Quotes

Dialogue

Capt. Miller: [Goes to soldiers huddled behind a beach obstacle] The seawall! Move up to the seawall! Soldier: Sir, I'm staying! Capt. Miller: Clear this beach, make way for the others! Soldier: This is all we've got between us and the Almighty! Capt. Miller: Every inch of this beach has been pre-sighted! You stay here, you're dead men!

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Capt. Miller: Sergeant Horvath! Do you recognize where we are? Sgt. Horvath: Right where we're supposed to be, but no one else is! Soldier: Nobody's where they're supposed to be!

Dialogue

Capt. Miller: Is this all, all that's made it? Sgt. Horvath: We're scattered pretty bad, sir. There's bound to be more of us. Capt. Miller: Not enough. This is not enough. Sgt. Horvath: Dog One exit, it's got to be that cut on the right, or is it the one on the left? Shit! Capt. Miller: No, no, no, Vierville is to the west of us, this is Dog One. Soldier: They're killing us! And we don't have a fucking chance, and that ain't fair!

Dialogue

Sgt. Horvath: Reiben, where's your B.A.R.? Pvt. Reiben: The bottom of the channel, Sarge, the bitch tried to drown me. Sgt. Horvath: Find a replacement.

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Sgt. Horvath: [after Miller sends Jackson out under fire from German machine guns] Captain, if your mother saw you do that, she'd be very upset. Captain Miller: I thought you were my mother.

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Sgt. Horvath: [looking down on a beach strewn with dead American soldiers.] That's quite a view. Capt. Miller: Yes it is. Quite a view.

Dialogue

Capt. Miller: You and I are taking a squad up to Neuville on a public relations mission. Sgt. Horvath: What, you're leading a squad? Capt. Miller: Some private in the 101st lost three brothers and he's got a ticket home. Sgt. Horvath: How come Neuville? Capt. Miller: They think he must be there somewhere along with all the other airborne mis-drops. Sgt. Horvath: It isn't going to be easy trying to find one soldier in the middle of this whole goddamn war. Capt. Miller: Like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles. Sgt. Horvath: What about the company? Capt. Miller: We take the pick of the litter and the rest get folded into Baker. Sgt. Horvath: Geez, they took away your company? Capt. Miller: Wasn't my company; was the Army's, or so they told me anyway. Get me Reiben on B.A.R., Jackson, Wade, Beasley, and Caparzo. Sgt. Horvath: Beasley's dead. Capt. Miller: Alright, Mellish, then. Got anybody who speaks French? Sgt. Horvath: Not that I know of. Capt. Miller: What about Talbot? Sgt

Dialogue

Pvt. Mellish: [Upham gives him a tap on the shoulder] Hey! You want to get your head blown off, you fancy little fuck? Don't ever fucking touch me with those dirty little rat claws again. Get the fuck back in formation. Cpl. Upham: I was just wondering where you're from, that's...[Mellish glares at him. Upham walks ahead to Caparzo] Uh, Caparzo, is that it? Pvt. Caparzo: Hey, drop dead, corporal. Cpl. Upham: Got you. Pvt. Caparzo: And another thing, every time you salute the captain you make him a target for the Germans. So do us a favor, don't do it. Especially when I'm standing next to him. Capisce? Cpl. Upham: Alright, capisce. Medic Wade: Corporal, what's your book about? Cpl. Upham: It's supposed to be about the bonds of brotherhood developed between soldiers during war. Pvt. Caparzo: [laughs] Brotherhood? What do you know about brotherhood? Get a load of this guy, Fish. Why don't you ask the captain where he's from? Pvt. Mellish: Yeah, ask the captain. He'll tell ya everything yo

Dialogue

Capt. Hamill: How was the road in? Capt. Miller: Scenic. We lost most of our ammo. Pvt. Mellish: Not to mention one of our men. Capt. Hamill: [Speaking to another soldier] Lieutenant, redeploy that bazooka to the other side of the road! Soldier: Yes, sir! Capt. Hamill: And get Ryan up here. Soldier: [Running away from Hamill] Ryan! Ryan! Front and center! Ryan! Pvt. Reiben: [Seeing Ryan running down the road] Here comes our boy. [Ryan runs past Reiben. At Horvath.] Told ya he was an asshole. James Frederick Ryan: [At Hamill] Sir, Private Ryan, reporting as ordered, sir! Capt. Hamill: At ease. Captain Miller 2nd Rangers wants a word with you. Capt. Miller: [Directing Ryan] This way. [Miller stops and sits on a rock] Take a knee. [He does so, taking his helmet off as well. Pause] Private, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you. [Pause] Well, there isn't any real easy way to say this, so, uh...I'll just say it. Your brothers are dead. [Ryan has a saddened look on his face.] We have, uh,

