Ted Danson - Saving Private Ryan lyrics

Dad... Clear the ramp! 30 seconds! God be with you! Port side, stick. Starboard side, stick. Move fast and clear those mortar holes. l want to see plenty of beach between men. Five men is an opportunity. One is a waste of ammo. Keep the sand out of your weapons. Keep those actions clear. l'll see you on the beach. Open mortar holes! Over the side! Port and starboard, over... Jesus. Thank you... l said, what the hell do we do now, sir? Captain Miller! Captain Miller! Captain Miller! Sergeant Horvath! Move your men off the beach! Go! OK, you guys! Get on my a**! Follow me! What's the rallying point? Anywhere but here! The sea wall! Move up to the sea wall! Sir, l'm staying! Clear this beach! Make way for the others! This is all we got! Every inch of this beach has been pre-sighted! You stay here, you're dead men! Mama! Mama! Stay down! Stay down! What are you guys? Here to set up field operations! Get rid of that crap! Grab yourselves some weapons. Follow me. l'm hit! Briggs! Get me out! l'm hit low. God! Medic! Navy Beach Battalion, sir. l gotta clear these obstacles for the tanks. All the armour's foundering in the Channel. Orders, sir. You go somewhere else. l'm clearing this one! Come on, Briggs! Medic! Move! Move! Move! Come on! Move! Shore party. No armour has made it ashore. We got no DD tanks. Dog One is not open. Who's in command here? You are, sir! - Sergeant Horvath! - Sir! You recognise where we are? Right where we're supposed to be, but no one else is! Nobody's where they're supposed to be. Shore party. First wave, ineffective. We do not hold the beach. Say again, we do not hold the beach. Sir, we got the leftovers from Fox Company, Able Company and George Company! Plus we got some Navy Demo guys and a Beachmaster! Shore party. Shore party. Cat-F, Cat-F, C... - Reiben here, sir! - Anybody else? Jackson, but that's about it. Mellish here. Caparzo! DeForest's back with Wade. He's hurt so bad he says he sprung 100 leaks. Wade says he's all used up. Find somebody you can help. He's battalion surgeon, sir! Get his attention. Wade! Yo, doc! Wade! Get him off the beach. l got it! We stopped the bleeding! We stopped the bleeding! f**! Just give us a f**ing chance, you son of a b**h! Son of a f**ing co*ks**er! Come on, Wade! lt's Mellish! Wade! We found Miller! Let's move! Let's move! Oh, God. Oh, God. This is all? This is all that's made it? We got scattered pretty bad, sir. There's bound to be more. Not enough. This is not enough. Dog One exit... On the right. Or is it left? sh**! No, Vierville is west of us. This is Dog One. They're k**ing us! We don't have a f**ing chance, and that ain't fair! Gather weapons and ammo! Gather weapons and ammo! Come on, drag 'em in off the sand! Hey, Reiben, Reiben, Reiben, where's your BAR? Bottom of the channel, sir. Nearly drowned me. Find a replacement. Bangalores! Bring up some bangalores! Grenades, grenades! Get 'em over here! Bangalores up the line! Bangalores up the line! Heads up! Bangers coming your way! Come on, come on, come on! Jackson here, sir! Reiben back, sir! One more. Give me one more. Oh, my God, it hurts! l'm gonna die! Oh, my God! Oh, Jesus! Oh, my God! Keep it moving. Keep it moving. Almost got it. Jesus! Lucky ba*tard. Keep it moving. You got it? God! God, help me! You're not gonna die. You're fine. Don't look at it. Bangalores! Clear the shingle! Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole! We're in business! Defilade! Other side of the hole! That's it! Let's go! lnspected. Morphine. Routine. Priority. He's gone. Son of a... Get in there. f**. l can't move. Mellish, give me your bayonet. Two MG-42s and two mortars. Add 20, left 30. There's a little defilade, but it's the perfect position if we get some armour. We gotta open up this draw! Get this draw open. Reiben, Mellish, let's get into the war! Grab some cover and put some fire on that crew. Davis, DeBernardo, Young, Valk, get ready. Covering fire! Go, go, go! Goddamn firing squad. lt's the only way we can get everybody out. Short, Payton, McDonald, Parkes! You're next! - Why not hand out blindfolds? - All we'll do here is die. Covering fire! Go, go, go! Come on! Come on! Come on! Go, Goddamit! Jackson. Sir. See that impact crater? Yes, sir. That should give complete defilade from that machine gun. Wait for my command. Go! Captain, if your mother saw that, she'd be very upset. l thought you were my mother. Be not thou far from me, O Lord. My God, l am sorry for offending Thee. l detest my sins for having offended Thee, O Lord. Listen to me, Lord. All my strength... haste Thee to help me. Dog One exit! Right here! We're in business! Move! Move! Reiben. - Let's go, sarge. Go! - Reiben. Come on, Doyle! Sarge. Flame! Doyle, do it! Don't shoot! Let 'em burn! ''Comrade?'' You son of a b**h! Lie down! Cease fire! Cease fire! Cut it out! Cut it out! Cease fire! Sugar Cane. Sugar Charlie Three. Say again, Dog One is open. Send in the dozers. l'm waiting to tie in my flanks. Over. What? What? l'm sorry, l can't understand you. What'd he say? What'd he say? ''Look, l washed for supper.'' - Hey, Fish. - Yeah? Look