Sunday, June 26, 2011

#71 Saving Private Ryan (1998)


Sigh.  Matt Damon.

Plot summary (with spoilers): An elderly man walks slowly down a gravel path, towards the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France.  His wife, children, and grandchildren follow behind him.  He stops at a particular cross, and reads the name on it.  He flashes back to...someone else's life, apparently.  Which is a neat trick.
June 6, 1944.
Captain John Miller, the name on the cross, stands nervously on the back of a infantry boat. His hand shakes. Several other soldiers vomit nervously.  The backdoor opens, and immediately the bullets come pouring in, slicing through the soldiers with bad enough luck to be first in line.
What follows is half an hour of the most jaw-droppingly realistic and horrific battle scene I've ever seen, and daresay has ever been filmed. There are many deaths; some soldiers shot up, some burned alive, some drowned. It's a masterpiece of filmmaking in every way, and will probably never be duplicated. It sets the mood for what's to come perfectly. And of course, the most astonishing part of all: it actually happened. There were men that watched other men die in front of them in the most horrific possible ways and still kept marching forward. 
By the end of it, the Americans have taken control of the beach. It's then that we get the story proper: A Private James F. Ryan, youngest of four brothers, is the only surviving member of the Ryan family, and therefore is to be sent home. Capt Miller and a special squad are supposed to locate Private Ryan (who dropped somewhere in Normandy, no one knows exactly where) and give him the news and get him home. With Miller is his second in command, Sargent Mike Horvath, acerbic Brooklynite Private Richard Reiben, angry Jewish Private Stanley Mellish, sharpshooter Private Daniel Jackson, medic Irwin Wade, translator and non-combat trained Corporal Timothy Upham, and Vin Diesel. 
The guys (especially Mellish) tease Upham, who is scrawny and laughable, and has a hard time even keeping up with them as they walk. Everyone gripes at Miller at the waste of time and resources this particular mission is, and Miller offers no real rebuttal. Vin Diesel tells Upham that no one knows where Miller is from, and they have a pool going to see who finds out first. 
They reach a small platoon which has taken out a a bunch of Germans in a town outside of Normandy. There's an audio recording of a German propagandanist solemnly repeating over and over that "the Statue of Liberty is kaput". Heh. Miller and his men walk through the hollowed out town until they stumble across a man with two little kids. The man begs them in German to take the kids to safety.  Miller says no way, they can't, but Vin Diesel takes it upon himself to pick up the young girl because she reminds him of his niece. Miller literally yanks the girl out of his stupid arms and hands her back to the father and it's that moment that Vin Diesel is shot in the chest.  Everyone scrambles to find a place to hide, not knowing where the shot came from. Vin Diesel lies on the ground in the rain and mud, slowly bleeding to death. No one can come to his aid. Eventually, Jackson spots the sniper and shoots him through the scope of his rifle. Wade rushes to Vin Diesel's side, but he is already dead. He has a letter to his family clutched in his bloody hand, which Wade takes. 
The rest of the men march on, with Reiben in particular pissed that they've so far lost a man for no real reason.  They encounter another squad, which indeed has a Private James Ryan. Miller breaks the news to Private Ryan that his brothers are all dead.  (Hey, it's Nathan Fillion aka Capt Mal aka Capt Hammer aka awesome fucking stud and nerd hero.  Also, Slither was pretty good.) Private Ryan weeps and begs to know how his brothers died.  In battle. But they're just in grade school!  Are you Private James Francis Ryan?  No, I'm Private James Franklin Ryan. Sorry, never mind. Whoopsie.
They move on, eventually reaching a mini base camp, where they encounter a group of many wounded soldiers.  They ask for a Private Ryan, but no one knows that name. The man in charge tells them the story of how their plane went down because a general was inside it and insisted on too much armor, which weighed the plane down and caused it to crash. FUBAR.  Totally FUBAR. Upham doesn't know what FUBAR means, and everyone just smiles at him. The man tells them they can search through the dog tags of those dead, to see if they can find Private Ryan's. Reiben, Mellish, and Jackson start digging through the dog tags, making jokes and goofing around, not seeing the soldiers walking by watching them. Soldiers whose friends are on those tags. Upham angrily hisses at them to stop, and Miller decides that Ryan's not here, and they're moving on. Just then, the guy from before approaches with another soldier. The soldier tells him he landed with Ryan ("Private James Francis Ryan?"  "Yeah.") but he was picked up by a general and ordered to secure a bridge with some other troops. Miller and his men head off in that direction.
After a while, they see in the distance a machine gun operated by only a few German soldiers. Miller thinks they can commandeer the gun and prevent anyone else from being ambushed. The other men are reluctant, but follow orders. Upham hangs back as they charge, and we hear but don't really see the battle through his POV. After less than two minutes, Miller screams at Upham to get up here with the supplies!
Upham races forward, and sees...Wade, shot in the chest.  They rip open his shirt, put their hands on him, trying to stop the bleeding. He's the only medic. They beg him to tell them what to do. 
You could give me more morphine. 
They do so, and watch the life drain out of his eyes. Miller takes Vin Diesel's letter and puts it in his coat.
Reiben races forward, and grabs the only German still alive. He mockingly calls him "Steamboat Willie" and points his gun. Miller says to make him dig a grave for Wade first. Steamboat Willie digs the grave while they others look on. Upham is cordial to him and even offers a cigarette. He tells Miller that they can't murder him. It's wrong, it's against the rules. Steamboat Willie begs for his life, desperately reciting snatches of English ("Betty Boop!  What a dish!").  Miller stands him up and puts a blindfold on him. He tells Upham to tell him to walk 1000 paces before removing the blindfold. Reiben is furious. He's certain that Willie will encounter other Germans and get away, but Miller won't kill him. Reiben threatens to go AWOL, and Sargent Horvath pulls a gun on him. Everyone shouts a lot.  Miller finally breaks the tension by declaring he's a school teacher from Pennsylvania, and every time he kills a man, he feels further and further away from home.  If saving Private Ryan is what's required to get him back, then that's what he'll do. The other men are chastened, and stand down. Even Reiben falls back in line.  Miller drags Wade's body into the grave.  They bury him, and move onward. 
As they march through some tall grass, they encounter a German mini-tank, I guess. They attempt to fire at it, but it blows up before they get a chance.  Another group of three paratroopers had already ambushed it. The middle guy introduces himself as Private Ryan. And you know it's really him this time, because he's Matt Damon. 
Miller breaks the news about his brothers, and says he's to bring him home. Ryan's shocked and sad, but doesn't want to leave his squad.  They're defending a bridge, considered key in the battleground, and need to stay until reinforcements come. Ryan says he won't leave they only brothers he's got left. Miller and his men decide to stay and help.  They concoct a plan to lure any German tanks into a narrow alleyway and then disable the wheels with "sticky bombs".  The bridge itself is wired with explosives. The last man standing is to blow the whole thing if worst comes to worst. 
The guys all sit around waiting for Act III to begin.  Upham's to act as ammunition reloader, carrying necklaces of bullets around his neck. Mellish asks him if he thinks the whole thing sucks or not. Upham agrees that it does. "Kinda...Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition, wouldn't you say?" Jackson climbs a tower and waits to see anything on the horizon. Ryan and Miller sit quietly. Ryan says he can't remember his brothers' faces. Miller says you have to think of a memory. Ryan remembers the last time they were all together, when his oldest brother almost had sex with an ugly girl in a barn, and they all laughed at him, and she ran out with her shirt over her head and knocked herself out. Ryan laughs at this rather shitty story and we do too, because it's a release and we need it.
Finally the Germans arrive. Another extended and spectacular battle scene. They manage to disable several tanks, but the German forces are greater than anticipated. Jackson is blown up in his tower. Upham runs all over, supplying people with ammo. Mellish and two other soldiers shoot from the second floor of a house. Several Germans reach the house. Upham sees them from around the corner, but is too scared to move. One of the Germans is fucking Steamboat Willie himself.  They reach the second floor and fire at each other. The only survivors are Willie and Mellish, who grapple and roll around on the floor.  Upham rushes to the stairs, and freezes about halfway up, too terrified to move. Willie takes a knife and slowly plunges it into Mellish's chest. Upham melts into the staircase. Willie gives him half a glance and walks by, as Upham weeps in shame at his cowardice.
Hovarth encounters a German about two feet away. They both raise their rifles and fire.  They're both out of ammo.  They both hurl their helmets at each other.  They both pull out their pistols.  They both hit. The German dies, while Horvarth manages to be only grazed. 
Reiben pulls Upham off the staircase and drags him into a foxhole. They fall back as the Germans approach, though Upham stays put.
Horvath is shot again, mortally this time. Miller decides it's time to blow up the bridge, but he's shot before he can reach it. A bomb goes off near his head.  Silence.  Miller's eardrums have been blown out. 
(In the movie theatre in 1998, I watch horrified with the rest of the audience, as the audio goes out on the screen to simulate Miller's sudden deafness and then my step-father announces loudly, "He can't hear!" and I am horrified anew).
German soldiers crouch right by Upham, still hidden in the foxhole, and continue firing. Upham watches Willie shoot and kill several Americans. 
A German tank rolls forward, about to roll over the bridge. Miller takes out his pistol and begins firing at it futilely. Suddenly, it blows up.  Stunned, Miller looks skyward.  Reinforcements have arrived.  Allied forces quickly take out the majority of the Germans. 
Upham stands up and holds his gun on Willie and several other Germans. He screams at them in their native tongue. Willie begs for mercy and Upham shoots him dead. He tells the others to go.
Ryan and Rieben race over to Miller, who's near death.  Reiben takes Vin Diesel's letter. Miller signals to Ryan to lean forward.  "Earn this" he says to Ryan.  To me, to you.
Ryan watches him die.
In the present, the elder Ryan weeps over Captain John Miller's grave. His wife approaches.  He begs her to tell him he's a good man and has lived a good life. She has little choice but to agree, based on the circumstances. 

