderet River. Miller tells Ryan about the deaths of his brothers, but Ryan refuses to leave his unit, even under Miller's direct orders. Unable to complete their original mission as planned, Miller and Horvath decide that the squad will stay to defend the bridge from German attacks. Soon after, Ramelle comes under attack by Waffen SS tanks and infantry who outnumber and outgun the Americans; the force consists of at least 50 men accompanied by self-propelled guns and Tiger tanks. Running out of ammunition and anti-tank weapons, the Americans are pushed back by superior numbers and firepower. Jackson, in a sniper's post in the bell tower, shoots German soldiers until he is killed when the tower is destroyed by a shell from a German Marder III. Mellish desperately holds a machine gun position in the window of a house, but is overrun by German soldiers after he runs out of ammunition. A member of the Waffen SS (who is often mistaken for 'Steamboat Willie') kills him with a knife after a short but brutal hand-to-hand struggle. Upham, who was supposed to be resupplying Mellish, sits paralyzed with fear on the stairs as the German leaves the room and passes him without a word. Miller retreats across the bridge with Reiben, Ryan, and a badly wounded Horvath, who collapses and dies soon after. They prepare to destroy the bridge, but a near miss from one of the German tanks knocks Miller off his feet and sends the detonator flying. He attempts to venture back onto the bridge into heavy enemy fire to retrieve it, but is shot (though not killed outright) by 'Steamboat Willie', who has rejoined the German army since his release. Dazed and dying, Miller vainly fires his service pistol at the Tiger tank advancing across the bridge, when it impossibly explodes. Moments later, a pair of P-51 Mustangs fly over, having arrived as air support and bombed the tank. Upham emerges suddenly from his hiding spot and takes several of the remaining Germans prisoner, including Steamboat Willie. Willie tries to talk to Upham, but, having witnessed Miller's shooting, Upham deliberately shoots him and tersely orders the others to leave. Miller is tended to in vain by Reiben. His final words to Ryan are: 'James... earn this. Earn it.' Ryan’s face morphs into that of an old man, standing near Miller’s grave at Colleville-sur-Mer, where the film opens. Before saluting the grave, an emotional Ryan expresses his hope that Miller will regard the life Ryan has tried to lead as a 'good man' as enough to repay the debt he owes Miller and his squad for their sacrifice.