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**JPhilip** · 02-24-2007, 03:42 AM

Hello,
what bothers me about the german sniper is its age. The guy is over 30 yrs and in 1944 germany is at war since five years so he should be an experienced soldier and sniper, and he doesn't know how to react as a real sniper. One shot from this church tower and he would have changed his firing spot, thats' a golden rule especially when facing several potential shooters all coming from the same direction. Retreating quickly, managing to stay invisible and find another spot.
But our "clever" german sniper waits for his death !!!

**Dan P** · 02-24-2007, 10:24 AM

Originally posted by JPhilip View Post

Hello,
what bothers me about the german sniper is its age. The guy is over 30 yrs and in 1944 germany is at war since five years so he should be an experienced soldier and sniper, and he doesn't know how to react as a real sniper. One shot from this church tower and he would have changed his firing spot, thats' a golden rule especially when facing several potential shooters all coming from the same direction. Retreating quickly, managing to stay invisible and find another spot.
But our "clever" german sniper waits for his death !!!

You could argue that he was just an inexperienced sniper. Perhaps it was his first and last day on the job, with his fancy straw camo rifle and wire helmet.

**JaimeH** · 02-24-2007, 10:47 AM

Originally posted by AJC05 View Post

Its a good movie but it is Hollywood saving the world again. There isnt an english solider in it. When I watch it I kept expecting john wayne to appear lol. I didnt know that about the bullets and water thats very interesting

Regards Adam

I know what your saying, I was watching "Braveheart" the other day and there was not one American portrayed in the film.

**Jonathan M** · 02-24-2007, 12:49 PM

Originally posted by J.von Canon View Post

A few things I noticed in Saving Private Ryan...

Jackson(the sniper)was left-handed-which made rechambering his rounds a real problem(having to go over the breach reloading between shots)

Dale Dye(ex Marine officer/Vietnam) probably had Jackson shoot the German sniper through the scope;same thing apparently done by U.S.M.C. scout/sniper Carlos Hathcock,in Vietnam.I suspect Cpt.Dye is familiar with this ..

Bullets(high velocity)are quite capable of killing in water.
Scuba combat divers actually are trained in this firing technique underwater.

The 101st.paratroopers portrayed initially were,uniformly,overweight and too old to be believable.They were actually very "lean & mean",not middle-age types.

The "Ryan"character was loosely based on the real soldier Fritz Nieland;a "German-American"soldier. Mr.Spielberg ignored this fact.

For all the shortcomings of S.P.R. it still established a new level of realism.

I agree. Made series like BoB possible and a lot of films made post SPR have improved expanded on the CGR effects to make it seem more real and believable. Now all film producers need is a field tactics manual and we're good to go

**bigschuss** · 02-26-2007, 07:22 AM

I just watch SPR a few days ago and I noticed a few M1 Garand things that are incorrect. These are very geeky things, but hey, I'm an M1 Garand geek!

The first is the incorrect rear sight. They should be lock-bar rear sights. Instead, all the sights are the post war type.

The second is a very geeky observation about the way some of the guys hold their Garands. Notice how Carpazzo holds his garand with ONE HAND horizontally to the ground. A Garand weighs 11 pounds, and I know Vin Diesel is a big guy, but it is impossible to hold it like that for any length of time, unless of course they are PLASTIC Garands. Lee Marvin held his gun the same way in The Big red One. Very unrealistic, and yes, very geeky.

**VonLuck** · 02-26-2007, 12:17 PM

Elementary my dear Watson!
How could I've missed that one...
The only thing about this flick is how realistic it looks, not how realistic the situations are. For the latter, its about at the level of a cheesy John Wayne movie.

Originally posted by Jody Beltram View Post

Hello,
My biggest problem is a error they did in shooting the film. There is the scene near the end when the two men are in the room and you hear Germans coming up the steps. The Americans fire and you hear a thud and see blood run from the hallway into the room. The the Germans shoot and the American para is wounded and the hand to hand fight begins with the SS trooper and one of Ryan's men.

Then Upham comes up the stairs and chickens out and crys on the staircase. After the SS trooper kills the soldier (from the hand to hand) he walks down the stairs pass Upham. My question is where is the dead German at the top of the stairs?

