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Description: The setting is WWII Italy, with Dana Andrews starring as Sgt. Tyne, one of the officers leading a platoon in an attempt to take a farmhouse in the Italian countryside, which is now a German stronghold. As the troops prepare to attack, they contemplate the lives that have led them to this place and think about how to most effectively do their jobs. The men repeat their mantra, hoping it will be a talisman: "Nobody dies."

Synopsis: This WWII film was the first to use a ballad as a thematic element, a practice which, after HIGH NOON, would become a cliche of the 1950s. The film stars Dana Andrews as Sgt. Tyne, one of the officers leading an attack on a farmhouse in the Italian countryside which functions as a German stronghold. When the ranking officers are killed soon after the platoon lands on the beach, Tyne must take over. He leads his men along an ill-defined road toward the farmhouse while the company is periodically strafed. As they walk, each character has his own preoccupations: Windy (John Ireland) writes mental letters to his sister, Rankin (Chris Drake) talks lovingly about his "baby," his submachine gun. But there is one phrase all share: "Nobody dies." As they approach the farmhouse, Sgt. Ward (Lloyd Bridges) takes a scout patrol across the field with fatal results for two of his men. After he blows the only bridge to the farm, the rest of the platoon moves in for the final assault. One of the best WWII films, A WALK IN THE SUN combines documentary-like sequences with a sharp awareness of the isolation of each soldier in the midst of battle. 

Description: Director Steven Spielberg's World War II tour de force chronicles the journey of a GI squad on a dangerous mission behind enemy lines. Led by Captain John Miller (Tom Hanks), the unit is under orders to track down a soldier, Private Ryan (Matt Damon), so he might return home to his mother in America, where she is grieving the unimaginable loss of her three other sons to the war. The first unforgettable 20 minutes of SAVING PRIVATE RYAN realistically and horrifically depicts the Normandy invasion as Miller. his second-in-command, Sergeant Horvath (Tom Sizemore), and the others in the unit land at Omaha Beach. Before the film began shooting, Hanks and the actors in his squad went through a one-week boot camp in the woods. All the actors, except Hanks, wanted to quit, but Hanks rallied their spirits by reminding them of the incredible tribulations endured by the real veterans of World War II. Production designer Tom Sanders found a beach in Ireland that perfectly matched the landscape of Normandy’s. Spielberg gave great credit to the Irish army who helped re-create the Omaha Beach scenes.

Title Note: Theatrical release: July 24, 1998. The film was shot in England, Ireland, and France. Estimated budget: $70 million. The film grossed more than $215 million at the domestic box office and nearly $375 million worldwide. Steven Spielberg won an Academy Award for Best Director for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. In preparation for their roles, the actors went through a week of boot camp with retired Marine Dale Dye-- except Matt Damon (Private Ryan), who was excused from the training so that a real-life resentment of him by the others would be formed. D day, June 6, 1944, was the largest invasion in military history--175,000 soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force invaded Normandy. Spielberg was honored with the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film, presented to him by Prince Andrew for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, in Los Angeles in November 2000.

Synopsis: Steven Spielberg's award-winning film is a brutal look at the devastation that war leaves behind, both physically and emotionally. Standouts in the film include Tom Hanks as the seemingly hardened leader, Ed Burns as the cocky New Yorker, and Jeremy Davies as the wanna-be writer who'd rather be carrying a typewriter than a gun. A closing battle nearly matches the opening scene's in impact, and Spielberg concludes matters with a present-tense bookend, as in SCHINDLER'S LIST, that drills the point home.

Movie description 
A rousing wartime drama, based on the autobiography of Col. Robert Lee Scott, Jr., a decorated Flying Tiger fighter pilot. Colonel Scott was operating cargo planes over the Himalayan Hump. He dreamed of serving his country more directly, but was originally told he was too old. Scott eventually convinced a superior to allow him and his Flying Tigers to fly combat missions to assist the Chinese against Japan. Dennis Morgan stars as the unlikely hero, but the show is stolen by Raymond Massey as Major General Chennault. The supporting cast is filled with notable character actors including Richard Loo as Scott's nemesis, Tokyo Joe. The film is filled with philosophical questions about fate and survival during war and what role faith plays. In its original release in 1943, some gory sequences passed through the Production Code because the violence shown is all against the Japanese, America's enemy.

Credits:    Directors: Robert Florey     Producer: Robert Buckner 
Cast: Alan Hale, Andrea King, Dane Clark, Dennis Morgan, John Ridgely, Raymond Massey, Richard Loo, Warren Douglas