Saving Private Ryan is a 1998 Academy-Award-winning film set in World War II, directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat.

This film is particularly notable for the intensity of its opening 25 minutes, which depicts the Omaha beachhead assault of June 6, 1944. Thereafter it presents a fictional search for a paratrooper of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division. While this part of the plot is a work of fiction, the premise is very loosely based on the real-life case of the Niland Brothers.

The film begins with an elderly veteran and his family visiting the World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. We see the veteran walking to a headstone, falling to his knees before it and losing his composure. His family gathers around him and the scene flashes back to a graphic recreation of the landing of the first wave of soldiers on Omaha Beach during the WWII invasion of Normandy. The film focuses on one Cpt. John H. Miller, who eventually manages to lead a group of men through the dense German beach defenses to reach the heights overlooking the beach.

The story shifts to the U.S. War Department offices where thousands of death notification letters are being typed for delivery to the families of the fallen soldiers. It is discovered that three of the four brothers of the Ryan family have all died within days of each other and that their mother will receive all three notices on the same day. The fourth son, Pfc. James Francis Ryan, a paratrooper, remains unaccounted for somewhere in France. Gen. George C. Marshall orders that he be found and sent home immediately.

The scene changes back to Europe, where Miller assembles a squad of eight men to carry out his orders: find Ryan and return him safely to the rear. Possessing virtually no information as to Ryan’s whereabouts or the location where his unit parachuted into France, Miller and his men must move from town to town and among other American units to find him.

After several false leads and the loss of one of their squad, the men find a friend of Ryan’s who tells them that Ryan is defending a strategically important bridge over the Merderet River in the nearby (fictional) town of Ramelle.

The unit eventually arrives at Ramelle and finds Ryan. Ryan surprises them by refusing to leave his unit and the men who he has called "the only brothers he has left". Miller and his squad decided to help defend the town from an impending German counter-attack and elicit Ryan’s promise that he will leave with them once the town is secured.

Miller leads the defense of the small town in the movie’s climactic battle. The Germans overwhelm the defenders killing nearly all of Ryan's squad. Only Ryan, Upham, Rieben and Miller and a few airborne troops remain. They prepare to destroy the bridge, but a near miss from one of the German tanks knocks Miller off his feet and sends the detonator flying.

Miller attempts to venture back onto the bridge into heavy enemy fire to retrieve the detonator, but is shot and critically wounded. Dazed and dying, Miller vainly fires his service pistol at a Tiger tank advancing across the bridge, when it unexpectedly explodes. Seconds later, a pair of Mustangs fly over, providing air support for the newly arrived American reinforcements and destroying the tank, providing the explanation.

Miller is tended to in vain by the remaining members of the squad. His final words to Ryan are: “James… earn this. Earn it.” Ryan’s face morphs into that of the old man in the cemetery from the opening of the film and the grave is revealed to be Miller’s.

In 1994, Robert Rodat saw a monument in Putney Corners, New Hampshire dedicated to eight brothers that died during the American Civil War. Inspired by the story, Rodat did some research and decided to write a similar story set on World War II. Rodat's script was submitted to producer Mark Gordon, that liked the story but only accepted the text after 11 drafts. After Spielberg and Tom Hanks joined the project, shooting was settled to start in June 27, 1997. Before filming begun, several of the film’s stars, including Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi as well as Tom Hanks, endured several days of “boot camp” training and work on the film set to prepare for their roles.

Spielberg had already demonstrated his interest in World War II themes starting with the films 1941, Empire of the Sun, Schindler's List, and the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg would go on to co-produce the World War II themed television mini-series Band of Brothers with Tom Hanks. When asked about this by American Cinematographer, Spielberg said, “I think that World War II is the most significant event of the last 100 years; the fate of the Baby Boomers and even Generation X was linked to the outcome. Beyond that, I’ve just always been interested in World War II. My earliest films, which I made when I was about 14 years old, were combat pictures that were set both on the ground and in the air. For years now, I’ve been looking for the right World War II story to shoot, and when Robert Rodat wrote Saving Private Ryan, I found it.”

Although the D-Day scenes were shot in Curracloe, Wexford, Ireland, some shooting was done in Normandy, for the World War II Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer and Calvados. Other scenes were filmed in English locations such as a former British Aerospace factory in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, London and Thame Park, Oxfordshire. Production was due to also take place in Seaham, County Durham, but Government restrictions disallowed this.

While researching the screenplay, Rodat came across the story of Sgt. Frederick (Fritz) Niland, who, with some other members of the 101st Airborne, was inadvertently dropped too far inland. They eventually made their own way back to their unit at Carentan, where the chaplain, Lieutenant Colonel Father Francis Sampson, told Niland about the death of his three brothers, two at Normandy and one in the Far East.

