Bring him up here, would you?
You know Private Ryan?
You're gonna have to speak up, sir.
Speak up, sir! My hearing's not good!
It comes and goes!
A grenade went off by me!
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.
Get me a pencil, something to write on.
Quick! Come on, a pencil!
A small one, sir.
Write this down.
James Francis Ryan, question mark.
Iowa, question mark.
Do you know know him?
Read the message. Look.
Yeah. Of course I know him, sir.
Where is he?
Yeah, yeah.
We missed our drop zone by 20 miles,
ended up by Bumville or some damn place.
We were coming here to the rally point,
ran into a colonel who was gathering up men
- to go to, uh... Ramelle... - Ramelle.
Babysitting a bridge. That's all I know, sir.
Great! Great! Thank... thank you.
Write "thank you." Read, and thank you.
You're welcome!
Assemble on me.
Thank you, Lieutenant.
Ramelle.
We're here. There.
Ramelle...
is on the Merderet river, just south-west of us.
You know anything about this bridge, Captain?
Yep. The target has always been Cherbourg.
We can't push on Paris without a deep water port,
Rommel knows that,
so he's gonna try to get his armour across the river.
Then he can hit us in the flank when we turn to Cherbourg.
That makes any village with a bridge solid-gold real estate.
Let's go.
Captain.
What the hell is that?
A radar site. Must be out of action.
Looks like there's something in that...
sandbag bunker right under the station.
See it?
Yeah. That's my guess, too.
What is it?
Machine gun. Probably MG-42.
Jesus. Is that what got those guys?
Maybe one of them's our boy.
No, their patches are 82nd.
I don't know how fast you guys are,
but let's detour this way, they'll never know we were here.
So, Captain, let's just go around it.
I hear what you're saying, but we can't.
I'm with Reiben on this one, sir.
- We left them 88s. - For the Air Force.
The Air Force won't spend ordinance on one machine gun.
Uh, Captain...
We skip it and still accomplish our mission.
I mean, this isn't our mission, right?
That's what you want to do, just leave it here?
Let them ambush the next company?
No, sir, I'm simply saying, it seems like an unnecessary risk
given our objective, sir.
Our objective is to win the war.
Sir, I just, uh, 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 keep pressure on till he has to change his barrels.
I think we should be able to hit him from grenade range.
- I should take the middle, sir. - The way you run?
- Maybe I should go left, sir. - Maybe you should shut up.
Reiben, base of fire.
Mags and clips where you can reach 'em, 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!
Son of a bitch!
Get some sulphur on there.
Move my legs up.
More sulphur, Mellish.
You're gonna be all right, doc.
How's it look?
Wade, you're going on a hospital ship.
More sulphur!
Put my legs up. Put my legs up.
I got 'em. I got 'em. I got 'em.
Upham, give me your canteen!
Come on. Come on. Come on.
Put some pressure on it.
- You'll be OK. - How's it look?
- Give him morphine. - How's it look?
- All right. - How's it look?
Here comes the morphine.
Am I shot in the spine?
You're OK, Wade.
Am I shot in the spine?
Lift him up. Easy, easy, easy.
Put some pressure on him.
Easy, easy.
Lift him up.
It's OK, doc. It's all right.
Wade, you got an exit wound.
It's in the small of your back.
How big... how big's the hole in the...
It's about the size of an acorn.
You're fine.
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. Do you know what it is?
No.
Here. I'll put your hand on it.
Pressure on there.
Right there. OK? That's the one.
Oh, my God, my liver! Oh, my God! It's my liver!
Tell us what to do. Tell us how to fix you.
What can we do? Tell us what to do.
Oh, shit.
I could use... I could use a little more morphine.
More morphine, sir?
Give it to him.
I don't wanna die.
Here you go, Wade. Here you go.
There you go. There you...
Give him another one.
Mama?
I want to go home. I want to go home.
Mama! Mama! Mam...
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. Check for intelligence.
Ask if he's the one who shot Wade.
- It doesn't matter. - It does matter!
Shut up with that filthy Pig Latin.
Jackson, you're hit.
Shut up.
