When it comes to Memorial Day, many things come to mind — small town parades, flags, picnics, and observances at war memorials. And while there are numerous movie music scores to choose from for Memorial Day — Platoon, Apocalypse Now, The Longest Day, Patton, The Great Escape — I've chosen to focus on Saving Private Ryan, in honor of my father, who was a veteran of Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Robert Rodat wrote the script to the film after seeing a New Hampshire monument that memorialized Americans who died during the Civil War. He saw the names of eight siblings who lost their lives, and was inspired to write a similar story set in World War II.
Winner of five Academy Awards, Saving Private Ryan is the story of U.S. Army Rangers Captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) and a group of men as they search for a paratrooper named James Frances Ryan — the last-surviving brother of four servicemen.
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