Under the War Department’s Sole Survivor Policy, brought about after the death of the five Sullivan brothers serving on the same ship, Fr. Sampson arranged passage for Sgt. Niland back to Britain and thereafter to his parents, Augusta and Michael Niland, in Tonawanda, New York. There was no behind-the-lines rescue mission, and his mother was not a widow, although it is believed that she did receive all the telegrams at the same time. Additionally, the brother believed to be killed in the Far East turned out to have been captured and later returned home.

In the film, the decision to order the safe return of Private Ryan is inspired in part by the General’s reading of the Letter to Mrs. Bixby, written by Abraham Lincoln to console the mother of five sons then believed to have been killed in the American Civil War, thus tying the film back to Rodat's Civil War inspiration.

Saving Private Ryan has been critically noted for its realistic portrayal of WWII combat; to the point where several of the film’s stars, including Edward Burns, Barry Pepper, Vin Diesel and Giovanni Ribisi as well as Tom Hanks, endured several days of grueling “boot camp” training and work on the film set to prepare for their roles. In particular, the initial sequence dealing with the Omaha landings was voted the best battle scene of all time by Empire magazine. Filmed in Ireland, the scene cost $11 million and involved up to 1,000 extras who were also members of the Irish Army Reserve. The landing craft used included two actual WWII examples. In addition, 20-30 actual amputees were used to portray US soldiers maimed during the landing. The makers even used underwater cameras to better depict soldiers being hit by bullets in the water. It is reported that 40 gallon barrels of fake blood were used to simulate the effect on the seawater. At times this degree of verisimilitude was made particularly difficult as very few World War II German armored vehicles survive in operating condition. The Tiger tanks in the film were copies built on the chassis of old, but functional Soviet T-34 tanks. The two vehicles described in the film as 'Panzers' were built on the chassis' of Czech-built Panzer 38(t) tanks.

Inevitably, some historical license was taken by the filmmakers for the sake of drama. One of the most notable is the depiction of the 2nd SS Division “Das Reich,” as the adversary during the fictional Battle of Ramelle. 2nd SS was not engaged in Normandy until July, and then at Caen against the British, a hundred miles east. Further, the Merderet River bridges were not an objective of the 101st Airborne Division but of the 82nd Airborne Division. Finally, much has been said about various 'tactical errors' made by both the German and American forces in the movie's climactic battle. Steven Spielberg responded, saying that in many scenes he opted to replace sound military tactics for dramatic effect.

Saving Private Ryan was well received by audiences and garnered considerable critical acclaim, winning several awards for film, cast and crew as well as earning significant returns at the box office. The movie is credited with contributing to a resurgence in America’s interest in World War II; old and new films, video games, and novels about the War enjoyed renewed popularity. Additionally the film's use of desaturated colors, hand-held cameras and tight angles has profoundly influenced subsequent films as well as computer and video games; many of the latter display the same style of action and often use the same battlegrounds as the movie itself.

Saving Private Ryan was released in 2,463 theatres on July 28, 1998, and grossed $30.5 million on its opening weekend. Domestically the film grossed $216.5 million and $265 million at the foreign box office, bringing its world wide total to about $482 million, being the third highest grossing movie of 1998, behind Titanic and Armageddon. Critical reception was also positive, with much praise to the realistic battle scenes and the actor performances, but earning criticism for the script and ignoring British contributions to the D-Day landings The film wasn't released in Malaysia after Spielberg refused to cut the violent scenes.It currently scores 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and 90% on Metacritic, two movie reviews aggregate sites. Many critics associations, such as New York Critics Circle and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, chose Saving Private Ryan as Film of the Year.

The film was later nominated for eleven Academy Awards, with wins for Best Cinematography, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, Best Editing and Best Director for Spielberg, but lost the Best Picture award to Shakespeare in Love, being one of a few that have won the Best Director award without also winning Best Picture. The film also won the Golden Globes for Best Picture - Drama and Director, the BAFTA for Special Effects and Sound, the DGA Award, a Grammy Award for Best Film Soundtrack, the PGA Golden Laurel Award, and the Saturn Award for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film.

The film's debut on home video was in May 1999, with a VHS that earned over $44 million and later received an special edition, featuring an extra tape with documentaries. The DVD was released in November of the same year, and was one of the best-selling titles of the year, with over 1.5 million unit.

In 2004, a Saving Private Ryan special edition DVD was released to celebrate 60 years of the D-Day. This two-disc edition was also in a box set entitled World War II Collection, along with two documentaries produced by Spielberg, Price For Peace (about the Pacific War) and Shooting War (about war photographers, narrated by Tom Hanks).