Juat watched the start of saviving private Ryan ...

max · Post by **max** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 8:34 am

WOW - ive never seen this movie and all i can say in a few short words is " How lucky are we to play games like this instead of suffering through the real thing " well dam lucky and i thank all the vets including my Dad James J. McCall 1st class gunners mate of the USS.Louisville for our freedom . Man that brought some tears

thank you

Panzer Capta · Post by **Panzer Capta** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 8:42 am

Well Max, you have just witnessed cinematography at its finest. Too bad you didnt experience that in the theatre......unbelievable indeed.

I have watched that movie to nearly the point of memorization of lines. However, i can never stop thinking of the courage of those who really lived it.

Huffy · Post by **Huffy** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 9:48 am

Glad you saw the movie...it was done very well...with the more people that see this movie..maybe the WW2 memorial will be that much closer to being completed.
Huffy

max · Post by **max** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 10:56 am

Man i really loved that movie .... i also noticed a few wav, files from the movie that made it into spwaw hehe

Wild Bill · Post by **Wild Bill** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 11:05 am

For me personally, Max, it is in the top five of all time top war movies. I too have watched it to the point of memorization.

And we even have a SPR scenario in the battle for Ramelle. The latest version of it is in the Game Depot and you might want to try it after you have watched the battle for Ramelle at the end of the movie.

A salute to your Dad, another of a long list of heroes. If he is still living, tell him for me personally how much I appreciate his service for me. I was a lad of about five or six when he was serving.

I enjoy so much in life today because of his service and that of millions of others (including my Dad and my uncle. They are both passed away but they too went off to war just as your Dad and served us well.

Wild Bill

------------------
In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

[This message has been edited by Wild Bill (edited December 13, 2000).]

Igor · Post by **Igor** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 12:07 pm

It's worth noting, by the bye, that the opening scene in Saving Private Ryan represented a very light defensive force. A couple of HMGs, a mortar, and a few riflemen created all of that onscreen havoc. A serious defence, involving a couple of companies of infantry and a battery of mortars (with perhaps some tube arty) backing up the concrete bunkers would have thrown the attack right back into the Channel.

As a historical aside; had the landing gone ashore where it was supposed to, that's just what would have been waiting for them (or worse). There was an infantry division posted by the intended beach; but the currents swept the invasion away from it. They got lucky; but it kind of puts "lucky" into perspective...

max · Post by **max** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 12:39 pm

well i cant even imagine the kind of hell that was on that beach but for those that were there and lived it ... wow unbeleivable stuff and i was warned from alot of freinds that it was a gorry movie but war is not pretty and never will be its just that most of us not all have never been in that kind of environment and may never know the feeling and fear that those men endured that grim day .Vietnam was no cake walk either as no war is . Although the movie was very graphic it did the job of hitting home for me and i felt as close to being there as i think i could have but what a job on the movie i thought it was amazing ..... and thank you Wild Bill for the kind words ... no my dad has been gone since 1981 but allways will remember him he died when i was 17 but did not die in the war and im glad for that but for those of you out there that have lost love ones in a war my i am very sorry .... i dont usually cry especially during movies i mean every once in awhile i might at the end or something but man i was droppin tears at the start of that movie only for the fact that it really made me realize the suffering and sacrafice that all have given in wartime for AMERICA !!! and i am gratefull to them all ... hell i was teary eyed when he walked into the cemetery at the very start even before the beach scene shew man ill have to watch that one again im glad i own it as its the only cd i do own

[This message has been edited by max (edited December 13, 2000).]

Huffy · Post by **Huffy** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 5:29 pm

Max....believe me...your not the only one who shed a tear during that movie...
It is amazing how many people don't know...or care what our vets went through, as well did the family and loved ones.
Take care...
Huffy

Warhorse · Post by **Warhorse** » Wed Dec 13, 2000 7:12 pm

Dig that, Huffy!!!

------------------
Mike Amos
Meine Ehre Heisst Treue

Toey · Post by **Toey** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 2:11 am

I think the scence when Mellish dies is also very powerfull. It has effected so much, that I can't watch any movie with the actor who played Upham.

Charles22 · Post by **Charles22** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 2:37 am

What was the deal with that one Gerry they took prisoner? Was he the same one who killed the American during the hand-to-hand fight scene? When I saw the movie, I at first thought it was another German soldier, but afterwards, it seemed to me that the scene would've been more melodramatic if it were the same soldier so I thought it was, and it seems the movie spent way too much time on that scene, if it indeed was not their former prisoner. Seems I've heard from different reputable people that the Gerry soldier was the prisoner earlier in the movie, and also that he wasn't. Some of you guys that have seen it over and over ought to know (perhaps it was the same actor but he was playing a different soldier with a different rank). Anyone figured this out yet?

max · Post by **max** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 3:04 am

well if your talking about the guy that they let go for gunning down one of the units men and then he reapeared later on in the end of the movie fighting with the german army at the bridge..... he was let go and rejoined another battalion of german troops to fight again later on in the movie ...

