So it was fun finding an article about Saving Private Ryan this weekend, the day after Christmas, and the writer made the same observation that I did. The article by Jerrica Tisdale is titled Saving Private Ryan: 10 Actors You Probably Forgot Were In The Movie.
I remembered Matt Damon as Private Ryan, of course, and Hanks, but was quite surprised how many other familiar faces there were. Ted Danson, Bryan Cranston, Tom Sizemore (A standout in Black Hawk Down), Paul Giamatti (Surprise! Yes, he was there), Joe Farina (Great roles in two Elmore Leonard flicks, Get Shorty and Out of Sight) and several other recognizable names and faces.
SPOILER ALERT
Vin Diesel as Private Adrian Caparzo |
If it's been a while since you saw the film, you'll remember Vin Diesel's last scene, surprisingly early in the film. Hanks, as Captain Miller, has been tasked with a mission, to locate locate Private Ryan, played by another familiar name, Matt Damon, to send him home because his three brothers have been killed in other action. Hanks and his small band of men are looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack.
As they pass through a bombed out city, Hanks and company are pinned down by a sniper. A French family in a semi-demolished apartment complex is pleading with the soldiers to bring their daughter to safety. Hanks says "No, this is not our mission."
Soft-hearted Vin Diesel ignores the Captain's orders. He defends his decision because she reminds him of his niece. Tragically, he gets picked off by the sniper and bleeds out right in front of the others who must watch helplessly from behind walls and debris.
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German Panzers were not diesel powered as you might have supposed. |
In the final battle, we see a pair of German tanks similar to these Panzers above and a half-track, that hybrid transport vehicle that is half-truck, half tread. By utilizing a single fuel source, all the equipment could be kept powered from one stock pile.
Interestingly enough, the Soviet army did have diesel-powered tanks, supplied by the United States via lend lease. U.S. Sherman tanks and British tanks were all gasoline powered.
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LINKS
Jerrica Tisdale's "Saving Private Ryan: Actors You Forgot Were in the Movie"
Adrian Caparzo @ Saving Private Ryan Fandom
Which WW2 Tanks were Diesel Powered?
Diesel made his stage debut at age seven when he appeared in the children's play Dinosaur Door, written by Barbara Garson. The play was produced at Theater for the New City in New York's Greenwich Village. His involvement in the play came about when he, his brother and some friends had broken into the Theater for the New City space on Jane Street with the intent to vandalize it.
ReplyDeleteThey were confronted by the theater's artistic director, Crystal Field, who offered them roles in the upcoming show instead of calling the police. Diesel remained involved with the theater throughout adolescence, going on to attend NYC's Hunter College, where studies in creative writing led him to begin screenwriting.
He has identified himself as a "multi-faceted" actor.