Saving Private Ryan (1998) - 102 mistakes

Continuity: When they go to find Private Ryan there are eight of them, when they go to a French town and a solider picks up the little girl and he gets killed there are seven, right? Wrong. A few scenes later, the camera shows all eight of them marching on to the next town, only in a far away camera shot so it's hard to see.

Factual error: The Tiger tanks portrayed in the movie are actually Soviet T-34s. You could tell by looking at their wheels. Real Tigers had interleaved wheels. These Tigers clearly had the T-34 suspension. Obviously, Tigers were so rare that another tank had to be substituted. But an excellent job was done to make the T-34s look like Tigers.

Continuity: When Miller is collecting Upham from the group of translators and map readers, Upham is so confused and clumsy that he knocks everything off the table onto the floor (e.g. typewriter and helmets). Told by Miller to leave everything except his helmet, Upham picks up a German one by mistake. When sent back to the table to get his own, everything has miraculously jumped off the floor back onto the table.

Revealing: In the scene where the medic 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 realizes he ripped too far up, he quickly covers it back up.

Continuity: In the scene in the Pentagon between several officers and General Marshall, when the camera pans over Marshall's left shoulder towards the officers, you can see that the colonel, who was missing his left arm in earlier scenes, has it again; it's missing again in the next shot. It may be just that his sleeve's rolled down in the middle shot, but that's still an error.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: After the taking of the beaches, and Miller returns for revised orders, the fleet in the background appears/disappears.

Revealing: 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.

Factual error: In the Ryan farmhouse scene, the camera pans across the room. You see a telephone hanging on the wall. That type of phone did not appear until at least the 1950s.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: When Jackson has been given the dog tags to search through he looks for a place to sit. In this scene you see a black box with two yellow boxes at either side in the background. In the next scene the yellow box on the left has magically jumped up onto the black box in order for Jackson to kick it off and sit on it.

Continuity: In the last battle in the village, a 20mm cannon killed the occupants on the tank. The camera zooms in to show the cannon ejecting spent shell casings, but if you slow it down you see that it is ejecting unfired rounds.

Continuity: In the Belltower in Ramelle where Jackson and Parker are shooting away, there is one scene where you see Parker running out of .30 caliber ammunition. One second the MG uses a belt with ammunition, in the close up, you see the more modern disintegrating link.

Continuity: At the start of the film in the telegraph scene, a Captain goes into the Colonel's office to tell him about the Ryan brothers. He is holding a folder which he puts on the Colonel's desk, but we don't see him pick it back up in all the following shots, yet it suddenly appears back in his hands.

Continuity: When the Americans are preparing the final ambush in Ramelle, there is a part with Miller explaining to a soldier and Ryan how the bridge has to be blown (1:57:44), then the soldier mentions that the last man to do it must run away because they are going to use 30-seconds delay fuse. But at the very end, Miller tries to detonate the explosives with a electrical switch (2:29:53).

Continuity: In the scene where Mellish is in the fight to the death with the German. Mellish pulls out his bayonet with an underhand grip. In the next shot he has it with an overhand grip.

Continuity: When Miller and Ryan are talking outside a cafe (I think), Miller grabs a chair, sits down in front of Ryan and puts his right hand on top of his left, but in the following shot his left hand is on top of his right.

Revealing: 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.

Revealing: In the scene where 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 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.

Continuity: In the opening scene, when old James Ryan's family is behind him in the wider shot, one of the three blonde girls at the back has her hair over her ear and her right hand down by her side. In the following closeup of her, her hair is now behind her ear and her hand is up by her bag strap.

Factual error: Upham is referred to throughout the film as a Corporal. He is actually a Technician 5th Grade, indicated by the 'T' beneath his stripes. The same pay grade, but without the NCO rank. This doesn't stand for "Translater" as some people have argued - "Technician" was a term applied to anyone with a special skill - the US Army now uses "Specialist" instead to avoid confusion.

Continuity: In the scene where the American soldiers are about to ambush the Tiger tank, look at the empty belt on the right side of CPL Henderson's machine gun. Its length changes from shot to shot before he opens fire.

Continuity: 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.

Continuity: Close to the beginning of the film when the group are walking through a field where the sheep are, Vin Diesel in one shot puts his cigarette up to his mouth, in the following shot he is putting it up to his mouth again.

Continuity: At the start of the movie on Omaha Beach, just before Tom Hanks and the others clear the fence with the big bombs, a man is shot and it ricochets off of his metal hat, but in the previous scene he can be see looking at Tom Hanks, in the following shot he is looking away towards the bunkers.

