Classic 90s Movie: “Saving Private Ryan”
May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Drew Dorenfest.
Movie Title: Saving Private Ryan
Year: 1998
Writer: Robert Rodat
Lead Actors: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Ed Burns, Matt Damon
Director: Steven Spielberg
IMDB Plot Summary: Following the Normandy Landings, a group of U.S. soldiers go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper whose brothers have been killed in action.
Why I Think This Is A Classic 90’s Movie: It’s so weird to think of Saving Private Ryan as a 90’s movie. The Matrix, for example, which came out the next year, largely defined the next decade’s blockbusters with their “whoa” moments like “bullet time”, so I mostly consider The Matrix to be a 2000’s movie. Yet Saving Private Ryan almost feels like it could exist in any era of filmmaking. It’s a classic WWII adventure film with epic battle scenes and brave heroics, but one that just happened to be made in 1998.
Just as he did with Schindler’s List, Spielberg was unafraid to “go there” with the gritty realism necessary to depicting the worst atrocities of WWII, so that future generations will never forget what truly took place. Far from a history lesson, Saving Private Ryan remains an engrossing story, with memorable characters, set pieces, and imagery. Coming at the very end of an incredible run for Spielberg, this film would win him his second Oscar for Best Director, and truly cement his legacy as one of the greatest and most influential directors of all-time.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: My favorite moment in the movie has to be the following scene:
Shortly after the D-Day/Storming of Normandy sequence, a largely self-contained 20-minute masterpiece, we meet our handpicked squad of soldiers chosen for a “PR mission” to find one private James Ryan, a paratrooper missing somewhere behind enemy lines. What makes this scene my favorite is that in one scene we A. establish the characters as they relate to this “FUBAR” mission B. cement their relationship to the Captain/Captain’s relationship to them (i.e. how chain of command works, especially when it comes to “griping”) C. set us off on our adventure to find Private Ryan.
I’ve thought a lot about the structure of Saving Private Ryan and it’s very quirky, to say the least, as far as three hour war epics go. Most three hour war epics (The Great Escape, The Bridge On The River Kwai, etc.) are about some intense struggle for a valiant and noble goal, clearly identified at the outset of the film. Saving Private Ryan is about finding one soldier. “Like finding a needle in a stack of needles.”
How they go about finding Private Ryan is a matter of happenstance basically. They trek through war zones rife with deadly obstacles to save one American mother the heartbreak of losing another son to war. They don’t do it because they feel for his mother. They do it because it’s their orders. Their duty. And a soldier’s duty is what this movie seeks to explore.
It’s interesting to note that Spielberg had long been fascinated by WWII, yet this was his first attempt at a full blown war epic. He said that when he read the script, an original screenplay by Robert Rodat, he knew he had finally found the story he wanted to tell. It’s a love letter to heroism, but not the kind mythologized in movies, the kind found in real life.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: For me personally, nothing tops this speech by Tom Hanks right before the third act of the film, right after they lose yet another soldier to this “PR mission,” and morale stands at an all-time low within the group.
Captain Miller: Ah, Ryan. I don’t know anything about Ryan. I don’t care. The man means nothing to me. It’s just a name. But if… you know if going to Rumelle and finding him so that he can go home… if that earns me the right to get back to my wife, then that’s my mission.
[to Private Reiben]
Captain Miller: You want to leave? You want to go off and fight the war? All right. All right. I won’t stop you. I’ll even put in the paperwork. I just know that every man I kill… the farther away from home I feel.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie:
Over the years, two things have consistently stuck out for me.
1. The character of Pt. Upham, played by Jeremy Davies. He’s the last soldier picked for the squad, a translator with no combat training beyond basic. He’s the most important part of the whole story because he stands in for the audience. While it’s clear that Hanks is the protagonist, he’s also a bit of a mystery. Upham is green, he’s scared, he’s new to the group. By dragging him into the narrative, we have someone WE can identify with. And he’s used brilliantly to that effect. A gateway in. A barometer of fear and courage.
2. The ongoing “betting pool” to guess what Captain did for a living before the war. This very minor part of the story, to me, stands out as the glue that holds the first 2/3rds of the film together. Without it, you have a series of loosely connected vignettes about war. With it included, you have an ongoing conversation amongst the squad. A mystery yet to be solved. A glimpse into the main character we have yet to see. And Spielberg/Rodat milk it for all it’s worth. Finally unleashing the answer right before Hanks’ speech that kicks off the third act. He’s a school teacher. Boom. He’s not John Wayne. He’s Andy Griffith. A regular guy leading a group of men on a mission.
Thanks, Drew! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of 80s Movies. This month we cover 90s movies. So thanks to all of you for your participation in this project, creating a resource for writers, movies they should watch to help learn the craft of screenwriting!
