Factual error: Near the end of the movie when an American fighter saves the day, it's a P-51 Mustang. In June, 1944 the most likely ground support fighter would have been the P-47 Thunderbolt. Also, American planes were still painted olive drab at that point. The Mustang in the movie did have black and white invasion stripes, but it's the wrong plane and the wrong color.
lionhead
19th May 2023
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
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Suggested correction: The P-51 was one of the most commonly used fighter planes in the USAF by mid-1944. These planes had been flying in Europe since 1942, starting with the RAF, its original user. There are colored pictures of Mustangs with the paint job depicted in the movie from mid-1944 as well.
31st Aug 2021
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Continuity mistake: Right before Capazzo dies he holds up the letter, but it's in a zip-lock bag. After the sniper is killed the medic retrieves the soaking wet, unbagged letter.
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Suggested correction: The letter is never in any bag, plastic or otherwise. It's always bare or else he wouldn't be worried if there is blood on it. Zip-lock bags weren't invented until the 1950's anyway.
19th Jul 2021
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: Newbie is told to stop saluting the Captain because it makes him a priority target, but Tom Hanks sports his Captain's bars throughout the movie.
16th Mar 2021
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: When Captain Miller tells Jackson he wants him to be up in the bell tower you can see a tree in the background, complete with green leaves. With all those explosions around which destroyed all the buildings, any tree there would have got burnt, or at least all their leaves would have been blown off by the explosions. (01:54:00)
Correction: An explosion would sooner fell the tree than blow off the leaves, that's why a storm would fell a tree, because the leaves won't come off until autumn. That tree just got lucky.
27th Feb 2021
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: During the Omaha Beach scene, the radio man lying next to Tom Hanks suffers a massive wound to his face, killing him. But there is no blood or gore at all, just a hole in his face. It is impossible to sustain this type of injury and have no blood present.
Correction: The wound is immediately cauterized from the heat. Therefore, no bleeding. You notice the hole in the face smoking, so he was probably killed by a grenade or shell from a mortar.
19th Aug 2019
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: Contrary to what happens in the movie, commanders wouldn't have sent an army unit into enemy territory to save a single soldier. Some cities were still occupied, and heavily guarded by German military forces at the time in which the movie takes place, and commanders would have thought it would be too risky to send an army unit into enemy territory to save a single soldier. Instead, they would have had put the word out among troops to try to find private Ryan as they found each other after the air-drop out errors, and advanced inland.
Correction: This is not meant to be a true story based on true events. Only it's set around the events of D-Day and after. This is a fictional idea made into a story for heroics and therefore isn't a factual error. Artistic licences are taken into situations like this all the time in movies. If this was meant to be based on a true story, then this would be a factual error, but it's fantasy.
Not only would commanders not have sent into a unit into enemy territory to save one soldier, I don't believe it would make sense to send such a mission given the manpower, and resources that would be needed for such a mission.
This can be a factual error whether the movie is based on a true story or not. There are tons of fantasy films with factual errors.
The main thing is that it's a story and a movie, not a documentary. You are supposed to go with the drama. It is not a mistake if they do it intentionally (may be categorized into a "deliberate mistake" though). It is a fine line, but in this movie it's pretty obvious.
5th May 2003
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: In the German version the Americans are translated, so they speak German... but the Germans also speak German, yet they don't understand each other.
Correction: This is not a mistake, but an extremely common technique used to make viewing the film easier for speakers of a particular language and avoid the need for extensive subtitles. German viewers are expected to take it as a given that the American characters are actually speaking English to one another and that Upham is the only character that can actually speak and understand fluent German.
Makes me wonder how they explain "fubar" though.
I'm always curious how slang terms that are that specific are translated into other languages. Take it to the forums and see if anyone who speaks German can watch that version. I'd be curious to see the answer myself.
27th Jun 2018
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: What Ryan said to Miller would not have been enough to convince Miller to let him stay behind. Military members can't just choose which orders to obey.
Correction: Doesn't matter if it would have, Miller decided to stay himself and keep him safe. Miller was ordered to get him home, but understands Ryan wanting to stay so he decided to stay too and help defend the bridge and keep Ryan alive at least. Even though it was an order it doesn't mean Miller doesn't or shouldn't take Ryan's opinion into consideration.
According to history buffs Fritz Niland the person which the movie is based on responded the way Ryan responds in the movie. Unlike private Ryan though Fritz had no chance of convincing the army otherwise because you can't just pick and choose the orders that were given. He was told that he had to go home and that was that.
27th Apr 2018
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: When Caparzo is shot by the sniper in the church the shot hits him in the front of his chest/lung, indicating the church is in front of them, but when Jackson sees the church the sniper is stationed in, it's behind them.
Correction: No, the shot hits him in his back and goes through his body, you see it exiting out his chest. He had his back to the church, facing the rest of the squad, when he is hit. There is no error in this scene.
27th Oct 2016
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Corrected entry: During the climatic battle scene near the end, a Marder III tank destroyer is driven into the city and gets destroyed by American soldiers with molotovs. However, a Marder III would never be driven into a city as a vanguard with such high ambush possibility, as it was a vehicle solely dedicated for anti-tank purposes and would be hopeless against infantry.
Correction: Tanks aren't just used to fight other tanks. It is an armored vehicle used as cover for the foot soldiers, its use as a tank destroyer is irrelevant. They weren't expecting enemy armor, but they were expecting snipers, so the tank was used to protect the foot soldiers. It later was used to take out the sniper position, so it did serve its purpose well.
A Marder was just an anti tank gun on tracks. It didn't have any machine guns except what they could poke over the top of the armour. Not ideal for supporting infantry but if it's all they've got... A stupid decision by the Germans, but not really a movie mistake.
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