Yes it’s channel 5 and no doubt it’ll be 4 hrs with the ads but it’s a film I’ve never to this day seen. Brutal start. Tom sizemore and the obvious Mr hanks starring so far.

You’ve never seen it? Jeez.

Great film, up there with the best of Tom Hanks don’t leave it early.

Still remember the opening sequence at the cinema. Only film I have ever seen that made battle seem real i.e. shit scary. The inevitability of death as the transporter door opens – crapshoot.

‘Don’t shoot, let em burn’

Not seen it? Bloody hell!

Great film, it’s in my top 10 of best films ever.

And turn up the volume. 🙂

Another never seen it here, but the bar’s not set very high, is it?

Great film, up there with the best of Tom Hanks don’t leave it early.

😕

Good scenes, shit story.
If you like it watch Band of Brothers which is better in all counts except not having THAT opening scene

The opening is something else. I do wish I’d seen it at the cinema

cant believe you haven’t seen it. then again there’s heaps i haven’t either. you’d be best watching it online or dvd cause the ads will spoil it for you.

Don’t know as a bit of film fan why I’ve never seen it. I’ve seen loads of clips, bits and bobs, watched ten minutes here and there but could not tell how the story goes. And the “let em burn” bit was just on.

Some ‘not real’ bits in it though. Like when bullets enter water & kill people. They tried this on some documentary & proved that bullets almost stopped dead when they hit water.

It’s still one of my fave films though.

It’s on the long list of films I’ve never seen but really ought to.

I struggle with violence, gore, and depictions of people suffering. I miss a lot of good films.

Shaving Ryan’s Privates, anyone?

And of course Band of Brothers is actually true….

Still, SPR is a great film.

Its the reason that I stopped playing war-based video games, specifically “Call of Duty”, which was the big game at the time it came out. I played it, and others like it, a lot.

I know its a moot point, watching a movie gives enjoyment of some kind and therefore some kind of vicarious pleasure, but I just couldn’t handle feeling elation any more at death as entertainment, however virtual.

I know thats odd, but this is more a comment on how the movie affected me than video-gaming.

Best watched on a recording so you can fast forward through the dull stuff. It’s a great 30 minute movie.

Meh, flag waving, even if it has a dig at the point of the whole mission.

Band of Brothers penultimate episode puts everything into perspective and suddenly it’s not about Americans, Brits or heroic missions. It’s about the utter horror of what was occurring under everyone’s noses.

Saw it at the cinema originally took the ex telling her it was a Tom Hanks movie, she was not impressed, my bad.

At the cinema the opening sequence is epic.

Meh, flag waving, even if it has a dig at the point of the whole mission.

Not sure it feels quite the same to me – and I am usually pretty sensitive to jingoism.

I see it as a tale of waste upon waste. Carnage, blood and entrails.

Idiots using hatred and encouraging intolerance to achieve their ends should know this is where it ends.

I tried watching it again last night and I was surprised at how hokey and cliched everything is now. Like anything that’s hugely successful and influential it ends up looking derivative because everything that came after borrowed so heavily.

The action scenes have lost their impact (to me at least) and it exposes a fairly weak film with average acting sexed up by some big action set pieces. Not a fair comparison but Band of Brothers is vastly superior in almost every way.

Not a fair comparison but Band of Brothers is vastly superior in almost every way.

Big fan of Band of Brothers – it is more subtle and you do get more involved with the characters. However, I still think Private Ryan is a great film and it certainly has been very influential.

2 threads as well. Must be good http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/saving-private-ryan-on-ch5-9pm

Hanks/ Spielberg are supposed to be working on a third series to follow up Band of Brothers and The Pacific based on the air war over Europe, really hope this is true

http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/hbo-working-on-band-of-brothers-in-the-sky/

Hanks/ Spielberg are supposed to be working on a third series to follow up Band of Brothers and The Pacific based on the air war over Europe, really hope this is true

As long as it is more ‘Band of Brothers’ than ‘The Pacific’ which was, quite frankly, dull.

Another one in the never seen it camp. Not a fan of Tom Hanks TBH

It wasn’t a great film at the time and it hasn’t aged well IMO. Band of Brothers isn’t much better either, and the book is frankly annoying.

I liked both Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, not perfect, but the scale of what they tried to achieve was brilliant i thought, and i still think the beach landings at the start hold up as a great piece of immersive cinema.

I went to see it at the cinema when it came out. The local branch of the NVA, normandy veterans association was in the foyer with a collection. They will have made some pile of cash while that was being shown!

When talking about effects etc its easy to forget it was made in 1998 yes its nearly 20 years old.

Kryton57

When talking about effects etc its easy to forget it was made in 1998 yes its nearly 20 years old.

I have no problem with the effects at all. There are a few cgi shots which are obvious but they don’t jar or detract. The visual style though, pov cameras close to the action, camera getting rocked by explosions, audio cues to imply deafness, image jolted around in the frame etc were novel at the time for a big budget film because cameras of the time were still large, expensive and sensitive.

Films coming after it adopted those cues for their own action scenes and they’ve become totally normal.

Band of Brothers isn’t much better either

But of course (as has already been mentioned), Band of Brothers is based on a true story and the interviews with the veterans at the end is very emotional.

Which brings us on to the book – it was written by a historian (Steven Ambrose) and based on his interviews with the above mentioned veterans, not a novelist.

*Spoiler*

I really enjoy the movie immensely but can’t watch the scene near the end when the German soldier stabs the American in the chest shushing him as the knife goes in to his chest.

It really played on my mind after I saw it the first time, Whenever the film is on I will watch it but leave the room when that scene coming up.

I tried watching it again last night and I was surprised at how hokey and cliched everything is now

I thought this after recently seeing BoB again. Loved it when it came out, rewatched it again a couple of years later, but on a recent rewatch I was surprised by how schmaltzy a lot of it is.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD-OGnuvAjc[/video]

Groundbreaking films like this often look a bit dated when you re-watch them because they have such a huge effect on cinema (and gaming in this case) that everyone copies the techniques and style and you just think of it as normal.

HoratioHufnagel

Groundbreaking films like this often look a bit dated when you re-watch them because they have such a huge effect on cinema (and gaming in this case) that everyone copies the techniques and style and you just think of it as normal.

Oh you don’t say? 😉

jimjam
Like anything that’s hugely successful and influential it ends up looking derivative because everything that came after borrowed so heavily.

People complaining a Spielberg film is schmaltzy 😆

Great film.

Watched it at the cinema when it was first launched. With the surround sound and the generally deafening level of audio in local cinemas and not knowing what to expect I think I held my breath for the first twenty minutes!

biglee1 – Member
biglee1 – Member
I went to see it at the cinema when it came out. The local branch of the NVA, normandy veterans association was in the foyer with a collection. They will have made some pile of cash while that was being shown!

Phew! I thought you meant the North Vietnamese Army there for a moment.

But of course (as has already been mentioned), Band of Brothers is based on a true story and the interviews with the veterans at the end is very emotional.
Which brings us on to the book – it was written by a historian (Steven Ambrose) and based on his interviews with the above mentioned veterans, not a novelist.

But it’s not without its critics, though – primarily that it’s not as uncritical as it should be of the veterans’ recollection of the events.