at this. A Hitler Youth knife. Now it's a Shabbat challah cutter, right? Keep it moving! That's quite a view. Yes, it is. Quite a view. ''Dear Mr Brian Boyd, ''no doubt you have received information...'' ''Dear Mrs Jensen...'' ''..the d**h of your son.'' ''..no words can relieve the grief...'' ''We have felt his loss tremendously.'' ''He was a fine soldier...'' ''We were involved ''in one of the most important operations of this war.'' ''Al held us all together. ''He was always first to volunteer...'' ''..came to a clearing ''where 4,000 troops had pa**ed.'' ''Your husband served in a unit ''whose dangerous duty is to place itself beyond...'' ''..we all cherish and hold so dear. ''The loss of Lee and others like him is a distinct blow.'' ''l understand your desire ''to learn about circumstances leading to his d**h.'' Colonel, l've got something you should know about. These two men died in Normandy. This one at Omaha beach. Sean Ryan. This man at Utah. Peter Ryan. This man was k**ed last week in New Guinea. Daniel... Ryan. The three are brothers, sir. l've just learned that this afternoon their mother will get all three telegrams. That's not all. There's a fourth brother. He parachuted in the night before the invasion. He's somewhere in Normandy. - ls he alive? - We don't know. Come with me. 'Goddamit.' All four were in the 29th Division, but we split them up after the Sullivan brothers died on the Juneau. Any contact with the fourth son, James? No, sir. He was dropped about That's still deep behind German lines. There's no way to know where the hell he was dropped. First reports out of SHAEF said the 101st is scattered to hell. There's misdrops all over Normandy. Assuming Ryan survived the jump, he could be anywhere. ln fact, he's probably KlA. And frankly, sir, we go sending some sort of rescue mission, flat-hatting through swarms of German reinforcements along our axis of advance, they're gonna be KlA, too. l have a letter here... written a long time ago to a Mrs Bixby in Boston. So bear with me. ''Dear Madam, ''l have been shown in the files of the War Department ''a statement of the Adjutant General of Ma**achusetts ''that you are the mother of five... ''sons who died gloriously on the field of battle. ''l feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine ''that would attempt to beguile you from the grief ''of a loss so overwhelming. ''But l cannot refrain from tendering to you ''the consolation that may be found ''in the thanks of the republic they died to save. ''l pray that Our Heavenly Father ''may a**uage the anguish of your bereavement ''and leave only the cherished memory of the loved lost... ''and the solemn pride that must be yours ''to have laid so costly a sacrifice ''upon the altar of freedom. ''Yours very sincerely and respectfully... ''Abraham Lincoln.'' That boy is alive. We are gonna send somebody to find him... and we are gonna get him the hell out of there. Yes, sir. We expected 32 tanks, - Miller, Charlie Company. - Go in, Captain. lf we don't off-load those Shermans by 0600, we'll have an entire division stuck at Carentan with its pants around its ankles. Well, you let me know. Have Charlie Company hold Vierville until we get there. Yes, sir. Runner! Airborne was supposed to win an open door for us. They misdropped, scattered everything into the wind. What's your situation? Yes, sir. Sector four is secure. We took out towed 88s here, here...and here. They'd already gotten four Shermans and some deuce-and-a-halves. These two minefields are one big one. We tried going through, but it turned into a high-density field... little bit of everything. Spreng mine 44s, pot mines, A-200s... the wooden ba*tards that the mine detectors don't pick up. This road here... they placed Teller mine 43s, l guess for our tanks... from here to the edge of the village. So we marked 'em, called the engineers. Resistance? We had higher support expectations, sir. There was an understrength company without artillery. Wehrmacht 346 lnfantry, von Luck Kampfgruppe. We ended up with 23 prisoners. We turned them over to MPs. What about our casualties? Well... the figures... were 35 dead... times two wounded. They just... didn't wanna give up those 88s. lt was tough, that's why you got it. Yes, sir. John... l've got another one for you. - Yes, sir. - Straight from the top. We're taking a squad to Neuville on a public relations mission. You leading a squad? Some Private lost three brothers and got a ticket home. How come Neuville? They think he's part of all those airborne misdrops. lt won't be easy finding one particular soldier. Like finding a needle in a stack of needles. What about the company? We take our pick, the rest get folded into Baker. Jesus Christ. They took away your company? lt wasn't my company. lt was the army's. So they told me. Give me Reiben on BAR, Jackson, Wade, Beasley and Caparzo. Beasley's dead. All right, Mellish, then. We got anybody speaks French? Not that l know of. What about Talbot? - This morning. - Oh. All right. l'll try to dig up another interpreter. Assemble at battalion motor pool. Yes, sir. - What we doing? - Listen up... What? What