After the chaos of D-Day, a captain leads a small squad on a mission to bring one soldier home — Tom Hanks gives Saving Private Ryan its conscience.
Released in 1998, Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, opens with the Allied landing at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Hanks plays Captain John Miller, who is ordered to find Private James Ryan, played by Matt Damon, after Ryan’s brothers have been killed in action.
Miller is not a larger-than-life hero; he is a teacher in civilian life, a man who wants to do his duty and get his men home. Hanks plays him with quiet authority and weariness, and the film’s final question — whether Miller’s sacrifice was worth it — stays with the audience long after the credits.
It is a signature war role, and one of Hanks’s most respected performances, because it honours ordinary soldiers without glorifying war.