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Saving Private Ryan's Omaha Beach scene hasn't been rivaled by any war movie

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L

Lucky Forward

Member
Loxley said:
It's not really a teaser for The Mighty Eighth, it's a proof-of-concept scene to show to studios in order to get the project made. From the description:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info...when I found that teaser today it was with an article from this past July, but the date on the youtube page was 2013.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
kavanf1 said:
God DAMMIT. I always had them pictured as being the same guy. I'm not sure whether I like this revelation or not. I always liked the morbid symmetry of the guy being spared only to go on and kill again.
Click to expand...

On the bright (well . . . ) side, the guy they spare does shoot Captain Miller at the end, so that aspect is still there.
 
Z

Zushin

Member
kavanf1 said:
God DAMMIT. I always had them pictured as being the same guy. I'm not sure whether I like this revelation or not. I always liked the morbid symmetry of the guy being spared only to go on and kill again.
Click to expand...

Well technically that does still happen lol
 
D

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Holy shit I just realized that Mellish gets killed with the Hitler youth knife that Carpaso gives him during the invasion.
 
K

krang

Member
TheLostBigBoss said:
You know that's actually kinda something I haven't thought about.

After Black Hawk Down, I can't remember a big, large scale movies about a battle/war period piece. We've had movies that take place in war, but nothing like SPR or BHD from what I can remember. Well, I guess Lone Survivor can count as a war movie, although it isn't on the scale of the others.

Not counting BoB or The Pacific as those are shows.
Click to expand...

I watched Fury recently. There were some reasonably large scale set pieces in that.
 
S

StayDead

Member
The only thing I didn't like was how overly dramatic everything was. I realise why it was, for the sake of the movie, but from everything I've ever read the real beach landings were no-where near as brutal as that. They were bad, but not that bad from what I understand.
 
T

Tugatrix

Member
Doc Holliday said:
Holy shit I just realized that Mellish gets killed with the Hitler youth knife that Carpaso gives him during the invasion.
Click to expand...

Qblpg_f-maxage-0.gif
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Doc Holliday said:
Holy shit I just realized that Mellish gets killed with the Hitler youth knife that Carpaso gives him during the invasion.
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Yep. And Capt. Miller being killed by the guy he spared gives the important lesson that all our actions, no matter how small or how noble, can have unintended consequences.

Bleak, but so is war.
 
F

Florist

Neo Member
There's a Shakespeare In Love joke somewhere in here...

On topic, I agree although I hope Nolan brings it with Dunkirk. I was on an 8th grade school trip to Washington, D.C. When I first saw SPR. The chaperones put it on during the bus ride and turned it off about 4 mins later.

(10 things I hate about you followed)
 
K

krang

Member
Florist said:
There's a Shakespeare In Love joke somewhere in here...

On topic, I agree although I hope Nolan brings it with Dunkirk. I was on an 8th grade school trip to Washington, D.C. When I first saw SPR. The chaperones put it on during the bus ride and turned it off about 4 mins later.

(10 things I hate about you followed)
Click to expand...

Well it could have been a lot worse. Good movie.
 
A

Aranath

Member
StayDead said:
The only thing I didn't like was how overly dramatic everything was. I realise why it was, for the sake of the movie, but from everything I've ever read the real beach landings were no-where near as brutal as that. They were bad, but not that bad from what I understand.
Click to expand...

This sounds more brutal than anything I saw in the film:

[quote=']There were so many bodies lying in the water they stopped bringing any more troops ashore because it was freaking people out to see all these guys dead. They had to bring bulldozers in to push the bodies into a trench so they couldn’t be seen.[/quote]

That's from an account by John Trippon, one of the landing soldiers at Omaha.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
StayDead said:
The only thing I didn't like was how overly dramatic everything was. I realise why it was, for the sake of the movie, but from everything I've ever read the real beach landings were no-where near as brutal as that. They were bad, but not that bad from what I understand.
Click to expand...

Two thousand Allied troops dead, one thousand injured. In one day. On one stretch of beach they codenamed Omaha.

Yes, it was absolutely that bad on D-Day.
 
TwoDurans

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
Watch Fury, OP. Not saying it's better than SPR, but there's some top notch scene in there.
 
W

Waldo Lydecker

Member
Okay the scene was mighty and unlike anything before it, but the movie unfortunately lot. There are enough war movies that are a lot better imho. Like The Thin Red Line, Idi i Smotri, Ivan's Childhood, Platoon, Path of Glory, Das Boot and All Quiet on the Western Front.

Great scene though.

EDIT: forgot Grave of the Fireflies
 
mcz117chief

mcz117chief

Member
I still like Letters from Iwo Jima the most followed by Dark Blue World

Apart from those I also love Tora! Tora! Tora! and Das Boot.

I never really enjoyed SPR, I didn't feel any attachment to the movie at all the one time I saw it.
 
L

Log4Girlz

Member
kavanf1 said:
The thing that hit me hardest watching this scene was the sheer randomness of who lived and died, perhaps epitomised by the guy whose helmet takes a hit and then, in stunned disbelief, he takes it off to look at the mark left by the bullet, and promptly gets shot in the head. There was no skill, strength or any other attribute that helped these men survive that day, there was only circumstance and chance. That's more terrifying than any horror film.



It's like ten hours of Saving Private Ryan.
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Britain forbids important scientists from enlisting due to their experience with a super genius physicist who went to WW1 and was sniped by the Turks. Just random death. Henry Moseley
 
I

iRAWRasaurus

Banned
mcz117chief said:
I still like Letters from Iwo Jima the most followed by Dark Blue World

Apart from those I also love Tora! Tora! Tora! and Das Boot.