we gonna do? You're going home with a hunk of cheese in your a**, Caparzo. You like it in the a**. Attention! As you were. l'm looking for Corporal Upham, - Timothy E. - l'm Upham, sir. - You speak French and German? - Yes, sir. Accent? A slight one in French. My German's clean, sir. You're rea**igned to me. Grab your gear. We're going to Neuville. When was this updated? As of 0830, sir. Uh, sir... These two axes advance south... Sir, there are Germans in Neuville. - Yes, Corporal. - Sir, a LOT of Germans. You have a problem with that, Corporal? No, l've never been in combat. l make maps, translate... l need someone who speaks French and German. My guys were k**ed. But l haven't held a weapon since training, sir. - Did you fire the weapon? - Yes, sir. - Then get your gear. - Yes, sir. Sir, may l... May l bring my typewriter, sir? Yes, sir. Thank you very much, sir. - That a souvenir? - No, sir. Take your time, Corporal. Look on the bright side, Corporal. Yes, sir. For one thing... you don't need to carry those. You'll need that. Need this. Yes, sir. Don't need that... You want your head blown off? Don't f**in' touch me with those little rat claws. Get the f** back in formation. l was wondering where you're from, that's... Caparzo, is it? Hey, drop dead, Corporal. Got you. And saluting the captain makes him a target for Germans. So don't do it, especially when l'm next to him. Corporal, what's your book about? - Watch your rifle. - Sorry. lt's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood that develop between soldiers during war. Brotherhood? What do you know about brotherhood? Get a load of this guy, Fish. Ask the captain where he's from. Yeah, ask the captain. He'll tell you everything you wanna know. You wanna explain the math of this to me? Why risk the lives of the eight of us to save one guy? Anybody wanna answer? Reiben, think about the poor ba*tard's mother. l got a mother, all right? l mean, you got a mother. Sarge has got a mother. sh**, l bet even the captain's got a mother. Well, not the captain, but the rest of us. ''Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.'' What does that mean? We're all supposed to die? Upham's talking about our duty as soldiers. Yes, sir. We have orders to follow. That supersedes everything, including your mothers. Thank you, sir. Even if you think the mission's fubar, sir? Especially if you think the mission's fubar. What's ''fubar''? Oh, it's German. Yeah. Never heard of that. Sir... l have an opinion on this matter. Well, by all means, share it with the squad. Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources. Yeah. Go on. Well, it seems to me, sir, that God made me a fine instrument of warfare. Reiben, pay attention. This is the way to gripe! Continue, Jackson. What l mean, sir, if you put me and this rifle within one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir... Pack your bags, fellas. War's over. Amen. Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin. So, Captain, what about you? You don't gripe at all? l don't gripe to you, Reiben. l'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. You gripe to me, l gripe to my superiors and so on. l don't gripe to you or in front of you. l'm sorry, sir, but, uh... Let's say you weren't a captain. What would you say then? Well, in that case, l'd say this is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover...l feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and will lay down my life and the lives of my men, especially you, Reiben, to ease her suffering. - He's good. - l love him. Right. Thunder! Flash! Upham, over there. Reiben, you four go. Go, go, go, go, go. You're a welcome sight. Our relief showed up. How many are you? Just eight. We're not your relief. Sorry. What do you mean, sir? We're here for a Private Ryan. Who? Ryan? What for? - ls he here? - l don't know. Maybe on the other side of town. The Germans cut us in two. - What's his name again? - Ryan. James Ryan. He dropped in with 101st. - Goldman, get me a runner. - Runner! Come on. Jonesy, make a hole there! We got stopped by intense rifle action from the eastward. The Germans have been reinforcing regiments all day. lt's been quiet for about 45 minutes. Most of the German fire is concentrated to the westward. Who's on the loudspeaker? That's Dagwood Dsseldorf, our friendly neighbourhood morale officer. The Statue of Liberty is kaputt. ''The Statue of Liberty is kaputt.'' That's disconcerting. Take the second left... Your father was circumcised by my rabbi, you prick! Private Ryan, James, probably misdropped with 101 . - Got that? - Cover! Go! Those sadistic f**in' animals! Get down. They know we're not in contact, they'll get the runners. Why keep shooting him? Long as he lives, he carries the message. - We'd do the same. - We wouldn't! - Get ready to travel. - Yes, sir. Try again to let Captain Hamill know we're coming. What's the rest of Neuville like? Uh, next block's got two-storey buildings both sides. A lotta windows and a square on the left. - Show me. - Sarge, hold right here. Yes, sir. Let's stay out of this enfilade and use the buildings. Try a left