ABSTRACT
SA V I N G P R I V A T E R Y A N ( 1 9 9 8 ) is probably not an action movie. Itbelongs in a discussion of war epics such as The Big Parade (1925), Wings (1927), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), They Were Expendable (1945), Paths of Glory (1957), The Longest Day (1962), Beach Red (1967), The Big Red One (1980), or even Apocalypse Now (1979) or Platoon (1986). True, these films, like Private Ryan, contain all of the elements expected of an action movie; spectacles of violence, fast editing and/or camera movement, sweeping landscapes, heroics by the characters, dangerous foes and they were also accompanied by big soundtracks. Even the silent films such as Wings and The Big Parade had specially written scores (apparently the Wings premiere in London was accompanied by the sound of plane engines duplicated by running a whirring vacuum cleaner over a sheet of plywood). In comparison, action films such as Speed (1994), Point Break (1991), Commando (1985), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996) or True Lies (1994) are ‘simply entertainment’. While the accompanying soundtrack of action films are loud in your face Dolby Digital or THX aural spectacle, that of the epic war film, whether ‘new Hollywood’, ‘classical Hollywood’ or ‘pre-classical spectacular’, possesses an underlying obbligato of melancholy. This undertone exists not only in the musical score but in the tone of anguished voices and viscerally felt noises which heightens the consequence of weaponry and makes poignant fear, suffering and loss. In this regard Saving Private Ryan belongs firmly in the category of epic war film.
