The 1998 film directed by Steven Spielberg stars Tom Hanks as John Miller, an American captain who receives orders to track down James Ryan (Matt Damon), a private who is the last surviving member of a family of four brothers and is now missing in action. A group of several other soldiers, including Technical Sergeant Mike Horvath (Tom Sizemore) and Private First Class Adrian Caparzo (Vin Diesel), join him on his mission.
The movie famously lost the Best Picture Oscar to the 1998 film "Shakespeare In Love." But the film did win five Academy Awards, including one for Best Director.
The film's opening scene depicting the Invasion of Normandy is very graphic and Florida Times-Union reporter Beau Halton spoke with some veterans of D-Day itself as well as some who fought in Vietnam who left the theater during the movie. "It was the closest thing to the horrors of real combat that I have ever seen," Vietnam veteran Ed Kelly said of the film. "There was no glossing over it."