Dad.
Clear the ramp! 30 seconds! God be with you!
Port side stick, starboard side stick, move fast and clear those murder holes.
I want to see plenty of beach between men.
Five men is a juicy opportunity. One man is a waste of ammo.
Keep the sand out of your weapons.
Keep those actions clear. And I'll see you on the beach.
Clear the murder holes!
Over the side!
Port and starboard, over...
Jesus.
Thank you...
I said, what the hell do we do now, sir?
Captain Miller! Captain Miller!
- Captain Miller! - Sergeant Horvath!
Move your men off the beach! Go!
Okay, you guys!
- Get on my ass! Follow me! - Sir!
What's the rallying point?
Anywhere but here!
The seawall! Move up to the seawall!
Sir, I'm staying!
Clear this beach! Make way for the others!
This is all we got between us and the Almighty.
Every inch of this beach has been pre-sighted!
You stay here, you're dead men!
Mama! Mama!
Stay down! Stay down!
What are you guys?
104th Medical Battalion, sir!
Here to set up field operations!
Get rid of that crap!
Grab yourselves some weapons. Follow me.
- I'm hit! I'm hit! - Briggs!
Get me out of here. I'm hit low. God!
- Medic! - Navy Beach Battalion, sir.
I gotta clear these obstacles, make holes for the tanks.
All the armour is foundering in the Channel.
Orders, sir. You go somewhere else. I'm clearing this one!
Come on, Briggs!
Medic!
Move! Move!
Move! Come on! Move!
Shore party. No armour has made it ashore.
We got no DD tanks on the beach. Dog One is not open.
- Who's in command here? - You are, sir!
- Sergeant Horvath! - Sir!
You recognise where we are?
Right where we're supposed to be, but no one else is!
Nobody's where they're supposed to be.
Shore party.
First wave, ineffective.
We do not hold the beach. Say again, we do not hold the beach.
We're all mixed up, sir.
We got the leftovers from Fox Company,
Able Company and George Company!
Plus we got some Navy demo guys and a beachmaster!
Shore party. Shore party.
CATF, CATF ...
- Reiben here, sir! - Did you see anybody else?
- Jackson, but that's about it. - Mellish here.
Caparzo! We got DeForest back there with Wade.
He's hurt so bad he says he sprung 100 leaks.
Wade says he's all used up.
- Move on to somebody you can help. - Let's go!
He's battalion surgeon, sir!
- Get his attention. - Wade!
- Yo, Doc! - Wade!
- Wade! Wade! Wade! - Wade!
- Wade! Wade! Wade! - Too risky, Doc. Too risky.
- Wade! - All right. Get him off the beach.
I got it! We stopped the bleeding! We stopped the bleeding!
Fuck!
Just give us a fucking chance, you son of a bitch!
- Son of a fucking cocksucker! - Wade! Come on. Come on.
Wade! It's Mellish! Wade!
- Mellish! - Let's go!
We found Miller!
- Fuck it! - Let's move! Let's move!
This is all? This is all that's made it?
We got scattered pretty bad, sir. There's bound to be more.
- Not enough. It's not enough. - Dog One exit...
It's gotta be that cut on the right.
- Or is that one on the left? Shit! - No. No, no, no.
Vierville is to the west of us. This is Dog One.
They're killing us!
And we don't have a fucking chance, and that ain't fair!
Gather weapons and ammo!
Come on, let's drag them in off the sand!
Reiben. Hey, Reiben, Reiben, Reiben, where's your BAR?
Bottom of the channel, sir. The bitch tried to drown me.
Find a replacement.
Bangalores! Bring up some bangalores!
Grenades, grenades! Get me some grenades. Get them over here!
Bangalores up the line! Bangalores up the line!
Heads up! Bangers coming your way!
Come on, come on, come on!
- Jackson here, sir! - Reiben back, sir!
Oh, my God!
One more. Give me one more.
Oh, my God, it hurts! I'm gonna die!
Oh, my God! Oh, Jesus! Oh, my God!
Keep it moving. Keep it moving. Almost got it.
- Jesus! Lucky bastard. - Come on.
- Move it! - Keep it moving. You got it?
God! God, help me!
You're not gonna die. You're not gonna die.
You're fine. Don't look at it. Don't look at it.
Bangalores! Clear the shingle!
- Fire in the hole! - Fire in the hole!
Fire in the hole!
We're in business! Defilade! Other side of the hole!
That's it! Let's go!
Inspected. Morphine.
Routine.
Priority.
He's gone.
Son of a...
- Get in there. - Fuck. I can't move.
- Mellish. - Yes, sir.
Give me your bayonet.
Two MG42s and two mortars. Add 20, left 30.
There's a little defilade over there, but it's the perfect fire position
if we get some goddamn armour on the beach.
We gotta open up this draw! We gotta get this draw open.
Reiben, Mellish, let's get into the war!
Grab some cover and put some fire on that crew.
Davis, Debernardo, Young, Valk, get ready.
Covering fire!
Go, go, go!
Goddamn firing squad.
It's the only way we can get everybody the hell out of here.
Short, Payton, McDonald, Parkes! You're next!
Why don't we just hand out blindfolds, Cap?
All we can do here is die.
Covering fire!
Go, go, go!
Come on! Come on! Come on!
Go, God damn it!
- Jackson. - Sir.
- Do you see that impact crater? - Yes, sir.
That should give you complete defilade from that machine-gun position.
Get in there and give me some fire discipline.
Wait for my command.
Go!
Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset.
I thought you were my mother.
Be not thou far from me, O Lord.
O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended thee.
I detest my sins for having offended thee, O Lord.
Listen to me, Lord.
All my strength, haste thee to help me.
- Dog One exit! Right here! - We're in business!
Move! Move!
- Reiben. - Let's go, Sarge. Go!
Reiben.
The place is full of 'em!
Come on, Doyle!
Sarge?
- Flame! - Doyle, do it!
Don't shoot! Let them burn!
I'll give you "comrade," you son of a bitch!
Lie down!
Cease fire! Cease fire!
Cut it out! Cut it out! Cease fire!
Sugar Cane. Sugar Charlie 3.
Say again, Dog One is open. Send in the dozers.
I'm waiting for you to tie in my flanks. Over.
What?
What? I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying.
What did he say? What did he say?
"Look, I washed for supper."
God damn it!
- Hey, Fish. - Yeah?
Look at this. A Hitler Youth knife.
And now it's a Shabbat challah cutter, right?
Keep it moving!
That's quite a view.
Yes, it is.
Quite a view.
"Dear Mr Brian Boyd,
"no doubt by now you have received full information..."
- "Dear Mrs Jensen..." - "... untimely death of your son."
"... no words of mine can ever relieve the grief..."
"Our outfit has felt his loss tremendously."
"He was a fine soldier and he believed very strongly in..."
"It's no secret any more that we were involved
"in one of the most important operations of this war."
"Al was the one who held us all together.
"He was always the first to volunteer..."
"... came to a clearing near a road where over 4,000 troops had passed..."
"Your husband served in a combat unit
"whose dangerous duty is to place itself..."
"... which we all cherish and hold so dear.
"The loss of Lee and others like him is a distinct blow to the regiment."
"I fully understand your desire
"to learn as much as possible regarding the circumstances
"leding to his death."
Colonel, I've got something you should know about.
Yes.
These two men died in Normandy.
This one at Omaha Beach.
- Sean Ryan. - This man at Utah.
Peter Ryan.
This man was killed last week in New Guinea.
Daniel Ryan.
The three men are brothers, sir.
I've just learned that, this afternoon,
their mother is going to be getting all three telegrams.