Factual error: In the end scene, after the final battle, Reiben is seen 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. 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. He should have picked it up by the foregrip (The wooden bit under the barrel).

Continuity: When Miller first hits the sand at Omaha a mortar round blows up behind him. He kneels in the sand, his face covered with bloody water. Seconds later a young soldier shouts at him and suddenly Miller is chest deep in the water with a clean face. Also his helmet liner strap changes position across the visor of his helmet.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: At the end when Tom Hanks has just died, there is a distant shot of Ryan standing there in disbelief. By Tom Hanks left leg is a helmet, upside down. The next shot is from above and the helmet has flipped over.

Factual error: In the scene where the American troops are storming the German radar station, you can see a few dead cows with oversized bellies provoked by putrefaction, which means that they were killed at least 12 hours ago. When one of the cows receives a bullet, you can see highly-oxigenated fully arterial red blood spurting from the wound, something impossible to happens in a dead body. Blood at this time of death should be nearly black or brown.

Continuity: In the scene where Miller tries to persuade Ryan to go back home, watch their shadows on the bridge, they change directions throughout the scene because they were shot at different times of the day.

Continuity: At the end of the Radar Station Battle, Miller is yelling for Upham to bring their gear. As told he does. Watch carefully. Just as he picks up the gear, he has a green strap on his chest. when you see a shot of him running, the strap is gone.

Continuity: In the preparation for the big battle in the village, the Americans count up on equipment left useable for the impending fight. A soldier lists what's left including two .30 caliber machine guns. In the preparation for the ambush of the Germans you see two .30 calibers being prepped for action by the American officers up the church tower and in the rubble, and then a third is carried past by an extra.

Continuity: When they first enter the field hospital, look at the side of the glider. By the door, there is no dead body. When they come back, there is a body resting against the glider. Did a wounded man get up to die next to the glider?

Continuity: When Upham is hiding behind a cow while his squad rushes the communication tower/bunker, he uses a sniper scope to see his squad mates. Upham holds the scope differently every time. The two knobs would first be at north/west, and the next shot would be south/east. This will change several times until Captain Miller tells him to get the gear.

Factual error: Capt. Miller and Pvt. Ryan throw the 60mm mortar rounds as grenades. This can not happen. The 60mm mortar round uses a type of propellant that is solid and looks like sliced cheese. It is placed around the outside of the lower section of the mortar round, which is also the fin area. They would need to remove the propellant first before they could hold onto the fin, which leads to the second mistake. The fin of the 60mm mortar is hollow with holes drilled through it. This is to allow the flame from the primer to reach the propellant. If a person was to hold onto the fin and hit the primer end on a piece of metal, the primer would ignite and burn your hand.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: During the Omaha beach scene, when Miller Horvath and a few other soldiers are at the front of one of the bunkers trying to get past the firing squad, he puts down his knife with the mirror attached and grabs his gun, holding it underneath, but in the following shot he is holding it at the top.

Continuity: When the group of soldiers led by Captain Miller are in the village, and the soldier knocks the wall down accidentally, if you notice when the soldiers above shoot them dead, that a lot of the blood gets sprayed onto part of the back wall, yet when we see the wall from inside the house, there is hardly any blood at all.

Revealing: 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.

Factual error: Near the end, Melish fires through the wall and kills a German. The blood then streams round the corner way to quickly to be real. It moves at the consistency of water. It then stops abruptly. Not the characteristics of blood.

Factual error: In the scene where the soldiers are going through the dog tags to try and find Ryan, they all have the smaller chains attached to the tags. This is wrong in two ways: (1) those chains were not brought into use during WWII, as you can see around Miller's neck (they're a circular piece of medal attached with string); (2) when ripping the dog tags off a dead body, the smaller link that you see attached is broken away from the necklace around the dead body. It would be rare, if ever, that a soldier would take the time to reconnect the smaller chain. More likely, he would simply take the tag.

Factual error: In the scene where Jackson takes out the German sniper, we see the German snipers point of view through his scope and he eventually spots Jackson who fires at him. First you see the flash, then the bang, and then the German sniper gets hit through his scope. This is wrong because since bullets from a powerful sniper rifle travel much faster than sound, he couldn't have heard the shot before he got hit.

Continuity: When the eight men are walking through the fields near the start, Vin Diesel has a cigarette. In some shots it is considerably longer than in previous shots.

Continuity: At the end of the film with the older James Ryan visiting Capt. Miller's grave, Ryan squares himself off with the tombstone to salute. However, in the next shot Ryan is off to the left of his tombstone, so that the camera can take the head-on angle of Miller's tombstone.

