Saving Private Ryan corrections

When the two infantries are waiting for the enemy, Upham, Reiben and Horvath are sitting on some steps outside a building listening to music. In the wide shot Reiben is looking at his fingers but in the following shot his hands are crossed and is holding his arms. See more...

Trivia

The storyline for the movie was very loosely based on the story of Sgt. Frederick (Fritz) Niland from Tonawanda, New York. He and other members of the 101st, were dropped too far inland, but eventually made their way back to their unit. Upon his arrival back, the Chaplain told Niland about the death of his three brothers, two at Normandy and one in the Far East, so the Chaplain arranged his return home, due to the US War Department's Sole Survivor Policy. As it turned out, his brother believed to have been killed in the Far East had been captured, and later returned home as well. The story of Niland and the 101st was written about by the Chaplain, Lt. Col. Father Francis Sampson, in his book, Look Out Below! See more...

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Movie Mistakes blog

Saving Private Ryan (1998) - 90 corrections

Directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Adam Goldberg, Edward Burns, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Vin Diesel (add more)

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. As such, any aggressive/abusive corrections (and I get quite a few) written as if they're comments I've made myself will be ignored. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click the edit icon under an entry, then choose "correct entry". Some entries have "duplicated entry" after them - these are entries which were already listed on the main page, but were submitted again. I occasionally leave these online for a while, just in case they were moved in error, so don't worry about pointing them out to me.

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Throughout the movie Pvt. Jackson uses a Springfield '03 rifle; a rifle that can only hold 5 rounds of ammo at a time. The gun's ammo has to be inserted one at a time. In the final battle scene where he is firing on the Germans from atop the church tower, you see that he fires more than 5 rounds continuously without reloading. [After Jackson fires his 4th shot (when he misses the german soldier) he reloads quickly adding more 30.06 rounds in the chamber of the Springfield 1903. Also when he reloads, if you listen carefully, he says "Here you go baby" Probably because he was "feeding" the rifle bullets (if you want to put it that way).]

When they have captured the German machine gun placement, look carefully at the German MG-42 machine gun - its front sight is down, not up. No wonder they missed so much. [As soon as an MG42's trigger is pulled, the gun is jumping around and putting dust anywhere, enough to make anyone miss. The gun having an aim would make no difference, especially at that range.]

In the D-Day scene where the Germans are firing at the troops on the beach a machine gun (MG-42) is fired for about ten seconds non-stop. The MG-42 can only fire for about 5 seconds without pausing otherwise the barrel will overheat causing the bullets to go everywhere. I fired an MG-42 before and overheated the barrel and that made the gun useless until I changed the barrel. [There is more than one MG, and you can clearly hear one MG stop firing and another start.]

Jackson claims at one point that he could hit Adolph Hitler from a mile away. So why, instead of the squad charging the radar station and losing a man, doesn't he pick off the machine-gunners from a distance, or at least do so while the others charge? [Jackson is surely a heroic shooter, but he was simply following orders by CPT Miller to charge the German radar site]

In the final battle scene regarding the 'Tiger' tanks. Note the American soldiers running back and forth in front of the 'Tigers'. The tanks are not firing their machine guns at all. This would be highly unlikely (and stupid) since the Tiger had a five man crew and two internally operated machine guns. If they were actually used, the exposed Americans would have been cut to pieces. [In regard to the 1st Tiger tank (the one disabled by the sticky bombs) it opened fire after the German soldiers were mowed down and also when Upham ran down the staircase to get more ammunition. Maybe later on the Germans ran out of ammunition or their gun could have jammed, which could explain why they didn't open fire then. As for the 2nd Tiger tank it was constantly moving, which would make it difficult to shoot the American soldiers. Also the German tank commander was trying to capture the bridge, so he probably ignored those American soldiers. Soldiers armed with rifles would NOT be much of a threat to a German Tiger tank commander.]

