Welcome to the WWII Forums! Log in or Sign up to interact with the community.

Things you didn't know about Saving Private Ryan

Discussion in 'WWII Films & TV' started by Hufflepuff, Feb 12, 2008.

  1. Hufflepuff

    Hufflepuff Semi-Frightening Mountain Goat

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    79
    Location:
    Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
    I: Many of the extras used in the film are Irish Army reservists. Over 4,000 participated in the production, many of whom were veterans of "Braveheart."

    II: The Omaha Beach sequences were shot on the coast of Ireland. The majority of the rest of the film was shot at a set of a ruined French village in Hatfield, England.

    III: Steven Spielberg shot 3 movies in quick sequence in 1998, the year S.P.R. came out: Lost World, Amistad, and S.P.R. The most break time he had during all three productions was six weeks.

    IV: The two Tiger tanks seen near the end of the film are not authentic Tiger tanks; they are actually scratchbuilt Tiger turrets mounted on the chassis of T-34 tanks. The easiest visual way to tell this is by the wheels on the treads: the T-34 treads are lined up straight, unlike the Tiger wheels, which overlap each other.

    V: Tom Hanks was 41 when he was involved with S.P.R., 15 years older than the average US Infantry captain in WWII.

    VI: The medic character, Wade, served on the vocal recordings of the video game 'Call of Duty.' He gave the vocals for the character of Pvt. Eldar of the 101st Airborne.
     
  2. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    13,578
    Likes Received:
    1,487
    Location:
    London, England.
    And, to paraphrase Rumsfeld, something you didn't know you didn't know....;) : the set was built on the site of the old De Havilland factory and airfield, where most of the Mosquitoes were built and flew from in WWII.....
     
  3. Skipper

    Skipper Kommodore

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2006
    Messages:
    24,984
    Likes Received:
    2,386
    I didn't know about some of these. The call of Duty recording is my favorite scoop! Thanks for posting this.
     
  4. CDTSSGTVARNER

    CDTSSGTVARNER Member

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2008
    Messages:
    13
    Likes Received:
    1
    wow you know if the video games would pay more atteion to some o the stuff we find on the internet they wold be so much more interesting
     
  5. ghost_of_war

    ghost_of_war Member

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2008
    Messages:
    624
    Likes Received:
    13
    There are also several movie errors and historical errors in thi smovie as well. I hate to admit that due to it being one of my favorite movies of all time, but as an example:

    They would use THUNDER before FLASH, when in turn it supposed to be the other way around. Glad they corrected that when they filmed Band Of Brothers....
     
  6. Hufflepuff

    Hufflepuff Semi-Frightening Mountain Goat

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    79
    Location:
    Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
    Also a lot of the hand signals are inaccurate :eek:
     
  7. travelinbabs

    travelinbabs Member

    Joined:
    Jan 12, 2008
    Messages:
    63
    Likes Received:
    2
    And Ryan had only two brothers KIA -- not three.
     
  8. PactOfSteel

    PactOfSteel Dishonorably Discharged

    Joined:
    Jan 16, 2008
    Messages:
    305
    Likes Received:
    3
    I want the uncensored cut of Saving Private Ryan, Spielberg had to cut out more than five minutes of violence to get a R-rating or else it would have gotten a NC-17 rating.
    [​IMG]
     
  9. ww2dude

    ww2dude Member

    Joined:
    Feb 18, 2008
    Messages:
    57
    Likes Received:
    3
    If I may add 3 things.
    1. Tom Hanks carries a military version of a Thompson submachine gun, while a typical Ranger commander carried an M1 carbine.
    2. While the 5 Sullivan brothers are mentioned in the movie, Saving Private Ryan was inspired by the four Niland brothers of Kenmore, New York. One went missing and presumed dead in the Pacific (he actually became a POW and survived the war), two others were killed at Normandy. The fourth named Frederick was a member of the 101st Airbourne Division and was sent home when it seemed like all his brothers were dead
    3. A final error is the age of the men. Most would have been too old to actually hold the ranks they did. Clint Eastwood did an excellent job avoiding this when he made Flags of Our Fathers.
     