Review: Okay, well it's certainly a technical masterpiece, and the writing is flawless and the acting is superb. I had this in my top ten movies of the 90's.  But I haven't seen it since 1998, and...I don't know. Something's missing.  I'm not sure what.  I still really liked it, but I wouldn't call it perfect.  There's something maybe a little perfunctory about it?  Manipulative, sure, but Spielberg is always manipulative.  That's his strength. He manipulates you, and you know it but don't care, like an abused spouse. And I know the prologue and epilogue has its detractors, and I could certainly take or leave Old Man Ryan, but he doesn't really bother me. I think maybe it's the characters. Aside from Upham, (by far my favorite character because of the dark arc he goes on) the characters are pretty cookie-cutter and their stories are predictable. Tom Hanks does an excellent job, they all do, but the characters are for the most part only skin deep, and at times the movie feels very much of the "killed off one-by-one" variety. 
But I'm being too harsh, I think.  The movie's great.  The cinematography's amazing, and that opening battle is perfect. And to my mind, it's Spielberg's last truly great movie. (War of the Worlds had a perfect first two-thirds, but seriously FUBAR'd the ending).  It also totally should've destroyed fucking Shakespeare in Love, which is another Oscar abomination story. 

Stars: Four out of five.

Next, "A Clockwork Orange" and then "Tootsie".  Um..."Tootsie"?  Really, AFI?  Well, I haven't seen it since I was about ten, so that should be interesting. 

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