Has anyone else noticed how clean Matt Damon's teeth are? In the final stages of the movie, when the allied soldiers are preparing to defend the bridge, there is a close up of Matt's face which reveals perfect and shiny white teeth. Now I severely doubt that in a war situation a soldier would have teeth this perfect... [As is shown in Band of Brothers, during downtime you take care of personal hygiene. It was stressed to us many times to take care of our teeth in a combat zone, same as taking care of our feet due to possible trench foot. There would be nothing wrong with someone having good teeth, even in a combat zone.]

In the battle at the village one American soldier gets onto the Tiger, opens the hatch and drops a hand grenade into it. This is not possible since these hatches were locked from inside. [A German crewman opened the hatch to get out. But he was shot by an American who then stuck his gun into the hatch to stop the lid from closing.]

It is common german military tactics not to drive tiger tanks or tanks of any kind into a urban area until it has been searched by infantry for anti-tank weapons (such as bazooka's and so on). This tactic was most notably learned early in the Russian campaign and therefore known before the D-day landings and the battle for the bridge. The most common tactic would have been to use the infantry to search house by house, and if strong resistence is met, to use the artillary to push them into the open. [Sometimes mistakes like that do happen. In the book Steel Inferno (written by Michael Reynolds, a retired British officer who is an expert on German panzer tactics) on pages 130-131, Chapter 11, it tells about an incident that took place at Villers-Bocage, France. "On 6/13/1944 at 1300 hours, several Tiger and Mark IV tanks went into the town and were AMBUSHED by British soldiers armed with PIATs (Projector Infantry Anti-Tank, a weapon similar to a bazooka or panzerschrek), sticky bombs, and 6-pounder guns. At least one Tiger and one Mark IV tanks were destroyed by PIATs and sticky bombs dropped from the upper floor windows or thrown from ground floors. The wreckage of six Tiger tanks and two Mark IV tanks were found in the town after the battle."]

A Hitler Youth dagger is found in the trench right after the first bunker is taken on the beach. The men in these bunkers were mostly old German soldiers (in their 40's), veterans of the Russian campaign and Ukrainian and White Russian conscripts. It's highly unlikely that a member of the Hitler Youth or an SS Division composed of them would have been manning the bunkers on that stretch of Normandy, which had not been expected to be an invasion target. These divisions were kept further inland, with the rest of the SS Panzer divisions. [Actually, the Hitler Youth WERE at Normandy. Hitler sent them there to 'fill out the ranks' because they were inexperienced, un-trained and he decided it was the least likely point of attack.]

In the scene that depicts General Marshall, he is wearing four stars on his uniform. At that point in the war, he was a five star general. He outranked both Eisenhower and MacArthur. Eisenhower was still a four star until just before the Ardennes offensive that winter. [Marshall's rank is correct. The 5 star rank of Gerneral of the Army, and the Naval equivalent Fleet Admiral was created by act of Congress on 14 Dec 1944, with the first promotions effective the next day. This was six months after the D-Day invasion.]

In the end battle the Americans take on the Waffen SS 2nd division 'Das Reich'. Das Reich's Tiger tank company was disbanded in 1943 at Kursk, yet in the film two tigers are present under Das Reich command. [In fact, the massacre of Oradour sur Glane, where more than 600 civilians were slaughtered by the Germans, was operated by units of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Das Reich" on 9./10.6.1944 whilst on their way to Normandy beaches. Obviously, the unit was not destroyed at all in 1943]

When Mellish and Henderson are fighting in the room in Romell, twice German Steilgrenates are thrown into the room. Both times they are picked up and thrown back and then the grenades explode. This is highly unlikely since the Steilgrenate had a short (4.5 sec) fuse and would likely have blown up in the hand of the person throwing it back. It was more common that Germans threw back American grenades which had a much longer fuse delay. [At that time in the war, Steilgrenates were being manufactured by slave labor and were notoriously unreliable. Some did not fuction properly, and many did not work at all.]