hook. Two of yours, two of mine. Hastings, Goldman, up front! Reiben, Caparzo. Fundamentals. Short runs. High and low at the corners. Be prepared for close contact. Go. Upham, stay with Sergeant Horvath. Stay right here. l'll wear him like underwear! Stay with me. Past the end are the gates to the square. Good. Reiben, where's the Captain from? Figure that out, you got yourself a prize. Company's got a pool. Five bucks gets you in. Easy. lt's around this corner. Defilade up to those gates. Somebody must know where he's from. Been with him since Ka**erine Pa**, and l don't know. My ankles are k**ing me. l'll need a wheelchair before this is over. Ow! That's it. Oh, my God. Got ankles like an old woman. Like an old... Reiben. So you don't even know where he went to school? Captain didn't go to school, they a**embled him out of Gl body parts. Pay attention to detail. l know where he's from 'cause l pay attention to detail. Hey, Upham... careful you don't step in the bullsh**. Do it. Thunder! Thunder, or we will fire on you! Upham, tell them to show themselves. Ask where the Germans are. What's he saying? The children. Take the children. No, we can't take the kids. We can't take the kids! No! They think they'll be safe with us. lt's not gonna be safe with us! Are you nuts?! Listen to the Captain! They think they'll be safe, sir. Not gonna be safe anywhere. Put that kid back! Put that little girl back! Caparzo, give that kid back now! Upham, how do you say ''lt's OK''? She reminds me of my niece, sir. Get the kid back up there! Captain, we could take her down the road to the next town. We're not here to do the decent thing! We're here to follow f**in' orders! Sarge, take this goddamn kid! Cover! Cover! Come on. No! Goddamit! Where'd that come from? He was on the ground before we heard. That's where l'd be. l didn't see it. Maybe a shade under. l wouldn't venture out there, fellas! This sniper's got talent! Please don't cry. l'll take you back to your parents. Please don't cry. Come on. Captain. Hold on, Caparzo. Help me up. l can walk. l can walk. Caparzo, stay still! All right. Two clicks, left wind. Captain, can you see him from there? How is he? Wade, you stay put. Where's he shot, Captain? - Can you see him? - Stay there! Damn it, stay down! What's up with you? What if you get hit? Huh? Fish, come over here. Carpy, put your head down. Put your head down. O my God, l trust in Thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not my enemies triumph over me. Copy it. Copy it and send it for me. You're gonna send it. Put it down! - lt's got blood! - l see it. lt's... lt's to my dad. lt's got blood on it. We got him. Stay down. How bad is it? Chest, maybe lung shot. Get that 30 up the street! Detail! Clear up! Clear down! That's why we can't take children. Sergeant Horvath, do an ammo check. Upham... canteens. Fill 'em up. - Sergeant Hill. - Yes, sir. Gather your men. We'll form up at the north-west corner. Mellish, check the tower. Right now. Go! f** Ryan. - Thunder! - Flash! Come on in. Hey, guys, we're looking for Captain Hamill. Somewhere across the square. Across the square. Go easy. Watch for snipers. Take it easy. Sit down. Jimmy T, find Captain Hamill, bring him in here. What? Up there? How should l know? Would you go look, please? Thank you, you moron. All right. You guys just flake out here for a while. Let me get this goddamn hitchhiker out of my boot. Jesus! Drop your weapons! Drop 'em now! Drop the f**ing weapons! l'll shoot you! l'll shoot! Drop! Drop! Drop 'em! Now! Put 'em down! Clear up! sh**. sh**! Clear up! Clear down! Enough to make you old. Let's hope so. Fred Hamill, Pathfinders 101st. John Miller, 2nd Rangers. Thank you. We're looking for Private James Ryan. He's part of your outfit. Any chance you policed him up? - How was the road in? - Scenic. We lost most of our ammo. And one of our men. Lieutenant, redeploy that bazooka to the right side. Yes, sir! And get Ryan up here. Ryan! Ryan, front and centre! Ryan! Here comes our boy. Told you he was an a**hole. Sir, Private Ryan reporting. At ease. Captain Miller, 2nd Rangers. He wants a word with you. This way. All right. Take a knee. Private, l have some bad news. Well, there isn't any easy way to say this, so, uh... so l'll just say it - your brothers are dead. We have, uh, orders to come get you... 'cause you're going home. Oh, my God. My brothers are dead. l was gonna take 'em fishing when we got home. l'm so sorry, James. l can't tell you how much. How...how did they die? They were k**ed in action. No, that can't be. They're both... That...that can't be. My brothers are still in grammar school. You're James Ryan? Yeah. James Francis Ryan from lowa? James Frederick Ryan, Minnesota. Well, does that...does that mean my brothers are OK? Yeah, l'm sure they're fine. Are you sure they're OK, though? We're looking for a different Private Ryan. How do you know? How do you know the foul-up isn't that his brothers are OK and that... Lieutenant, l'm sorry for the trouble. l just wrote them a letter... l got to get home. l got to get home right now. Shh, take it easy. - Where's our Ryan? - l don't know. You in