That's not all. There's a fourth brother. The youngest.
He parachuted in with the 101 st Airborne,
night before the invasion.
He's somewhere in Normandy. We don't know where.
- Is he alive? - We don't know.
Come with me.
God damn it.
All four of them were in the same company
in the 29th Division, but we split them up
after the Sullivan brothers died on the Juneau.
Any contact with the fourth son, James?
No, sir. He was dropped about 15 miles inland near Neuville.
But that's still deep behind German lines.
Now, Mac, there is no way you can know
where in the hell he was dropped.
General, first reports out of Ike's people at SHAEF
said the 101 st is scattered all to hell and gone.
There's misdrops all over Normandy.
Now, assuming Private Ryan even survived the jump,
he could be anywhere.
In fact, he's probably KIA.
And frankly, sir, we go sending some sort of rescue mission,
flathatting throughout swarms of German reinforcements
all along our axis of advance, they're gonna be KIA, too.
I have a letter here,
written a long time ago to a Mrs Bixby in Boston.
So bear with me.
"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
"that would 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 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,
"Abraham Lincoln."
That boy is alive.
We are gonna send somebody to find him,
and we are gonna get him the hell out of there.
- Yes, sir. - Yes, sir.
We expected 32 tanks to float to the beach. Twenty-seven didn't make it.
- Miller, Charlie Company. - Go on in, Captain.
I understand your situation.
But if we don't offload those duel-drive Shermans by 0600,
we're gonna have an entire division
stuck at Carentan with its pants around its ankles.
Well, you let me know then.
Have Charlie Company hold at Vierville until we can get some armour up there.
Yes, sir. Runner!
Airborne was supposed to win an open door for the rest of us.
Instead they misdropped, scattered all their sticks into the wind.
- What's your situation? - Yes, sir. Sector four is secure.
We...
We took out towed 88s here, here and here.
They'd already gotten four of our Shermans
and a number of our deuce and a halves.
These two minefields are actually one big one.
We tried to make our way up through the middle of it,
but it turned into a mixed, high-density field,
little bit of everything.
Spreng Mine 44s. Schuh Mine 42s, pot mines. A-200s,
the little wooden bastards that the mine detectors don't pick up.
This road here, they placed big mushrooms, Teller Mine 43s,
I guess for our tanks,
from here right up to the edge of the village. Right here.
So we marked them, called the engineers.
Resistance?
We had higher support expectations, sir.
There was an under-strength company without artillery.
Wehrmacht 346 Infantry, Von Luck Kampfgruppe.
We ended up with 23 prisoners.
We turned them over to MPs from the 29th.
What about our casualties?
Well, the figures
were 35 dead, times two wounded.
They just didn't wanna give up those 88s.
It was a tough assignment. That's why you got it.
Yes, sir.
John...
I've got another one for you.
- Yes, sir. - This one's straight from the top.
You and I are taking a squad over to Neuville
on a public-relations mission.
You leading a squad?
Some private in the 101 st lost three brothers,
and he's got a ticket home.
How come Neuville?
They think he's up there somewhere, part of all those airborne misdrops.
It's not gonna be easy finding one particular soldier
in the middle of this whole goddamn war.
Like finding a needle in a stack of needles.
But what about the company?
We take the pick of the litter and the rest get folded into Baker.
Jesus Christ.
They took away your company?
It wasn't my company. It was the Army's. So they told me, anyway.
Give me Reiben on BAR, Jackson, Wade, Beasley and Caparzo.
Beasley's dead.
All right, Mellish, then. We got anybody speaks French?
- Not that I know of. - What about Talbot?
- This morning. - Oh. All right.
I'm gonna go try to dig up another interpreter.
Assemble at battalion motor pool on the beach.
Yes, sir.
- Sarge, what we gonna do? - Okay, listen up...
- What? - What are we gonna do?
You're going home wrapped in an American flag
with a hunk of cheese in your ass, Caparzo, you smart ass.
- Now, listen up. - I thought you liked it in the ass.
- What? - I thought you liked it in the ass.
Attention!
As you were.
I'm looking for Corporal Upham, Timothy E.
Yes, sir. I'm Upham, sir.
I understand you speak French and German.
- Yes, sir. - How's your accent?
Just a slight one in French, but my German's clean.
- Has a touch of Bavarian, sir. - Very good.
You've been reassigned to me. Grab your gear.
- We're going to a place called Neuville. - Yes, sir.
- When was this updated? - Updated as of 0830 hour this morning.
- Sir... - This is the 12th SS Panzer.
These are the two axes that advance south.
- Sir, there are Germans in Neuville. - There are artillery up here, sir.
- That's what I understand. Corporal. - Yes, sir.
Sir, there are a lot of Germans in Neuville.
You have a problem with that, Corporal?
No, sir. Just if you consider I've never been in combat, sir.
I make maps and I translate. And that's...
I need someone who speaks French and German.
- Yes, sir. - My two guys were killed.
Yes, sir. It's just that I haven't held a weapon since basic training, sir.
Did you fire the weapon in basic training?
Yes, sir.
- Well, then, get your gear. - Yes, sir.
Sir, may I bring...
May I bring my typewriter, sir?
Yes, sir.
Thank you very much, sir.
- That a souvenir? - No, sir.
Take your time, Corporal.
You should look on the bright side of things, Corporal.
Yes, sir.
For one thing, you don't need to carry those.
- You'll need that. - I'll need that, sir. Yes, sir.
Hey.
You want your head blown off, you fancy little fuck?
Don't you ever fucking touch me with those little rat claws again.
Get the fuck back in formation.
I was just wondering where you're from, that's...
- Caparzo, is it? - Hey, drop dead, Corporal.
Got you.
And another thing. Every time you salute the captain,
you make him a target for the Germans.
So do us a favour. Don't do it.
Especially when I'm standing next to him, capisci?
Corporal, what's your book about?
- Hey. Watch your rifle. - Sorry.
Actually, it's about the...
It's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood
that develop between soldiers during war.
Brotherhood?
What do you know about brotherhood?
Get a load of this guy, Fish.
Why don't you ask the captain where he's from?
Yeah, ask the captain. He'll tell you everything you wanna know about him.
You wanna explain the math of this to me?
I mean, where's the sense of risking the lives of the eight of us
to save one guy.
Twenty degrees. Anybody wanna answer that?
Reiben, think about the poor bastard's mother.
Hey, doc. I got a mother, all right?
I mean, you got a mother. Sarge has got a mother.
I mean, shit, I bet even the captain's got a mother.
Well, maybe not the captain, but the rest of us got mothers.
"Theirs not to reason why Theirs but to do and die"
What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Corporal, huh?
We're all supposed to die. Is that it?
Upham's talking about our duty as soldiers.
- Yes, sir. - We all have orders we have to follow.
And that supersedes everything, including your mothers.
Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
Even if you think the mission's FUBAR, sir?
Especially if you think the mission's FUBAR.
- What's FUBAR? - Oh, it's German. Yeah.
Never heard of that.
Sir, I have an opinion on this matter.
Well, by all means, share it with the squad.
Well, from my way of thinking, sir,
this entire mission is a serious misallocation
of valuable military resources.
Yeah. Go on.
Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift,
made me a fine instrument of warfare.
Reiben, pay attention. Now, this is the way to gripe!
Continue, Jackson.
Well, what I mean by that, sir,
is if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere,
up to and including one mile ofAdolf Hitler
with a clear line of sight, sir...
Pack your bags, fellas. War's over. Amen.
Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin.
So, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don't gripe at all?
I don't gripe to you, Reiben. I'm a captain.
There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up.
You gripe to me,
I gripe to my superior officers, so on, so on and so on.
