I just returned from seeing Saving Private Ryan. And was totally amazed. Usually after seeing a movie I feel like the main character. When I saw Diehard I went away feeling like I could take on a skyscraper full of terrorists. With Saving Private Ryan I did not go away feeling like a W.W.II soldier. In fact I no longer have the child dream of fighting in the big one. John Wayne era W.W.II movies always gave you the heroic feeling. Those movies portrayed W.W.II as a great war. Not that I ever thought wars were great. They made it feel like W.W.II was a noble battle. Where as opposed to movies about Vietnam. Which portrayed that war as a dirty ruthless fight.

Saving Private Ryan did not try to glamorize W.W.II. It showed it the way my Grandpa told me about it. “You would be standing right next to a guy and see him get shot to pieces.” Grandpa would go on to say “John Wayne movies don’t show you the truth.” And that “they were bullshit.”

Saving Private Ryan Showed the landing at Normandy like I would figure it really was. The poor bastards first out had the shit shot out of them. Speilberg did war scenes with a camera effect that made it feel like you were there on the beach with them. It was very erratic camera movements. It added to the claustrophobia of the scene. They also showed all of the gory detail of war. When people where hit, they fell down. None of the running around like a funky chicken. Blood was everywhere. And these GIs wanted two things. Their momma and morphine.

Well enough of me playing Siskel and Ebert. Go see the goddamn movie. And do not bring kids to see it. And mark my words Tom Hanks is getting another Oscar for this movie.