touch with your CO? - That figures. - What unit's he in? Baker Company, 506. - The guy with the broken foot? - Charlie, l think. You think? Yeah. Ryan? Don't know... Man! Where was your drop zone? Just inside of Vierville. Vierville? How did you end up here? You got me, sir. C-47 took heavy fire. Pilot tried to get out, turning every which way. Took more fire in the drop. Got messy. l ended up here. l haven't seen a single guy from my stick, sir. Anybody there have a big mouth, say where the drop was? No, sir, but they had the same rally point as us. Show me. My men are beat. We'll hold up for three hours then pull out after dark. Got anything left in this town like a three-star hotel? Something with clean sheets and room service? How about a nice comfy church? - We'll take that. - Any news? How's it all falling together? Well, we got the beachhead secure. Problem is Monty's taking his time moving on Caen. We can't pull out till he's ready, so... That guy's overrated. No argument here. You got to take Caen so you can take Saint-Lo. Take Saint-Lo to take Valognes. Valognes, you got Cherbourg. And Cherbourg, you got Paris. Paris, you get Berlin. Then that big boat home. We sure could use you around here, but l understand what you're doing. You do? Yeah. l got a couple of brothers myself. - Oh. - Good luck. Thank you. No, l mean it. Find him. Get him home. What's with your hand? l don't know. lt started when they brought us down for embarkation. lt comes and goes. You may have to get yourself a new job. This one doesn't seem to agree with you any more. What? - What? - Nothing. What was the name of that kid at Anzio? He was always walking around on his hands, and singing that song about the man on the flying trapeze? Yeah, Vecchio. He was a goofy kid. Remember he used to pee a ''V'' on everybody's jacket, for Vecchio. For victory. Vecchio. He was so short. - Wasn't he a midget? - How did he become a Ranger? Got shot in the foot once. He could walk faster on his hands. He could run faster on his hands than... You see, when...you end up k**ing one of your men, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or 10 others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men l've lost under my command? - How many? - 94. But that means l've saved the lives of 10 times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even 20, right? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... That's how you rationalise making the choice between the mission and the men. Except this time, this mission is a man. This Ryan better be worth it. He'd better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something. l wouldn't trade 10 Ryans for one Vecchio or one Caparzo. Amen. Look. There it goes again. Sir... are you all right? Look, we're gonna move out in two hours. Why don't you get some sleep? l don't know how he does it. What's that? Falls asleep like that. Look at him. He's lights-out the minute his head's down. Clear conscience. What's that saying? ''lf God's on our side, who's on theirs?'' ''lf God be for us, who could be against us?'' Yeah, what did l say? Well, actually, the trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake. How is that, Wade? My mother was an intern, she worked late nights, slept through the day, so the only time we got to talk was when she'd get home. So l used to lie in my bed and try to stay awake, but it never worked 'cause the harder l tried, the faster l'd fall asleep. That wouldn't have mattered in my house. My ma would've shook me awake, chatted till dawn. That woman was never too tired to talk. Probably the only time she could get a word in. Funny thing is, sometimes she'd come home early, and l'd pretend to be asleep. Who? You...your mom? Yeah. She'd stand in the doorway looking at me. And l'd just keep my eyes shut. l knew she just wanted to find out about my day, that she came home early... just to talk to me. And l still wouldn't move. l'd still pretend to just be asleep. l don't know why l did that. We only got a couple hours. Go to sleep. Captain? Sir? Corporal? How you doin' there? You all right? Yeah, l think this is all good for me, sir. Really? How is that? ''War educates the senses, ''calls into action the will, ''perfects the physical constitution, ''brings men into such swift and close collision ''in critical moments that man measures man.'' Yeah, well, l guess that's Emerson's way of finding the bright side. - You know Emerson, sir? - l know some. So where are you from, Captain? What'd you do before the war? What's the pool up to? You know, l think it's around 300, sir. Well, when it gets up to 500, l'll tell you and we'll split the money, how about that? Well, sir, l feel it's my duty under your command to suggest we wait until it gets to a thousand, sir. What if we don't live that long? - 500? - 500 would be good, yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah. Get some sleep, Corporal. Yes, sir. Who's got sulphur powder? Medic! My buddy's bleeding! He needs a tourniquet! - Wade. - Yes, sir? - Do what you can. - Yes, sir. Hold on, fellas. lt won't be much longer. How we doing here? All right. Yeah, doing all right. Don't worry about it. Doc's in town. lt's all right. lt's all right. The 29th lnfantry's breaking through, they'll be here soon. Plasma. Anybody got plasma? - Captain. Hey, Captain. - Soldier, want to fill me in? Uh, yeah. Lieutenant DeWindt, sir. carrying 327th Glider lnfantry. This one was mine. l was the pilot. 