I never really enjoyed SPR, I didn't feel any attachment to the movie at all the one time I saw it.
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i like Letters from Iwo Jima as well. Gave us a different point of view. Sadly enought I never watch Flags of our fathers. Should I check it out?

Frankly, if I was asked what is my favorite war movie. It would depend on what front and type of battles.
 
A

Aselith

Member
Jonm1010 said:
It will be hard for any film to rival D-Day at Omaha beach, thats before factoring in Spielberg's masterful handling of it.

There are almost no people I know that don't have that scene burned into their head for the rest of their life.

The combination of its point in history(veterans still being alive) and the brutality of modern war is hard to match its impact. I am sure Dunkirk(if they don't cop out and go PG13) and Hacksaw Ridge will make their case.
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Regardless of the rating, I don't think Nolan can make something as effective as Spielberg did. He's a very cold director and I don't think he has the mentality to make something feel as brutal as Spielberg can.

I mean he's a great director so don't get me wrong but his ability to direct feelings and humanity into his films is questionable.
 
M

Mr_Moogle

Member
Band of Brothers is slightly better than Saving Private Ryan simply because it's a little more historically accurate and has a less hokey plot.

This shouldn't diminish SPR though because it's basically paved the way for BoB from a technical point of view. The series wouldn't have been as good if Spielberg and his people hadn't been able to apply what they learned from making SPR.
 
L

LookAtMeGo

Member
While not the same type of war, The battle at Stirling in Braveheart is one of my favorites. That shit had me shook when my dad took me to see that in theatres. I like how Mel does violence and am looking forward to Dunkirk.

But yes SPRs opening is legendary.
 
J

Jobbs

Banned
I never liked the shaking camera style. Sometimes the camera would be rattling and inhibiting my view of things even when characters were just walking around talking.


..and wasn't there any better way of being the first boat than just opening the door and getting shot? was that basically just suicide and they knew it?

also the bullets traveling through the water and killing people is not accurate. bullets don't travel through water. not even high cal.
 
M

Mr_Moogle

Member
kavanf1 said:
God DAMMIT. I always had them pictured as being the same guy. I'm not sure whether I like this revelation or not. I always liked the morbid symmetry of the guy being spared only to go on and kill again.
Click to expand...

If it's not the same guy though, why didn't he kill Upham when he was coming down the stairs? Oh man. I'm going to have to rewatch this film.
 
T

tanooki27

Member
I love that little scene after the beach - they're walking across the countryside and tom hanks says something like, "Hear that? Now that is how you bitch."

as to the earlier question on if there was any way for the first boat to proceed other than simply opening its doors onto carnage and death - I don't know, but that is the deep unfairness and stupidity of war. these machine gun nests were built for that type of assault. the nazis had the boats in their sights and unleashed. they killed as many as they could.

I don't believe the men in the boats believed they were committing suicide. they had an objective.

horrifying.
 
C

cooljeanius

Member
I saw Akira Kurosawa's Ran after having seen Saving Private Ryan, and that one battle at the castle reminded me a lot of SPR's beach scene. I'm pretty sure Spielberg was actually inspired by it.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Mr_Moogle said:
Band of Brothers is slightly better than Saving Private Ryan simply because it's a little more historically accurate and has a less hokey plot.

This shouldn't diminish SPR though because it's basically paved the way for BoB from a technical point of view. The series wouldn't have been as good if Spielberg and his people hadn't been able to apply what they learned from making SPR.
Click to expand...

Ryan is based on an actual occurrence where an active soldier was sent home because his three brothers had been killed in the war (it later turned out only two were killed and the third had been taken prisoner). They were the Niland brothers.

The framework of the movie is historically accurate. They just added the rest to also give a clear message about the horrors of war and the strength of the bonds formed between men in wartime.
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
Mr_Moogle said:
If it's not the same guy though, why didn't he kill Upham when he was coming down the stairs? Oh man. I'm going to have to rewatch this film.
Click to expand...

He realizes Upham could have intervened and didn't, and ignores him because he knows he's not a threat and isn't worth the bullet.
 
M

Mr_Moogle

Member
plop said:
Ryan is based on an actual occurrence where an active soldier was sent home because his three brothers had been killed in the war (it later turned out only two were killed and the third had been taken prisoner). They were the Niland brothers.

The framework of the movie is historically accurate. They just added the rest to also give a clear message about the horrors of war and the strength of the bonds formed between men in wartime.
Click to expand...

I know about the Niland brothers but there was no search party. Fritz made it back to the 82 airborn division without anybody going to look for him.

If you don't think sending 8 soldiers to find one guy in the middle of WW2 is a bit hokey I don't know what to tell you.
 
T

TheWorthyEdge

Member
I just recently watched Full Metal Jacket and holy fuck...the whole sniper part near the end had me shook.

Haven't even seen SPR yet nor Apocalypse Now, but i recently bought AN so I'll probably watch it tomorrow.
 
S

sammyCYBORG

Member
DontBeThatGuy said:
No chance in hell does that sequence rival what Spielberg did. It's impressive for it is, I guess, for pulling it off, but it also felt more like showing off, with little of the grit and emotion of Omaha Beach.
Click to expand...

No emotion? Are we talking about the same scene?

That sequence is incredibly overwhelming.
 
M

Michael F. Assbender

Banned
Mr_Moogle said:
I know about the Niland brothers but there was no search party. Fritz made it back to the 82 airborn division without anybody going to look for him.

If you don't think sending 8 soldiers to find one guy in the middle of WW2 is a bit hokey I don't know what to tell you.
Click to expand...

Meh. I wasn't bothered by it. They gave a decent enough explanation for why the search was happening, some characters hung a lantern on it, and they moved on.

I'm always too wrap up in the craftsmanship and drama on display to get too lost in the weeds about how "hokey" it might be.
 
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