“Saving Private Ryan” will return to theaters for two days to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944 when the Allied Forces landed in Normandy.
Dubbed as one of the greatest depictions of the D-Day landings and World War II performances of all time, the film will show in 600 theaters on June 2nd and 5th at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. on each of the two days, according to Forbes.
Saving Private Ryan was released in 1998 and depicts a squad of Army Rangers as they attempt to rescue a paratrooper whose three brothers have all been killed in combat.
Tom Hanks played Cpt. John Miller, who leads the team to locate the missing paratrooper to try to bring a speck of comfort to the family that lost their sons.
‘Saving Private Ryan’ is heading back to theaters for the 75th anniversary of D-Day. https://t.co/Ojtc05Nuvd pic.twitter.com/o6sF5ilMun
— ArmyTimes (@ArmyTimes) April 25, 2019
During the first minute of the film, the Germans spray bullets on the U.S. soldiers at Omaha Beach in 1944. The soldiers all race for their lives trying to make it to shore and only a few survive.
Marine veteran Dale Dye, who worked as the film’s military advisor said, “One of the things that really got me about this [scene] was the randomness of death, and the randomness of wounding. That’s there because we wanted people to get the feeling that despite what you see in movies and what you read in books, death in hellacious combat like there was on Omaha Beach can sometimes be very random, and it can be shocking because it’s so close.”
Dye added, “It’s a style of shooting called “asses and elbows,” which is “how you tend to see firefights if you’re involved in it. You see the other guy’s butt and his elbows, and everybody’s down as far as they can get.”
“I wasn’t there in 1944 in June on Omaha Beach, but seeing that, I somehow felt I was. It was that transporting. I knew whatever else we did with that film, that sequence was going to live on,” Dye added.
The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and aside from Tom Hanks, stars Matt Damon, Tom Sizemore, Barry Pepper, Edward Burns, Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel and Adam Goldberg. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Director and two Golden Globes. It also took in $481.8 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo.
Saving Private Ryan was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry and was
and received instant adulation for its realism, especially for an opening 27-minute recreation of the landings on the beaches of Normandy that dropped viewers into what felt like the very Higgins boats thundering toward a hellish French coastline,” Military Times reported.