- It just skinned me, sir. - Get it dressed.
You and Sarge watch the perimeter.
He says please don't shoot.
I don't care, Upham.
Sir? Sir, you're gonna let them kill him?
- This is not right, sir. - 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.
That's what you think.
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... 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 a thousand paces, then he can take off the blindfold.
We'll be gone, and he turns himself in to Allied patrols.
- We're letting him go? - He's a POW, Reiben.
Can't take him with us.
Our guys'll pick him up.
If he isn't picked up by the Wehrmacht,
then thrown back into circulation.
Captain, you just let the enemy go.
This is such bullshit.
Y'all got that right.
Bullshit? This is bullshit?
Shooting prisoners is OK? It's against the goddamn rules!
The rules just walked off with your 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 to take this machine gun.
That was a real doozie, sarge.
Soldier, you're outta line.
Yes, sir, one hell of a call, to take this nest.
But, what the hell, we only lost one guy.
I hope mama Ryan's happy knowing that little Jimmy's life
is more important than our guys!
But then, we haven't found him yet, have we?
Get the hell off me!
Reiben, get up.
Gear up. Fall in.
I'm done with this mission.
Sir.
Don't walk away from your Captain, get back in line.
I'll go to the stockade if I have to.
- I won't ask again. - Captain!
This is bullshit!
Fall in!
- You'd shoot me over Ryan? - No, I don't like you.
Just let him go!
Are you letting this happen?
Captain! You see this?
- Captain? Sir? Ryan's dead. - Bullshit!
- Sir, we have a situation. - I have a sixth sense, I know.
You don't kill Krauts, but you shoot me, huh?
- He's better than you. - Do it. Put one in my leg...
I'm gonna shoot you in your big goddamn mouth!
Put your money where your...
You don't know when to shut up.
Captain, please!
What's the pool on me up to?
What?
- You coward son of a bitch! - I'm waiting, sarge.
Mike, what's the pool on me up to now?
What... 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.
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 will even recognise me whenever I get back to her.
And how I'll ever be able to...
to tell her about days like today.
Ah, Ryan...
I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care.
The man means nothing to me, just a name. But if...
If finding him so he can go home,
lets me 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, every man I kill, the farther from home I feel.
By memories
Of 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...
Half-track! Cover!
Who's doing the shooting? Who's doing the shooting?
Move on their left flank!
Take their left flank!
Hold on, make sure they're down!
101st! We're coming out!
That was a recon element, second SS.
We've been expecting a probe. That must have been it.
Captain Miller, Charlie Company, 2nd Rangers.
Corporal Henderson, Easy Company, Five-o-first.
Ryan, First of the Five-o-sixth.
PFC Toynbe, Third of the Five-o-sixth.
James Francis Ryan?
Yes, sir. How'd you guess that?
Looks like you guys got hit pretty hard.
Yes, sir. Small unit action.
They beat the hell out of us with 88s.
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.
The best we can muster now is a corporal.
So, what are you guys all about?
We're here for him. Ryan.
Me, sir?
James Francis Ryan of lowa?
Yes, sir. Payton, lowa, that's correct.
What is this about?
Your brothers were killed in combat.
Which... which ones?
All of them.
Uh... On... on the level?
Yeah. I'm afraid so.
Uh... 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... you're going home.
Our orders are to bring you back.
Bring me back?
Corporal Henderson... I don't mean to leave you short-handed,
but orders are orders.
When are you being relieved?
Sir, we have no way to tell.
My orders 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, we have to hold this bridge.
The 82nd have taken out every bridge across the Merderet
except two, at Valognes and here.
If the Germans take 'em, we'll have to displace.
Private, your outfit stays, but your party's over here.
Sir, I can't leave until reinforcements...
You got three minutes.
Sir, what about them? There's barely...
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 do I deserve to go?
Why not these guys? They fought just as hard!
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 with the only brothers 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?
If he wants to stay here, fine, let's leave him.
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 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,
if we do that... we all earn the right to go home.
Oh, brother.
This is everything.
Two.30-calibre machine guns,
17 grenades,
11 Hawkins mines.
You got two bazookas, but only eight rounds left,
and assorted small arms.