22 dead. l ended up without a scratch. Took my co-pilot's head off. Well, who are these people? The guys we came with, they headed off first night. Other guys keep showing up. One, two, half-dozen at a time. Then some officer'll patch together a mixed unit, head off to make trouble, sir. We're looking for Private James Ryan. Baker Company, 506 of the 101st. No, you got me, sir. A lot of guys come in and out of here. Check that squad. - See if Ryan's in it. - Yes, sir. Smell that leg right there. ls it south of cheese? What? Keep moving. Keep moving! l'm Juden, you know? Ju-den. Yeah, l couldn't pry him out of there, - l'd need a winch. - Yeah. Stars. Yep, Brigadier General Amend, Deputy Commander, 101st. Some f**ing genius had the idea of welding steel plates on to keep the general safe from ground fire. Unfortunately, they forgot to tell me until we were getting airborne. That's like flying a freight train. OK? Gross overload. Trim characteristics all shot to hell. l nearly broke both my arms keeping her level. And when...and when we released, l cut as hard as l could, tried to gain altitude and still keep from stalling. Came down like a f**ing meteor. Here's how we ended up. And the others, they stopped easy enough OK, though, you know? We were just...we were just too damn heavy, you know? The gra** was wet. Downward slope and all. All that for a general? One man. - Lot of that going around. - Fubar. Fubar. Fubar. Fubar. Y'all got that right. l looked in a German dictionary. There's no ''fubar'' in there. - Upham. - Yes, sir? There's more paratroops. Find out if one's Ryan. Yes, sir. You might want to check these out, sir. Dog tags. More than l really want to count, sir. l've...l've covered a lot of bodies, sir. Jackson... start going through those. Yes, sir. l'll help. What do you think? He in there? lf he is, l'll find him. l bet he is. - Who we got...? - You don't stand a chance. - You think he's in here? - Just keep looking. All right. Gary lanico. Ben Rubino. Mike Cessacchio. All the Guineas are buying it, huh? Oh, come on, not the right name. Wee Willie Winkie, that's your buddy. We gotta find this prick. Where is this sonofab**h? Don't mix them up? Keep them in your pile. How will l know who's here? Why don't you just shut up, Reiben, all right? Everybody be friends. Cranky there, huh? l got a winner. What you talking about? Ryan. Ryan? Look at that, Mellish. You're a genius, you really are. R-l-E-N-N-E. That's Rienne. That's French. You know what that means? lt means nothing. - Three of a kind. - All from New York. Do you need a hand with that? l got a full house. Got you beat. Straight flush. You were looking at my tags. You're cheating, you know? Ryan. f**in' unreal, this guy. Do you need a hand with that? Can you read that sh**? Jesus, look at this poor ba*tard. They're not bulletproof, huh? Guess not. All right? What's between his ears? Sort of what you fellas got between your legs. We got to give him that. Not bad, Jackson. What the hell are you doing? The whole Airborne's watching. These aren't chips. - All right, all right. - Put 'em back in! He's not here. Put 'em back. Maybe we should split into groups, huh? Wander the woods, calling his name. He'll hear us sooner or later. Ryan! That might be a little hard to do, Captain. Maybe the locals... Hey, you know... uh, excusez-moi. Parlez-vous Ryan, James Ryan? Merci. Merci beaucoup. Ryan! Anybody know Ryan, Ryan? You know a guy named Ryan? Private James Ryan from lowa? Anybody know a Ryan? James Ryan?! Hey, Joe, doesn't, uh, Michaelson pal around with a Ryan from ''C'' Company? l think so. 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! lt 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. lowa, question mark. Do you know know him? Read the message. Look. Yeah. Of course l 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 l 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. ls that what got those guys? Maybe one of them's our boy. No, their patches are 82nd. l 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. l hear what you're saying, but we can't. l'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. l 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, l'm simply saying, it seems like an unnecessary risk given our objective, sir. Our objective is to win the war. Sir, l just, uh, l 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. l'll go up the middle. Who's going left? Who's going left? l'll do it. l'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. l think we should be able to hit him from grenade range. - l should take the middle, sir. - The way you run? - Maybe l 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! Get the morphine out of the extra medical kit! Son of a b**h! 