American soldiers land on Omaha Beach during the D-Day landings in World War II, with multiple deaths from German fire.
The film opens with some of the most devastating footage of combat ever committed to film. For twenty minutes the audience is assailed by subjective sight and sound in an attempt to recreate the feeling of being in the midst of D-Day battle. Much of this terrifying effect is due to the camerawork of Janusz Kaminski.
Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) of the 2nd Ranger Battalion has been assigned to take his squad of seven men into France to find Private James Ryan (Matt Damon, pictured at left), whose three brothers have been killed in combat, and get him home to his grieving mother back in the States.
The squad comprises T/Sgt. Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore), Pfcs. Richard Reiben (Edward Burns) and Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel), Pvts. Stanley Mellish (Adam Goldberg) and Danny Jackson (Barry Pepper), medic Irwin Wade (Giovanni Ribisi), and Timothy Upham (Jeremy Davies), a cartographer and interpreter.
The group have to travel through treacherous German-held territory until they eventually find Ryan and a small group of paratroopers trying to hold on to a key bridge in Ramelle which is about to be attacked by a German Panzer Group.
Though bereaved at the loss of his brothers, Ryan refuses to be led back to safety, so Miller joins his team with the paratroopers to defend the bridge, setting up defences throughout the town.
Tanks and infantry from the 2nd SS Panzer Division duly arrive and the American soldiers put up a valiant fight – but the majority of the paratroopers, along with Horvath, Mellish, and Jackson, are killed.
Miller makes an effort to blow up the bridge, but he is shot. Reiben and Ryan are close to Miller as he dies, saying: “James . . . Earn this. Earn it!”
Flash-forward 50 years to the late 1990s and the elderly James Ryan, accompanied by his family, visits the American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, and discovers Captain John Miller’s gravestone among the thousands of others.
A tearful James Ryan explains how grateful he is to Miller and his unit for saving his life and wonders whether he is worthy of their sacrifices. Ryan’s wife comforts him and confirms that he is indeed a “good man”. Ryan then salutes Miller’s grave.
Captain Miller
Tom Hanks
Sergeant Horvath
Tom Sizemore
Private Reiben
Edward Burns
Private Jackson
Barry Pepper
Private Mellish
Adam Goldberg
Private Caparzo
Vin Diesel
T/4 Medic Wade
Giovanni Ribisi
Corporal Upham
Jeremy Davies
Private Ryan
Matt Damon
Captain Hamill
Ted Danson
Old Mrs Ryan
Kathleen Byron
Director
Steven Spielberg
