Lightsped
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I have never seen Band of Brothers, but I do own Saving Private Ryan. How does BoB compare to Saving Private Ryan in terms of accuracy, story, and overall quality? Which did you enjoy more, BoB or SPR?
Band of Brothers vs Saving Private Ryan
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average_shooter
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Just for clarification, Band of Brothers is not a movie but a mini-series, I think 10 parts, each an hour long.
Band of Brothers is longer and tells more of the story and includes interviews with the "real deal" guys who are being portrayed in the series by actors. If I understand right, the stories in Band of Brothers are fairly accurate as they did interview the surviving members of Easy Company for the series.
I enjoy both for what they are, but as to your question I'd have to give the nod to BoB.
Then again, my preference may be swayed because of the episode about the Ardennes and the fact that my grandfather spent a good deal of his overseas time there in an artillery unit finding himself, and his partner, behind the wrong lines at least once. That episode has a very personal connection for me.
Band of Brothers is longer and tells more of the story and includes interviews with the "real deal" guys who are being portrayed in the series by actors. If I understand right, the stories in Band of Brothers are fairly accurate as they did interview the surviving members of Easy Company for the series.
I enjoy both for what they are, but as to your question I'd have to give the nod to BoB.
Then again, my preference may be swayed because of the episode about the Ardennes and the fact that my grandfather spent a good deal of his overseas time there in an artillery unit finding himself, and his partner, behind the wrong lines at least once. That episode has a very personal connection for me.
My opinion is swayed towards Saving Private Ryan since my paternal grandfather fought in Normandy and was killed in St. Lo. He is buried at the National Cemetary in Normandy, and my wife and I are the only ones in the family who have traveled to see his grave site. The cemetary scenes from Private Ryan are deeply personal to me.
highorder
Member
fwiw, Tom Hanks said that BoB used the equivalent amount of pyrotecnics from all of SPR by episode 3 of BoB.
It shows.
Both are great, and worth owning on blueray.
It shows.
Both are great, and worth owning on blueray.
AirForceShooter
Member
The closest depiction of combat ever filmed was the Normandy invasion in "Ryan"
Ryan was also more intense as there was less time to tell the story.
AFS
Ryan was also more intense as there was less time to tell the story.
AFS
kwelz
Member
Remember that BoB was done by Spielberg and Hanks. They put the same care, maybe more, into it than they even did with SPR. Both are great but I think I like BoB a bit more.
Why not get both and see for yourself?
rc109a
Member
I liked both movies. I think that BOB was the better of the two movies. It gave a diary of the action and the reasons behind many of the situations that were encountered. Ryan was an action movie and a good one at that. BOB was an attempt at a documentary that would still keep the interest of the audience using creative artistic dramalizations... Both have inaccuracies and both were created for enjoyment (with a little learning hidding inside)...
I have both on DVD and enjoy them. However, I like BOB a bit better as its based on the real experiences of EZ company, not a fictional hybrid of sorts woth SPR. I will say that I think Tom Hanks is great in SPR and did a superb job of producing BOB with Spielberg. Both BOB and SPR are worth owning.
I like both. BoB is pretty much history (a little creative license taken) and SPR is more historical fiction. They both rank in my top ten of best war movies (which include The Longest Day, Pork Chop Hill, and A Bridge Too Far). BoB did have a lot more time to tell the story than any of the others. Just about any episode would make a good movie. Combined they make a great movie.
BoB and SPR are able to show how all the ordinary guys who were teachers, barbers, janitors, and cab drivers went to war, did extraordinary things, and returned to their ordinary lives.
BoB and SPR are able to show how all the ordinary guys who were teachers, barbers, janitors, and cab drivers went to war, did extraordinary things, and returned to their ordinary lives.
Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow
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Definitely get both; they are both great. BoB is NOT action-packed from end to end like SPR. The action scenes are quite realistic, but there aren't as many of them - it's a long mini-series that takes a lot of time developing the relationships of some of the characters personally, and spends a lot of time on the war aftermath - little to no action there. A lot of slow parts. Very different in that sense. Best thing about BoB is the commentary at the beginning of each episode from actual surviving soldiers.
Don't forget, Blackhawk Down is wonderful for uber-realism as well - enough to make you cringe.
Don't forget, Blackhawk Down is wonderful for uber-realism as well - enough to make you cringe.
Quoheleth
Member
Different purposes; differen scale; different scope. SBR is a mircocosm of the war: one squad with a single purpose in mind, caught up in the greater cause which culminates in the final scene. BoB paints a larger picture through Easy Company and encompasses more of the war.