I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you.
You should know that as a Ranger.
I'm sorry, sir, but...
Let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major.
What would you say then?
Well, in that case,
I'd say this is an excellent mission, sir,
with an extremely valuable objective, sir,
worthy of my best efforts, sir.
Moreover, I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan,
and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men,
especially you, Reiben, to ease her suffering.
- He's good. - I love him.
Right.
- Thunder! - Flash!
Upham, over there. Reiben, you four go.
Go, go, go, go, go!
- You guys are a sight for sore eyes. - Sergeant Hill, our relief showed up.
How many are you?
Just eight of us. We're not your relief. Sorry.
You're not the relief, what do you mean, sir?
We're here for a Private Ryan.
Who? Ryan? What for?
- Is he here? - Well, I don't know.
Maybe with a mixed unit on the other side of town.
It's hard to get to. The Germans punched a hole in our centre
a few hours ago, they cut us right in two.
- What's his name again? - Ryan. James Ryan.
He dropped in with 101st.
- Goldman, get me a runner up here. - Runner!
Come on.
Jonesy, make a hole up there!
We got stopped by some intense rifle action from the eastward.
The Germans have been reinforcing two regiments all day.
The streets have been quiet for about 45 minutes.
Most of the German fire now is concentrated to the westward.
Who's that on the loudspeaker?
That? That's Dagwood Dusseldorf,
our friendly neighbourhood morale officer.
The Statue of Liberty is kaput.
- "The Statue of Liberty is kaput." - ... kaput.
That's disconcerting.
Take the second left...
Your father was circumcised by my rabbi, you prick!
Private Ryan, James, probably misdropped with the 101.
- Got that? - Cover!
Go!
- You sadistic fucking animals! - Get down.
They know we're not in direct contact. They're gonna single out the runners.
Yeah. Why do they keep shooting him up like that?
Long as his lungs have breath in them, he still carries the message.
- We'd do the same thing. - No, we wouldn't!
- Wade! Get them ready to travel. - Yes, sir.
- Boyd! - Come on!
Try again. See if you can let Captain Hamill know we're coming.
What's the rest of Neuville look like?
Next block's got two-storey buildings, both sides of the street.
- There's a lot of windows. - ... copy? Over.
And then there's a wide open square with pretty good cover on the left.
- Show me. - Sarge, hold right here.
Yes, sir!
All right. Let's stay out of this enfilade and use the buildings.
Try a left hook.
Shoot and scoot, two of yours, two of mine.
Hastings, Goldman, up front!
- Reiben, Caparzo. Fundamentals. - They're still jamming us.
Short runs. High and low at the corners.
It's gonna be tight. Be prepared for close contact.
- Go. Upham. - Yes, sir.
- You stay with Sergeant Horvath. - Stay right here.
I'll wear him like underwear, Captain! Stay with me.
All right, past the end of the block to the left.
Those are the gates to the square.
Good.
Reiben, where's the captain from?
You figure that one out, you got yourself a nice prize.
300 bucks, last I heard.
Company's got a pool. 5 bucks gets you in.
Easy.
It's around this corner. Defilade right up to those gates.
Somebody must know where he's from, what he did for a living.
I've been with him since Kasserine Pass,
but I don't have a clue.
My ankles are killing me.
I'll need a wheelchair before this war is over.
Oh, that's it. Oh, my God.
Got ankles like an old woman. Like an old...
Oh, God.
Reiben, so, you don't even know where he went to school?
Captain didn't go to school.
They assembled him at OCS out of spare body parts of dead Gls.
You gotta pay attention to detail.
I know exactly where he's from and exactly what he did
'cause I pay attention to detail.
Hey, Upham, careful you don't step in the bullshit.
- Do it. - Thunder!
Thunder, or we will fire on you!
Upham, tell them to show themselves.
Ask them if they know where the Germans are.
- What's he saying? - Something about the children.
- They want us to take the children. - No, no, no. We can't take the kids.
We can't take the kids. We can't!
We can't take the kids! No!
They think they'll be safe with us.
It's not gonna be safe when they're with us!
- It's okay. It's okay. - Are you nuts? Listen to the captain!
- They think they'll be safe with us, sir.
Caparzo! Put that kid back!
It's okay.
- Caparzo! Put that little girl back! - It's okay. It's okay. It's okay.
Caparzo, give that kid back now!
Upham, how do you say, "It's okay"? I can't. She reminds me of my niece, sir.
Caparzo, get the kid back up there!
Captain, the decent thing to do
is to at least take her down the road to the next town.
We're not here to do the decent thing! We're here to follow fucking orders!
Sarge, take this goddamn kid!
Cover! Cover!
God damn it! Where'd that come from?
He was on the ground before we heard the shot.
That's where I'd be.
I didn't see it.
Four hundred fifty yards, Captain. Maybe a shade under.
I wouldn't venture out there, fellas! This sniper's got talent!
Please don't cry. I'm gonna take you back to your mama and papa.
Please don't cry. Come on.
Carpy.
- Captain. - Hold on, Caparzo.
Help me up. I can walk. I can walk.
Caparzo, stay still!
Two clicks, left wind.
Fish!
Captain, can you see him from there? How is he?
Wade, you stay put.
Where's he shot, Captain?
- Captain, can you see him from there? - You stay there!
Damn it, stay down! What's the matter with you?
Am I gonna take care of you if you get hit? Huh?
- Fish, come over here. - Carpy, put your head down.
Why can't you put your head down?
O my God, I trust in thee.
Let me not be ashamed.
Let not my enemies triumph over me.
Copy it.
Copy it and send it for me.
Carpy, you're gonna send it yourself. Put it down!
- It's got blood! - I see it. Carpy, I see it.
It's to my dad. It's got blood on it, Fish.
We got him. Stay down.
- How bad is it? - Chest, maybe lung shot.
Get that 30 up the street!
Detail!
- Clear up! - Clear down!
That's why we can't take children.
Sergeant Horvath, do an ammo check.
Upham, canteens. Fill them up.
- Sergeant Hill. - Yes, sir.
Gather your men. We'll form up at the northwest corner of the square.
- Jackson! - Sir.
Mellish, check the tower, hustle back here. Right now. Go!
Fuck Ryan.
- Thunder! - Flash!
Come on in.
Hey, guys, we're looking for Captain Hamill.
Somewhere down there across the square.
Across the square.
Go easy. Watch for snipers.
Sit down.
Jimmy T, go find Captain Hamill, bring him in here.
What? Up there?
How the hell should I know? Would you go look, please?
Thank you, you moron.
All right.
You guys just flake out here for a while.
Let me get this goddamn hitchhiker out of my boot.
Drop your weapons! Drop your weapons!
- Drop them now! - Drop the fucking weapons!
- I'll shoot you! I'll shoot you! - Drop! Drop! Drop them!
Now! Put them down!
Clear up!
- Shit. Shit! - Clear up!
Clear down!
- Enough to make you old. - Let's hope so.
Fred Hamill, Pathfinders, 101 st.
John Miller, 2nd Rangers. Thank you.
We're here looking for a Private James Ryan.
He's part of your outfit. Any chance at all you policed him up?
- How was the road in? - Scenic.
- We lost most of our ammo. - Not to mention one of our men.
Lieutenant, redeploy that bazooka to the right side of the road.
- Yes, sir! - And get Ryan up here.
Ryan! Ryan, front and centre!
Ryan!
Here comes our boy.
Told you he was an asshole.
- Sir, Private Ryan reporting as ordered. - At ease.
Captain Miller, 2nd Rangers. He wants a word with you.
This way.
All right. Take a knee.
Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you.
