Continuity mistake: At the start we see a close up of Ryan's face and in the background is a couple walking away. The bloke has a blue baseball cap on and dark shirt while the woman has got a light blue top and what appears to be a cream coloured skirt on. The camera then shows Ryan back as he is walking and now this couple are in front of Ryan about to walk past him. (00:01:15)
Continuity mistake: In the final battle Captain Miller is shouting at Mike, who's slumped against the sandbags, dead. The wound on his left shoulder has disappeared.
Suggested correction: Mike was shot in his right shoulder, not his left.
Continuity mistake: At the end when Ryan is looking at captain Miller, in the long shot the ground is wet and there is an upturned helmet near Miller, but in the close up shot over Ryan's shoulder the ground is dry and the helmet is the right way round and white bricks have appeared next to it.
Continuity mistake: 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. (00:39:45)
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?
Continuity mistake: Sunlight changes from shot to shot during the machine gun nest scene. One second it's like cloudy, in the next you see the sunshine and long shadows.
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.
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.
Continuity mistake: During the final battle, they stop the tank in its tracks and several approach it. Captain Miller runs up with them. He is about to start shooting into the view finder but doesn't. The scene cuts and the tank shoots at the area where Ryan and Reiben are. Cut back to the tank and Captain Miller is still standing next to the tank, and he shoots in the view window, repeating the action from the previous shot.
Other mistake: Private Mellish and another fellow Airborne soldier are manning the .30 cal belt fed machine-gun, and they're quickly running out of ammunition. Private Upham is the ammo bearer, he's supposed to be "Johnny on the spot" with the ammo. After Mellish displaces and sets up a new field of fire he tells Upham to get more .30 cal and to tell the Captain the flank's going to collapse. As Upham is dodging German gunfire he runs by a wall covered with fresh red blood spray. Nobody from that crew was shot yet. (02:15:29 - 02:17:00)
Suggested correction: It is not blood spray; it is red wine. There are two bottles in the cabinet beside Upham. Just before he leaves to get more ammo, a few shots come into the room, hitting the cabinet and the bottles, spraying red wine onto the wall.
Factual error: Captain Miller screams the tank is "still in this fight" and he gets on top of the SdKfz 181 PzKpfw VI Tiger I Tank, and fires his Thompson .45 ACP sub-gun into the view port of the Tiger. Those tanks' viewports were defended by 50-80mm of bulletproof glass and an armoured steel shutter for the driver and commanders cupola. That whole action would have achieved nothing. (02:17:00 - 02:18:00)
Factual error: The M1 Garands throughout the film all have post-War era rear sights. The type used during WW2 were called "Lock Bar," distinguished by a "bar" that ran across the right sight knob. M1 Garands manufactured or refurbished after WW2 will lack these types of sights.
Continuity mistake: At the end when Ryan brings the wounded sergeant to the other side of the bridge, Reiben starts to make his turn to provide covering fire for the Captain. He repeats the exact same movement two shots later.
Continuity mistake: When we see Ryan walking at the very start, he walks past a group of 3 people walking in the other direction. Camera cuts to show the front of Ryan and behind him and the people have miraculously disappeared. There is no way the could have walked out of sight, and there is no way they couldn't have arrived in sight either. (00:01:10)
Continuity mistake: When Mellish is stabbed, at first there's no blood on his shirt, but then there is, even before the knife touches him.
Audio problem: On the beach, a soldier with a B.A.R. puts his arm around Captain Miller's neck and says they don't have a chance. His line carries over to the next shot of Miller unwrapping his Thompson, but we can see that soldier behind Miller, and he's not talking. (00:16:00)
Continuity mistake: When Mike crosses the bridge at the end he gets shot and is helped by a soldier. From the German view the bridge is clear, then it cuts to the American side and Mike and the soldier are exiting the bridge to their left towards Miller. A motorbike and sidecar have now appeared behind them and a crouching American soldier is next to the motorbike halfway across the bridge.
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)
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.
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.
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.
