Revealing mistake: In the opening sequence Cpt Miller is wading through the sea with another man. You can see an odd looking square-shaped object clearly through his wet uniform. It may come as no surprise that a second later he is shot dead centre of the pocket. The object was obviously a charge. (00:07:45)
Revealing mistake: In the Omaha Beach fight when the soldiers are ordered to gather more weapons and ammo, there is a massive explosion shortly after - if you look closely you can see the wires used to pull the unfortunate victims into the air. (00:16:25)
Revealing mistake: When the American goes to sit down and hits a block of wood that hits a wall the wall falls down and there are German soldiers. In the next shot they are screaming, notice the man standing in front of the table the camera makes a close up of his face he is the one without a helmet. In the next shot all of them get shot right? Well look closely at that man in front of the table he gets shot and goes to sit down on the table and misses the table. He quickly sits back on the table. Look closely and you'll see it. (00:56:10)
Revealing mistake: When Wade gets shot, watch the shot where Upham brings the bags up to the injured medic. The next shot there is some fog which then reveals the injured medic. In this shot, watch carefully as the cast rips away the medic's shirt. If you look near the neck, you can see the fake stomach vest he is wearing for a split second - when the actor realises he ripped too far up, he quickly covers it back up. (01:28:43)
Revealing mistake: In the scene where the American soldiers are in the village listening to the French music on the record player, take a look at the stone pillars at either side of the doorway. The bullet patterns are all the same on each stone block. No doubt the same mould was used. (01:56:00)
Revealing mistake: In the final battle scene, where Jackson (the sniper) is in the tower you see him from the side view shooting Germans, and his rifle recoils with every shot; but when you see the Germans through the scope, there is no sign of recoil at all. (02:13:10)
Revealing mistake: During the battle of Ramelle, when two men of the 101st prepare to firebomb a Marder tank destroyer from above, one of its German crew is looking up, spotting them. For that instant, you can see the pasty fireproof mask covering the German's face. (02:15:34)
Revealing mistake: Just before the two American soldiers slap their grease coated "sticky bombs" on the passing German Tiger tank, you can clearly see two identically shaped grease stains on the first two wheels. Presumably nobody remembered to wipe off the wheels of the tank after a rehearsal or previous take of the scene.
Revealing mistake: After the final battle, Reiben is calling for a medic to assist Miller. When he gets up to go and find a medic, he picks up his BAR by the barrel with no problem. Having just fought in a fairly long action with a high rate of fire, his BAR barrel would be far too hot to touch, let alone pick the rifle up by. It would take 15 or 20 mins for it to cool down enough to handle.
Revealing mistake: In the closing battle of the film we see one of the American soldiers with an ammunition belt around his neck. The striker marks on the primers indicate that the belt is made up of fired (ie. useless) cases which have had bullets put back into them so they look normal, or maybe dummy rounds.
Revealing mistake: In the scene in Ramelle, 5 or so guys climb onto a stopped tank and the 20mm gun opens fire on them. The middle "guy" is stood upright next to the turret. I say "guy" because he's a dummy rigged to be shot - he is rigid for the whole scene until he falls to pieces.
Revealing mistake: Throughout the film we see indications that someone has been shot when a puff of grey dust comes from the body as it gets hit. This grey dust is coming from a smaller version of a paint ball filled with a white powder that the camera can capture. The mistake is that it should be blood, or nothing, not a white powder - unless the entire German army from Omaha Beach to Ramelle is dusty.
Revealing mistake: At the end when Tom Hanks has been shot and he pulls out his pistol in his final act of defiance, watch closely. The pistol jams on his second round. You can see the slide lock partially open. Immediately afterwards he goes on to fire several more shots.
Revealing mistake: At the end of the movie, in the Omaha Cemetery scene where the old Ryan is reading Captain Miller's marker, the shoreline should be to his left, not his right. This is because all the stones face the same direction and, when reading them, the water would be on the reader's left. Only Miller's stone is facing the opposite direction- note that all the others look blank because we're looking at their backs.
Revealing mistake: In the scene in Ramelle, the sniper is taking out Germans from the bell tower and saying "Be my strength" etc. He shoots two guys in quick succession on the corner of a wall. The "shot through the chest" effect goes off on the second actor but perpendicular to the direction of the shot.
Revealing mistake: Near the end of the movie there is a hand-to-hand combat scene which results in an American soldier being knifed in the chest while pleading for his life. You can see that it is a fake cardboard box body with his head poking out.
Revealing mistake: Several close-up shots of the bullets used throughout the film show holes in the cases, so they are clearly dummy rounds.
Revealing mistake: The shot of the eight members of the group is reused later in the film when there should only be seven.
Suggested correction: This is much too vague. Where is the repeated shot used?
Revealing mistake: When Steamboat Willie shoots a paratrooper running across the bridge who falls off and into the water in the middle right of the bridge you can see a crewmember's right arm in the shot.
Suggested correction: This is not a crew member. This is Captain Miller's arm as he is just getting to his feet to walk towards the detonator.
Revealing mistake: When Mellish is stabbed, there's already a hole in his shirt before he's stabbed.