Revealing: 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, not a white powder - unless the entire German army from D-day to Ramelle is dusty.

Revealing: 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.

Factual error: The American troops at Ramelle bridge are supposed to be fighting the 2nd SS Panzer Division. Two things wrong: the 2nd SS never had Tiger tanks in Normandy, having turned over their Tiger battalion to another unit in Russia prior to being transferred to France. Second, in the scenes with the Tigers, a 1st SS Panzerkorps insignia (Crossed Keys) is seen on the front right hull of the Tigers; 2nd SS Panzer Division was never a part of 1st SS Panzerkorps.

Visible crew/equipment: When Riben, Ryan, and Miller are in the ditch a side angle shows them all on the same frame, if you look carefully to the right and behind some rubble, a blue tent is visible which is revealed in the special features to be the tent that dailies are viewed.

Continuity: In the scene where the two infantries are waiting by the bridge for the enemy, when Reiben, Upham and Horvath are on some steps, Fish walks up and sits down in front of Reiben. Fish is taking a puff of his cigarette holding it in his right hand, but in the following shot the cigarette is now in his left hand.

Continuity: When Miller's men and the other captain's men find the German family hiding in a partly destroyed house, Caparzo goes up to get the kid and gives her his necklace, but in the following shot he's giving it to her again. In the shot after it's gone from the kids hand, then reappears again when he is walking towards Miller.

Factual error: When the Americans arrive in the first village (the one where the family is marooned upstairs in what's left of their house) there is a French car. The car's registration plate follows the post-war system, not introduced until 1950.

Audio problem: When the Americans are defending the bridge, there's a scene where the guy with the m1 carbine is shooting his rifle. When he shoots the last round, his rifle "pings". Only the m1 Garand "pings".

Continuity: In the scene where Tom Hanks releases the German POW, he ties a black blindfold around the prisoner's eyes. Notice how narrow the blindfold looks. In the next shot Upham is guiding the prisoner and instructing him, and the blindfold all of a sudden becomes very broad.

Continuity: When Miller's men reach the town where the first Ryan is (the wrong one), Miller tells Ryan the bad news about his brothers. When Ryan starts to cry and leans over to his captain the captain's hand is on Ryan's head, but in the following shot it is on the top of his back.

Continuity: In the scene when they defend the bridge in Ramelle there is a soldier who wants to attach a stick-bomb at a German tank. When he walks out to the tank you see that he is wearing a beige uniform. In the next shot you see that the uniform has changed into a dark green, and you also see that it is a puppet that explodes.

Continuity: In the beach scene, a GI takes a shot in the helmet, removes his helmet while he collects his sense, and is promptly shot in the head. As he falls back, his head lolls back, yet when the camera angle changes, his chin is tucked down in his chest.

Factual error: In the scene where the Americans are fighting the Germans in Remelle, there are two Tiger 1 tanks. In reality, there were no Tiger tanks on the American front in Normandy. All Tigers in Normandy were placed on the British and Canadian front south of Caen.

Continuity: During the beach landing sequence we see what is left of Captain Miller's company fire up the German bunker with a flamethrower. A few seconds later Miller and troops are running along the top of a trench shooting into it. In the background you can see the same bunker not on fire and then bursting into flames as the SFX fire is added.

Continuity: In the scene where all the 101st Airborne troops walk past as Rieben, Jackson, Melish and Miller are joking about the various dog tags, you can see an isolated shot of a young Italian-looking trooper walk past and stare dead at the group. A few minutes later as Miller is yelling at the procession, he shows up again in the background as Miller encounters the soldier whose hearing is impaired because of the grenade. You have to look quickly though, and the image is somewhat blurred.

Continuity: In the last battle scene in the end, there is a lengthy shot of Mellish, Henderson, and Upham running to a building to cover the right flank with a machine gun. When you first see out of the hole in the wall (the one they use to fire out of) you can see in the background what looks like a Sd.Kfz.124 (tank) moving towards the right. Soon after this (right after they put the sticky bombs on the tank) there is a shot where Mellish is screaming about the flank folding, and once again you can see out of the hole and what looks like the exact same shot of the Sd.Kfz.124 moving towards the right. The tank would have had to go in reverse, and then go forward again, and there is only one of these tanks in the scene.

Other: When Ryan and Miller are using the 66's without the tube, there is one shot of a French soldier being hit and falling forward. A couple of seconds later this same shot is used again.

Visible crew/equipment: Scene when Hanks, Damon and company are retreating to the Alamo (across the bridge) the camera pans an overview shot of their retreating and you can see two crew members in the shot - one holding a camera and another supporting member, both wearing white tee shirts on the right part of the screen.