Well, there isn't any real easy way to say this, so...
So I'll just say it. Your brothers are dead.
We have orders to come get you
because you're going home.
Oh, my God. My brothers are dead.
I was supposed to take them fishing when we got home.
I'm so sorry, James. I can't tell you how much.
- How... How did they die? - They were killed in action.
That can't be. They're...
That... That can't be. My brothers are still in grammar school.
- You're James Ryan? - Yeah.
James Francis Ryan from Iowa?
James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota.
What? Does that mean my brothers are okay?
Yeah, I'm sure they're fine.
Are you sure they're okay, though?
We're looking for a different Private Ryan.
This is just a big foul-up.
How do you know? How can you be sure?
How do you know the foul-up isn't that his brothers are okay and that...
Lieutenant, I'm sorry for the trouble.
I just wrote them a letter right before I left. I got to get home.
I got to get home right now.
- I wanna go home. - Easy, now.
- So, where in the hell is our Ryan? - I don't know.
Are you in touch with your CO?
- That figures. - What unit's your Ryan in?
Baker Company, 506th.
The guy with the broken foot, he's 506, right?
Yeah. Charlie, I think.
- You think? - Yeah.
Ryan? Don't know... Man!
- Where was your drop zone? - Just inside of Vierville.
Vierville? How the hell did you end up way up here?
You got me, sir. C-47 took heavy fire.
Pilot went crazy trying to get out of there, turning every which way.
Took more fire on the drop. Got messy. I ended up here.
I haven't seen a single guy from my stick, sir.
God knows where they are.
Anybody from Baker Company have, like, a big mouth?
Talk about where the drop zone might've been?
No, sir, but I know Baker Company had the same rally point as us.
Show me.
My men are beat.
We're gonna hold up here for about three hours.
We'll pull out after dark.
Got anything left in this town like a three-star hotel?
Something with clean sheets and soft pillows and room service?
- How about a nice, comfy church? - We'll take that.
What have you heard? How's it all falling together?
Well, we got the beachhead secure.
Problem is Monty's taking his time moving on Caen.
We can't pull out till he's ready, so...
- That guy's overrated. - No argument here.
You gotta take Caen, so you can take Saint-Lô.
You got to take Saint-Lô to take Valognes.
Valognes, you got Cherbourg.
- Cherbourg, you got Paris. - Paris, you get Berlin.
And then that big boat home.
We sure as hell could use you around here,
but I understand what you're doing.
- You do? - Yeah.
I got a couple of brothers myself.
- Good luck. - Thank you.
No, I mean it. Find him. Get him home.
What's with your hand?
I don't know.
It started in Portsmouth
when they brought us down for embarkation.
It comes and goes.
Well, you may have to get yourself a new line of work.
This one doesn't seem to agree with you any more.
What?
- What? - Nothing.
What was the name of that kid at Anzio?
The one that was always walking around on his hands, you know?
And he was singing that song about the man on the flying trapeze.
- Vecchio. - Vecchio.
Yeah, Vecchio.
He was a goofy kid.
Remember, he used to pee a "V" on everybody's jacket
for Vecchio, for victory.
He was so short. He was a midget, wasn't he?
"How did you get to be a Ranger?"
He got shot in the foot once, didn't he, when he was walking on his hands?
Yeah. He could walk faster on his hands.
He could run faster on his hands than...
Vecchio.
Yeah.
Caparzo.
You see, when you end up killing one of your men,
you tell yourself it happened
so you could save the lives of two or three or 10 others.
Maybe 100 others.
Do you know how many men I've lost under my command?
- How many? - Ninety-four.
But that means I've saved the lives of 10 times that many, doesn't it?
Maybe even 20, right? Twenty times as many?
And that's how simple it is.
That's how you...
That's how you rationalise making the choice
between the mission and the men.
Except this time, the mission is a man.
This Ryan better be worth it.
He'd better go home, cure some disease,
or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.
'Cause the truth is I wouldn't trade 10 Ryans
for one Vecchio or one Caparzo.
Amen.
Look. There it goes again.
Sir, are you all right?
Now, look, we're gonna move out in two hours.
Why don't you get some sleep?
- I don't know how he does it. - What's that?
Falls asleep like that. I mean, look at him.
The guy's lights out the minute his head hits the pack.
Clear conscience.
Yeah. What's that saying?
"If God's on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?"
"If God be for us, who could be against us?"
Yeah, what did I say?
Well, actually, the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake.
How is that, Wade?
Well, when my mother was an intern, she used to work late through the night,
sleep through the day.
So the only time that we ever got to talk about anything
was when she'd get home.
So what I used to do, I used to lie in my bed
and try to stay awake as long as I could,
but it never worked 'cause the harder I tried,
the faster I'd fall asleep.
Yeah. Well, that wouldn't have mattered none in my house.
My ma, she would've come home, shook me awake,
chatted me up till dawn.
I swear, that woman was never too tired to talk.
Yeah. That's probably the only time she could get a word in.
Funny thing is, sometimes she'd come home early,
and I'd pretend to be asleep.
- Who? Your mum? - Yeah.
She'd stand in the doorway, looking at me.
And I'd just keep my eyes shut.
And I knew she just wanted to find out about my day,
that she came home early
just to talk to me.
And I still wouldn't move. I'd still pretend to just be asleep.
I don't know why I did that.
We only got a couple of hours. Shut up and go to sleep.
Captain? Sir?
Corporal?
How you doing there? Are you all right?
Yeah, I think this is all good for me, sir.
Really?
How is that?
"War educates the senses,
"calls into action the will,
"perfects the physical constitution,
"brings men into such swift and close collision
"in critical moments that man measures man."
Yeah. Well, I guess that's Emerson's way
of finding the bright side.
- You know Emerson, sir? - I know some.
So, where are you from, Captain? What'd you do before the war?
What's the pool up to?
You know, I think it's around 300, sir.
Well, when it gets up to 500,
I'll give you the answers, and we'll split the money.
How about that?
Well, if that's the way you feel, sir. I feel it's my duty under your command
to suggest that we wait until it gets up to 1,000, sir.
What if we don't live that long?
- 500? - 500 would be good, yeah.
- Yes, sir. - Yeah.
- Get some sleep, Corporal. - Yes, sir.
Who's got sulfa powder?
Medic! My buddy's bleeding! He needs a tourniquet!
- Wade. - Yes, sir?
- See what you can do. - Yes, sir.
Hold on, fellas. It won't be much longer.
How we doing here?
All right.
Yeah, doing all right. Don't worry about it.
Doc's in town.
It's all right. It's all right.
Don't worry, fellas.
The 29th Infantry's breaking through, they'll be here soon.
Plasma. Anybody got plasma?
- Captain. Hey, Captain. - Soldier, you want to fill me in?
Yeah. Lieutenant DeWindt, sir.
99th Troop Carrier Squadron, carrying in 327th Glider Infantry.
This one was mine, sir.
- I was the pilot. - Private?
- Twenty-two men dead. - Private, take care of...
I ended up over there without a scratch. It took my co-pilot's head right off.
Well, where's the unit? Who are these people?
Well, the guys we came in with, sir, they headed off first night.
Haven't seen them since.
Meantime, other guys keep showing up, one, two, half-dozen at a time.
Then some officer'll come along and patch together a mixed unit,
- head off to make trouble, sir. - Water. I need a canteen over here.
We're looking for a Private James Ryan.
He's in Baker Company, the 506 of the 101 st.
No, you got me, sir. A lot of guys come in and out of here.
- Upham. - Yes, sir.
Check out that squad. See if Ryan's in it.
Yes, sir.
Reiben.
Smell that leg right there. Find out if it's south of cheese.
