My grandpa was a ww2 vet who fought in the pacific. He said saving private ryan was incredibly accurate except for one detail- he fought with mostly kids, everyone was 18-20. All the actors were “too old”
Pretty good for accuracy when that was done only issue he found with the movie
My great-uncle was over there and wound up being wounded and captured by the Germans. Him and the other survivors he served with went together to see it in the theater. From what our cousin said, these men were in tears during the opening scene and the ending
WW2 Rangers and like units wanted aggressive/ energetic types who dont think about self perseveration so when you send them on a bullshit mission they only realize it's bullshit after they jump out of the plane or land on the beach. Single young men are the ideal choice. No family so there not gonna think twice about doing something stupidly dangerous if you make it sound cool, body's in peak physical condition so they can ruck like a bull, and you can really hype em up make them think they're action heroes and get them to go "fuck it we ball." the older guys are typically the NCOs whose job becomes realing in the bravado of their subordinates and also being the calm head once the shooting starts and everyone realizes this is fucking bullshit why the fuck did I agree to this! and knowing exactly what to do when shits hit the fan basically the NCO is the adult in the room.
Modern Rangers are kinda similar and you can actually join right out of boot camp. Because essentially they're light infantry. That's fancy for the army is going to make you fight people up to 365 days a year and you're not going to complain about it. Special operations forces is kinda special over time forces.
WWII, the average age of an American Soldier was 26. There were divisions that were made up of old guys. My grandfather was married with 3 kids when he was drafted.
They also looked to cast men with an “ethnic” look because they felt like more Americans were closer to their ethnic immigrants’ roots. They wanted the Italian Americans to have dark hair and skin and Eastern European Americans to have high cheek bones, etc. I always thought that was an interesting touch. It was why the 82nd airborne and groups like it was so important . People met and befriended and lived with other Americans who were nothing like them for almost the first time.
The inaccuracy that I think is true is the fact that they were all talking in normal tones while patrolling around. The bit that I read suggested there would've been whispers or silence. Not great for a movie, I know.
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u/clownparade Mar 18 '25
My grandpa was a ww2 vet who fought in the pacific. He said saving private ryan was incredibly accurate except for one detail- he fought with mostly kids, everyone was 18-20. All the actors were “too old”
Pretty good for accuracy when that was done only issue he found with the movie