My grandfather was the third wave onto Omaha Beach. He was never able to handle this film. I served 21 years and a US Infantryman, with 57 months deployed to combat zones (2001-2022) during that time. I'm still not sure how those men took those beaches. Pure guts, balls, and courage. There's a reason they are the Greatest Generation.
@@hoshinoutaite mind-boggling little-known fact, also the shore bombardment of Normandy killed more French civilians than the whole Vietnam War killed US soldiers. 60 000. The destroyed towns you see in Private Ryan or Band or Brothers were destroyed by allied bombs. I learned this in an article by Stars and Stripes, but it's been taken off. As a Frenchman, I feel they could have been less overkill, but that's what it took. Reality bites...
Him and Barry Pepper are great actors!! Never seen a bad performance from either of them! Pepper in the HBO movie about Maris beating Babe Ruth’s home run record is amazing. I love Ribissi in Boiler Room too! And while Battlefield Earth is pretty bad, Pepper did a good job in it.
@@MikeB12800 If you like Pepper, check out 25th Hour. He plays Ed Norton's best friend with Phillip Seymour Hofman, and they're taking Norton out on the town on his last night before he goes to prison for dealing heroine. It's a pretty good watch.
The mother collapsing on the porch always gets to me. No sounds just that gutteral tribal animal emotion only a mother can relate to properly and I'm a bloke!
“Just know that for every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.” Such simple poetry. I absolutely love this line. I watch that scene every year on Memorial Day.
I’ve commented it before - What upsets me most is Ryan’s wife doesn’t know who Miller is. She asks “Who was he?” - Ryan never told her about what the squad did for him. He suffered silently with survivors’ guilt for 50+ years.
When he asks his wife to tell him he was a good man, that he lead a good life makes me sob out loud. All 100X I've seen it. He carried that guilt and terror around for 60+ years. Never sure if he did enough or was good enough to "earn" what they did for him. I'm tearing up typing this right now. 😢😭
@@blechtic no, it's because the memories are too painful to revive. People seem to wait until old age is gonna get them to open up. It's like mistreated children. Not easy to open up. On the other hand, if the people around you can't stand to just listen to what you lived through, then it's time to change people around you - they don't deserve you. And lastly - MORE THAN EVER we NEED to hear about all that. I'm French, the new generations don't know shit about that and even people my age here don't give a flying fuck and accuse the US of both being in Ukraine, and not being there when things go sour.
I was one of five boys. we lost a brother to cancer when he was 41 and it almost killed my mom. i couldn't imagine her losing us all in one fell swoop. just wow.
I imagine the worst job in the military outside of combat is the job of having to break the terrible news of their son being lost in combat. Someone's got to do it, but that job has just got to be unimaginably hard.
Ms. Addie, lovely, lovely job on the video .. .. With Patriot's Day 2022 approaching, just wanted to pass along a little tidbit on how amazing our Armed Forces are .. .. Shortly after 9/11, Tom Brokaw (writer of the 'Greatest Generation') was in a Diner near Ground Zero and a recalled US Army Reservist approached him to make sure it was him .. .. After Brokaw said it was indeed him, the Master Seargent shook his hand, squared up and proudly told Brokaw, "Now it's our turn to pay up. Watch us." Thank you, Addie for another lovely review and God Bless our Armed Forces!
The first 15 minutes of the movie were filmed so realistically, that many survivors that were at Omaha beach, veterans of that assault, had to walk out of the movie theater because is was so realistic.
Yes, same thing happened all over the country, veterans were given a free first viewing and most walked out, it was simply too much for them. I couldnt imagine living it.
Yeah, the movie could also be called "Destroying Corporal Upham" because his entire innocence and self-identity is destroyed in the movie. Earlier in the movie, he had such a romanticism about soldiers and combat, talking in the church how war brings out the best in a person, etc. He found the cold hard truth in the end.
The betrayal by the German soldier whose life Uppham had advocated for. The same German soldier who then killed John Miller, the very man who had set him free and how much that hardened Uppham in that moment. That was a pivotal moment for him.
I was always of the opinion that Upham ended up a broken man after the war, probably drowning himself in liquor or maybe even suiciding. Call it my own headcanon, call it wishful thinking but it stuck with me for decades
@@jamesclapp6832 That's literally the opposite of what his comment is saying. Upham didn't need to shoot that guy. And it ended up being the only person he killed. It was pointless, and it shows the horrible effect it had on him.
I remember watching this in the cinema. When it finished we all just sat there, in silence, all you could hear was sobbing from various people dotted around the cinema. I now think that anyone that can only think of the glory of war, they should watch this movie, everyone should
Yes, same here. Dead silence and no one got up to leave until all the credits ran to the end. No one spoke in the hall. We all just walked out in silence. I attended with my 3 boys! It had a lot of meaning because I'm from a military family.
I personally think politicians and government leaders should watch this movie at least several times before thinking about sending the country and its soldiers to war.
I actually believe that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE was a very deserving winner for Best Picture, which I found to be a lot more cohesive as a movie and maintained consistent narrative momentum. It is definitely overhated, and while Harvey Weinstein's involvement was unfortunate, I firmly believe it deserved Picture despite him. The main issue I have with PRIVATE RYAN is that it lacks narrative momentum throughout (starts off strong only to sputter out as it went along) and not to mention I felt that it was literally telling the audience to cry at certain moments. I actually think it didn't deserve to win Director either (I would have voted for Peter Weir for THE TRUMAN SHOW) but the technical wins were deserved.
"Earn it" is a message for all of us. Band of Brothers is a series covering the actual experiences of Easy Company 2nd Battalion of the 506th Company of the 101st Airbourne - the best WW2 series or movie of the European theater. It features the real men.
@@lyndoncmp5751 Is that the one with the soldier who went blind? That was a honest mistake by the E company survivors, not the filmmakers. He was from another company after all, and had never showed up at any reunions nor had contact with any E company soldiers after he went to the field hospital, so they had assumed he died there. Until he showed up at a reunion after the series came out. If anything its a mistake by Ambrose, but forgivable given how much he had to research for the book. There is always mistakes.
@@JPDillon No the one where the inaccurately portray the British tank unit as clueless idiots. In reality the 44th Royal Tank Regiment was a far more combat hardened and experienced unit than the 101st Airborne was at the time, and it had just knocked out two Jagdpanzer IVs of Panzer Brigade 107 on the outskirts of that town (Nuenen). They knew the Germans were there. The 44th gave as good as they got that day, and lost no more armour than the Germans did. Ambrose got the date wrong, the name of the British tank unit wrong, the tank types wrong and the number of British tanks wrong. It was shoddy research and this made it into the tv series. In real life it was Panzer Brigade 107 that had to withdraw from Nuenen, due to pressure from British armour. I have a book on the 44th Royal Tank Regiment. It tallies up perfectly with the combat diary of Panzer Brigade 107 and not Ambrose. Cheers.
3:30 what those surrendering soldiers were saying was "Please don't kill me. I'm not German, I'm Czech." This means that those men were from parts of Europe which had been conquered by Germany and those men had been forced into the German army.
The few seconds after a soldier surrenders is maybe the most dangerous time for him. Will the other side accept his surrender or not hangs in the balance.
This is the most intense first half hour in a movie ever. I've read that some war veterans needed to be removed from movie sessions because it triggered PTSD responses. Hands down the best World War 2 movie ever.
@@roasty80 As far as I know Addie never served in the front line of a war. I know that I never had, so it is expected that the emotional response from someone who never had been in combat, at the comfort of their home, will be different from someone who served at the invasion of Normandy.
I watched this in theaters back in 98 with my uncle who was a war veteran.. I jus remember me being totally into it but him with his head down not watching closing his eyes and hearing the sounds of the machine guns.
@@vinnycordeiro I think that's part of it. Most civilians (and the majority of veterans for that matter) simply have no context to process what's going on. I think this movie's Normandy scene does a fantastic job of visualizing the realities of war. It gives the uninitiated a frame of reference to place the rest of the movie into. However, that still does not mean that most people have a proper emotional box to place those visuals into. I think the other part is that the amount of gore in modern movies, television, and video games have desensitized a generation of people. The level of gore on display in that scene by itself was shocking to viewers in the 90s, but today it's found in all of the popular media. This compounds with the emotional disconnect of a lack of context for those that have never seen combat. That being said, I find it gratifying that she was still able to hit the emotional marks in the rest of the movie. Maybe there's still some small measure of hope for this generation of millennials.
There's a story I've heard several times.... During an early screening for people who worked on the movie, before its general release... Spielberg was concerned because several of the WWII veterans that worked as advisors on the movie were walking out of the theater during the Normandy Beach scenes. He was concerned they hated the movie, so he followed them out... to find these 70-80 year old men, who had landed at Normandy more than half a century ago, breaking down crying and shaking. Those opening scenes had been a bit TOO real for them. Phrases like "PTSD" didn't exist back then - but that doesn't mean it never affected those men. Great movie...Truly one of the finest WWII movies ever made.
yes, the term PTSD did exist when Speilberg made the movie. My father was not at Normandy... but when our whole family went to see the movie together, shortly after the Normandy beach scenes he walked out of the theater. I thought he'd just gone to the bathroom; but when he didn't return, I went looking for him. I found him sitting on a stone bench outside the theater, his elbows on his knees, smoking a cigarette, staring off into the distance. I sat beside him a moment, and pretty soon he turned to me and told me that he was okay, he "just needed a smoke", and to go on back inside and watch the movie. Odd, that that was the only time I ever saw him not able to sit through a whole movie because he needed a smoke... Side Note: My dad often expressed his pity for Korean war vets; he didn't think it was fair the way they kept getting overlooked between WWII and Vietnam vets. An uncle of mine, my mother's (little?) brother, was called "Johnny". She would often called me Johnny by mistake (my name is not Johnny)... he had served in Korea, and from my mom I learned that he'd seen some of the harsh fighting there (and from my understanding, a lot of it was _brutal_ ), and she thought he had "combat fatigue" as they called it back then. At the age of 54, when his wife took his kids and left him... he hanged himself.