What?
Keep moving.
Keep moving!
I'm Juden, you know?
Yeah, I couldn't pry him out of there, hard as I tried.
- I'd need a winch. - Yeah.
Stars.
Yep, Brigadier General Amend, Deputy Commander, 101 st.
Some fucking genius had the great idea
of welding a couple of steel plates
onto our deck to keep the general safe from ground fire.
Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me about it
until we were just getting airborne.
Well, that's like trying to fly a freight train. Okay.
Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hell.
I nearly broke both my arms trying to keep her level.
And when we released,
you know, I cut as hard as I could,
tried to gain some altitude and still keep her from stalling.
We came down like a fucking meteor. And this is how we ended up.
And the others, they stopped easy enough okay though, you know?
We were just... We were just too damn heavy, you know?
The grass was wet.
Downward slope and all.
Twenty-two guys dead.
- All that for a general? - One man.
- A lot of that going around. - FUBAR.
- FUBAR.
FUBAR.
You all got that right.
Hey, I looked up "FUBAR" in the German dictionary.
There's no "FUBAR" in there.
- Upham. - Yes, sir?
There's more paratroops out there. Find out if one of them is Ryan.
Yes, sir.
Oh, you might want to check these out, sir.
Dog tags.
More than I really want to count, sir.
I've covered a lot of bodies, sir.
Jackson.
- Start going through those. - Yes, sir.
I'll help.
What do you think, Jackson? Do you think that little prick's in there?
Well, if he is, I'm gonna find him. I bet that son of a bitch is here.
I got big money saying this guy's still alive.
10 bucks says I nail him first.
- Let's see who we got in here. - You mugs don't stand a chance.
All right, you think this little shit bird is in here or what?
Just keep looking.
All right. Gary Ianico.
Ben Rubino. Mike Cessacchio.
I swear. All the guineas are buying it, huh?
Oh, come on, not the right name.
Wee Willie Winkie, that's a buddy of yours.
We gotta find this prick.
Where is this son of a bitch?
Don't mix them up, Jackson, all right? Keep them in your own fucking pile.
How am I supposed to know who we got?
Why don't you just shut up, Reiben? All right.
- Everybody be friends. - Cranky there, huh?
- I think I got a winner. - What you talking about?
Ryan.
- Ryan. - Take a look at that, Mellish.
You know what? You're a genius. You really are.
R-I-E-N-N-E.
That's Rienne and that's French. All right.
- You know what that means? - It means nothing.
- What beats three of a kind? - I got shit here.
- I got all guys from New York. - I got a full house.
- Do you need a hand with that? - I got a full house.
- I got you beat. I got the straight flush. - Full house, he's got.
You were looking at my tags. You're cheating, you know?
- Ryan. - Fucking unreal, this guy.
Do you need a hand with that? Can you read that shit?
Jesus Christ. Look at this poor bastard.
- I guess they're not bullet-proof, huh? - Guess not. All right?
I don't like what he's got between his ears.
Sort of like what you fellas got between your legs.
- We got to give him that. - That's not bad.
Not bad with you, Jackson.
All right, I got three of a kind. All right.
- Full house. - What the hell are you doing?
The whole goddamn Airborne's watching.
These aren't poker chips.
- All right, all right, all right. - Put them back in there!
He's not here.
Maybe we should bust up into a couple of different groups, huh?
And wander the woods like Hansel and Gretel,
calling his name.
He's bound to hear us sooner or later. Ryan!
That might be a little hard to do, Captain.
Maybe the locals have seen him. Hey, you know...
Ryan! Anybody know Ryan, 101 st Airborne?
Ryan? You know a guy named Ryan? Private James Ryan from Iowa?
Anybody know a Ryan?
James Ryan!
Hey, Joe, doesn't Mandelsohn pal around with a Ryan from C Company?
- Yeah. I think so. - Bring him up here, would you?
- Do you know Private Ryan? - You're gonna have to speak up, sir.
You're gonna have to speak up, sir.
- My hearing is not good! - It comes and goes!
- A German grenade went off
- next to his ear. - A grenade went off right by my head!
Got it, got it. Do you know Private Ryan?
Who?
Private Ryan! James Ryan!
- Jimmy Ryan? - James! James Francis Ryan!
- No, no, no. James Francis Ryan. - All right. Get me a pencil.
Something to write on. Something to write on.
Quick! Quick! Come on, a pencil!
A small one, sir.
Write this down.
James Francis Ryan, question mark.
Iowa, question mark.
Do you know him? Does he know him?
Read the message. Look.
- Yeah. Of course I know him, sir. - Does he know where he is?
Yeah, yeah. We missed our drop zone by about 20 miles,
ended up way over by Bumville or some damn place.
Him, me and a couple of other guys were coming here to the rally point,
ran into a Colonel who was gathering up men to go to Ramelle.
Ramelle.
To baby-sit a bridge. That's the last I've seen of him, sir.
Great! Great! Thank you.
Write thank... Read, and thank you.
- You're welcome! - Assemble on me.
Thank you, Lieutenant.
Ramelle.
We're here. There.
Ramelle is on the Merderet River, right here, just to the southwest of us.
You know anything about this bridge he was talking about, Captain?
Yep. The target has always been Cherbourg.
We can't push on Paris until we take a deep water port.
And Rommel knows that,
so he's gonna try to get his armour
across the Merderet river anywhere he can.
That way, he can hit our invasion forces in the flank
when we make the big right turn to Cherbourg.
That makes any village on that river
with an intact bridge solid gold real estate.
Let's go.
Captain.
What the hell is that?
A radar site. It's gotta be out of action.
Looks like we got something in that. Sandbag bunker right under the station.
- See it? - Yeah. That's my guess, too.
What is it?
Machine gun. Probably MG42.
Jesus. Is that what got those guys?
Maybe one of them's our boy.
No, their patches are 82nd, so your luck's not that good.
Yeah, well, I don't know how fast the rest of you betties are,
but I'm thinking we detour this way quick and quiet,
the krauts will never even know we were here.
So, Captain, what I'm trying to say is why don't we just go around the thing?
I hear what you're saying, but we can't go around it.
I'm with Reiben on this one, sir.
- I mean, we left them 88s. - For the Air Force.
The Air Force isn't gonna spend ordnance on one machine gun.
Captain...
We can still skip it and accomplish our mission.
I mean, this isn't our mission, right, sir?
Oh. That's what you want to do, Mellish?
You just want to leave it here, so they can ambush
the next company that comes along?
No, sir. That's not what I'm saying.
I'm simply saying it seems like an unnecessary risk,
given our objective, sir.
Our objective is to win the war.
Sir, I just... I don't have a good feeling about this one.
When was the last time you felt good about anything?
All right, three runners with suppressing fire.
Mellish, you hook to the right. I'll go up the middle.
Who's going left?
I'll do it.
- I'll go left. - All right.
Upham, switch off with Jackson, and you linger in the rear.
Yes, sir.
We advance and keep pressure on him till he has to change out his barrels.
I think we should be able to hit him from grenade range.
- Maybe I should go up the middle, sir. - The way you run? I don't think so.
- Maybe I should go left, sir. - Maybe you should shut up.
Reiben, base of fire.
Mags and clips where you can reach them, and...
And extra grenades for the base runners.
Hill's clear! Four down and dead!
Upham, grab the gear. Get up here! We need water and extra dressing now!
Get the morphine out of the extra medical kit!
God.
Son of a bitch!
All right. The sulfa.
- Put my legs up. Put my legs up. - I got him.
- More sulfa, Mellish. - I got him. I got him, Wade.
- You're gonna be all right. - Listen to my voice.
