Reconsidering the AFI Top 100 (FINAL VOTING ROUND)

Saving Private Ryan doesn't live-up to the opening scene.

I could say the same thing about "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Can you?

Indy shooting sword guy.

Indy under a truck.

The face melting.

Those are iconic scenes too.

What does Ryan have after the opening scene? Tom Hanks shooting a tank?

The argument isn't that Raiders doesn't have a ton of great scenes, I know it does which is why it's a great film. The argument is that a movie can't be judged negatively because the opening sequence is the best scene in the movie. Normally I'd say well, yeah, that makes sense, but in terms of Private Ryan we know that's not the case.

I think what hurts Saving Private Ryan is that the D-Day battle has nothing to do with the rest of the movie. Sure, it introduces the characters and sets the mood, but it has nothing to do with the rescue mission that the story focuses on and that makes it feel like a separate thing from the main movie. With Raiders it's different because the opening scene establishes the relationship between the hero and the villain. Indiana Jones goes through all that trouble to get the artifact and it's immediately stolen by the bad guy, and that's something that happens throughout the story. Indy never has ownership of the Ark. Even when the Nazi's are killed, the U.S. government takes the Ark away and puts it in a storage room. There's a theme running from beginning through end. Saving Private Ryan doesn't really have that except for brotherhood and the horrors of war, but that's something you get in almost every war movie, so it's not special. That recreation of D-Day is the bread and butter of the movie. Without it, I don't think anyone would care too much about the movie. At least Indiana Jones can survive without the boulder.

Actually... that's a really excellent point. It's a fantastic scene, though it's there to be spectacular and place us into the time, not so much the plot. I still think it's a very good film, but this is a much better argument. Maybe your argument isn't as holey as Ray Liotta after all.