FAQ for
Saving Private Ryan (1998) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Saving Private Ryan can be found here.

No. Saving Private Ryan is based on a script by American screenwriter Robert Rodat. The premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Sgt. Frederick Niland, who was sent back to New York after it was thought that his three brothers were all killed in WWII.

It was filmed at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial near Colleville-sur-Mer, France.

Because this man is the same prisoner of war that was released earlier in the film by CPT Miller himself! Known as "Steamboat Willie," this German soldier stumbles away from the main characters while many of the men complain that Miller just let the enemy simply walk away. He rejoins the ranks of the German army and (if by mere coincidence or planning?) encounters Miller's men during this particular battle. Whether Steamboat Willie knows he is shooting Miller is debatable, but it is a sad and ironic twist of fate that Miller is shot by the man towards he showed so much mercy. Upham sees Steamboat Willie shoot Miller, and in a act of revenge, kills Steamboat Willie.

F*cked up beyond all recognition, reason or repair.

It was code-named "Omaha Beach" for one of the principal landing points of the Allied invasion of France in the WWII Normandy landings on June 6, 1944.

No, while the invasion of Omaha Beach did happen. It wasn't taken in 25 minutes as the film depicts. This movie is fiction based on true events. And is not intended to be an educational documentary.

No! This is an extremely common misconception. The soldier who has the melee fight with Mellish in the upstairs part of the restaurant is NOT Steamboat Willie. Upham being the coward he is, stays on the stairwell and cries while Mellish is screaming for help. The German soldier then sees Upham on the stairs. Seeing that Upham was of no threat to him, he spares Upham's life. We later see Steamboat Willie in the same battle, as he is the one who shoots Captain Miller. Many viewers misconstrue that Upham convinces Captain Miller to let Steamboat Willie go and that he later rejoins the Wehrmacht and kills Mellish and Captain Miller, which then prompts Upham to shoot Steamboat Willie when he is unarmed. This is not the case.

There are two scenes in which the American characters come into close contact with German soldiers. In both of those scenes, the Germans are portrayed simply as soldiers fighting for their country and their families.While it is understandable that those of German heritage, who likely had a relative fight for their country during World War II, might be displeased with films in which the Germans are portrayed as the antagonists, they should also understand that Saving Private Ryan is filmed to look like a documentary from the Allied perspective. For the most part, the German soldiers are shown as "the enemy in the distance", as it would appear if a documentary is being shot from within the ranks of the Allies. See also:Das Boot (1981), which shows the war from the German perspective and does not portray the Allied soldiers as evil monsters, simply as "the enemy in the distance."

Pvt. Jackson shooting the German sniper through the scope of his rifle is a reference to Vietnam war sniper Carlos Hathcock, who allegedly did the same thing to an enemy sniper. The enemy's rifle was recovered, and was photographed (I can't find the picture though) and the bullet did go straight through the scope. However, because it was a one-in-a-billion shot, it has been debated if this actually happened or if it's even possible. MythBusters tested the myth, and initially called the myth "busted", but because of the lack of authenticity, they tested the myth again under more accurate circumstances. They found that the bullets Hathcock claimed to have used couldn't completely clear the scope, but found that an armor-piercing bullet could completely penetrate the scope; the bullet went 2 inches into their dummy's head, which would easily kill the sniper. After the retest, they changed their conclusion from "busted" to "plausible" because, although their tests could easily have called it busted, they still didn't know the exact conditions of Hathcock's shot. Of course, we don't have any idea what kind of bullets Jackson used, so his amazing shot in the film is entirely possible.

Caparzo is shot through the lung by a German sniper and dies, Wade is fatally wounded when the team tries to take out a German machine gun post, Jackson is killed when a tank fires onto the bell tower, destroying the top where he was stationed, Mellish is killed in a bayonet fight and Horvath is killed after being hit by what appears to be shrapnel that hits him in the back and exits through the front of his chest near his heart. Miller is shot in the chest by Steamboat Willie and dies soon after.

Because of the stress of the situation. He was just through a horrific bloody battle in which his friends and allies were being killed all around him. When he breaks down and cries it was after Caparzo gives him a Hitler Youth Knife, taken off of a very young soldier. It's possible that Mellish killed that particular soldier (either in a deleted scene or off camera) and was horrified about how young the soldier was, so he broke down crying.

The words uttered by Mellish after he receives the knife are "Now this is a Shabbat Challah cutter." which is a Jewish bread knife. It's a reference to the German's persecution of the Jews.

The solider saw that Upham was shocked and sobbing, and decided he was not going to hurt him, and even glances back to make sure he wouldn't do anything. This also shows that the Germans weren't monsters but just soldiers. Upham posed no threat to the German soldier and so he didn't feel it necessary to kill him.

He says something similar to "Just give up, there is nothing you can do anymore. Make this easy for the both of us...shhh...".

He says this because when sending Jackson to snipe the machine gun nest, Miller distracts the gunners by exposing himself and shouting.

If you listen closely you can here fragmentation going against the inside metal. You wouldn't naturally see smoke anyway due to them closing the hatch, which is roughly 2 inches of thick metal.

Miller had a hard time finding interpreters he had one interpreter who spoke French and another who spoke German both of whom were killed on D-Day. He lucked out finding Upham who spoke both languages fluently. Also Upham had never been in combat, therefore wouldn't be much good in a frontal assault on a machine gun nest and would likely get himself or someone else killed. Wade went in on the attack as he was the Medic, so he would be right there in the firefight in case someone got hit. Unfortunately Wade was the one who got hit.