You're gonna be all right, Doc.
How's it look? How's it look?
Wade, you're fine. You're going on a hospital ship.
- More sulfa! More sulfa! - Put my legs up.
- Put my legs up. Put my legs up. - He's gonna be all right.
- I got 'em. I got 'em. I got 'em. - You're gonna be okay, Wade.
I got 'em.
Upham, give me your canteen!
- Come on. Come on. - ... we're gonna get you out of here.
Put some pressure on it.
- You're gonna be okay. - How's it look?
- I'm getting some morphine. - How's it look?
- It's all right. You're gonna be okay. - How's it look?
You're gonna be okay.
Here comes the morphine. Here comes the morphine.
Am I shot in the spine?
- You're okay, Wade. - Am I shot in the spine?
- Lift him up. Easy, easy, easy. - All right. Flip him over.
- Easy, easy, easy. - Put some pressure.
- Easy, easy. - Lift him up. Lift him up.
It's okay, doc. It's all right.
Wade, you got an exit wound.
It's in the small of your back.
How big's the hole in the...
- About the size of an acorn. - It's fine.
You're fine. You're fine.
Put some pressure on it. Put some pressure on it.
- Put some pressure on it. - It's all right.
Put some more pressure on it!
Is there anything bleeding worse than the others?
Yeah, right here, right here. Do you know what it is?
- No. - Right here. Yeah. Right here.
I'm gonna put your hand on it.
- We got some pressure on there. - Right there.
- That's good. - Okay. That's the one.
Oh, my God, my liver!
- Oh, my God! It's my liver! - Something wrong, Wade.
Tell us what to do. Tell us how to fix you.
What do you need? What do you need? What can we do, Wade?
Tell us what to do.
Oh, shit.
I could use... I could use a little more morphine.
More morphine, sir?
Okay. Okay.
Give it to him.
- I don't wanna die. - Here you go. Wade, here you go.
- Here it comes. - There you go. There you...
Give him another one.
Mama?
I want to go home. I want to go home.
Mama. Mama.
Mama, Mama, Mama...
Reiben, hold him!
Not yet.
First, make him mark and cover Wade's body for grave detail.
Same thing for those paratroopers down there.
Strip that stuff off and check him for intelligence.
Ask this piece of shit if he's the one who shot Wade. Ask him!
- It doesn't matter. - It does matter!
Shut up with that filthy pig latin.
Jackson, you're hit.
Shit.
- I guess it just skinned the arm, sir. - Get it cleaned and dressed.
You and Sarge, watch the perimeter.
- Sir, he says, "Please don't shoot." - I don't care what he says, Upham.
Sir? Sir, you're gonna let them kill him?
- This is not right, sir. - You can help him with the bodies.
What is happening?
American.
I like American.
Steamboat Willie.
Yeah, Steamboat Willie. American.
- He's says he's not finished. - Yeah. That's what you think.
Come on. Yeah.
Please... I like America.
Fancy schmancy! What a cinch!
Go fly a kite! Cat got your tongue? Cool beans!
Betty Boop! What a dish!
Betty Grable. Nice gams.
I say can you see I say can you see
I say...
Fuck Hitler.
Sir, he says he's sorry about Wade.
He says he's sorry about Wade, sir.
Captain.
Captain, this isn't right.
You know this. He's a prisoner. He surrendered.
He surrendered, sir!
Tell him
to march 1,000 paces in that direction,
then he can take off the blindfold.
We'll be gone, and he turns himself in
to the first Allied patrol he comes across.
- Thank you, sir. - You gotta be kidding me.
- We're letting him go? - He's a POW, Reiben.
Can't take him with us. Our guys'll pick him up sooner or later.
Only if he doesn't get picked up by his own Wehrmacht first,
then thrown back into circulation.
Captain, you just let the enemy go.
- This is such bullshit. - Y'all got that right.
Bullshit? Right. This is bullshit?
- Shooting a prisoner, that'd be okay? - Upham, shut your mouth.
It's against the goddamn rules!
Yeah. The goddamn rules just walked off with your new friend.
But I guess that was the decent thing to do, huh, Captain?
Get your gear. Let's go.
You heard him. Gear up.
The Captain just gave you an order.
Yeah. Like the one he gave to take this machine gun.
- That was a real doozy, wasn't it, Sarge. - Soldier, you are way out of line.
Yes, sir. That was one hell of a call, coming to take this nest,
but what the hell? We only lost one of our guys, going for it.
I swear, I hope Mama Ryan's real fucking happy,
knowing that little Jimmy's life is a little bit more important than two of our guys!
But then again, we haven't found him yet, have we? Huh?
- Here you go. - Get the hell off me!
Reiben, get up.
Gear up. Fall in.
I'm done with this mission.
Hey! Hey!
- Sir. - Don't walk away from your Captain.
- Reiben, get back in line. - No, sir.
I'll spend the rest of my life in the stockade
if I have to, but I'm done with this.
- I'm not gonna ask you again, soldier. - Captain!
All right, now. This is bullshit!
- Fall in! - You're gonna shoot me over Ryan?
No. I'm gonna shoot you 'cause I don't like you.
- Sir, listen... - Sir, if he wants to go, just let him go!
Are you letting this happen? Captain! You see this?
- Captain? Sir? Sir, Ryan's dead. - Bullshit!
- Sir, we have a situation you might... - That is bullshit!
Captain, I have a sixth sense about these things. I know it in my bones.
We don't kill that son-of-a-bitch kraut. Now you're gonna shoot me?
- He's better than you. - Then why don't you just do it, Sarge?
Do it, man. Put one in my leg and give me that...
I'm gonna shoot you in your big goddamn mouth!
Well, put your money where your mouth is...
- You don't know when to shut up. - Do it!
- You don't know how to shut up. - Pull the trigger, already!
Captain, please!
- What's the pool on me up to? - What?
- You are a coward son of a bitch! - I'm waiting, Sarge.
Mike, what's the pool on me up to right now?
What's it up to?
What is it, $300? Is that it? 300? I'm a schoolteacher.
I teach English composition
in this little town called Addley, Pennsylvania.
The last 11 years,
I've been at Thomas Alva Edison High School.
I was the coach of the baseball team in the springtime.
I'll be doggone.
Back home, when I'd tell people what I do for a living,
they'd think, "Well, that figures."
But over here, it's a...
A big...
A big mystery.
So I guess I've changed some.
Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much
my wife is even going to recognise me whenever it is I get back to her.
And how I'll ever be able to...
To tell her about days like today.
Ryan...
I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care.
The man means nothing to me, it's just a name. But if...
You know, if going to Ramelle
and finding him, so he can go home,
if that earns me the right to get back to my wife
well, then... Then that's my mission.
You want to leave?
You want to go off and fight the war?
All right.
All right, I won't stop you.
I'll even put in the paperwork.
I just know that every man I kill, the farther away from home I feel.
By memories
Of the days gone by
In my solitude
You taunt me
With memories that never die
I sit in my chair
Filled with despair
There's no one
Could be so sad
With gloom everywhere
I sit and I stare...
Halftrack! Cover!
Who's doing the shooting? Who's doing the shooting?
Get ready to move on their left flank! Take their left flank!
Hold on and make sure they're down!
101 st! We're coming out!
That was a recon element, 2nd SS.
We've been expecting a probe. That must have been it.
Captain Miller, Charlie Company, 2nd Rangers.
Corporal Henderson, Easy Company, 501 st.
Ryan. First of the 506th.
PFC Toynbe, Third of the 506th.
James Francis Ryan?
Yes, sir. How'd you guess that?
Looks like you guys got hit pretty hard.
Yes, sir. Small unit action.