@@Hiraghm I meant, back in 1944, the term had not been invented yet. "Shell shock" or "Battle fatigue" were used... but, "PTSD" hadn't been coined yet. And yes, Korean War vets are STILL forgotten today.
As a follow-up to this, I heard Spielberg asked those veterans If he should tone down the opening scene on the beach. According to the story, they said don’t change a thing; People deserve to know what it was really like.
That's a tough way to spend a Saturday but we all have the opportunity to enjoy Saturdays as we see fit due to soldiers like these protecting our way of life.
I'm glad you decided on this film. It's so impactful. I've had Saving Private Ryan in my movie collection for a very long time, but I can only bring myself to watch maybe once every five or six years or so because it's so damn difficult, yet arguably necessary. It truly is an amazing and heartbreaking portrayal of the range of the human condition.
Now you should watch Spielberg’s follow-up to this movie, a WWII miniseries called “Band of Brothers”. Spielberg shot it in the same style as this movie, and while Saving Pvt. Ryan is fictional, Band of Brothers is the non-fiction story of the heroes of the 101st Airborne Division, Easy Company. It is one of the best TV shows ever written.
Thanks for watching this, even though it's really hard. Prior to this war movies tended not to show the brutality and gore and hopelessness of war. Newspapers had to publish trigger warnings, which had never really been done, because so many WWII vets (elderly at this point) had to leave theaters because of the realism triggering flashbacks. This story was very loosely based on the real tale of the 4 Niland brothers. At least in their case, one of the brothers presumed dead turned up alive in a Japanese POW camp.
Actually several movies showed the reality of war, but the Normandy landing scenes were unprecedented. War is not hopeless. That's how we ended the Nazi menace. That's how we ended slavery here in the US. Sometimes it's necessary.
This is one of the hardest movies I have ever seen. I saw it in the theater and sat there gob smacked through the end of the credits. It still haunts me.
I was very lucky to be able to visit the five beaches on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It's a trip where you get both extremely educated and exceedingly humbled in the same blow. I saw this film at 28 in 1998, and I still cringe at the opening 20 minutes, knowing all those young men who risked life and limb to protect the countries from the evil Axis powers. It gave me a much deeper respect for soldiers of past, and my support for the young men and women of today, trying to keep the basic thing we call freedom still alive. RIP to those who answered the call to arms, represented in this movie and all........
The end where he asks his wife to tell him he's lived a good life hits me the hardest out of any part of the movie. The amount of guilt he carried his entire life surviving that fight and all those guys dying for him, to FINALLY look for and get that reassurance that he DID live a good life for them is just overwhelming.
The beaches of Normandy were stained red for weeks afterwards. According to vets who saw this, the only thing missing from the D-day scene was the smell of blood and diesel, and that there were a LOT more bodies.
When the mother collapsed, my father cried. I’d never seen my father cry. These were my grandparents. Todays children could not defend us like this. But the bad guys are still there.
The day I saw this theatrically I was by myself and I sat through the credits and wept. It’s the only time in my life that a film had that kind of a visceral reaction from me. This is a masterpiece.
Those first 30 minutes of D-Day, soldiers who were there and then watched that scene said that it brought them back to that morning. The reason Wade asked for the second thing of morphine is that he knew that it would kill him. There’s a saying that goes: “One for the pain, the second for eternity.” The second thing of morphine essentially overwhelms the heart. Don’t know if you’ve heard of the channel, but HistoryBuffs does a great job of breaking this movie down, even going into the background planning behind D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. I loved the way you tied in Upum’s “innocence” being taken by war and how he finally realized what every other character had been going through. It’s just such great moment in a truly epic movie.
My grandpa lost his brother, who I'm named for, in the war. It changed the entire family forever and I've grown up, now 50, living my life trying to earn what he sacrificed for us. It's a lesson we could all stand to learn.
Great reaction to an awesome movie! I think many will agree that you should also react to the 10 part series Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg made after completing this project. The series is called Band of Brothers and depicts WWII starting with the Normandy invasion from the perspective of the 101st Airborne. It's a big commitment, but it's worth it. If you do decide to react to the series, I would recommend that you watch and record all ten episodes before you start posting, or at least avoid the comments until after you've watched it all. Otherwise, well meaning comments will inadvertently include some spoilers. I really enjoy the honesty of your reactions and your professional and intuitive editing choices. Great job! Keep it up!
I watch it every Memorial Day. Then pour one out for the grandfather who was on the Pacific, and the great uncles who were still in training in June of 44
this movie hits everyone square in the emotions. Need to remember aswell, most of these men that were fighting were 19 to early 20s. So much of life ahead of all of them. Not sure if any others commented, in the D-day scenes they used some actors actually missing arms or legs and put fake limbs on to blow them off during the attack. When this first hit theaters, some WWII vets had to leave as it was too impactful for them.
I don't know if you look at a comment that is number 258. However, I watched this film at the cinema when it came out in 1998. With me was a group of Russians who were visiting the USA on a State Department program and I was one of their hosts. I knew it was a WW2 film plus a "blockbuster" - and communicated that to our guests - but knew little else. Do realize USSR films about WW2 did often include the other allies, but the allies' roles were minimized. For example, a film I watched while visiting Russia (earlier in 1998) showed Soviet soldiers in a desperate battle fighting the Germans which was interspersed with scenes of "American troops" riding around in trucks to happy music (not being shot at). There was complete silence at the end of the SPR film and everyone in the cinema left without saying a word. Once outside, our Russian guests asked how many invasions the Americans conducted in WW2. I expected the question and was able to tell them we conducted scores of invasions in Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. It was a shock to them because they had always been taught in school/university that the USA didn't really fight in WW2.
I had a conversation with a (quite intelligent) college student from New Zealand, who believed the same thing. He was shocked when I threw out some stats. But I guess all countries are guilty of this. How many Americans you meet, know Canada stormed Juno beach?
@@robbob5302 I know that, and I suspect many Americans from my generation know it. My son - who is 30 - also knows it. However, he went to Catholic schools so he got a good secondary education. Note that Omaha Beach was the worst because fog & low clouds caused the pre-invasion bombings and shellings to miss the actual defenses. That was also taught long ago when I was in a public high school in New Orleans.
Addie, your reactions show exactly the kind and sweet soul you are. I strongly recommend that you react to Band of Brothers. It's a masterpiece. BTW, Spielberg and T. Hanks produced it. Simply amazing. It will change your life. Trust me.
At the beginning of the movie, when they discover that all the letters concerning his brothers deaths are going out to Ryan's mother at the same time, you hear one man say, "We'd split them up so they weren't serving together after the Sullivan brothers." This is the true story behind that line in the movie. The five Sullivan brothers were sailor brothers, who, serving together on the light cruiser USS Juneau, were all killed in action in and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942. Due to the deaths of the five brothers The Sole Survivor policy, Section 6(o) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1948 was created and exempts the sole surviving son of a family where one or more sons or daughters have been killed in action, died in the line of duty, or subsequently died of injuries or disease incurred while in military service, from being drafted either in peacetime or wartime. This true story provides part of the basis for Saving Private Ryan.
The guys in the opening scene killed on the beach *Did Not Die In Vain.* They took focus off the others who made it up the beach. Making it possible for the invasional landing to be successful.
Your reaction to the office full of typists preparing those letters to wives and parents is exactly the same as mine. It’s so sterile, but so brutal when you think of how many letters have to be typed up.
Dear Madam, I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom. Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln. "The boy's alive. We're going to send someone to find him... and we are going to get him the hell out of there." Gets me every damned time.