Both are highly excellent and, while some fiction may have been introduced in both (ie., elements of dialogue; some characters), by and large both do an excellent job.
One thing is for certain. Band of Brothers would not have happened had it not been for the commercial success of Saving Private Ryan. Seeing and hearing how well SPR was received caused Hanks and Spielberg to fully commit to the BoB project (I understand both wanted to do something like it before, but they didn't know if it would sell - the ultimate purpose of the film/TV industry). It is a distinct parallel to what Hanks did with Apollo 13 and then his "From the Earth to the Moon" miniseries (I believe that was the title...might not be, though) - one led to the other.
Q
Both are highly excellent and, while some fiction may have been introduced in both (ie., elements of dialogue; some characters), by and large both do an excellent job.
One thing is for certain. Band of Brothers would not have happened had it not been for the commercial success of Saving Private Ryan. Seeing and hearing how well SPR was received caused Hanks and Spielberg to fully commit to the BoB project (I understand both wanted to do something like it before, but they didn't know if it would sell - the ultimate purpose of the film/TV industry). It is a distinct parallel to what Hanks did with Apollo 13 and then his "From the Earth to the Moon" miniseries (I believe that was the title...might not be, though) - one led to the other.
Q
ConstitutionCowboy
member
I just put "Band of Brothers" on my wish list. If it compares to or is better than "Saving Private Ryan", I can see no reason not to buy it. I already have SPR and BD.
Woody
Woody
W L Johnson
Member
Not comparing the two but I have bought Band of Brothers as presents and loaned out my copy and almost to a one they have said it was the best thing they have ever seen on their TV. Some of them even disliked all other war movies but Band of Brothers pulled them in.
HoosierQ
Member
Band of Brothers is so good in terms of the character development that you really really care how it goes for the guys. I can now watch 15 minutes of that at any point and know and care what happens.
The episode where they assault the gun emplacements on D-Day is probably some of the best dramatic combat film ever made...can't imagine what would be better. Not knocking the beach scene in Private Ryan though...not at all.
You know, there is another war movie that is one of the best...no I am not refering to "The Big Red One" (which is just great)...the original, 1930 "All Quiet on the Western Front". The dialog style seems very corny today (after all they'd only been making talking movies for a year) but the writing, the direction and what they say is just gripping. You will never look at a plate of beans and wieners again after you see that film (not gross or anything)...watch and you'll know what I am talking about. It is an anti-war film (written by a WWI veteran of the German trenches) but they send their message by showing war for what it is...not making statements.
Truely a great film.
But Band of Brothers is the best.
Blackhawk Down is truely great as well. The efforts of those guys just getting back makes them winners. That mission went poorly because the big shots messed it up. The soldiers did a great job and we are fortunate that only 18 of our fighting men lost their lives that day. Because of the actions of the fighting men portrayed in that film, we didn't loose 50 or 60. To me, the guys who walked back into the soccer stadium won their war. Sort of "Retreat? We're attacking in the opposite direction!" kind of a thing.
The episode where they assault the gun emplacements on D-Day is probably some of the best dramatic combat film ever made...can't imagine what would be better. Not knocking the beach scene in Private Ryan though...not at all.
You know, there is another war movie that is one of the best...no I am not refering to "The Big Red One" (which is just great)...the original, 1930 "All Quiet on the Western Front". The dialog style seems very corny today (after all they'd only been making talking movies for a year) but the writing, the direction and what they say is just gripping. You will never look at a plate of beans and wieners again after you see that film (not gross or anything)...watch and you'll know what I am talking about. It is an anti-war film (written by a WWI veteran of the German trenches) but they send their message by showing war for what it is...not making statements.
Truely a great film.
But Band of Brothers is the best.
Blackhawk Down is truely great as well. The efforts of those guys just getting back makes them winners. That mission went poorly because the big shots messed it up. The soldiers did a great job and we are fortunate that only 18 of our fighting men lost their lives that day. Because of the actions of the fighting men portrayed in that film, we didn't loose 50 or 60. To me, the guys who walked back into the soccer stadium won their war. Sort of "Retreat? We're attacking in the opposite direction!" kind of a thing.
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Doogledog
Member
I have to say I own both and enjoy watching them. My eleven year old is a little too young to watch the first few scenes of SPR and I think he's too young for a lot of the language in both but he and I do watch Band of Brothers together. Like many others posting here, I'd like to think I have a personal connection too. My Grandfather drove a duece-and-a-half in and out of Bastogne, when that was possible of course. I also really enjoy the commentary from the men who were there. They all in a little way remind me of my Granddaddy. We owe that generation a great debt.