They came in, and beat the hell out of us with 88s.
Tell you what, sir, if you're our relief, I'm gonna file a complaint.
I wouldn't blame you.
Who's your CO?
It would have been Captain Jennings, sir.
I'm afraid the best we can muster up right now is a corporal.
So, what are you guys all about?
We're here for him. Ryan.
Me, sir?
James Francis Ryan of Iowa?
Yes, sir. Payton, Iowa, that's correct, but...
What is this about?
Your brothers were killed in combat.
Which ones?
All of them.
On the level?
Yeah. I'm afraid so.
You might want to take some time with this.
If there's someplace you want to go and...
- What's this all about? - Ryan lost his brothers.
- Which one? - All of them.
You...
You came all the way out here to tell me that?
Well, you're going home.
Our orders are to bring you back.
Bring me back?
Corporal Henderson, I don't mean to leave you even more shorthanded,
but orders are orders.
Any communication about when you're going to be relieved up here?
Sir, there's no way to tell. I mean,
we have no idea what's happening south of us.
I have my orders, too, sir.
They don't include me abandoning my post.
I understand that, but this changes things.
I don't see that it does, sir.
The Chief of Staff for the United States Army says it does.
Sir, our orders are to hold this bridge at all cost.
Now, our planes in the 82nd have taken out every bridge
across the Merderet with the exception of two.
One at Valognes and this one here.
We let the Germans take them,
we're gonna lose our foothold and have to displace.
Private, your outfit wants to stay, that's one thing.
But your party's over here.
Sir, I can't leave until at least reinforcements...
You got three minutes to gather your gear.
Sir, what about them? I mean, there's barely hardly enough...
Hey, asshole!
Two of our guys already died trying to find you, all right?
- Sir? - That's right.
- What were their names? - Irwin Wade and Adrian Caparzo.
Wade and...
Caparzo.
It doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't make sense, sir. Why? Why do I deserve to go?
Why not any of these guys? They all fought just as hard as me!
Is that what they're supposed to tell your mother
when they send her another folded American flag?
Tell her that when you found me,
I was here and I was with the only brothers that I have left,
and that there's no way I was gonna desert them.
I think she'll understand that.
There's no way I'm leaving this bridge.
What are your orders?
Sergeant, we have crossed some strange boundary here.
The world has taken a turn for the surreal.
Clearly, but the question still stands.
I don't know. What do you think?
You don't want to know what I think.
No, Mike, I do.
Well, part of me thinks the kid's right.
What's he done to deserve this?
He wants to stay here, fine, let's leave him and go home.
Yeah.
But another part of me thinks what if, by some miracle, we stay
and actually make it out of here?
Someday we might look back on this and decide that
saving Private Ryan was the one decent thing
we were able to pull out of this whole
God-awful, shitty mess.
That's what I was thinking, sir.
Like you said, Captain,
we do that,
we all earn the right to go home.
Oh, brother.
This is everything.
You got the two 30-calibre machine guns, 17 grenades, 11 Hawkins mines.
You got the two bazookas, but they only got eight rounds left,
and assorted small arms.
We had a 60 mortar but an arty round took it out.
Might as well be spit wads if they roll on us with tanks.
- Which they're sure to do. - What are you thinking, sir?
Well, I'm thinking they're going to try to whip around the flanks.
Unless we can draw them up this main road here
in between these buildings
where all the rubble makes a bit of a bottleneck.
- Disable 'em? - If we can.
Make that tank a 60-ton roadblock.
We do that, we got a fighting chance at their flanks.
Yes, sir that's good. Split them up. Don't let them mass anywhere.
Hit them hard as we can, one-on-one, and fall back to the bridge.
Machine gun on the move down here, and number two up high somewhere
to piss a little bad news down on their heads.
That would be the idea.
Jackson.
If we can, I'd like to get you up in that bell tower.
- Yes, sir. - Give you a little company if you need it.
Yes, sir. Some company couldn't hurt.
I'd say a.30 with about 1,000 rounds would be okay.
Parker, job opportunity.
Yeah. Well, it's not the worst idea ever, Captain.
It's just that everything depends on getting the tank
down this main road for us to knock out, right?
So how the hell do you plan on doing that?
Reiben's right. As our esteemed colleague from the Airborne pointed out,
what we got here are a bunch of spit wads,
so how do we stop the tank if we get it to commit?
Give it a rabbit to chase.
We could hit the tank in the tracks.
Yeah, but with what?
- Well, we could try a sticky bomb. - Sticky bomb, sir?
- Sir, are you making that up? - No. It's in the field manual.
You check it out if you want to.
We seem to be out of field manuals, sir.
Perhaps you can enlighten us?
All right, you have some demolition, don't you?
Some TNT or some composition B?
Yeah, that, sir, is the one thing we got plenty of.
I got that bridge wired with enough composition B to blow it twice.
All right. You can spare some, then.
You take a standard-issue GI sock,
cram it with as much comp B as it can hold,
rig up a simple fuse,
then you coat the whole thing with axle grease.
That way, when you throw it, it should stick. It's a bomb that sticks.
It's a sticky bomb.
You come up with a better way to knock the tracks off a tank,
I'm all ears.
This is good. Now we got to surrender our socks.
Haul away.
All right, select the field of fire. Crossfire with the one in the bell tower.
All right, I can cover 12 to nine from here.
- Easy! - I got her!
Here are the mines.
For being the best we can do,
that forward machine gun is not in a terrible firing position.
And this position right here,
this is the Alamo.
They push us back this far, last man alive blows the bridge.
We only got a 30-second delay on that fuse,
so let everyone know that if you are that last man
you better hurry your ass off, or you're not going to be alive long.
Captain? Where am I during all this?
Never more than two feet away from me,
and that's not negotiable.
I'll get some ammo. Come on.
- Hey, Upham. - Yes.
- Listen to me, all right? - Yeah.
- You're listening? - Yes.
All right, we're gonna be displacing
and falling back like crazy sons of bitches.
Right up there.
So you got to be Johnny on the spot with the ammo, or we're dead.
- Right. - You understand that?
- Johnny on the spot. - Yeah.
- You all right? - Yeah. Yes.
You know, when we were shipping out of England
the supply sergeant was handing out cartons of cigarettes,
and I said "No, thank you, I don't smoke."
"I don't smoke."
- Quite a situation, huh? - Unbelievable.
Here. Fucked up beyond all recognition, right?
You got that right.
FUBAR.
Ouch.
- Yeah, well... - FUBAR.
It's going to be a real show, huh?
Yeah. Okay.
Take it easy.
FUBAR.
- Who's that singing, sir? - Edith Piaf.
What's she so upset about?
Her lover left her,
but she still sees his face everywhere she goes.
That would do it.
"Even life itself only represents you.
"Sometimes I dream that I'm in your arms."
What was that part? She sang that before.
- The chorus. It's the chorus. - The chorus.
"And you speak softly in my ear
"and you say things
"that make my eyes close.
"And I find that marvellous."
- Again, Upham... - Yes.
to be honest with you, I find myself curiously aroused by you.
- Marvellous. - No, it's really a melancholy song.
At the beginning of the song, she says, "And then one day, you left.
"You left me, and I've been desperate ever since.
"I see you all over the sky, I see you all over the Earth."
Jesus, Upham, any more songs like this,
the krauts aren't going to have to shoot me.
I'm just going to slit my own wrists.
You know, you're a strange bird, Upham.
Sorry, it's Edith, you know.
You know what that song reminds me of?
It reminds me of Mrs Rachel Troubowitz and what she said to me
the day I left for basic.
What, "Don't touch me"?