An arty round took out our.60 mortar.
Might as well be spit wads if they use tanks.
- Which they're sure to. - What you thinking, sir?
Well...
I think they're going to try to whip around the flanks...
Unless we draw them up here between these buildings,
where all the rubble makes a bit of a bottleneck.
- Disable him? - If we can.
Make the tank a 60-ton roadblock, we'll have a chance.
Yes, sir, don't let them mass anywhere.
Hit hard and fall back to the bridge.
Machine gun moving, number two up high to piss 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 company if need be.
Yes, sir. Company couldn't hurt.
I'd say a.30 with about 1,000 rounds would be OK.
Parker, job opportunity.
Not the worst idea, Captain.
But it all depends on knocking out the tank here, right?
So how do you plan on doing that?
Reiben's right.
As our esteemed colleague from the Airborne pointed out,
what we got here is spit wads, so how do we stop the tank?
Give it a rabbit to chase.
We could hit the tank in the tracks.
Yeah, but with what?
We could try a sticky bomb.
Sticky bomb, sir?
- Sir, are you making that up? - No. It's in the field manual.
Well, we're out of field manuals, sir.
Perhaps you can enlighten us?
Right, you have demolition - some TNT or composition B?
I got that bridge wired with enough to blow it twice.
You can spare some, then.
You take a standard-issue GI sock,
cram it with as much Comp' B as possible,
rig up a simple fuse,
then coat the whole thing with axle grease.
When you throw it, it should stick.
It's a bomb that sticks. A sticky bomb.
You know a better way to knock the tracks off a tank, tell me.
This is good. Now we got to surrender our socks.
Haul away.
Select the field of fire. Cross with the bell tower.
I can cover 12 to nine 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 here, last man blows the bridge.
We only got a 30-second fuse,
so that last man better hurry, or he won't be alive long.
Captain?
Where am I during all this?
Never more than two feet from me, and that's not negotiable.
I'll get some ammo. Come on.
- Upham. - Yes.
- Listen, all right? - Yeah.
- Listening? - Yes.
All right, we'll be displacing and falling back like crazy...
So be Johnny-on-the-spot with ammo or we're dead.
- Right. - Understand?
- Johnny-on-the-spot. - You all right?
Yeah.
When we shipped out of England,
I told the supply sergeant handing out cigarettes,
"I don't smoke."
Quite a situation, huh?
Unbelievable.
Here.
Fucked up beyond all recognition, right?
Yeah, you got that right.
Fubar.
- Yeah, well... - Fubar.
It'll be a real show, huh?
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.
"And you speak softly in my ear...
"and you say things
"that make my eyes close,
"and I find that marvellous."
Uh, again... Upham, uh...
to be honest, I... I find myself curiously aroused by you.
Marvellous. No, it's... it's a melancholy song.
At the beginning, she says, "And then one day, you left.
"You left me, and, uh... I've been desperate ever since.
"I see you all over the sky, I see you all over the earth."
Any more of this, the Krauts won't have to shoot me.
I'll just slit my own wrists.
You're a strange bird, Upham.
Sorry, it's Edith, you know.
You know what that song reminds me of?
What Mrs Rachel Troubowitz said when I left for Basic.
What, "Don't touch me"?
No. Mrs Rachel Troubowitz is our super's wife.
She tries things on in my mom's shop, and she's, like, a 44-EE.
- Double-E? - These things are massive.
Those are big.
I've got her convinced that she's, like, a 42-D.
So she's trying to squeeze into this side-cut,
silk-ribboned, triple-panel girdle
with the shelf-lift brassiere.
And it's beautiful, she's just pouring out of it.
It's beautiful, and she can tell
I got a hard-on the size of the Statue of Liberty.
And she says, "Richard, calm down."
And says, "When you're over there,
"if you see anything that upsets you,
"just close your eyes and think of these. You understand?"
So I said, "Yes, ma'am."
Are you all right, sir?
Yeah, just keeping the rhythm.
Is it true you were a teacher back home?
Yes.