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. l got 'em. l got 'em. l 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 l shot in the spine? - You're OK, Wade. Am l shot in the spine? Lift him up. Easy, easy, easy. Put some pressure on him. Easy, easy. Lift him up. lt's OK, doc. lt's all right. Wade, you got an exit wound. lt's in the small of your back. How big...how big's the hole in the... lt's about the size of an acorn. You're fine. Put some pressure on it. Put some pressure on it. Put some pressure on it. lt's all right. Put some more pressure on it! ls there anything bleeding worse than the others? Yeah, right here. Do you know what it is? No. Here. l'll put your hand on it. Pressure on there. Right there. OK? That's the one. Oh, my God, my liver! Oh, my God! lt's my liver! Tell us what to do. Tell us how to fix you. What can we do? Tell us what to do. Oh, sh**. l could use...l could use a little more morphine. More morphine, sir? Give it to him. Give it to him. l don't wanna die. Here you go, Wade. Here you go. There you go. There you... Give him another one. Mama? Mama? l want to go home. l 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. - lt doesn't matter. - lt does matter! Shut up with that filthy Pig Latin. Jackson, you're hit. Shut up. - lt just skinned me, sir. - Get it dressed. You and Sarge watch the perimeter. He says please don't shoot. l don't care, Upham. Sir? Sir, you're gonna let them k** him? - This is not right, sir. - Help him with the bodies. What is happening? American. l like American. Steamboat Willie. Steamboat Willie. Yeah, Steamboat Willie. American. He's says he's not finished. That's what you think. Please... l 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. l say can you see... l say can you see... l...l say... f** Hitler. f** 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. lf he isn't picked up by the Wehrmacht, then thrown back into circulation. Captain, you just let the enemy go. This is such bullsh**. Y'all got that right. Bullsh**? This is bullsh**? Shooting prisoners is OK? lt's against the goddamn rules! The rules just walked off with your friend. But l 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. l 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. l'm done with this mission. Sir. Don't walk away from your Captain, get back in line. l'll go to the stockade if l have to. - l won't ask again. - Captain! This is bullsh**! Fall in! - You'd shoot me over Ryan? - No, l don't like you. Just let him go! Are you letting this happen? Captain! You see this? - Captain? Sir? Ryan's dead. - Bullsh**! - Sir, we have a situation. - l have a sixth sense, l know. You don't k** Krauts, but you shoot me, huh? - He's better than you. - Do it. Put one in my leg... l'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 b**h! - l'm waiting, sarge. Mike, what's the pool on me up to now? What...what's it up to? What is it, $300? ls that it, 300? l'm a schoolteacher. l teach English composition in this little town called Addley, Pennsylvania. The last 1 1 years, l've been at Thomas Alva Edison High School. l was the coach of the baseball team. l'll be doggone. Back home, when l'd tell people what l do for a living, they'd think, ''Well, that figures.'' But over here, it's a... a big... a big mystery. So l guess l've changed some. Sometimes l wonder if l've changed so much, my wife will even recognise me whenever l get back to her. And how l'll ever be able to... to tell her about days like today. Ah, Ryan... l don't know anything about Ryan. l don't care. The man means nothing to me, just a name. But if... lf 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, l won't stop you. l'll even put in the paperwork. l just know, every man l k**, the farther from home l feel. By memories Of days gone by ln my solitude You taunt me With memories That never die l sit in my chair Filled with despair There's no one Could be so sad With gloom everywhere l sit and l 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! 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, l'm gonna file a complaint. l wouldn't blame you. Who's your CO? lt 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 k**ed in combat. Which...which ones? All of them. Uh...On...on the level? Yeah. l'm afraid so. Uh...You might want to take some time with this. lf 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...l 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. l understand that, but this changes things. l 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. lf the Germans take 'em, we'll have to displace. Private, your outfit stays, but your party's over here. Sir, l can't leave until reinforcements... You got three minutes. Sir, what about them? There's barely... Hey, a**hole! Two of our guys already died trying to find you, all right? Sir? That's right. What were their names? lrwin Wade and Adrian Caparzo. Wade and... Caparzo. lt doesn't make any sense. lt doesn't make sense, sir. Why do l deserve to go? Why not these guys? They fought just as hard! ls that what they're supposed to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag? Tell her that when you found me, l was here with