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10 unusual facts about Saving Private Ryan


Charles D. W. Canham

The opening scene of the movie Saving Private Ryan depicts the conditions under which Canham's regiment landed on the Dog Green sector of Omaha Beach along with one company of Army Rangers.

Multi-Facial

In 1997, Spielberg saw Multi-Facial and wrote a role into Saving Private Ryan specifically for Diesel as a result, giving him his first major film role.

Plugged In

The Passion of the Christ was a notable exception, as were a few others such as Saving Private Ryan, in that it received positive reviews despite containing a large amount of graphic violence, normally a negative aspect in the magazine.

Ray Hanna

The aircraft and pilots of the OFMC featured in a number of films and television appearances including, Piece of Cake, Empire of the Sun, Memphis Belle, Saving Private Ryan and Tomorrow Never Dies.

Rotary disc shutter

In the film Saving Private Ryan, cinematographer Janusz Kamiński used such a shutter adjustment to give his film the look of World War II newsreel photography.

Second Battle Group

The SBG became established in 1978 making it the first group of its type in Europe and have appeared in countless films and documentaries, including Saving Private Ryan.

The Magnificent Eleven

Steven Spielberg is said to have been inspired by these images to create Saving Private Ryan.

USS The Sullivans

The Niland brothers family, which endured the second greatest loss by any one family during the war (made famous by the loosely adapted film Saving Private Ryan), was from the Buffalo suburb of Tonawanda, New York and their similar loss to the Sullivan family played a role in the decision to place The Sullivans as a museum ship in Buffalo instead of elsewhere.

Warren Muck

The main character of Saving Private Ryan, Private First Class James Francis Ryan portrayed by Matt Damon, is based on Sergeant Frederick 'Fritz' Niland, Company H, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, Muck's best friend in high school.

WYTV

WYTV was not among the ABC affiliates to pre-empt the Veterans Day airing of the film Saving Private Ryan in 2004 out of fears of being fined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for indecency in the wake of the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, feeling that the film aired unedited on terrestrial television in the past without FCC repercussions.


Into the Jaws of Death

The iconic image was evoked in the 1998 Hollywood film Saving Private Ryan, and appears on the cover of Stanley Lombardo's 1997 English translation of the Iliad, as a symbol of the universality of war.

Reserve Defence Forces

The Reserve Defence Forces (and previously the FCÁ) composed the majority of extras used in the filming of the D-Day landing battle scenes in Saving Private Ryan - as well as battle scenes in Braveheart, My Boy Jack and other feature films.

Walter F. Parkes

Other films produced during their tenure include: Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous, Robert Zemeckis' What Lies Beneath, Adam McKay's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Michael Mann's Collateral, and Steven Spielberg's Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning drama Saving Private Ryan, which was the top-grossing film domestically of 1998.