Panzer Capta · Post by **Panzer Capta** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 3:26 am

Absolutely the same soldier.....remember how he called Upham by name just before Upham shot him point blank. And, if you will recall, at the time Cpt. Miller released him, the soldier from Brooklyn said that once released he would probably be "put back in circulation". Unfortunately for Captain Miller and the other Jewish infantryman who died in the hand-to-hand scene (a very intense scene indeed).

GrinningDwarf · Post by **GrinningDwarf** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 3:28 am

Originally posted by Charles22:
What was the deal with that one Gerry they took prisoner? Was he the same one who killed the American during the hand-to-hand fight scene? .

*******SPOILER!!!!*********

If you havn't seen the end of SPR yet, READ NO FURTHER!!

From what I've been able to gather, the German who killed Mellish is not the German called 'Steamboat Willie' in the credits. (Remember the German they captured said he liked Steamboat Willie?) There is one close up shot of that German's face in the light early in his fight with Mellish, and I think it was a guy who looked similar but wasn't the same guy.

The prisoner that Miller let go was, however, the guy who shot Captain Miller. Remember when Upham jumps up at the end and finally does something right (not that I would have been any braver than Upham, mind you!), gets the drop on all those Germans, and has them at rifle point screaming "Hande hoch!!"? Did you notice the German who recognized Upham and called him by name? That was 'Steamboat Willie', and Upham had just seen him shoot Miller. I don't think Upham recognized it was the same guy until the German called him by name. Then Upham does the right thing.

Wiseman · Post by **Wiseman** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 6:42 am

Nope, same guy. Thats why he didn't kill Upham when coming down the stairs after killing Mellish. Remember Upham went to the extreme to save the German's life. The German returned the favor by not killing Upham in that scene.

Wiseman

Lou · Post by **Lou** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 6:51 am

Originally posted by Wiseman:
Nope, same guy. Thats why he didn't kill Upham when coming down the stairs after killing Mellish. Remember Upham went to the extreme to save the German's life. The German returned the favor by not killing Upham in that scene.

Wiseman

Are you sure of that, Wiseman? If I remember correctly, the guy who killed Mellish wore a different uniform than the previously released German prisoner. I thought he was the same guy at one time as well. But, I think they just shared similar facial features and haircut.

I think Mellish's killer let Upham live out of contempt. He saw that Upham was too cowardly to come to his comrade's rescue and therefore was not a threat.
Lou

[This message has been edited by Lou (edited December 13, 2000).]

Toey · Post by **Toey** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 7:21 am

They are two different guys. They look simialr but they are not the same guys. Lou is right, they have diff uniforms.

Charles22 · Post by **Charles22** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 7:50 pm

I too thought they had different uniforms, but then again, if it was a different uniform, was it a different character or did the studio accidently put the same actor in a different uniform? You see, what I mean? It looks like noone can know for sure whether it was the same guy or not, for as I point out, the uniform doesn't necessarily mean it's a different character. I do agree that the soldier not killing the quivering soldier would point more towards the German being the same as the earlier POW, but perhaps the writer was just making a hand-to-hand fight scene statement totally apart from the German POW fighting again. I don't know if I'll ever be satisfied with any explanation.

Sorry about the spoiler, I only realsied it after I posted, and I've no idea how long it'll be beofre any people that sees this thred, sees that movie, I wasn't going to hold my question forever. In any case, most people that read this thread, if they don't read it for a week, and see the movie sometime afterwards, will probably forget entirely this difficult to discern bit of it.

warhead · Post by **warhead** » Thu Dec 14, 2000 11:59 pm

I think it was the same German in all three scenes. After the first scene the german owes Upham one and repays the favor by sparing him after killing Mellish.In the final scene Upham kills the Kraut. Notice this German is sans helmet in the final scene, maybe he changed clothes to fit his new unit, but went "back into circulation" w/o a helmet. It doesn't really add up, but then again 2SS "Das Reich" wasn't in the area that soon (17thSS probably) and the Krauts wouldn't have advanced into town in such a numnuts fashion.

Wild Bill · Post by **Wild Bill** » Fri Dec 15, 2000 2:58 am

I have the movie on video. I watched the final scenes again carefully. I am positive they are two different individuals.

The machine gunner sent off returns at nearly the end of the movie with some other troops. He is the one who shoots Captain Miller and is later shot by Cpl Upham.

The panzer trooper that killed Mellish and passed Upham on the stairs is not the same guy.

------------------
In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games