  10. Hufflepuff

    Hufflepuff Semi-Frightening Mountain Goat

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    79
    Location:
    Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
    Just a note to everyone out there, there is no uncesored cut of SPR. You can get the regular DVD or the 60th D-Day Anniversary Collector's edition, which features many special features on how the film was made. The uncensored version apparently has never been released to the public.
     
  11. ghost_of_war

    ghost_of_war Member

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2008
    Messages:
    624
    Likes Received:
    13
    Would have been interesting to see.
     
  12. Shangas

    Shangas Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2008
    Messages:
    165
    Likes Received:
    16
    More stuff you didn't know -

    - Some of the ammunition seen in the film is actually made of wood, since authentic ammunition made of metal would've been too heavy.

    - The sound-effects were recorded using real WWII-era firearms.
     
  13. T. A. Gardner

    T. A. Gardner Genuine Chief

    Joined:
    Aug 5, 2003
    Messages:
    6,127
    Likes Received:
    894
    Location:
    Phoenix Arizona
    The fighter-bombers that attack right at the end of the movie are P-51s and in the colors of the 78th FG. This unit was in 8th AF and used as bomber escort not ground attack with XIX TAF. In fact, P-51s were fairly rare as ground attack aircraft mostly P-47 and P-38s were used in this role.

    I would also note the lack on the part of the US troops the use of the M9A1 rifle grenade and its HE counterpart along with the non-use of the HE version with a 60mm mortar round. These were very commonly used by US infantry units and often in preference to the bazooka, particularly in urban fighting.
     
  14. Hufflepuff

    Hufflepuff Semi-Frightening Mountain Goat

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    79
    Location:
    Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
    Also true, Gardener; the P-51 looks like "Big Beautiful Doll," which was not even built until 1945.
     
  15. bigfun

    bigfun Ace

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2007
    Messages:
    3,851
    Likes Received:
    217
    Location:
    Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurtemburg, Germany
    It always amazes me that some of the things that are mentioned here are overlooked byt the film makers! if we know these things why don't they? Some of these producers should be fired!:D
     
  16. FramerT

    FramerT Ace

    Joined:
    Dec 25, 2003
    Messages:
    1,570
    Likes Received:
    37

    I never thought much of their colors, but you're right. Ryan says "they're tank-busters,Sir."
    A P-51 is'nt a tank-buster. Even so, if a Mustang dropped a bomb to knock out that Tiger, I'd think the shrapnel would have torn both Ryan and Hanks to pieces.
     
  17. arneken

    arneken Member

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2007
    Messages:
    278
    Likes Received:
    18
    But still one hell of a movie ...

    Right they made some errors in the movie but do we actually expect that those scenarists know what that or that squadron had or what Soldier what carried or what age a common ww2 sergeant or captain had???

    It's not that they invent new guns for the movie or new tanks or so.
     
  18. sommecourt

    sommecourt Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2002
    Messages:
    682
    Likes Received:
    59
    That's not true - they were made of rubber. Many of the weapons carried by the actors and extras were also rubber. I know the company that made these and have handled many of them. The good ones are pretty convincing, even close up.
     
  19. Hufflepuff

    Hufflepuff Semi-Frightening Mountain Goat

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2008
    Messages:
    1,362
    Likes Received:
    79
    Location:
    Sewanee, Tennessee, USA
    No offense to anyone, but if we know all this, can't millionaires at hollywood know it too?

    I'm not saying at all that SPR is bad or anyhing (quite the contrary; great film), but there are little errors that detract somewhat from the historical experience of the film.
     
  20. Martin Bull

    Martin Bull Acting Wg. Cdr

    Joined:
    Jun 20, 2002
    Messages:
    13,578
    Likes Received:
    1,487
    Location:
    London, England.
    Yes - a lot of rubber M1s and K98s suddenly appeared for sale at cheap prices at Beltring the following year. Up to about 6ft away, they were very convincing......
     

Share This Page