Factual error: When Caparzo gets shot you hear a dissonant chord on the piano instantly after the shot before he lands on it to create the rest. The only explanation for the sound would be the bullet deflected into the piano but that would only create two notes at most.

Continuity: When Mellish is in the house with the other soldier, and the other soldier shoots at the wall, just after this shot, the camera pans back to the two soldiers, if you look at the fireplace and chair, it looks like they are covered with dust and dirt, but in the overhead shot of the two soldiers, the fireplace and chair look brand new.

Continuity: In the scene where Mellish and the other Ranger hear footsteps coming up the stairs, you hear one set of footsteps. When they call out Upham's name, the footsteps stop. When Mellish fires into the wall, you hear a body drop and blood pool by the room opening. Yet there is no body outside the room, only the 'other' German soldier firing through the wall, shooting the one Ranger in the neck and ultimately killing Mellish. The only soldier outside that room was Upham, still on the stairwell.

Continuity: When inside the higgins boats, we see some men have netted helmets. However when they started to get blown to bits, they all have regular helmets.

Visible crew/equipment: Before the American soldiers attack the half-track in the field we see Upham walking. Watch at his left shoulder you see a square shadow moving around. It's the shadow of a camera.

Continuity: Close to the beginning when they are in a town, and the soldier sits on the ground or a plank, the colour of the plank of wood changes from being old and dark brown to looking like brand new between shots.

Continuity: When Miller arrives at the bottom of the hill, under the German machine gun, there's a radioman to his left. This solider gets his face shot off, but in a later beach scene, he appears as a different wounded soldier.

Revealing: Near the end of the movie there is an hand-to-hand combat scene which results in an American solider being knifed in the chest while pleading for his life. You can clearly see that is is a fake cardboard box body with his head poking out.

Continuity: In the first town the group comes to (the one where Caparzo is killed) they meet up with the Airborne troops and the Airborne Sergeant. They then move through the town to find the Airborne Captain. Right after they start this move the Airborne Sgt. stops and drops to a knee before moving on. When he gets up and moves, the coiled up rope (that all the Airborne carry) falls out of the left side of his back-pack. No-one notices it and they all keep moving. A couple of seconds later they show him with Miller, and the rope is back in his back-pack like it magically reappeared.

Continuity: After Caparzo has died from the sniper bullet, when Miller's men are grouped around Caparzo's body, Horvath is holding his gun in his right hand pointing it to the ground with his left arm by his side, but in the following shot, when Miller walks up, he is holding his weapon at waist height.

Continuity: When Tom Hank's men are in the village close to the start of the film, the soldier knocks down the wall accidentally, and the German soldier at the front picks up his weapon and points it (this can be seen from outside the house looking in). Then when it cuts back to all the German soldiers, he's picking and pointing the weapon again.

Continuity: In the final battle in the French Village, the Americans are attacked by two Tiger tanks, two Panzer tanks, etc. The Americans use a sticky bomb to turn the first Tiger into a roadblock. If you look at the roadwheels of the tank when the troops are attaching the sticky bombs, you can see that one of them has a large chunk of rubber missing. Later on, when Capt. Miller is staring down the second Tiger as it crosses the bridge, you can see that it too has a large chunk of rubber missing from the same roadwheel - same tank.

Factual error: During certain scenes in the movie, we see Jackson switching his Weaver M73B1 sniper scope on his M1903A4 sniper rifle with a Unertl sniper scope.  The problem is that the Unertl scope was used exclusively by the U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theatre on their M1903A1 sniper rifle.

Continuity: At the beginning of the film when we see Tom Hanks below the big bunker, and he tells Jackson to get in an impact crater, Jackson kisses his cross with his right hand, but in the following shot, he is suddenly holding his rifle.

Continuity: In the scene near the end, when two soldiers are in a row boat packing a bag with explosives, in the overhead shot the guy at the back of the boat puts the oar into the water to his right, but in the following shot from behind the oar is on the other side of the boat.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: When Miller's men are about to take the bunker under the radar tower, they are kneeling on the ground behind some bushes discussing their flanking moves and Jackson is about two feet away from Reiben to his left, but when it cuts Jackson is now behind Reiben.

Continuity: WhenMiller has just explained to Ryan that his comrades come to take him back, Miller talks to Horvath alone. While Horvath is talking over his shoulder, you clearly see him moving his hands in the next shot, from an angle just past Miller, his hands are held tight to his gun.

Continuity: During the beach scene, Miller is kneeling at the rear of a Belgian fence talking about the beach being pre-sighted. There is a soldier in front of the fence who gets shot three or four times. If you look the first scene, he gets shot in the upper leg area, then when Miller moves out from behind the obstacle, the bullet wound has magically disappeared.

