| The Longest Day was good for its time but it wasn't THAT great.
Saving Private Ryan was a good movie with a deep and moving story. In many ways it was like a good book that was turned into a film... except it went straight to the screen.
The story is ultimately about a Captain who was at peace with himself regarding men lost under his command because he believes each life lost was lost doing something that saved more lives. But in this one particular mission, this justification doesn't apply.
You have to think of it as a good story... a historical fiction. Not as an accurate D-Day Historical document movie. Though the landing scene was the most accurate reproduction of the landings (according to people who were they). I don't think the 2nd Ranger Regiment landed on Omaha... rather they went for Point du Hoc by scaling the cliffs but other than that... you know what I mean.
On a note, There was a guy in the 506th PIR from the 101st Airborne division who lost all his brothers in World War II and was given a ticket home. This story surfaces in another Stephen Ambrose book, Citizen Soldiers. But the actual event of bringing him home wasn't chaotic like in the movie. |