This is my favourite war movie my friend introduced me to it I remember we had snacks next to us and before he pressed play he said buddy I just want to warn you this movie is very emotional and I said oh I can handle it right when we’re about to get to the end of the movie I’m already in tears
Let me tell you one thing. I follow many reaction channels, but you are the only one I am subscribed to. Your reactions are very good and you are one of the few who does not exaggerate them. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to seeing you react to movies like Shutter Island, Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society :)
My uncle was a professional soldier with the British army & was there on D Day. He never spoke about it, even once, to me or his children during his entire life. Only during one conversation with my dad did he ever talk about WW11 at all. He said the young conscripts were "complete canon fodder" and had absolutely no chance. I don't think he ever got over it. He would sometimes wake up during the night hearing gun shots. If he was around today he'd definitely need therapy 😢
Easily one of the greatest movies ever and for me the best war movie for sure. Every time I watch or hear just scenes from it, I get goosebumps and feel all the feelings again. I watched it when I was pretty young (was 13 when it came out, watched it maybe 1-2 years later on VHS) and it scarred me for life, but in a good way. I am from Germany and it is so important that we never forget what happened back in the day and how many lifes have been lost so that we, especially me, could live the life as we do right now. Spielberg is a genius, but that is nothing new. Really would like to see you watch Schindlers List. Also from Spielberg and also one of the greatest movies ever. :) Great reaction as always, you rock Addie! Loved how you did not shy away from the emotions and tears. :)
"First scene of the movie and I can already tell that this movie is gonna make me cry!" No... this one is going to break you. There are accounts from veterans of D-Day who saw the film and asked if that's what it was really like. "There was more blood" was a common reply. This is probably the best portrayal of the beach landings in cinema... and it pales in comparison to what those men actually went through on those beaches. My grandfather was part of d-day and the Battle of the Bulge. He refused, flatly, to ever talk about what he saw. The sound of those tanks approaching the village in the end in the theater was absolutely nerve wracking. This film starts off the way it does to desensitize you to the violence. So that when you sort of realize it, it shocks you. The men who fought also became desensitized to the non-stop violence around them all the time. But at the same time, many knew they were and the dichotomy broke so many. Captain Miller sobbing over the loss of a man, but able to rapidly think out plans to take enemy positions and not hesitating to fight. The constant barrage of guns and bombs.. war is indescribable hell.
No. Not at all. After the first half hour the film is not stellar. The dialogue is mediocre and characters forgettable. Nowhere near the level of Jaws.
Well done Addie! This is a terribly hard movie to get through. When it came out the were many vets who could not make it to the end because of their own trauma. I wouldn't let my father go see this because I knew what he had been through. He was a Navy Corpsman in the Pacific and had six different landings to get past. Another he didn't make due to his flight back from leave marrying my mother cost his best friend's life. He blamed himself to his dying day for not being there. Mom always told him if he was supposed to be there he would have been there. Several of these scenes still tear me up. The 5 Sullivan brothers served and died together on the Navy cruiser Juneau. There is a movie that covers their story. Our leaders decided to split families up for a better chance of survival. There were many missions like this to attempt to remove the last member of a family from combat. This movie covers D-day and immediately thereafter. People know the basic story. "The great raid" is a rescue mission for POWs. And "Hacksaw ridge" is the most extreme Army medics story ever told. These two movies are based on actual events. "Band of brothers" is a great companion piece to Ryan's movie. Sorry about the length but sometimes a thumb, a heart and a smiley face just don't cut it.
At 11:46 he pulls out his compass. Notice this is very period specific. Also notice how similar this looks to the one carried by Captain America in the Marvel movie made many years later. Nice attention to detail.
Loosely based on a true story, this is a great movie! Even better yet, after Tom and Steven finished here, they took everything they learned and did Band of Brothers. Basically a 10hr true version of this, following the boys from training to the end of the war. I'll join in the chorus of comments recommending Band of Brothers.
Except I read in the true story, they never bothered with a rescue mission. Just put they word out to all the rally points, to keep an eye out for this name. Eventually he turned up safe.
My grandpa was not at Normandy, but was involved in landings elsewhere. He had to get up and walk out of the theater during the D-Day scene because he said it was too realistic for him 50 years later.
1:36 “oh the water is red, with the blood of the dead, but I’m still alive, pray to god I survive” - Longest Day by Iron Maiden The mother getting the 3 telegrams on the same day always gets me. Imagine having 4 sons, all serving in the war. You know there’s a possibility 1 or 2 may not come back, maybe 3, maybe even all 4. But to get 3 on the same day, and not knowing if the 4th is alive or not… I think the actress did a good job, it’s literally all she had to do as it’s her only scene. 5:47 “I like him” - 😬 we’ll see how you feel by the end 13:01 when the medic tells you to give him more morphine, you know it’s bad. Apparently there’s a saying about morphine - “one for now, two for ever” Upham is quite polarising among viewers… some take the view that he’s just the normal scared person who freezes in life-or-death situations, some believe that he should have done what he finally did do and “man up”. He adds the third element to “fight or flight”, and that’s “fright”. The D-Day scene is one of the most graphic, and very real scenes in any war film. Veterans who went to see it in theatres were said to be traumatised by the realism to the point they had to leave, one was quoted as saying “the only thing missing was the smell”. Some of the extras used for that scene were amputees - they were given prosthetic limbs, which would then be “severed” when an explosion hit them. Taking practical effects to a new level there. Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on true events. There was indeed a family of 4 brothers - the Niland brothers. 2 were confirmed dead during the D-Day landings, one was missing and presumed dead, and another was sought out to return home. This was a non-negotiable order from the President after what happened the Sullivan brothers (who are mentioned in this film). All 5 served aboard the same ship - USS Juneau, which was sank by a Japanese submarine in 1942. It was decided that brothers would no longer serve in the same detachment so as not to all potentially perish in the same incident at the same time, and if multiple are killed leaving just one alive, that one MUST be brought home. The remaining Niland brother returned home, and the missing brother was also found after he had been a PoW. 2 of the Niland brothers names (1 first name, and 1 middle name) are featured in this film as the middle names of the 2 James Ryan’s that are found - Francis and Frederick. I don’t know if you’ve seen Black Hawk Down, but that’s another really well done war film, based on true events of the war in Somalia in the early 90s.
One of the most realistic depiction of the warfare, this movie is amazing and powerful. It is not a happy movie, but it is something that should be seen. It may be fiction, but underneath the lies is a truth harder than diamond.
As a minor point, Caparzzo's letter to his dad would never have been sent home bloody; it wouldn't have been sent at all. Nobody's letters home were directly sent. It was too much volume of mail. GIs wrote letters on a blank form called a "V-mail" which severely limited how much they could write. After it was reviewed by censors to black out any possible military intelligence information, it was photographically reduced down to microfiche, and sent with hundreds of other letters on a single sheet. This allowed for a manageable volume of mail. When the letters reached the states, they were enlarged and handed over to USPS to be mailed individually. The postal service had the resources to handle the volume of mail that the military could not. Manpower was always short in wartime and the military couldn't afford to build up as big a manpower intensive infrastructure as the postal service, so they used technology to do the job.
I REALLY hope you'll get around to watching Band of Brothers! In my opinion, it's the best thing ever put to film. So freaking good! Created by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg!
All things considered, that war was not very long ago. Some soldiers still alive today. Many like myself had a father or grandfather involved in the WWll conflict. Thanks for the reaction.
One of my fav movies. I had an Uncle that fought through Normandy and helped build a pontoon bridge to cross the Rhine river. He ended up in Austria when the war was over. Thanks for sharing this and may we never forget those who sacrificed so much to protect our freedom. 🇺🇸
This film is so important, remembering the sacrifice of so many at such a pivotal point in history, It can never be forgotten. The world as we know it could have been so much different if it weren't for the bravery of many!
I've seen this movie more times than I can count and it never clicked why they made a point of focusing on Cast. Miller's hand when he was dying, thank you for that. Great reaction as always, thank you for your channel, these are a nice way to relive the first time impressions and emotions I got from watching these movies myself.
incredible how we miss stuff. Just the other day, from a reaction video, I realized there's a picture of the 4 Ryan sons on the right of the door as the Mother opens the door
Good reaction. You need to check out the movies, Heat, Goodfellas, American History X, A Bronx Tale, Casino, The Shining, Training Day. All classics, you won't be disappointed
Hello Addie, great reaction. Thank you for watching this film. It's so important that we all know and appreciate what "the Greatest Generation" had to go through to save the world from fascism and Nazism. Let us never forget, especially now. Hey, another great movie that Tom Hanks is in is called "Philadelphia". You should definitely watch that too -- make sure you have your tissues near by. Love you, Addie! You are such a sweetie!
I absolutely love this movie with all my heart, but it is a tough watch and I mean that in the best way. This movie hits so hard because it takes away the romanticism of war. It doesn't have any corny music or parts where you think someone is invincible. It's about as raw and real as we've seen. That doesn't mean there aren't any good war movies, but this one just feels more authentic because it doesn't try to make anyone special by being a better soldier -- it deals with good men being changed by war and trying to hold onto the person they were before. This is a phenomenal movie.
Being a german myself, I also have never heard of "Fubar", the closest would be "Furchtbar", which roughly means "Frightfull", "awfull" or "dreadfull" depending on the context :)
You did a great job reviewing Saving Private Ryan, and a very honest review as well. I would suggest you watch: Hacksaw Ridge, Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor, Band of Brothers, and The Pacific.
Seen this movie a ton of times and still tear up. Some events I have a hard time with, previously served in the US army and still relive some events from my time in, but this is such a powerful movie and a great reaction
Great Reaction to a really powerful movie! I had two uncles that survived WWII and a couple that didn't. One of them died a few years ago and was among the last living survivors of Pearl Harbor. The town he lived in, made him chairman of the 4th of July Parade the year he turned 90 yrs old. He earned a Purple Heart for his service.
That 1st 30 minutes was actually more than six hours long. Naturally, time had to be compressed for the movie, but it took them a good part of the day to clear that beach. When I started my current job, one of our security guards was actually present there on the beaches of Normandy when that all occurred. He attested that that whole scene was, unfortunately, all too real.
