Volume 45, Number 14 · September 24, 1998
Jerry Don't Surf
By Louis Menand
Saving Private Ryan
a film directed by Steven Spielberg, screenplay by Robert Rodat
Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, which was released in July and has become one of the summer's biggest hits, is the story of eight American soldiers who, after surviving the D-Day landing at Omaha Beach, are ordered to find a private named Ryan who parachuted in during the invasion and is now somewhere in Normandy. This Ryan is the youngest of four brothers; the other three have died in action. The army wants to find out whether the remaining boy is still alive and, if he is, to bring him home to his mother. The rescue patrol runs into some hairy situations, but they get their man, and although they suffer terrible casualties themselves, they manage to kill quite a few Germans along the way.
Review, 2643 words
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