Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Matt Damon: Private Ryan

Photos 

Quotes 

• [weakly mutters something after being mortally wounded] 

  Private Ryan : [leans in closer]  What, sir?

  Captain Miller : James, earn this... earn it.

• Captain Miller : James Francis Ryan of Iowa?

  Private Ryan : Yes, sir. Paton, Iowa, that's correct. What is this about?

  Captain Miller : Your brothers were killed in combat.

  Private Ryan : Which - Which ones?

  Captain Miller : All of them.

  [Ryan pauses in shock and then begins to cry] 

• [Being told he can go home] 

  Private Ryan : Hell, these guys deserve to go home as much as I do. They've fought just as hard.

  Captain Miller : Is that what I'm supposed to tell your mother when she gets another folded American flag?

  Private Ryan : You can tell her that when you found me, I was with the only brothers I had left. And that there was no way I was deserting them. I think she'd understand that.

• Captain Miller : Well when I think of home, I... I think of something specific. I think of my, my hammock in the backyard or my wife pruning the rosebushes in a pair of my old work gloves.

  Private Ryan : This, this one night, two of my brothers came and woke me up in the middle of the night. And they said they had a surprise for me. So they took me to the barn up in the loft and there was my oldest brother, Dan, with Alice, Alice Jardine. I mean, picture a girl who just took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch coming down. And... and Dan's got his shirt off and he's working on this bra and he's tryin to get it off and all of a sudden Shawn just screams out, "Danny you're a young man, don't do it!" And so Alice Jardine hears this and she screams and she jumps up and she tries to get running out of the barn but she's still got this shirt over her head. She goes running right into the wall and knocks herself out. So now Danny's just so mad at us. He, he starts coming after us, but... but at the same time Alice is over there unconscious. He's gotta wa... , wake her up. So he grabs her by a leg and he's drag, dragging her. At the same time he picks up a shovel. And he's going after Shawn, and Shawn's saying, "What are you trying to hit me for? I just did you a favor!" And so this makes Dan more angry. He tries to swing this thing, he looses the shovel, goes outta his grasp and hits a kerosene lantern; the thing explodes, the whole barn almost goes up because of this thing. That was it. That was the last, that was, Dan went off to basic the next day. That was the last night the four of us were together. That was two years ago. Tell me about your wife and those rosebushes?

  Captain Miller : No, no that one I save just for me.

• Private Ryan : Picture a girl who took a nosedive from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

• Private Ryan : [after being told he can go home, to himself]  It doesn't make any sense.

  [normal voice] 

  Private Ryan : It doesn't make any sense, sir. Why? Why do I deserve to go? Why not any of these guys? They all fought just as hard as me.

  Captain Miller : Is that what they're suppose to tell your mother when they send her another folded American flag?

  Private Ryan : Tell her that when you found me I was here and I was with the only brothers that I have left and that there was no way I was gonna desert them. I think she'll understand that. There's no way I'm leaving this bridge.

• Captain Miller : [after Reiben courageously saves Ryan from being hit by a tank shell]  . RYAN!

  [run to the building Reiben pulled Ryan behind] 

  Captain Miller : Ryan.

  Private Ryan : [to Reiben, who is sitting on Ryan]  Get off of me!

  Captain Miller : Are you all right?

  Private Ryan : Uhh! GET OFF OF ME!

  Private Reiben : Yeah. I'm fine too, Captain. Thanks.

• Private Ryan : Uh sir? Where am I to be during all this?

  Captain Miller : No more than two feet away from me. And that's not negotiable.

• Captain Miller : James Francis Ryan from Iowa?

  Private Ryan : Yes sir. How'd you guess that?

• Captain Miller : They're tankbusters sir. P-51s.

  Private Ryan : Angels on our shoulders.

• Private Ryan : Who's that singing, sir?

  Captain Miller : Edith Piaf.

  Private Ryan : What's she so upset about?

  Captain Miller : Her lover left her, but she still sees his face everywhere she goes.

  Private Ryan : That would do it.

• Private Ryan : I can't see my brothers' faces. I've been trying, and I can't see their faces at all. Has that ever happened to you?

  Captain Miller : You gotta think of a context.

  Private Ryan : What does that mean?

  Captain Miller : Well, you don't just think about their faces. You think about something specific, something you've done together.