Less than 2 weeks ago I was at the Normandy American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. Knowing that there are the bodies of those brave soldiers beneath my feet at this special place had an emotional impact on me. I got angry thinking about those young men dying so some repulsive politicians in Washington can use their positions in government to become wealthy and work to control our lives. Because of all the soldiers we have warm beds to sleep in, food on the table, and safety. What a sacrifice these men made for us. The greatest generation.
I went to the charity premier of this movie and several of the veterans that were on that beach were there and said that that is how it was, it was a true rendition of what they went through. Tom Hanks helmet was auctioned off for charity and got quite a sum that I just cannot remember. I loved your reaction, similar to mine
A lot of people dislike Upham because of his apparent cowardice, initially myself included. But once you become honest with yourself, you are forced to admit that unless you have been where he was…you truly have no idea how you would handle the chaos and death all around you. His character, like all the rest, is very interesting and serves as an object lesson in honesty and the Self.
@Blake N my realization is that I don’t yet know what I’d do, I haven’t been there…so I can’t judge the guy. I can not like what happened in the movie, but I can’t say I’d do differently.
Man, I understand all of this. But you have a weapon, a mission and bad enemies to face and you see that they have no problem killing your companions. So do your damn duty. Or run away from there.
Still watching Melish call to Upham as he was being stabbed hurts the most he was 10 feet away and could have saved Melish but it meant take that German soldiers life.
First time watching your channel, and I have to say your open and honest reactions were so appreciated, warm and heartfelt that I don’t even have the right words for it. I was in Afghanistan and Iraq, my view from 10,000-30,000 feet, and I was much older than what these guys went through on Omaha. Many were just 18-19 year old boys… some even younger. I think we would all be better people by remembering sacrifices like these. PS would love to see you do a Band of Brothers one, like many already mentioned! You have a new fan, thanks Addie.
Accidentally stumbled upon your page and I must say, I love how you keep it short and at the end talk about your reaction, great job, keep up the great channel work
I found out last year that my Pop Pop was a member of the GHOST Army Please take the time to look them up. They were a special group Proud of him and all the men who served. John Francis Settar Sr.
Hi Addie ♥ glad to see you started a war reaction :) i recommend you to watch Band of Brothers , then The Pacific series aswell . You wont regret it :) btw 3:28 soldier was saying ,,Do not shoot , i didn't kill anyone'' in Czech language .. and this is quite correct , many many men from occupied countries like Czechoslovakia were forced to fight for Wehrmacht . Those who managed to escape Nazi regime were fighting under RAF in UK . Brave men .
A depiction of D-Day so realistic, that some veterans had to leave the movie theater due to PTSD. The opening scene put them right back on Utah and Omaha Beaches.
The line that gets me is at the end when pvt. Ryan's wife says "captain Miller did you know him?" 60 years he kept what happened to himself. I can't even fathom the weight of that.
23:00 A lot of people miss the fact that the German that didn't kill Upham was the one they let go at the RADAR station. That's how he knew Upham's name at the bridge. It's obvious when you go back and re-watch, but pretty easy to miss in the heat of the moment.
No, that's a common error because they look similar, but the psychopath with the knife who didn't kill Upham on the stairs is not the same as the prisoner they let go -- but the soldier who recognizes Upham at the end is.
I saw this when it came out in the theaters. You could easily tell who the vets were in the audience. In the first five minutes, we were gripping the armrests with white knuckles. In the last five minutes, we were bawling.
*(Update) Excellent reaction, Addie. This is my girlfriend's dad's favorite movie (actually, it's one of his favorites). BTW, If you want more Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks films, I recommend Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post. For more Matt Damon films, I recommend Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne, Green Zone, The Martian, Ford v Ferrari, and The Last Duel. For more war films, I recommend Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut, Full Metal Jacket, Crimson Tide, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down (Extended Edition), Windtalkers, Jarhead, Fury (2014), American Sniper, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Dunkirk, 12 Strong, Midway (2019), & 1917.
I watched this at home while on leave after my fourth peacetime deployment. I remember my best friend asking if that's what it was like and I said "no idea...haven't seen any combat yet." I was at ten years and walking the fence on staying in until retirement or just taking my aviation skills and heading to the private sector when some a-holes parked a couple airliners in the Twin Towers. My next twelve years made me wish for sitting in the theater with my childhood buddy, reflecting on how crazy realistic this movie seemed. Peacetime US forces vs wartime are very different. We should never back down from foreign agitators, but I hope we can stay out the world's political issues long enough for my kids to finish college and have kids of their own.
The courage and valor those men (and boys) demonstrated in the landing craft. Not knowing what to expect when they dropped the gate or if they would survive is bone chilling to me. God bless the men that endured that. Brings tears to my eyes.
Actually what you said about the Captain, that he just wanted to get back to his wife, etc, applied to every man in the armed forces. They all wanted to get done, and get home. A good book (not the movie) about Normandy is The Longest Day. Ernie Pyle was a journalist who became famous for living among the GIs and sharing their stories. His columns were later collected into several small books. Also of interest is Up Front by Bill Mauldin, a cartoonist for The Stars & Stripes. He became a famous editorial cartoonist after the war. His book is valuable in opening a window to the day to day world of the WW2 dogface, as were Pyle's books.
A great follow up movie to this is "Fury". Its set months later in the liberation of Europe and really shows how the attitude of the men changed. Brad Pitt is the commander of a Sherman Tank nicknamed Fury and its another nothing held back. So if you want to see how the men deal with the psychological effects with lots of parallels to Saving Private Ryan.
Hi Addie, love your review on this sad movie, its a real tear jerker.Thats about as real as Hollywood could make that reenactment. ps, love your nails.
One of the best films about war period. I remember seeing this opening day in NYC at the ZIegfeld Theatre (one of the city's last great movie palaces) and during the opening D-Day battle you could hear a pin drop. That devestatingly brutal. Spielberg said he made this film for his dad - a WW2 vet - and SCHINDLER'S LIST - for his mother, a Jew. Great job Ads (again how can one not be moved).
The image of a mortally wounded soldier crying “Mama” gets me every time…. Some of these guys were SO young 😭
LOL. Gotta be 18 my dude. Grown arse men in the army! Not kids
The Soldiers on the other side were also very young.
@@WheresWaldo05 18 is young. Second of all, a lot of people lied about their age back then to get in 🤷🏻♂️
I made my sister watch this when I was about 14 (she was 12) and when she saw that scene, she ran out of the room screaming
I think you meant to say TOO young
My grandfather was the third wave onto Omaha Beach. He was never able to handle this film. I served 21 years and a US Infantryman, with 57 months deployed to combat zones (2001-2022) during that time. I'm still not sure how those men took those beaches. Pure guts, balls, and courage. There's a reason they are the Greatest Generation.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice. And yes, they are definitely the Greatest Generation.
Thank you and your grandfather for your service!!
@@samhandwich4095 thank you and him, from France
And somehow, after 20 some years of fighting in Afghanistan, the toll of lives lost still falls short of JUST Omaha Beach. Maddening to think about.
@@hoshinoutaite mind-boggling little-known fact, also the shore bombardment of Normandy killed more French civilians than the whole Vietnam War killed US soldiers. 60 000. The destroyed towns you see in Private Ryan or Band or Brothers were destroyed by allied bombs.
I learned this in an article by Stars and Stripes, but it's been taken off.
As a Frenchman, I feel they could have been less overkill, but that's what it took.
Reality bites...
When Giovanni Ribissi is crying for his Mama, I cry every time, and I've seen this movie 100 times!
He's actually my favorite actor/character in the whole movie. Close second is Barry Pepper.
Him and Barry Pepper are great actors!! Never seen a bad performance from either of them! Pepper in the HBO movie about Maris beating Babe Ruth’s home run record is amazing. I love Ribissi in Boiler Room too! And while Battlefield Earth is pretty bad, Pepper did a good job in it.
@@MikeB12800 If you like Pepper, check out 25th Hour. He plays Ed Norton's best friend with Phillip Seymour Hofman, and they're taking Norton out on the town on his last night before he goes to prison for dealing heroine. It's a pretty good watch.
Wade was so young when he died
The mother collapsing on the porch always gets to me. No sounds just that gutteral tribal animal emotion only a mother can relate to properly and I'm a bloke!
“Just know that for every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.”
Such simple poetry. I absolutely love this line. I watch that scene every year on Memorial Day.
..."and how I will ever be able to tell her about days like today" tears me up.
This is why these brave young men shall never NEVER be forgotten. Lest they be forgotten RIP
I’ve commented it before - What upsets me most is Ryan’s wife doesn’t know who Miller is. She asks “Who was he?” - Ryan never told her about what the squad did for him. He suffered silently with survivors’ guilt for 50+ years.
never thought of that - I mean him not telling her
It's not the kind of story you tell to people, because they don't need to hear about all that.
When he asks his wife to tell him he was a good man, that he lead a good life makes me sob out loud. All 100X I've seen it. He carried that guilt and terror around for 60+ years. Never sure if he did enough or was good enough to "earn" what they did for him. I'm tearing up typing this right now. 😢😭
@@blechtic no, it's because the memories are too painful to revive. People seem to wait until old age is gonna get them to open up. It's like mistreated children. Not easy to open up.
On the other hand, if the people around you can't stand to just listen to what you lived through, then it's time to change people around you - they don't deserve you.
