Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Invasion of Normandy in World War II, the film is notable for its graphic portrayal of war and for the intensity of its opening 27 minutes, which includes a depiction of the Omaha Beach assault during the Normandy landings. It follows United States Army Rangers as they search for a paratrooper, Private First Class James Francis Ryan (Matt Damon), the last surviving brother of four servicemen.

Released on July 24, 1998, Saving Private Ryan received acclaim from critics and audiences for its performances (particularly Hanks), realism, cinematography, score, screenplay, and Spielberg's directing.

At the 71st Academy Awards, the film was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Hanks and Best Original Screenplay; it went on to win five for Spielberg's second win for Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Sound, and Best Sound Effects Editing. The film also won both the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and the Producers Guild of America Award for Best Theatrical Motion Picture, while Spielberg won Golden Globe and Directors Guild of America Award for Best Director.

Since its release, Saving Private Ryan has been considered as one of the greatest films ever made and has been lauded as influential on the war film genre. It is credited for renewing interest in World War II media. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked Saving Private Ryan as the 71st-greatest American movie in AFI's 100 Years…100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) and in 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

An elderly veteran visits the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial with his family. At a tombstone, he falls to his knees with emotion. The scene then shifts to the morning of June 6, 1944, as American soldiers land on Omaha Beach as part of the Normandy Invasion. They suffer heavy losses in assaulting fortified German defensive positions. Captain John H. Miller of the 2nd Ranger Battalion leads a breakout from the beach. Elsewhere on the beach, a dead soldier lies face-down in the bloody surf; his pack is stenciled Ryan, S.

In Washington, D.C., at the U.S. War Department, General George Marshall learns that three of the four sons of the Ryan family were killed in action and that the fourth son, James, is with the 101st Airborne Division somewhere in Normandy. After reading Abraham Lincoln's Bixby letter aloud, Marshall orders Ryan brought home.

Three days after D-Day, Miller receives orders to find Ryan and bring him back. He chooses seven men from his company—T/Sgt. Mike Horvath, Privates First Class Richard Reiben and Adrian Caparzo, Privates Stanley Mellish and Daniel Jackson, T/4 medic Irwin Wade—plus T/5 Timothy Upham, an interpreter from headquarters. They move out to Neuville, where they meet a squad of the 101st engaged against the enemy. Caparzo is killed by a German sniper who is then killed by Jackson. They locate a Private James Ryan, only to discover he is not the right one. After the squad arrives at a rallying point, Miller learns from passing soldiers that Ryan is defending an important bridge in Ramelle.

Near Ramelle, Miller decides to neutralize a German machine gun position at a derelict radar station, despite his men's misgivings. Wade is killed in the skirmish. At Upham's urging, Miller declines to execute a surviving German soldier, and sets him free. Losing confidence in Miller's leadership, Reiben declares his intention to desert, prompting a confrontation with Horvath. Miller defuses the standoff by disclosing his civilian career as a high school English teacher, about which his men had set up a betting pool. He also tells them that he does not care about Ryan, but he only took the mission with hopes that it will allow him and his men a chance to return home. Miller openly wonders how much the war has changed him and tells Reiben for every man he kills, the farther away from home he feels; Reiben is moved by this revelation and decides to stay.

At Ramelle, Ryan is among a small group of paratroopers preparing to defend the key bridge against an imminent German attack. Upon arriving, Miller tells Ryan that his brothers are dead, and that he was ordered to bring him home. Ryan is distressed about his brothers, but is unwilling to leave his unit. Miller decides to combine his unit with the paratroopers in defense of the bridge. He devises a plan to ambush the enemy with various .30-caliber guns, Molotov cocktails, anti-tank mines and improvised satchel charges made from socks.

Elements of the 2nd SS Panzer Division arrive with two Tiger tanks and two Marder tank destroyers, all protected by German infantry. Although they inflict heavy casualties on the Germans, most of the paratroopers, along with Jackson, Mellish and Horvath, are killed; Upham is immobilized by fear. Miller attempts to blow up the bridge, but is shot and mortally wounded by the freed German prisoner from the radar station, who had somehow rejoined a fighting unit. Miller crawls to retrieve the bridge detonator, and fires ineffectually with his pistol at the oncoming tank. As the tank reaches the bridge, an American P-51 Mustang flies overhead and destroys the tank, after which American armored units arrive to rout the remaining Germans. Seeing the reinforcements arriving and the Germans in retreat, Upham leaps out from hiding and holds the German prisoner and his fellow soldiers at gunpoint before shooting the prisoner dead and allowing the others to flee.

Reiben and Ryan are with Miller as he utters his last words, "James… earn this. Earn it", before dying from his wounds. As Ryan stands over Miller's body, the scene fades to the elderly veteran, who is revealed to be Ryan and the grave he is standing in front of is Miller's. Ryan asks his wife if he was worthy of such sacrifice, to which she replies that he is. Ryan salutes Miller's grave before departing with his family. 1

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