In the scene towards the end where Corporal Upham is translating the French song 'Tu es partout', he translates correctly but his translation does match the song. He says everything prematurely, before it's actually said in the song. [Upham appears to know the song quite well so it's not surprising that he translates the lines to come instead of the lines that came. That's what I do when I translate Swedish songs into English to a listener.]

Pvt. Jackson (the sniper) is using a 1903 Springfield, bolt action rifle. The problem is that he is left handed and the bolt is on the right side of the gun; he must reach over the scope with his left hand to activate the bolt after each shot - a very awkward move. It is doubtful that the Army would have allowed a lefty to train as a sniper because of the type of weapon used. [Yes, he does reach over the gun to reload. This is because some snipers are trained in military as to NEVER remove their hand from the trigger when engaging multiple targets. So, in which case, he doesn't remove his hand from the trigger, continues aiming, and reloads with his free hand.]

As the Rangers move out with the clutzy interpreter Upham, the veterans chastise him for saluting Capt. Miller, lest they draw the attention of German snipers to their leader. At that moment and throughout the film, "Capt. Miller" is wearing a helmet with his twin captain's bars painted in plain sight on the front, where no self-respecting sniper could possibly miss them. [Whatever Capt. Miller did or did not do with his uniform, it was still unwise to salute him. A salute is much easier to spot than an inch-high insignia.]

Time

In the Omaha Beach scene we can see certain of the beach obstacles Rommel had installed just a couple of months before the invasion took place. While most of them are according to historical appearance, the triangles of wood are headed the wrong way. Their flat end is to be towards the sea, not towards the bunkers. [In the movie, there are wooden structures facing in both directions. The ones further out to sea are sloping down towards the beach (presumably to prevent landing craft from getting too close) and the ones actually ON the beach are facing the other way, to prevent heavy armoured vehicles from driving up to the bunkers.]

Corrected by Jez

At the end of the beach battle, Captain Miller calls up a soldier with a flamethrower to clear the bunker. Firing a flamethrower through the back entrance to a bunker was extremely unwise. A well constructed bunker (and the Germans were good at making bunkers) would not have a back entrance that led directly into the main area of the bunker. In order to deflect blasts there would either be a concrete slab inside the door or a corridor which would force you to turn left or right to enter the bunker. Firing a flamethrower straight through the door into a concrete slab would kill the flamethrower operator as the flame deflected back at him. [As the shot changes to show the front of the bunker, there is time for the flamethrower operator to go round the corner into the main area. It's unlikely he would have fired straight away when faced with the wall, and we don't see exactly what he does.]

Corrected by Jez

In the scene where Ryan and Miller are lobbing mortars at the advancing troops, they both say they are out of ammo but as soon as they cross the bridge Hanks is firing his Thompson at the german firing line, if he said he was out where did he get the Thompson ammo? [They would have had some spare ammo in their 'Alamo' position, which they have just reached.]

Corrected by Jez

At the beginning of the last battle scene in the French village you can see the back of the soldiers who are looking down the street awaiting the arriving German tanks. If you look closely at the end of the street you can see the stationary, angled barrel of a tank yet the soundtrack of that tank leads the viewer into believing it is moving beyond the buildings. When the "sound" of the tank reaches the street the tank itself starts to move as well. [The stationary, angled object is a piece of rubble, not the tank's gun barrel. The tank emerges from a a position behind the junk.]

Corrected by Jez

Throughout the movie, we see Rieban firing his B.A.R and there are flashes at the end of the barrel. All B.A.Rs had a flash supressant at the ends so no flashes should bee seen. [Hiding the flash from enemy troops when firing on them isn't the purpose of the hider, all automatic weapons are easily visible when fired at night. It blocks the muzzle flash from the vision of the shooter, maintaining his night vision. Unless the camera was looking directly down the BAR (from the shooter's) point of view, seeing muzzle flashes would be natural, and expected.]

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