And lastly - MORE THAN EVER we NEED to hear about all that.
I'm French, the new generations don't know shit about that and even people my age here don't give a flying fuck and accuse the US of both being in Ukraine, and not being there when things go sour.
I guess his family never knew that he had three brothers that were killed
The idea of the mother getting all those letters. I couldn't even imagine.
When the mother goes down on the porch when she realizes what happened just rips my heart out every time.
Amazing they can say so much, with zero dialogue.
(Was kinda cool that they showed the barn burnt too. Matt Damon didn't make that story up!)
I was one of five boys. we lost a brother to cancer when he was 41 and it almost killed my mom. i couldn't imagine her losing us all in one fell swoop. just wow.
I imagine the worst job in the military outside of combat is the job of having to break the terrible news of their son being lost in combat. Someone's got to do it, but that job has just got to be unimaginably hard.
Vin Diesel, Nathan Filion… SO many recognizable actors today that weren’t as much back then.
This film is the definition of "all star cast"
Ted Danson, Paul Giamatti, Walter White (soldier missing arm in the notification correspondence office), Dale Dye, to name a few.
Matt Damon wasn’t even a known star back then
I can't remember the name of he actor who gave them the bag full of dogtags, but I know I've seen him in a few other roles.
@@bobbecker2046 Bryan Cranston
Ms. Addie, lovely, lovely job on the video .. .. With Patriot's Day 2022 approaching, just wanted to pass along a little tidbit on how amazing our Armed Forces are .. ..
Shortly after 9/11, Tom Brokaw (writer of the 'Greatest Generation') was in a Diner near Ground Zero and a recalled US Army Reservist approached him to make sure it was him .. .. After Brokaw said it was indeed him, the Master Seargent shook his hand, squared up and proudly told Brokaw, "Now it's our turn to pay up. Watch us."
Thank you, Addie for another lovely review and God Bless our Armed Forces!
The first 15 minutes of the movie were filmed so realistically, that many survivors that were at Omaha beach, veterans of that assault, had to walk out of the movie theater because is was so realistic.
Yeah I heard one veteran said he could smell diesel because it was bringing back everything.
Yes, same thing happened all over the country, veterans were given a free first viewing and most walked out, it was simply too much for them. I couldnt imagine living it.
Yeah, the movie could also be called "Destroying Corporal Upham" because his entire innocence and self-identity is destroyed in the movie. Earlier in the movie, he had such a romanticism about soldiers and combat, talking in the church how war brings out the best in a person, etc. He found the cold hard truth in the end.
But it did bring out the best in him finally.
The betrayal by the German soldier whose life Uppham had advocated for. The same German soldier who then killed John Miller, the very man who had set him free and how much that hardened Uppham in that moment. That was a pivotal moment for him.
I was always of the opinion that Upham ended up a broken man after the war, probably drowning himself in liquor or maybe even suiciding. Call it my own headcanon, call it wishful thinking but it stuck with me for decades
@@jamesclapp6832 That's literally the opposite of what his comment is saying. Upham didn't need to shoot that guy. And it ended up being the only person he killed. It was pointless, and it shows the horrible effect it had on him.
@@darkphoenix2 I completely disagree.
I remember watching this in the cinema. When it finished we all just sat there, in silence, all you could hear was sobbing from various people dotted around the cinema. I now think that anyone that can only think of the glory of war, they should watch this movie, everyone should
Yes, same here. Dead silence and no one got up to leave until all the credits ran to the end. No one spoke in the hall. We all just walked out in silence.
I attended with my 3 boys! It had a lot of meaning because I'm from a military family.
There's no such thing as a glorious death, but there are some things worse than war.
I personally think politicians and government leaders should watch this movie at least several times before thinking about sending the country and its soldiers to war.
@@dallasyap3064 I couldn't agree more. In fact I've been saying that for a long time.
I think it ought to be mandatory viewing for anyone to graduate high school.
Winner of 5 Oscars:
Best Director
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Film Editing
Best Original Score.
The real tragedy: Shakespeare in Love won Best Picture that year.
Absolute joke that it didn't win Best Picture. One of the biggest travesties in the history of the Oscars.
@@barniem3148 That's cause of Harvey Weinstein
I actually believe that SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE was a very deserving winner for Best Picture, which I found to be a lot more cohesive as a movie and maintained consistent narrative momentum. It is definitely overhated, and while Harvey Weinstein's involvement was unfortunate, I firmly believe it deserved Picture despite him.
The main issue I have with PRIVATE RYAN is that it lacks narrative momentum throughout (starts off strong only to sputter out as it went along) and not to mention I felt that it was literally telling the audience to cry at certain moments. I actually think it didn't deserve to win Director either (I would have voted for Peter Weir for THE TRUMAN SHOW) but the technical wins were deserved.
"Earn it" is a message for all of us. Band of Brothers is a series covering the actual experiences of Easy Company 2nd Battalion of the 506th Company of the 101st Airbourne - the best WW2 series or movie of the European theater. It features the real men.
Amen! Watch and react to Band of Brothers. You will not regret it.
Episode 4 is annoying and inaccurate however. Really spoils the series for me.
Company E 2nd Battalion 506th Parachute Infantry REGIMENT
@@lyndoncmp5751 Is that the one with the soldier who went blind? That was a honest mistake by the E company survivors, not the filmmakers. He was from another company after all, and had never showed up at any reunions nor had contact with any E company soldiers after he went to the field hospital, so they had assumed he died there. Until he showed up at a reunion after the series came out. If anything its a mistake by Ambrose, but forgivable given how much he had to research for the book. There is always mistakes.
@@JPDillon
No the one where the inaccurately portray the British tank unit as clueless idiots. In reality the 44th Royal Tank Regiment was a far more combat hardened and experienced unit than the 101st Airborne was at the time, and it had just knocked out two Jagdpanzer IVs of Panzer Brigade 107 on the outskirts of that town (Nuenen). They knew the Germans were there. The 44th gave as good as they got that day, and lost no more armour than the Germans did.
Ambrose got the date wrong, the name of the British tank unit wrong, the tank types wrong and the number of British tanks wrong. It was shoddy research and this made it into the tv series.
In real life it was Panzer Brigade 107 that had to withdraw from Nuenen, due to pressure from British armour. I have a book on the 44th Royal Tank Regiment. It tallies up perfectly with the combat diary of Panzer Brigade 107 and not Ambrose.
Cheers.
3:30 what those surrendering soldiers were saying was "Please don't kill me. I'm not German, I'm Czech." This means that those men were from parts of Europe which had been conquered by Germany and those men had been forced into the German army.
Provided they were telling the truth
I honestly thought they were saying they washed for supper.
Wow never knew that, Small detail that shows another harsh reality of war
@@randallbollinger9625
They were speaking in Czech. (Or whatever they speak there.)
The few seconds after a soldier surrenders is maybe the most dangerous time for him. Will the other side accept his surrender or not hangs in the balance.
This is the most intense first half hour in a movie ever. I've read that some war veterans needed to be removed from movie sessions because it triggered PTSD responses. Hands down the best World War 2 movie ever.
And she had zero reaction
@@roasty80 As far as I know Addie never served in the front line of a war. I know that I never had, so it is expected that the emotional response from someone who never had been in combat, at the comfort of their home, will be different from someone who served at the invasion of Normandy.
I watched this in theaters back in 98 with my uncle who was a war veteran.. I jus remember me being totally into it but him with his head down not watching closing his eyes and hearing the sounds of the machine guns.
@@vinnycordeiro I think that's part of it. Most civilians (and the majority of veterans for that matter) simply have no context to process what's going on. I think this movie's Normandy scene does a fantastic job of visualizing the realities of war. It gives the uninitiated a frame of reference to place the rest of the movie into. However, that still does not mean that most people have a proper emotional box to place those visuals into.
I think the other part is that the amount of gore in modern movies, television, and video games have desensitized a generation of people. The level of gore on display in that scene by itself was shocking to viewers in the 90s, but today it's found in all of the popular media. This compounds with the emotional disconnect of a lack of context for those that have never seen combat.
That being said, I find it gratifying that she was still able to hit the emotional marks in the rest of the movie.
Maybe there's still some small measure of hope for this generation of millennials.
Some say they could smell the diesel oil from the landing craft it was so realistic.
One of the hardest movies to react to. I'm glad that Tom and Steven wanted to show just how horrifying WWII was.
There's a story I've heard several times.... During an early screening for people who worked on the movie, before its general release... Spielberg was concerned because several of the WWII veterans that worked as advisors on the movie were walking out of the theater during the Normandy Beach scenes. He was concerned they hated the movie, so he followed them out... to find these 70-80 year old men, who had landed at Normandy more than half a century ago, breaking down crying and shaking. Those opening scenes had been a bit TOO real for them. Phrases like "PTSD" didn't exist back then - but that doesn't mean it never affected those men.
Great movie...Truly one of the finest WWII movies ever made.
yes, the term PTSD did exist when Speilberg made the movie.
My father was not at Normandy... but when our whole family went to see the movie together, shortly after the Normandy beach scenes he walked out of the theater. I thought he'd just gone to the bathroom; but when he didn't return, I went looking for him.
I found him sitting on a stone bench outside the theater, his elbows on his knees, smoking a cigarette, staring off into the distance.
