The plot was inspired in part by the true story of Fritz Niland, one of four brothers from New York state who saw action during the war.  Two Niland brothers were killed on D-Day, while another was missing in action in Burma and was presumed dead, although he actually survived.  Fritz was located in Normandy by an Army chaplain, Reverend Francis Sampson, and taken out of the combat zone.

"The search for Private Ryan is fiction," says historian Stephen Ambrose, "but of the kind that illuminates truth rather than diminishing it."    For a more complete discussion of the film and of D-Day by Ambrose, see the Ambrose on D-Day page.

There are plot summary and scene-by-scene outline pages here, both with pictures. The site is arranged so you can go from one page to any other from all the pages or from the Timeline page.

Saving Private Ryan is one of five films on this site that cover the tumultuous years of the Second World War. The others are Schindler's List, The Great Escape, Bridge on the River Kwai and Patton.  They are part of the larger History in Film web site that supports teaching history using popular films.  It includes films from Rome up to the war in Vietnam.

I'd enjoy hearing your comments on this site.  Please sign the Guestbook.   I hope you enjoy your visit.

If you're a teacher who is interested in using this film and you would like these pages to edit and print as your own, they are all available here as Rich Text Format files in one relatively small WinZip package. Alternatively, if you only want a few of the files, each page has a download link for that RTF WinZip file alone (usually 3 or 4 K). If you would like the short answer essay test that accompanies this film, please E-mail me at the mail box below. I'd be glad to send it back to you.