Don't take liberties with history

Rating: Null/10 (29 October 2001)

Saving Private Ryan isn't a bad flick - it has a great opening act, and then deflates into your average genre war film - complete with a dodgy deux ex machina when those tankbuster planes bail out the GI s getting a pasting at the hands of the SS. But , hey, Ted Danson and Steven Spielberg - how dare you disparage the British effort both in the landings and in the D-Day campaign? We don't need ditsy Hollywood glamour guys making pat judgements about the courage and sacrifice of the British Army in WWII - and passing it off as coming from character won't wash You only make yourselves sound foolish. If you want true realism as opposed to brittlle Tinseltown hogwash, check out the brilliant Russian film Come And See instead - Spielberg appropriated much of its horror for his story, and needless to say , his ain't half as good.