I sat beside him a moment, and pretty soon he turned to me and told me that he was okay, he "just needed a smoke", and to go on back inside and watch the movie.
Odd, that that was the only time I ever saw him not able to sit through a whole movie because he needed a smoke...
Side Note: My dad often expressed his pity for Korean war vets; he didn't think it was fair the way they kept getting overlooked between WWII and Vietnam vets.
An uncle of mine, my mother's (little?) brother, was called "Johnny". She would often called me Johnny by mistake (my name is not Johnny)... he had served in Korea, and from my mom I learned that he'd seen some of the harsh fighting there (and from my understanding, a lot of it was _brutal_ ), and she thought he had "combat fatigue" as they called it back then.
At the age of 54, when his wife took his kids and left him... he hanged himself.
@@Hiraghm I meant, back in 1944, the term had not been invented yet. "Shell shock" or "Battle fatigue" were used... but, "PTSD" hadn't been coined yet. And yes, Korean War vets are STILL forgotten today.
@@Hiraghm I'll think of Johnny, and your dad.
As a follow-up to this, I heard Spielberg asked those veterans If he should tone down the opening scene on the beach. According to the story, they said don’t change a thing; People deserve to know what it was really like.
@@chrisschmalhofer4348 truer words never spoken
That's a tough way to spend a Saturday but we all have the opportunity to enjoy Saturdays as we see fit due to soldiers like these protecting our way of life.
How do we know she watched this on a Saturday?
@@chriscarpenter1920 I left it passive voice to mean anyone, but who the F cares when she watched it. Same sentiment regardless of the actual day.
@@ThorWildBoar oh ok
I'm glad you decided on this film. It's so impactful. I've had Saving Private Ryan in my movie collection for a very long time, but I can only bring myself to watch maybe once every five or six years or so because it's so damn difficult, yet arguably necessary. It truly is an amazing and heartbreaking portrayal of the range of the human condition.
Now you should watch Spielberg’s follow-up to this movie, a WWII miniseries called “Band of Brothers”. Spielberg shot it in the same style as this movie, and while Saving Pvt. Ryan is fictional, Band of Brothers is the non-fiction story of the heroes of the 101st Airborne Division, Easy Company. It is one of the best TV shows ever written.
Thanks for watching this, even though it's really hard. Prior to this war movies tended not to show the brutality and gore and hopelessness of war. Newspapers had to publish trigger warnings, which had never really been done, because so many WWII vets (elderly at this point) had to leave theaters because of the realism triggering flashbacks.
This story was very loosely based on the real tale of the 4 Niland brothers. At least in their case, one of the brothers presumed dead turned up alive in a Japanese POW camp.
Ya a lot of them said the only thing missing was the smell of blood, diesel fuel and cordite.
Actually several movies showed the reality of war, but the Normandy landing scenes were unprecedented.
War is not hopeless. That's how we ended the Nazi menace. That's how we ended slavery here in the US. Sometimes it's necessary.
This is one of the hardest movies I have ever seen. I saw it in the theater and sat there gob smacked through the end of the credits. It still haunts me.
I was very lucky to be able to visit the five beaches on the 75th anniversary of D-Day. It's a trip where you get both extremely educated and exceedingly humbled in the same blow. I saw this film at 28 in 1998, and I still cringe at the opening 20 minutes, knowing all those young men who risked life and limb to protect the countries from the evil Axis powers. It gave me a much deeper respect for soldiers of past, and my support for the young men and women of today, trying to keep the basic thing we call freedom still alive. RIP to those who answered the call to arms, represented in this movie and all........
The end where he asks his wife to tell him he's lived a good life hits me the hardest out of any part of the movie. The amount of guilt he carried his entire life surviving that fight and all those guys dying for him, to FINALLY look for and get that reassurance that he DID live a good life for them is just overwhelming.
The beaches of Normandy were stained red for weeks afterwards. According to vets who saw this, the only thing missing from the D-day scene was the smell of blood and diesel, and that there were a LOT more bodies.
"I'm a hot mess"
Yes you most certainly are 😂
I am a combat veteran ( Vietnam ) You can not possibly know the good you have just done. Thank you for this and God bless you
When the mother collapsed, my father cried. I’d never seen my father cry.
These were my grandparents. Todays children could not defend us like this.
But the bad guys are still there.
The day I saw this theatrically I was by myself and I sat through the credits and wept. It’s the only time in my life that a film had that kind of a visceral reaction from me. This is a masterpiece.
Those first 30 minutes of D-Day, soldiers who were there and then watched that scene said that it brought them back to that morning.
The reason Wade asked for the second thing of morphine is that he knew that it would kill him. There’s a saying that goes: “One for the pain, the second for eternity.” The second thing of morphine essentially overwhelms the heart.
Don’t know if you’ve heard of the channel, but HistoryBuffs does a great job of breaking this movie down, even going into the background planning behind D-Day and the invasion of Normandy.
I loved the way you tied in Upum’s “innocence” being taken by war and how he finally realized what every other character had been going through. It’s just such great moment in a truly epic movie.
Thanks for watching. It means alot. (US Army - Retired)
My grandpa lost his brother, who I'm named for, in the war. It changed the entire family forever and I've grown up, now 50, living my life trying to earn what he sacrificed for us. It's a lesson we could all stand to learn.
This movie is a CLASSIC good choice Addie
Great reaction to an awesome movie! I think many will agree that you should also react to the 10 part series Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg made after completing this project. The series is called Band of Brothers and depicts WWII starting with the Normandy invasion from the perspective of the 101st Airborne. It's a big commitment, but it's worth it. If you do decide to react to the series, I would recommend that you watch and record all ten episodes before you start posting, or at least avoid the comments until after you've watched it all. Otherwise, well meaning comments will inadvertently include some spoilers. I really enjoy the honesty of your reactions and your professional and intuitive editing choices. Great job! Keep it up!
I watch it every Memorial Day. Then pour one out for the grandfather who was on the Pacific, and the great uncles who were still in training in June of 44
Plus the documentary I would add.
this movie hits everyone square in the emotions. Need to remember aswell, most of these men that were fighting were 19 to early 20s. So much of life ahead of all of them. Not sure if any others commented, in the D-day scenes they used some actors actually missing arms or legs and put fake limbs on to blow them off during the attack. When this first hit theaters, some WWII vets had to leave as it was too impactful for them.
The average age was 23.
I don't know if you look at a comment that is number 258. However, I watched this film at the cinema when it came out in 1998. With me was a group of Russians who were visiting the USA on a State Department program and I was one of their hosts. I knew it was a WW2 film plus a "blockbuster" - and communicated that to our guests - but knew little else. Do realize USSR films about WW2 did often include the other allies, but the allies' roles were minimized. For example, a film I watched while visiting Russia (earlier in 1998) showed Soviet soldiers in a desperate battle fighting the Germans which was interspersed with scenes of "American troops" riding around in trucks to happy music (not being shot at). There was complete silence at the end of the SPR film and everyone in the cinema left without saying a word. Once outside, our Russian guests asked how many invasions the Americans conducted in WW2. I expected the question and was able to tell them we conducted scores of invasions in Africa, Europe, and the Pacific. It was a shock to them because they had always been taught in school/university that the USA didn't really fight in WW2.
I had a conversation with a (quite intelligent) college student from New Zealand, who believed the same thing.
He was shocked when I threw out some stats.
But I guess all countries are guilty of this. How many Americans you meet, know Canada stormed Juno beach?
@@robbob5302 I know that, and I suspect many Americans from my generation know it. My son - who is 30 - also knows it. However, he went to Catholic schools so he got a good secondary education. Note that Omaha Beach was the worst because fog & low clouds caused the pre-invasion bombings and shellings to miss the actual defenses. That was also taught long ago when I was in a public high school in New Orleans.
Addie, your reactions show exactly the kind and sweet soul you are. I strongly recommend that you react to Band of Brothers. It's a masterpiece. BTW, Spielberg and T. Hanks produced it. Simply amazing. It will change your life. Trust me.
I whole heartedly agree with this comment! Band of Brothers is AMAZING!!!
AND The Pacific
A bridge to far with sir Anthony Hopkins
At the beginning of the movie, when they discover that all the letters concerning his brothers deaths are going out to Ryan's mother at the same time, you hear one man say, "We'd split them up so they weren't serving together after the Sullivan brothers."
This is the true story behind that line in the movie.
The five Sullivan brothers were sailor brothers, who, serving together on the light cruiser USS Juneau,
were all killed in action in and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942.
Due to the deaths of the five brothers The Sole Survivor policy, Section 6(o) of the Military Selective Service Act of 1948 was created and exempts the sole surviving son of a family where one or more sons or daughters have been killed in action, died in the line of duty, or subsequently died of injuries or disease incurred while in military service, from being drafted either in peacetime or wartime.
This true story provides part of the basis for Saving Private Ryan.
And there is an excellent, heart breaking movie about the Sullivan’s that I cannot recommend highly enough called The Fighting Sullivans
The guys in the opening scene killed on the beach *Did Not Die In Vain.* They took focus off the others who made it up the beach. Making it possible for the invasional landing to be successful.
only movie that ever got a single tear out of me. The very end when he salutes the grave
Your reaction to the office full of typists preparing those letters to wives and parents is exactly the same as mine. It’s so sterile, but so brutal when you think of how many letters have to be typed up.