See, that's something I could never do
Not after the way we treated our teachers. No, sir.
I had a thousand kids like you.
I can't see my brothers' faces.
I've been trying, and I can't see them.
Has that ever happened to you?
You gotta think of a context.
What does that mean?
Well, you think about something specific...
something you've done together.
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.
Well, 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.
They took me to the barn, into the loft, and...
there was my oldest brother Dan...
with Alice... Alice Jardine.
I mean... picture a girl who took a nosedive from the ugly tree
and hit every branch coming down.
And... and Dan's got her shirt off.
So he's working on this bra,
and all of a sudden, Sean just screams out...
"Danny, you're a young man! Don't do it!"
And Alice Jardine screams, and jumps up,
and tries to get out, but this shirt's over her head,
and she runs into the wall and knocks herself out.
So now Dan is so mad, he starts coming after us,
but Alice is there unconscious, he's gotta wake her up.
So he grabs her leg, and he's dragging her.
And he picks up a shovel and goes after Sean.
Sean says, "Why are you trying to hit me? I did you a favour."
And this makes Dan more angry. He tries to swing this thing.
It goes out of his grasp and hits a kerosene lantern.
The thing explodes, and the whole barn almost goes up.
That was it... Dan went to Basic next day.
That was the last night the four of us were together.
That was two years ago.
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 'em.
Panzer tanks, two of 'em.
Infantry,
50 plus change.
Disperse! You know what to do! Reiben, get on the rabbit.
Upham, get some cover.
Mellish and Henderson, lock and load!
Everybody check your ammo!
Good luck, Reiben.
I was born lucky, sarge.
One in five tracer?
Yep, and tracers point both ways.
Yeah? Check her head space and she should run.
Upham! Hustle up!
- Corporal Upham? - Yes, sir.
We don't have a.30-calibre here.
Either Mr Mellish or Mr Jackson needs that.
Yes, sir.
Upham! Jackson's fine.
Turn around to Mellish.
I don't know if they took the bait, Captain.
You got any more of that?
Panzers didn't take the bait.
Infantry's moving to the left.
Half-track just went by with about 20 troops.
Displace!
Do it now! Light it!
You! Light it!
30 infantry on the right flank!
Get over there and stop 'em!
Displace!
Upham!
Clear!
Krauts!
Right flank!
Sanitater!
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. - Get off me!
- You all right? - Get off me!
I'm fine, too, Captain(!)
OK, both sides!
Get a grenade in there!
Grenade!
- 20-mil! - 20-mil!
Flak gun. Take it out!
Heavy weapon below! I ain't got a shot!
Pincer move, Parker!
Targets eight o'clock low!
Shit!
God grant me strength.
Come on! 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.
My goodness and my fortress...
my high tower and my deliverer...
my shield and He in whom I trust.
Parker, get down!
Captain, that 20-millimetre's killing us.
We gotta try to flank it.
Well, let me get over for the top shot.
Upham, ammo, Goddamit!
I'm jammed! I'm jammed! Got any.30-cal?
- I'm out. - Shit.
I'm out! I need a bandolier! Anybody got a bandolier?
God! God!
You stupid...
Let's stop. Listen to me! Listen to me! Stop!
No! D-d-d-d... Stop. Stop.
Son of... son of a bitch!
Son of a bitch! Son of a bitch!
Son of a bitch!
I'm out.
Those.60 rounds.
We can use them without the tube.
How?
Fuse-arming wire, set back, heave it!
Panzer schreck!
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.
Reload.
All right, go.
We're blowing the bridge! Clear the bridge!
Sarge! Mike, are you all right?
- I just got the winded. - Get out of here!
We're gonna blow this bridge!
Come on, come on!
Tiger coming! Coming across the bridge!
Captain.
Captain, where are you going? Get back here!
Hang in there, Captain.
Medic!
We got a medic?
They're tank-busters, sir. P-51s.
Angels on our shoulders.
What, sir?
James... Earn this.
Earn it.
My dear Mrs Ryan,
it's with a 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 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 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 families
who have suffered great loss in this tragic war.
I share with you some words which 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 alter 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.