Regards,
Jody

**VonLuck** · 02-26-2007, 12:23 PM

Originally posted by JPhilip View Post

Hello,
what bothers me about the german sniper is its age. The guy is over 30 yrs and in 1944 germany is at war since five years so he should be an experienced soldier and sniper, and he doesn't know how to react as a real sniper. One shot from this church tower and he would have changed his firing spot, thats' a golden rule especially when facing several potential shooters all coming from the same direction. Retreating quickly, managing to stay invisible and find another spot.
But our "clever" german sniper waits for his death !!!

The only situation when I could see this happening even for a newbie sniper (although the guy looked to be more of a volksturm age) would be if the town had been overrun and he was making his last stand. In that case, any sniper would rather die by a bullet to the head than be caught.
Even if it was Geneva Convention-loving Americans.

**billmunny** · 02-26-2007, 04:18 PM

Gunbunny is right...

the film is overrated...the opening beach landing scene is pretty amazing..the rest is pretty cheesy...Tom Hanks is twice the age of an actual field officer..the enlisted are likewise too old and fat...and the Germans..give me break..they have their heads shaven and look more like old skin-heads than period soldiers...

**aardvark** · 02-26-2007, 04:49 PM

I always thought it was pretty funny the tank hatches looked like they were trash can lids. I'm not knowledgeable about tanks but wouldn't there be a latch on the inside to prevent the enemy from jumping on, opening the hatch, and throwing grenades in? The frontal assault on the MG42 was really stupid...real suicide mission stuff. Oh...and they couldn't see or hear the halftrack from a mile away...they were in a huge open field.

**JaimeH** · 02-26-2007, 08:41 PM

Originally posted by bigschuss View Post

I just watch SPR a few days ago and I noticed a few M1 Garand things that are incorrect. These are very geeky things, but hey, I'm an M1 Garand geek!

The first is the incorrect rear sight. They should be lock-bar rear sights. Instead, all the sights are the post war type.

The second is a very geeky observation about the way some of the guys hold their Garands. Notice how Carpazzo holds his garand with ONE HAND horizontally to the ground. A Garand weighs 11 pounds, and I know Vin Diesel is a big guy, but it is impossible to hold it like that for any length of time, unless of course they are PLASTIC Garands. Lee Marvin held his gun the same way in The Big red One. Very unrealistic, and yes, very geeky.

At least we know Lee Marvin really knew how to hold one, he was shot and severly wounded at Saipan.

**Dan P** · 02-26-2007, 09:14 PM

Originally posted by aardvark View Post

Oh...and they couldn't see or hear the halftrack from a mile away...they were in a huge open field.

Yeah, that half-track in the field part bothered me also. The half-track is on fire and could explode, they don't know for sure if there are any more Germans still alive inside ready to shoot at them, and they're introducing each other like they're getting ready to start a football game!! I mean, gimme a break!!

**aardvark** · 02-26-2007, 11:55 PM

Tom Hanks is twice the age of an actual field officer QUOTE]

And when did the Army make school teachers into Ranger Captains? Must have been pretty desperate for officers. I will say I was pretty impressed that Hollywood a least made some sort of effort as to accurate looking equipment and vehicles...must admit it is a giant leap from "Battle of the Buldge" or "A Bridge too Far," despite it's inaccuracies.

**J.von Canon** · 03-01-2007, 01:28 PM

and...

A few other things I noticed:
In the beach landing scene they are firing on Germans at about less than 100 yards;"Melish" is shooting at them with sights extended in "up" position(guess he was firing on the Luftwaffe somewhere?)

Another scene: When they fired on the escaping crew of the German halftrack in the meadow-the 101st. guys stepped out of the weeds in what was the just a moment before the "beaten zone"(kill zone) of the running German crewmen...Go figure...

**carlosR** · 03-04-2007, 01:09 PM

And I thought the first twenty minutes of this movie were pretty good and the onlly realisitic part, now even that is debatable. Well it's Hollywood whadday expect? The remainder of the movie was pure craptasticness, cartoon Germans and plot.

**Johnny S** · 03-04-2007, 03:07 PM

What about the Flamethrower on the beach invasion....

It did spark them to do a better job with the Band of Brothers series.

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