Addy restores my faith in humanity. What a wonderful person she is.
Tc.
Dear Madam,
I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.
I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.
I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.
Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln.
"The boy's alive. We're going to send someone to find him... and we are going to get him the hell out of there."
Gets me every damned time.
This is my favourite war movie my friend introduced me to it I remember we had snacks next to us and before he pressed play he said buddy I just want to warn you this movie is very emotional and I said oh I can handle it right when we’re about to get to the end of the movie I’m already in tears
Let me tell you one thing. I follow many reaction channels, but you are the only one I am subscribed to. Your reactions are very good and you are one of the few who does not exaggerate them. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to seeing you react to movies like Shutter Island, Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society :)
My uncle was a professional soldier with the British army & was there on D Day.
He never spoke about it, even once, to me or his children during his entire life.
Only during one conversation with my dad did he ever talk about WW11 at all.
He said the young conscripts were "complete canon fodder" and had absolutely no chance.
I don't think he ever got over it. He would sometimes wake up during the night hearing gun shots.
If he was around today he'd definitely need therapy 😢
so sad
so sad
Easily one of the greatest movies ever and for me the best war movie for sure. Every time I watch or hear just scenes from it, I get goosebumps and feel all the feelings again. I watched it when I was pretty young (was 13 when it came out, watched it maybe 1-2 years later on VHS) and it scarred me for life, but in a good way. I am from Germany and it is so important that we never forget what happened back in the day and how many lifes have been lost so that we, especially me, could live the life as we do right now. Spielberg is a genius, but that is nothing new. Really would like to see you watch Schindlers List. Also from Spielberg and also one of the greatest movies ever. :) Great reaction as always, you rock Addie! Loved how you did not shy away from the emotions and tears. :)
"First scene of the movie and I can already tell that this movie is gonna make me cry!"
No... this one is going to break you.
There are accounts from veterans of D-Day who saw the film and asked if that's what it was really like. "There was more blood" was a common reply. This is probably the best portrayal of the beach landings in cinema... and it pales in comparison to what those men actually went through on those beaches. My grandfather was part of d-day and the Battle of the Bulge. He refused, flatly, to ever talk about what he saw.
The sound of those tanks approaching the village in the end in the theater was absolutely nerve wracking. This film starts off the way it does to desensitize you to the violence. So that when you sort of realize it, it shocks you. The men who fought also became desensitized to the non-stop violence around them all the time. But at the same time, many knew they were and the dichotomy broke so many. Captain Miller sobbing over the loss of a man, but able to rapidly think out plans to take enemy positions and not hesitating to fight. The constant barrage of guns and bombs.. war is indescribable hell.
The dialogue, the plot, the cinematography, all of it was Spieldberg at his finest work as a filmmaker.
No. Not at all. After the first half hour the film is not stellar. The dialogue is mediocre and characters forgettable. Nowhere near the level of Jaws.
Well done Addie! This is a terribly hard movie to get through. When it came out the were many vets who could not make it to the end because of their own trauma. I wouldn't let my father go see this because I knew what he had been through. He was a Navy Corpsman in the Pacific and had six different landings to get past. Another he didn't make due to his flight back from leave marrying my mother cost his best friend's life. He blamed himself to his dying day for not being there. Mom always told him if he was supposed to be there he would have been there. Several of these scenes still tear me up. The 5 Sullivan brothers served and died together on the Navy cruiser Juneau. There is a movie that covers their story. Our leaders decided to split families up for a better chance of survival. There were many missions like this to attempt to remove the last member of a family from combat. This movie covers D-day and immediately thereafter. People know the basic story. "The great raid" is a rescue mission for POWs. And "Hacksaw ridge" is the most extreme Army medics story ever told. These two movies are based on actual events. "Band of brothers" is a great companion piece to Ryan's movie. Sorry about the length but sometimes a thumb, a heart and a smiley face just don't cut it.
At 11:46 he pulls out his compass. Notice this is very period specific. Also notice how similar this looks to the one carried by Captain America in the Marvel movie made many years later. Nice attention to detail.
Loosely based on a true story, this is a great movie! Even better yet, after Tom and Steven finished here, they took everything they learned and did Band of Brothers. Basically a 10hr true version of this, following the boys from training to the end of the war. I'll join in the chorus of comments recommending Band of Brothers.
Except I read in the true story, they never bothered with a rescue mission. Just put they word out to all the rally points, to keep an eye out for this name. Eventually he turned up safe.
My grandpa was not at Normandy, but was involved in landings elsewhere. He had to get up and walk out of the theater during the D-Day scene because he said it was too realistic for him 50 years later.
bless him
I love how he asked for the 2 guys names.
1:36 “oh the water is red, with the blood of the dead, but I’m still alive, pray to god I survive” - Longest Day by Iron Maiden
The mother getting the 3 telegrams on the same day always gets me. Imagine having 4 sons, all serving in the war. You know there’s a possibility 1 or 2 may not come back, maybe 3, maybe even all 4. But to get 3 on the same day, and not knowing if the 4th is alive or not… I think the actress did a good job, it’s literally all she had to do as it’s her only scene.
5:47 “I like him” - 😬 we’ll see how you feel by the end
13:01 when the medic tells you to give him more morphine, you know it’s bad. Apparently there’s a saying about morphine - “one for now, two for ever”
Upham is quite polarising among viewers… some take the view that he’s just the normal scared person who freezes in life-or-death situations, some believe that he should have done what he finally did do and “man up”. He adds the third element to “fight or flight”, and that’s “fright”.
The D-Day scene is one of the most graphic, and very real scenes in any war film. Veterans who went to see it in theatres were said to be traumatised by the realism to the point they had to leave, one was quoted as saying “the only thing missing was the smell”.
Some of the extras used for that scene were amputees - they were given prosthetic limbs, which would then be “severed” when an explosion hit them. Taking practical effects to a new level there.
Saving Private Ryan is loosely based on true events. There was indeed a family of 4 brothers - the Niland brothers. 2 were confirmed dead during the D-Day landings, one was missing and presumed dead, and another was sought out to return home. This was a non-negotiable order from the President after what happened the Sullivan brothers (who are mentioned in this film). All 5 served aboard the same ship - USS Juneau, which was sank by a Japanese submarine in 1942. It was decided that brothers would no longer serve in the same detachment so as not to all potentially perish in the same incident at the same time, and if multiple are killed leaving just one alive, that one MUST be brought home. The remaining Niland brother returned home, and the missing brother was also found after he had been a PoW. 2 of the Niland brothers names (1 first name, and 1 middle name) are featured in this film as the middle names of the 2 James Ryan’s that are found - Francis and Frederick.
I don’t know if you’ve seen Black Hawk Down, but that’s another really well done war film, based on true events of the war in Somalia in the early 90s.
Why would a christian pray to stay out of heaven?
Band of Brothers is an absolute must for anyone who was moved by this film. Especially those with reaction channels!
One of the most realistic depiction of the warfare, this movie is amazing and powerful. It is not a happy movie, but it is something that should be seen. It may be fiction, but underneath the lies is a truth harder than diamond.
As a minor point, Caparzzo's letter to his dad would never have been sent home bloody; it wouldn't have been sent at all. Nobody's letters home were directly sent. It was too much volume of mail.
GIs wrote letters on a blank form called a "V-mail" which severely limited how much they could write. After it was reviewed by censors to black out any possible military intelligence information, it was photographically reduced down to microfiche, and sent with hundreds of other letters on a single sheet. This allowed for a manageable volume of mail.
When the letters reached the states, they were enlarged and handed over to USPS to be mailed individually. The postal service had the resources to handle the volume of mail that the military could not. Manpower was always short in wartime and the military couldn't afford to build up as big a manpower intensive infrastructure as the postal service, so they used technology to do the job.
wow thanks for sharing thaz
I REALLY hope you'll get around to watching Band of Brothers! In my opinion, it's the best thing ever put to film. So freaking good! Created by Tom Hanks and Stephen Spielberg!
All things considered, that war was not very long ago. Some soldiers still alive today. Many like myself had a father or grandfather involved in the WWll conflict.
Thanks for the reaction.
One of my fav movies. I had an Uncle that fought through Normandy and helped build a pontoon bridge to cross the Rhine river. He ended up in Austria when the war was over. Thanks for sharing this and may we never forget those who sacrificed so much to protect our freedom. 🇺🇸
This film is so important, remembering the sacrifice of so many at such a pivotal point in history, It can never be forgotten. The world as we know it could have been so much different if it weren't for the bravery of many!
I've seen this movie more times than I can count and it never clicked why they made a point of focusing on Cast. Miller's hand when he was dying, thank you for that. Great reaction as always, thank you for your channel, these are a nice way to relive the first time impressions and emotions I got from watching these movies myself.
incredible how we miss stuff. Just the other day, from a reaction video, I realized there's a picture of the 4 Ryan sons on the right of the door as the Mother opens the door
Good reaction. You need to check out the movies, Heat, Goodfellas, American History X, A Bronx Tale, Casino, The Shining, Training Day. All classics, you won't be disappointed
Hello Addie, great reaction. Thank you for watching this film. It's so important that we all know and appreciate what "the Greatest Generation" had to go through to save the world from fascism and Nazism. Let us never forget, especially now. Hey, another great movie that Tom Hanks is in is called "Philadelphia". You should definitely watch that too -- make sure you have your tissues near by. Love you, Addie! You are such a sweetie!
