25 Years on, Saving Private Ryan’s Opening Scene Remains Cinema's Most Brutal Depiction of War
25 Years on, Saving Private Ryan’s Opening Scene Remains Cinema's Most Brutal Depiction of War
Steven Spielberg’s Omaha Beach landings are not for the faint of heart. And that’s the point
Steven Spielberg’s Omaha Beach landings are not for the faint of heart. And that’s the point
Brutal and real. For a reason.
27May we never forget what those soldiers sacrificed themselves for, and may we never forget the depths of evil the nazis were capable of
8Reason being…? Did they really gun down a bunch of extras?
4They did! Spielberg is so committed to his craft that he went to Tom Hanks hometown and asked all the locals if they'd like a chance at being as famous as Tom. So many signed up without reading their contract, which stated that there was live ammunition being used on set. Vin Diesel was actually supposed to die, but a machine gun jammed and the ensuing awkward conversation with the director led to Vin getting a feature role in exchange for his silence about Spielberg's method directing. He parlayed that little incident into a ten film series about cars or some dumb shit.
To think that if Steven Spielberg had done his goddam job we could've all been saved from watching the Chronicles of Riddick! Crazy times.
32Yes.
5
Remains one of the most gripping, intense sequences in any movie I've seen.
And actually the video game incarnation in Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (which is basically a playable frame for frame reproduction of the movie) remains one of the sweatiest, most intense video game sequences I've ever played.
Truly harrowing to both watch and play, this scene is really one of the true greats.
20MoH: AA is one of the best games I've played, and was visually far better than Battlefield at that time.
7I think it gets forgotten a bit which is sad because it was actually a really revolutionary game. Call of Duty is the big name now, but in my opinion Call of Duty never gets as big as it is today without the groundwork laid by MoH.
3
I remember trying to storm the beach and getting cut down every time. You have to watch for a particular kind of gun fire strafing across the sand.
2
The actual opening scene is the graveyard. I always skip that scene on rewatch, I start it at the beach.
5True, I've not seen Saving Private Ryan for awhile, but Forgotten Battle seemed more brutally realistic to me. Excellent film by the way.
3