Dialogue

Capt. Hamill: What've you heard? How's it all falling together? Capt. Miller: Well, we've got the beachhead secure, problem is Monty's taking his time moving on Caen, we can't move out 'til he's ready. Capt. Hamill: That guy's over-rated. Capt. Miller: No argument here. Capt. Hamill: We gotta take Caen to take St. Lo. Capt. Miller: You gotta take St. Lo to take Valognes. Capt. Hamill: Valognes, you got Cherbourg. Capt. Miller: Cherbourg, you got Paris. Capt. Hamill: Paris, you get Berlin. Capt. Miller: And then that big boat home.

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Capt. Miller: You see, when... when you end up killing one of your men, you see, you tell yourself it happened so you could save the lives of two or three or ten others. Maybe a hundred others. Do you know how many men I've lost under my command? Sgt. Horvath: How many? Capt. Miller: Ninety-four. But that means I've saved the lives of ten times that many, doesn't it? Maybe even twenty, right? Twenty times as many? And that's how simple it is. That's how you... that's how you rationalize on making the choice between the mission and the man. Sgt. Horvath: Except this time, the mission is a man. Capt. Miller: This Ryan better be worth it. He better go home and cure some disease or invent a longer-lasting light bulb, or something. Because to tell you the truth, I wouldn't trade ten Ryans for one Vecchio or one Caparzo. Sgt. Horvath: Amen.

Dialogue

Pvt. Reiben: What's the saying? "If God's on our side, who the hell could be on theirs?" Cpl. Upham: "If God is for us, who could be against us?" Pvt. Reiben: Yeah, that's it. What did I say?

Dialogue

Capt. Miller: Tell, me Reiben, if you had to do it again, how'd you think you'd react the next time? Pvt. Reiben: Me? I'd shoot myself before I ever got off the damn boat.

Dialogue

Pvt. Reiben: I guess that was the, uh, decent thing to do, huh Captain? [Pause] Capt Miller: Get your gear. Let's go. Sgt. Horvath: [At Reiben] You heard him. Gear up. [Pause] The captain just gave you an order. Pvt. Reiben: Yeah...Like the one he gave to take this machine gun. That was a real doozy, wasn't it Sergeant? Sgt. Horvath: Soldier, you are way out of line. Pvt. Reiben: [At Miller] Yes, sir. That was one hell of a call coming to take this nest, but...The hell, we lost one of our guys going for it. I swear, I hope Mama Ryan's real fucking happy knowing that little Jimmy's life is a little bit more important than two of our guys! But then again, we haven't even found him yet, have we?! HAVE WE?! [Sgt. Horvath grabs Reiben and throws him to the ground and attempts to grab him again.] Get the hell off me. Sgt. Horvath: Reiben, get up. [Reiben gets off the ground] Gear up. Fall in. Pvt. Reiben: I'm done with this mission. [Reiben walks away and Horvath runs toward him.] Sgt. Horva

Dialogue

Capt. Miller: James... I'm here to tell you your brothers were killed in combat. Pvt. Ryan: Which... which ones, sir? Capt. Miller: All of them.

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Pvt. Ryan: It doesn't make sense, sir. I mean, why me? Why not any of us? Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They’ve fought just as hard. Capt. Miller: Is that what they're supposed to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag? Pvt. Ryan: You can tell her that when you found me, I was here, and I was with the only brothers I have left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.

Dialogue

Pvt. Reiben: You know what that song reminds me of? It reminds me of Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz and what she said to me the day I left for basic. Pvt. Mellish: What, "Don't touch me"? Pvt. Reiben: No. Mrs. Rachel Troubowitz was our super's wife. She comes into my mom's shop to try on a few things, all right? And she’s easily like a, uh, a 44 double E. Pvt. Mellish: Double E?! Pvt. Reiben: I mean, these things are massive. Sgt. Horvath: Those are big! Pvt. Reiben: And I've got her convinced that she’s like a 42D, all right? So we're in the dressing room, she’s trying to squeeze into this side-cut, silk-ribboned, triple panel girdle with the, uh, shelf-lift brassiere and it's beautiful because she's just pouring outta this thing, you know? Pvt. Mellish: Is it tight? Pvt. Reiben: It's beautiful. And she sees me and she can tell I got a hard-on the size of the Statue of Liberty, right? And she says to me, "Richard, calm down." And she says, "Now when you're over there, if you see anything that