I absolutely love this movie with all my heart, but it is a tough watch and I mean that in the best way. This movie hits so hard because it takes away the romanticism of war. It doesn't have any corny music or parts where you think someone is invincible. It's about as raw and real as we've seen. That doesn't mean there aren't any good war movies, but this one just feels more authentic because it doesn't try to make anyone special by being a better soldier -- it deals with good men being changed by war and trying to hold onto the person they were before. This is a phenomenal movie.
Being a german myself, I also have never heard of "Fubar", the closest would be "Furchtbar", which roughly means "Frightfull", "awfull" or "dreadfull" depending on the context :)
Fucked Up Beyond Any Recognition/Repair
They just told him it's german to tease with him
You did a great job reviewing Saving Private Ryan, and a very honest review as well. I would suggest you watch: Hacksaw Ridge, Black Hawk Down, Lone Survivor, Band of Brothers, and The Pacific.
Seen this movie a ton of times and still tear up. Some events I have a hard time with, previously served in the US army and still relive some events from my time in, but this is such a powerful movie and a great reaction
Great Reaction to a really powerful movie!
I had two uncles that survived WWII and a couple that didn't. One of them died a few years ago and was among the last living survivors of Pearl Harbor. The town he lived in, made him chairman of the 4th of July Parade the year he turned 90 yrs old. He earned a Purple Heart for his service.
That 1st 30 minutes was actually more than six hours long. Naturally, time had to be compressed for the movie, but it took them a good part of the day to clear that beach. When I started my current job, one of our security guards was actually present there on the beaches of Normandy when that all occurred. He attested that that whole scene was, unfortunately, all too real.
oh man
Less than 2 weeks ago I was at the Normandy American Cemetery and Omaha Beach. Knowing that there are the bodies of those brave soldiers beneath my feet at this special place had an emotional impact on me. I got angry thinking about those young men dying so some repulsive politicians in Washington can use their positions in government to become wealthy and work to control our lives. Because of all the soldiers we have warm beds to sleep in, food on the table, and safety. What a sacrifice these men made for us. The greatest generation.
Great reaction. I hated to see you cry, because that made me cry.
"This time the mission is a man." Best line in the movie in my opinion.
I went to the charity premier of this movie and several of the veterans that were on that beach were there and said that that is how it was, it was a true rendition of what they went through. Tom Hanks helmet was auctioned off for charity and got quite a sum that I just cannot remember.
I loved your reaction, similar to mine
A lot of people dislike Upham because of his apparent cowardice, initially myself included. But once you become honest with yourself, you are forced to admit that unless you have been where he was…you truly have no idea how you would handle the chaos and death all around you. His character, like all the rest, is very interesting and serves as an object lesson in honesty and the Self.
He told Hanks in the beginning he was a coward and a fifth wheel. Not like he was mislabeling himself.
🙂
@Blake N my realization is that I don’t yet know what I’d do, I haven’t been there…so I can’t judge the guy. I can not like what happened in the movie, but I can’t say I’d do differently.
in fact, there are many times he runs TOWARDS the danger, and that's brave
Man, I understand all of this. But you have a weapon, a mission and bad enemies to face and you see that they have no problem killing your companions. So do your damn duty. Or run away from there.
Still watching Melish call to Upham as he was being stabbed hurts the most he was 10 feet away and could have saved Melish but it meant take that German soldiers life.
First time watching your channel, and I have to say your open and honest reactions were so appreciated, warm and heartfelt that I don’t even have the right words for it. I was in Afghanistan and Iraq, my view from 10,000-30,000 feet, and I was much older than what these guys went through on Omaha. Many were just 18-19 year old boys… some even younger. I think we would all be better people by remembering sacrifices like these.
PS would love to see you do a Band of Brothers one, like many already mentioned! You have a new fan, thanks Addie.
Accidentally stumbled upon your page and I must say, I love how you keep it short and at the end talk about your reaction, great job, keep up the great channel work
I found out last year that my Pop Pop was a member of the GHOST Army
Please take the time to look them up.
They were a special group
Proud of him and all the men who served.
John Francis Settar Sr.
“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he to day that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother.” -William Shakespeare, Henry V
Hi Addie ♥ glad to see you started a war reaction :) i recommend you to watch Band of Brothers , then The Pacific series aswell . You wont regret it :) btw 3:28 soldier was saying ,,Do not shoot , i didn't kill anyone'' in Czech language .. and this is quite correct , many many men from occupied countries like Czechoslovakia were forced to fight for Wehrmacht . Those who managed to escape Nazi regime were fighting under RAF in UK . Brave men .
You’re heading down the Hanks/Spielberg rabbit hole.
Band of Brothers and the Pacific are definitely worth investing in watching.
A depiction of D-Day so realistic, that some veterans had to leave the movie theater due to PTSD. The opening scene put them right back on Utah and Omaha Beaches.
All I can say is that Spielberg guy sure knows how to make a movie....🤣
The line that gets me is at the end when pvt. Ryan's wife says "captain Miller did you know him?" 60 years he kept what happened to himself. I can't even fathom the weight of that.
23:00 A lot of people miss the fact that the German that didn't kill Upham was the one they let go at the RADAR station. That's how he knew Upham's name at the bridge. It's obvious when you go back and re-watch, but pretty easy to miss in the heat of the moment.
He looks like the soldier that kills the US soldier with the knife. That always confused me. And he’s the one that kills Tom Hanks.
@@MikeB12800 yes he is
No, that's a common error because they look similar, but the psychopath with the knife who didn't kill Upham on the stairs is not the same as the prisoner they let go -- but the soldier who recognizes Upham at the end is.
I saw this when it came out in the theaters. You could easily tell who the vets were in the audience. In the first five minutes, we were gripping the armrests with white knuckles. In the last five minutes, we were bawling.
the 1st 30 mins, on the beach, are some of the most gut wrenching ever filmed,
you need to eventually watch Band of Brothers. such an amazing war show.
Nope.
*(Update) Excellent reaction, Addie. This is my girlfriend's dad's favorite movie (actually, it's one of his favorites). BTW, If you want more Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks films, I recommend Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, Bridge of Spies, and The Post. For more Matt Damon films, I recommend Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne, Green Zone, The Martian, Ford v Ferrari, and The Last Duel. For more war films, I recommend Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut, Full Metal Jacket, Crimson Tide, Pearl Harbor, Black Hawk Down (Extended Edition), Windtalkers, Jarhead, Fury (2014), American Sniper, 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, Dunkirk, 12 Strong, Midway (2019), & 1917.
And at 26:20, I stand with you on your statement that Tom Hanks is not allowed to die in movies.
I watched this at home while on leave after my fourth peacetime deployment. I remember my best friend asking if that's what it was like and I said "no idea...haven't seen any combat yet." I was at ten years and walking the fence on staying in until retirement or just taking my aviation skills and heading to the private sector when some a-holes parked a couple airliners in the Twin Towers. My next twelve years made me wish for sitting in the theater with my childhood buddy, reflecting on how crazy realistic this movie seemed. Peacetime US forces vs wartime are very different. We should never back down from foreign agitators, but I hope we can stay out the world's political issues long enough for my kids to finish college and have kids of their own.
take care Chief
The courage and valor those men (and boys) demonstrated in the landing craft. Not knowing what to expect when they dropped the gate or if they would survive is bone chilling to me. God bless the men that endured that. Brings tears to my eyes.
The "tell me I'm a good man" tears me up inside.
If you want a film that has a scene that will hit you, specifically referencing the letters to family, WE WERE SOLDIERS.
I've watched this reaction multiple times now, thank you Addie for an authentic reaction to one of the most powerful war movies ever made.
Actually what you said about the Captain, that he just wanted to get back to his wife, etc, applied to every man in the armed forces. They all wanted to get done, and get home.
A good book (not the movie) about Normandy is The Longest Day. Ernie Pyle was a journalist who became famous for living among the GIs and sharing their stories. His columns were later collected into several small books. Also of interest is Up Front by Bill Mauldin, a cartoonist for The Stars & Stripes. He became a famous editorial cartoonist after the war. His book is valuable in opening a window to the day to day world of the WW2 dogface, as were Pyle's books.
A great follow up movie to this is "Fury". Its set months later in the liberation of Europe and really shows how the attitude of the men changed. Brad Pitt is the commander of a Sherman Tank nicknamed Fury and its another nothing held back.
So if you want to see how the men deal with the psychological effects with lots of parallels to Saving Private Ryan.
Thank you for reacting to this movie. My father was decorated for valor as a forward mortar scout on Iwo Jima. He never came back the same.
Hi Addie, love your review on this sad movie, its a real tear jerker.Thats about as real as Hollywood could make that reenactment. ps, love your nails.
One of the best films about war period. I remember seeing this opening day in NYC at the ZIegfeld Theatre (one of the city's last great movie palaces) and during the opening D-Day battle you could hear a pin drop. That devestatingly brutal. Spielberg said he made this film for his dad - a WW2 vet - and SCHINDLER'S LIST - for his mother, a Jew. Great job Ads (again how can one not be moved).