Hokkmike
Member
Watched both - voted Band of Brothers. My favorite war flick is John Wayne in "They Were Expendible".
Don't know about accuracy since I wasn't there. I was a Vietnam ERA vet but had never been sent there.
I don't want to steal the thread but I wonder which Vietnam movie is most accurate.
Don't know about accuracy since I wasn't there. I was a Vietnam ERA vet but had never been sent there.
I don't want to steal the thread but I wonder which Vietnam movie is most accurate.
They're both first rate. My dad was army infantry, right there in the thick of it, so I feel a connection to both. In terms of realism and historical accuracy I'd give the edge to BoB; for pure entertainment I'd give the edge to SPR - for example the sniper vs. sniper scene in the French village is just amazing.
Lightsped
Member
Thanks for all of the replies. I just ordered BoB from Amazon. The BoB set is like $35 bucks at the moment....
Cosmoline
Member
SPR had a brutally realistic opening sequence, but moved further and further away from reality towards Sillywood as the plot developed. Everything from impossible sniper shots to Tom Sizemore taking multiple 8x57JS hits at point blank and still being able to make witty remarks about having the wind knocked out of him. The finale was all Hollywood, right out of the war movies the director loved as a child. Nothing wrong with that, but BOB stayed on point from start to finish with only minor deviations from what actually happened. I really like the idea of following the unit through the war. The Finnish classic "Talvisota" is similar, and also well worth watching if you can find it.
That's an excellent film, but not as well known as it should be. Ford made it during the war and a few of the actors including Robert Montgomery were fresh from the action. It's pretty brutal esp. when compared with the flashier war films of the 50's.
That's an excellent film, but not as well known as it should be. Ford made it during the war and a few of the actors including Robert Montgomery were fresh from the action. It's pretty brutal esp. when compared with the flashier war films of the 50's.
RockyMtnTactical
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Both are great movies. I enjoy BoB more.
likethetank
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I prefer BoB, and this is almost exactly my opinion. Minus the "Talvisota" reference (haven't seen it).
Griff56
Member
Well, my vote is for BoB. I think it is an honest presentation of the facts and how things went down. SPR, however gave some very dramatic moments. I did not sleep well for several nights after seeing it. The mother sitting on the porch sobbing brought memories to me of my Uncle killed in France in 1944. One thing that will always stay with me is that that generation of both men and women will stand out from the rest for all times. In my opinion all wars are a terrible waste of life and resources, but the nature of the beast so to speak. Mankind needs people like them to put it on the line or we are doomed to consume ourselves.
Now I will get off my soap box.
Sorry for going off on a tangent.
Now I will get off my soap box.
Sorry for going off on a tangent.
SSN Vet
Member
I think the first and last 10 min. of SPR are among the most realistic movie combat scenes ever...
unfortunately.... they butchered the true story and ruined the movie with an "anti-authority" theme, that imho, dishonors the vets...
SPR does not even closely resemble the true story that inspired it....which was the story of Fritz Niland, who was pulled out of combat in the days after D-day...
He was found and yanked from the lines by an Army Chaplain, who did go forward into the thick of the fighting to get the guy.
It turned out that all of his brothers were not dead after all. The brother shot down in a bomber in the pacific survived a year in a Jap. POW camp and was liberated at the end of the war.
BOB was a more realistic portrayal of actual events.... but some of the episodes were too "touchy feely" for my liking, and the combat scenes were not of the same realism as SPR (imo)
I read the book by Steven Ambrose... which is AWESOME! and as usual... the movie/series wasn't as good as the book.
Lt. Winters, was an amazing man.... read the book to learn more
unfortunately.... they butchered the true story and ruined the movie with an "anti-authority" theme, that imho, dishonors the vets...
SPR does not even closely resemble the true story that inspired it....which was the story of Fritz Niland, who was pulled out of combat in the days after D-day...
He was found and yanked from the lines by an Army Chaplain, who did go forward into the thick of the fighting to get the guy.
It turned out that all of his brothers were not dead after all. The brother shot down in a bomber in the pacific survived a year in a Jap. POW camp and was liberated at the end of the war.
BOB was a more realistic portrayal of actual events.... but some of the episodes were too "touchy feely" for my liking, and the combat scenes were not of the same realism as SPR (imo)
I read the book by Steven Ambrose... which is AWESOME! and as usual... the movie/series wasn't as good as the book.
Lt. Winters, was an amazing man.... read the book to learn more
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