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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, [b]up there with the best of Tom Hanks[/b] 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.
Kryton57When 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.
[quote=LeeW ]*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.
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.
HoratioHufnagelGroundbreaking 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. [b]The local branch of the NVA, normandy veterans association[/b] 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 [url= https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/24ynps/how_accurate_is_hbos_band_of_brothers/ ]not without its critic[/url]s, though - primarily that it's not as uncritical as it should be of the veterans' recollection of the events.
BoardinBob - MemberPeople complaining a Spielberg film is schmaltzy
Schmaltzy, corny, hokey, cliched, sentimental, cheesy etc etc....aren't words that you generally associate with greatness and critical acclaim. Saving Private Ryan is often spoken of as one of the greatest war movies of all time (some people will tell it's the best film full stop).
It's also incongruous with such frequent bloody violence and gore.
And for the record, I was referring to BoB as schmaltzy, not Saving Private Ryan.
Nah, that was way later. Medal of Honor was the game that really kicked off the whole WW2 FPS craze; it came out a year after Saving Private Ryan and was scripted/masterminded by Spielberg. Didn't have the famous beach landing scene (although a later sequel did as did one of the CoD games).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.
It's a good 'Hollywood action' film (and the serial Band of Brothers was much better IMHO) but in terms of 'great' war films then it has to come a loooonnnnng way down the list.
Some must sees:
A Walk in the Sun
Attack
Das Boot
All Quiet on the Western Front
Cross of Iron
The Day After
Downfall
Paths of Glory
La Grande Illusion
It Happened Here
Another quirky one is 'Panic in Year Zero' (1962 B movie post-nuke survival) with Ray Milland - loved him ever since he was in 'The Man with X Ray Eyes in Alex Cox's superlative Moviedrome series in the 90's that introduced so many incredible films:
http://moviedromer.tumblr.com/
Paths of Glory, now there is a great film, really got a lump in the throat watching that, especially when the lady is singing and you realise the futility of war.
Probably one of the best "modern" war films, and one that is under-rated compared to other Vietnam films in my eyes, is "We were soldiers" with Mel Gibson before he became ones of them there racists (in the words of Father Ted)
was pretty excruciating to watch in the cinema, repeated viewings didn't depreciate it much either.but can't watch the scene near the end when the German soldier stabs the American
Killing people is horrible, who knew?
the start/end in the graveyard (which I always seem to forget about) does feel pretty schmaltzy, asking his family if he was worthy, but then I guess that is the main point of the story, is saving one person worth risking others.
scudProbably one of the best "modern" war films, and one that is under-rated compared to other Vietnam films in my eyes, is "We were soldiers" with Mel Gibson before he became ones of them there racists (in the words of Father Ted)
Speaking of schmaltzy, overly sentimental cliche ridden films.... I found it genuinely terrible.
I took for family to Normandy in the summer to see some of the D-Day stuff, went to Pegasus Bridge and now hoping this film out next year will be good:
http://pegasusbridgethemovie.com/
and you could say that SPR is loosely based on fact too.
cos, well the D-Day landings deffo took place (not seen them as subject to any conspiracy theories yet) and the [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niland_brothers ]Niland brothers[/url] existed too.
It's a film/movie. Of course parts of it are made up but the key thing is the battle scenes. I've fortunately never been involved in any but they seem the most realistic and terrifying.
Some lads I knew at uni were film extras in SPR. That bit where a few American soldiers are sorting out the dog tags and some soldiers are walking past looking at them. One of them looks directly at the camera. Him! I knew him! Others were dotted around or in scenes that didn't make the final edit.
Always thought the scene in BoB where the forest gets mortared for about twenty minutes rivals the opening scene of SPR when they're in the boats.
Interesting reading about some people not watching the film because of TH being in it. Of the actors of that time, who would've been a better lead for SPR?
When it was released one of my friends said an old guy next to him was sobbing during the film. 😥
It was clearly a film that could stir some very real emotions.
Saw it at the cinema when it came out, I walked out a sweaty wreck, Mrs M said I was with them for most of the film. Watched it later on DVD and it wasn't the same.
doordonotInteresting reading about some people not watching the film because of TH being in it. Of the actors of that time, who would've been a better lead for SPR?
Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman,Jeff Bridges, Kurt Russell, Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Kevin Spacey, Kevin Costner, Laurence Fishbourne, Mel Gibson, Michael Keaton, Nicholas Cage, Ralp Fiennes, Russel Crowe, Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe, Woody Harelson, Matthew McConaghey.....and i would happily say you could have gone into lower tier less well known actors too since the film wasn't a Tom Hanks vehicle and the film's success or failure is nothing to with him (although I don't like him and found him to be too old and fat for the role).
Can't stand Hanks normally, but didn't mind him in SPR cos it's one of the few films where he doesn't try too hard.
As long as it is more 'Band of Brothers' than 'The Pacific' which was, quite frankly, dull.
The problem with The Pacific is the fighting there was very much a case of one "short" horrendous battle followed by either nothing else (for some soldiers) or a huge gap between that and another battle. I've read both the source books of the Pacific and they both have large non-fighty-war parts because, fundamentally, it's quite the job to set up amphibious assaults.
I'd agree though, it was nowhere near as good as Band of Brothers.
[quote="badllama"]Saw it at the cinema originally took the ex telling her it was a Tom Hanks movie, she was not impressed, my bad.
One of the first dates with the woman who is now my wife (possibly the first time we went to the cinema, actually) I took her to see [i]Crash[/i]. The Cronenberg film. That was a poor choice too.
Probably one of the best "modern" war films, and one that is under-rated compared to other Vietnam films in my eyes, is "We were soldiers" with Mel Gibson before he became ones of them there racists (in the words of Father Ted)
New Mel Gibson WW2 movie, as director, is supposed to be very good. Hacksaw Ridge.
Jeez. Some of you lot...
You'll be telling my U-571 is an inaccurate portrayal of the capture of the Enigma next.
DaveyBoyWonder - Member
Jeez. Some of you lot...You'll be telling my U-571 is an inaccurate portrayal of the capture of the Enigma next.
POSTED 4 SECONDS AGO # REPORT-POST
Jeesss, everyone knows Jon Bon Jovi won the war for us!