No. Mrs Rachel Troubowitz is our super's wife.
She comes into my mom's shop to try on a few things, all right?
And she's easily, like, a 44 double E.
- Double E? - These things are massive.
Those are big.
No. And I've got her convinced that she's, like, a 42 D, all right?
So we're in the dressing room, she's trying to squeeze
into this side-cut, silk-ribboned, triple-panel girdle
with the shelf-lift brassiere.
And it's beautiful 'cause she's just pouring out of this thing, you know?
- Is it really tight? - No, no. It's beautiful.
And she sees me, and she can tell
I got a hard-on the size of the Statue of Liberty, all right?
And she says to me, "Richard, calm down."
And she says, "When you're over there,
"if you see anything that upsets you,
"or if you're ever scared, I want you to close your eyes
"and think of these. You understand?"
So I said, "Yes, ma'am."
Are you all right, sir?
Yeah, I'm just keeping the rhythm.
Is it true you were a teacher back home?
Yes.
See, that's something I could never do, you know.
Not after the way me and my brothers treated our teachers. No, sir.
I had 1,000 kids like you.
I can't see my brothers' faces.
I've been trying, and I can't see their faces at all.
Has that ever happened to you?
You gotta think of a context.
What does that mean?
Well, you don't just think about their faces.
You think about something specific, something you've done together.
Well, when I think of home, I think of something specific.
I think of my hammock in the backyard,
or my wife pruning the rose bushes in a pair of my old work gloves.
This one night, two of my brothers came
and woke me up in the middle of the night,
and they said they had a surprise for me.
So they took me to the barn, up into the loft,
and there was my oldest brother Dan
with Alice. Alice Jardine.
I mean, picture a girl who just took a nosedive from the ugly tree
and hit every branch coming down.
And Dan's got her shirt off.
So he's working on this bra and he's trying to get it off
and all of a sudden, Sean just screams out,
"Danny, you're a young man! Don't do it!"
And so Alice Jardine hears this and she screams, and she jumps up,
and she tries to get running out of the barn,
but she's still got this shirt over her head.
She goes running right into the wall and knocks herself out.
So now Dan is just so mad at us, he starts coming after us,
but at the same time, Alice is over there unconscious.
He's got to wake her up.
So he grabs her by a leg and he's dragging her.
At the same time, he picks up a shovel and he's going after Sean.
And Sean said, "What are you trying to hit me for?
"I just did you a favour."
And so this makes Dan more angry.
He tries to swing this thing. He loses the shovel.
It goes out of his grasp and hits a kerosene lantern.
The thing explodes, the whole barn almost goes up
because of this thing.
That was it. That was the last... That was...
Dan went off to basic next day.
That was the last night the four of us were together.
That was two years ago.
Oh, my.
Tell me about your wife and those rose bushes.
No.
No. That one I save just for me.
Enemy from the east.
He sees Tiger tanks, two of them.
Panzer tanks, two of them.
Infantry.
Fifty plus change.
Disperse! You know what to do!
- Reiben, get on the rabbit. - Yes, sir.
- Upham, get some cover. - Mellish and Henderson, lock and load!
- This is it. - Everybody check your ammo!
Good luck, Reiben.
I don't need any luck, Sarge, I was born lucky.
One in five tracer?
Yep, and tracers point both ways.
Yeah? Why don't you check the head space and she should run.
Upham! Hustle up!
- Corporal Upham? - Yes, sir.
We don't have a 30-calibre machine gun in this position.
Either Mr Mellish or Mr Jackson in the bell tower needs that.
Yes, sir.
Upham! Jackson's fine. Turn around to Mellish.
There's a ton of infantry, Captain. I don't know if they took the bait though.
You got any more of that?
Panzers didn't take the bait.
Infantry's moving to the left.
Halftrack just went by with about 20 troops, sir.
Mellish! Henderson! Displace!
Do it, now! Light it up!
You! Light it!
Thirty infantry on the right flank!
Get over there, find a hole, and stop them!
Displace!
Upham!
Clear!
Krauts!
Right flank!
Get down! Get down!
Upham! Upham! 30-cal! Hurry!
And find the captain! This flank's going to fold!
Reversing! He's still in this fight!
No, no, Ryan, get down! Get down!
Ryan!
- Ryan! - Get off me!
- Are you all right? - Get off me!
Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, too, Captain. Thanks.
Okay, both sides! Get aboard! Get a grenade in there!
Grenade!
20-mill!
Flak gun, 20 millimetre. Take it out!
Heavy weapon in defilade below! I ain't got a shot!
Pincer move, Parker!
- Targets 8 o'clock low! - Shit!
God grant me strength.
Displace!
Come on!
Cover, Upham! Cover! Cover!
I'm out of 30-calibre.
Blessed be the Lord, my strength, which teaches my hands to war
and my fingers to fight.
My goodness and my fortress,
my high tower and my deliverer,
my shield and he in whom I trust.
Come here, baby.
Parker, get down!
Captain, that 20-millimetre's killing us.
We gotta try to flank it somehow.
Well, let me get over for the top shot.
Upham!
Upham! Upham! Upham, ammo, God damn it!
I'm jammed! I'm jammed! You got any 30-cal?
- I'm out. - Shit.
Upham! Upham!
Reiben!
I'm out! I need another bandoleer! Anybody got a bandoleer?
God! God!
You stupid son of a bitch!
Let's stop. Let's stop. Let's stop. Listen to me! Listen to me! Stop!
Stop! Don't...
Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!
Son of a bitch!
Bitch!
- I'm out. - Those 60 rounds.
- We can use them without the tube. - How?
Fuse-arming wire, set back, heave it!
Panzerschreck!
We're going to the Alamo.
Alamo! Alamo!
We'll take it! You fall back!
- You be right behind us! - Soon as we're in business!
Displace. Reiben.
Reload.
All right, go.
We're blowing the bridge!
- Get off! Clear the bridge! - Displace...
Sarge! Mike, are you all right?
- I just got the wind knocked out of me. - Well, get out of here!
Take cover! We're going to blow this bridge!
Come on, come on!
Tiger coming! Coming across the bridge!
Captain, get behind something!
Come on, Captain, move it!
Mike.
Mike!
Captain.
Captain, where the hell are you going? Captain, get back here!
Upham.
Hang in there, Captain.
Medic!
Medic! We got a medic?
They're tank-busters, sir. P-51 s.
Angels on our shoulders.
What, sir?
James...
Earn this.
Earn it.
"My dear Mrs Ryan,
"it's with the most profound sense of joy
"that I write to inform you your son Private James Ryan
"is well and, at this very moment,
"on his way home from European battlefields.
"Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat
"with great courage and steadfast dedication,
"even after he was informed of the tragic loss
"your family has suffered in this great campaign
"to rid the world of tyranny and oppression.
"I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War,
"the men and women of the United States Army
"and the citizens of a grateful nation
"in wishing you good health and many years of happiness
"with James at your side.
"Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son,
"can compensate you
"or the thousands of other American families
"who have suffered great loss in this tragic war.
"And I might share with you some words which have sustained me
"through long, dark nights of peril, loss and heartache.
"And I quote,
"'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.
"'Abraham Lincoln.'
"Yours very sincerely and respectfully,
"George C Marshall, General, Chief of Staff."
My family is with me today.
They wanted to come with me.
To be honest with you,
I wasn't sure how I'd feel coming back here.
Every day I think about what you said to me
that day on the bridge.
And I've tried to live my life the best I could.
I hope that was enough.
I hope that, at least in your eyes,
I've earned what all of you have done for me.
James.
"Captain John H Miller."
- Tell me I've led a good life. - What?
Tell me I'm a good man.
You are.