Must-watchWorld War II · Film · 1998
Saving Private Ryan
After surviving the carnage of Omaha Beach, Captain Miller and a handful of Rangers are sent across the Normandy hedgerows to find one paratrooper whose three brothers have been killed, and to bring him home.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 3 places.
Stop 1: Omaha Beach (Dog Green sector)
Key location
Captain Miller's Rangers land in the first wave, survive the slaughter at the water's edge and fight their way up to the German bunkers.
Stop 2: Neuville-au-Plain
Searching the scattered airborne units inland, the squad loses a man to a sniper in a ruined village and finds the wrong Private Ryan.
Stop 3: Merderet River bridges (fictional Ramelle)
In the ruined town of Ramelle they find Ryan with a few paratroopers guarding a vital bridge and prepare to face a German armored counterattack.
What really happened
On 6 June 1944 the US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions landed on Omaha Beach, the most heavily defended of the five Normandy beaches. Rough seas, missed bombing and intact German bunkers turned the first waves into a massacre, and the Americans suffered roughly 2,400 casualties there before small groups broke through the bluffs by midday.
The search for Private Ryan is fictional, but it was inspired by the Niland brothers: Sergeant Fritz Niland of the 101st Airborne was sent home in 1944 after two of his brothers were killed and a third was reported missing. The town of Ramelle is invented, although the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne really did fight for days to hold the bridges over the Merderet River.
Where to watch
Checking streaming services…
Full details
- Original title
- Saving Private Ryan
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg
- Countries
- United States
- Languages
- English, French, German
- Released
- 1998
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Western Europe
- Themes
- Combat
