[getbak]

This is a weird choice, one I didn't plan on making...not because I don't like the movie, but because I never thought it would still be available this late in the draft.

With our third round pick, team Hot Buttery Topping is proud to add another Oscar winner to the team...not a Best Picture winner, but it did snag the Best Director trophy for Steven Spielberg...in the War Category, Saving Private Ryan.

Opening with one of the most ambitious recreations of a real-life battle ever put on film, the storming of Omaha Beach by US Forces on D-Day is presented in brutal detail using a first-person perspective camera which puts the audience into the heart of the battle.

After the Allies have taken the beach, Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks, in another Oscar nominated performance) is given a strange new mission, to bring a squad of Army Rangers into the heart of Nazi controlled France to find and rescue an American Private named James Ryan (Matt Damon). Ryan (if he's still alive) is the last survivor of four brothers serving the United States in the war. In an effort to comfort Ryan's mother, who is scheduled to receive notification of the death of three of her sons on the same day, the decision has been made to release Private Ryan from his service, to return him to his grieving mother.

After many struggles, Miller's squad eventually tracks down Ryan, who (as you would expect) refuses to leave behind his comrades despite being given a free ticket home. Miller's group joins Ryan's in defending a village against German forces.

I won't spoil the ending, but the Allies win the war, in case you were wondering. Here's the trailer that came out during a re-release of the film...

Saving Private Ryan has become the standard against which all other war movies will be judged. This is the fourth Spielberg film chosen in this draft which takes place during the Second World War (Schindler's List, Empire of the Sun, and Raiders of the Lost Ark being the others), and it is a testament to his genius that this film, which on most Director's resumés would be their undeniable crowning achievement, was the fourth of his WWII era films chosen.

Private Jackson: Sir... I have an opinion on this matter.
Captain Miller: Well, by all means, share it with the squad.
Private Jackson: Well, from my way of thinking, sir, this entire mission is a serious misallocation of valuable military resources.
Captain Miller: Yeah. Go on.
Private Jackson: Well, it seems to me, sir, that God gave me a special gift, made me a fine instrument of warfare.
Captain Miller: Reiben, pay attention. Now, this is the way to gripe. Continue, Jackson.
Private Jackson: Well, what I mean by that, sir, is... if you was to put me and this here sniper rifle anywhere up to and including one mile of Adolf Hitler with a clear line of sight, sir... pack your bags, fellas, war's over. Amen.
Private Reiben: Oh, that's brilliant, bumpkin. Hey, so, Captain, what about you? I mean, you don't gripe at all?
Captain Miller: I don't gripe to *you*, Reiben. I'm a captain. There's a chain of command. Gripes go up, not down. Always up. You gripe to me, I gripe to my superior officer, so on, so on, and so on. I don't gripe to you. I don't gripe in front of you. You should know that as a Ranger.
Private Reiben: I'm sorry, sir, but uh... let's say you weren't a captain, or maybe I was a major. What would you say then?
Captain Miller: Well, in that case... I'd say, "This is an excellent mission, sir, with an extremely valuable objective, sir, worthy of my best efforts, sir. Moreover... I feel heartfelt sorrow for the mother of Private James Ryan and am willing to lay down my life and the lives of my men - especially you, Reiben - to ease her suffering."
Mellish: [chuckles] He's good.
Private Caparzo: I love him.
[they make mocking kissy-faces at each other]

Captain Miller: James Francis Ryan of Iowa?
Private Ryan: Yes, sir. Payton, Iowa, that's correct. What is this about?
Captain Miller: Your brothers were killed in combat.
Private Ryan: Which - Which ones?
Captain Miller: All of them.

Captain Miller: It's like finding a needle in a stack of needles.

Captain Miller: I'm a schoolteacher. I teach English composition... in this little town called Adley, Pennsylvania. The last eleven years, I've been at Thomas Alva Edison High School. I was a coach of the baseball team in the springtime. Back home, I tell people what I do for a living and they think well, now that figures. But over here, it's a big, a big mystery. So, I guess I've changed some. Sometimes I wonder if I've changed so much my wife is even going to recognize me, whenever it is that I get back to her. And how I'll ever be able to tell her about days like today. Ah, Ryan. I don't know anything about Ryan. I don't care. The man means nothing to me. It's just a name. But if... You know if going to Rumelle and finding him so that he can go home. If that earns me the right to get back to my wife, then that's my mission.