Other: In the final battle where the two rangers are waiting for Upham to bring them 30cal ammo, they fire their rifles through a hole in the wall. At one point two German soldiers are seen dying from the same shot, even though they are at least five meters (about three feet) apart.

Continuity: During the scene where Horvath and the BAR are facing down, things are getting out of control with Horvath pulling a .45 on the BAR. In the background, from among the rest of the Ranger group, alternating scenes of Jackson, the sniper, show him with his pistol either raised or holstered.

Revealing: 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.

Continuity: During the Omaha Beach scene where Captain Miller is at the front of the concrete bunker and calls upon Jackson to get into one of the impact craters, Miller moves behind Jackson. When Miller makes the move for the diversion he puts his hand on Jackson's right shoulder but in the following shot Miller is at least 2 to 3 feet away from Jackson.

Continuity: Near the start, when Miller's men are walking through a field, and Jackson is talking about him and his rifle, in the background Caparzo has a cigarette in his mouth, but in the following shot it is not in his mouth or hands, then it's back in his mouth again.

Revealing: In the scene where the interpreter is carrying ammunition around his neck, an unused bullet falls from its shell.

Audio problem: After the Rangers break through the German lines at Normandy, Captain Miller delivers a message on the hand radio. After he turns his back to the camera and stops talking, he continues to move his mouth.

Continuity: When Mellish's gun gets jammed he doesn't fix his gun or do anything to it. When the Germans try to enter the room Mellish shoots another shot.

Factual error: In Neuville just after Miller's group joined the other scattered soldiers, they try to get to the other side of the city. One of them tears down a wall with Germans hiding in the building. After screaming at each other, the Germans all get shot by others from above. Some moments after this shootout, you hear this very distinctive M1 Garand "pling" sound. This sound only is to be heard after the last shot has been fired and the clip is ejected automatically. Bang - pling. But in this scene there is no shot. If you unload manually, the pling will not sound.

Continuity: In one of the end scenes, a German goes to shoot an American, who is on his knees, at point blank range to his chest. The German is clearly pointing the rifle away from his chest by about a foot yet still hits him in the chest?

Continuity: Ryan and Miller have a moving dialogue. In the scene Ryan talks about the time his brother was trying to have sex with a girl in the barn. While the pained Miller sits in a chair, we notice his hand which often shakes rests underneath the other. Then in a split second the left hand is on top of the other, then below.

Factual error: In the opening scenes, as the soldiers are landing on the beach, their rifles are wrapped in plastic wrap. This type of plastic was not invented until the end of the 1940s and later. Water resistant "cellophanes" and wraps were a much later invention by inventors such as Saran and Reynolds.

Factual error: Some of the ammunition cans were made after World War II; they have smooth sides instead of a recessed border and "low area."

Factual error: When the group is trying to take the German radio tower and the medic gets killed, the American hiding behind the cow is watching through a small rifle scope. The adjustment knobs should be on the top and side of the scope when held level and upright. The American is holding them crooked which means the crosshairs should be crooked, but when it shows the view through the scope, the crosshairs are perfectly vertical and horizontal.

Factual error: In the scene were the ATP is ambushed by the two groups of Americans we see Cpt. Miller take their right flank and kill three Germans trying to run for it. But watch as he shoots. The second he stops shooting an explosion goes off in the background 20 yards away. This can't happen with the gun he's firing (Thompson) because it doesn't shoot explosive rounds. In addition to the shooting, a German messed up by getting shot way after Cpt. Miller stopped shooting.

Plot hole: When the squad is walking in the field with Mellish singing, they see a tank and take cover. Once the tank gets shot at by the bazooka, Miller moves to the side of the tank shooting the fleeing soldiers. After that, he reloads his Thompson. Then, at the beginning of the last battle, Miller reloads his Thompson for the second time. There is no explanation why he would throw away a what is considered a perfectly good cartridge.

Continuity: When the old Ryan is walking along the rows of graves, you see that his jacket is blowing open against his arm. It then cuts to a close-up, and the jacket is flat against his chest.

Revealing: Several close-up shots of the bullets used throughout the film show holes in the cases, so they are clearly blanks.

Continuity: There is a part in the opening battle scene where you see a German soldier's point of view when he is firing down at the Americans, If you look closely you can see the German soldier is clearly firing in another direction than where the bullets are hitting.

Revealing: In the beginning of the film, the soldier that Miller is dragging through the water dies. But then you can see this same soldier again various times throughout the film, for example when he asks Miller where the rallying point is.