the only brothers l have left, and that there's no way l was gonna desert them. l think she'll understand that. There's no way l'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. l don't know. What do you think? You don't want to know what l think. No, Mike, l do. Well... part of me thinks the kid's right. What's he done to deserve this? lf 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, sh**ty mess. That's what l 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, You got two bazookas, but only eight rounds left, and a**orted 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... l 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? - lf we can. Make the tank a 60-ton roadblock, we'll have a chance. Yes, sir, don't let them ma** 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? lf we can, l'd like to get you up in that bell tower. - Yes, sir. - Give you company if need be. Yes, sir. Company couldn't hurt. l'd say a .30 with about 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. lt'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? l got that bridge wired with enough to blow it twice. You can spare some, then. You take a standard-issue Gl 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. lt'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. l can cover 1 2 to nine here. - Easy! - l 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 l during all this? Never more than two feet from me, and that's not negotiable. l'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, l told the supply sergeant handing out cigarettes, ''l don't smoke.'' ''l don't smoke.'' Quite a situation, huh? Unbelievable. Here. f**ed up beyond all recognition, right? Yeah, you got that right. Fubar. - Yeah, well... - Fubar. lt'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 l dream that l'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 l find that marvellous.'' Uh, again...Upham, uh... to be honest, l...l 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... l've been desperate ever since. ''l see you all over the sky, l see you all over the earth.'' Any more of this, the Krauts won't have to shoot me. l'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 l 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 ma**ive. Those are big. l'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 bra**iere. And it's beautiful, she's just pouring out of it. lt's beautiful, and she can tell l 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 l said, ''Yes, ma'am.'' Are you all right, sir? Yeah, just keeping the rhythm. ls it true you were a teacher back home? Yes. See, that's something l could never do Not after the way we treated our teachers. No, sir. l had a thousand kids like you. l can't see my brothers' faces. l've been trying, and l 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 l think of home, l think of something specific. l 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. l 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? l did you a favour.'' And this makes Dan more angry. He tries to swing this thing. lt 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 l save just for me. Enemy from the east. He sees Tiger tanks, two of 'em. Panzer tanks, two of 'em. lnfantry, 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. l 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. l don't know if they took the bait, Captain. You got any more of that? Panzers didn't take the bait. lnfantry's moving to the left. Half-track just went by with about 20 troops. Displace! Do it now! Light it! You! Light it! 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! l'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! l ain't got a shot! Pincer move, Parker! Targets eight o'clock low! sh**! God grant me strength. Come on! Displace! Come on! Cover, Upham! Cover! Cover! l'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 l trust. Parker, get down! Captain, that 20-millimetre's k**ing us. We gotta try to flank it. Well, let me get over for the top shot. Upham, ammo, Goddamit! l'm jammed! l'm jammed! Got any .30-cal? - l'm out. - sh**. l'm out! l 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 b**h! Son of a b**h! Son of a b**h! Son of a b**h! Son of a b**h! l'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? - l 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! 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 l 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. l 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. l share with you some words which sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss and heartache. And l quote, ''l pray that our heavenly father ''may a**uage 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, l wasn't sure how l'd feel coming back here. Every day l think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. And l've tried to live my life the best l could. l hope that was enough. l hope that, at least in your eyes, l've earned what all of you have done for me. James. Captain John H Miller. Tell me l've led a good life. What? Tell me l'm a good man. You are.