Tomorrow marks the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy when the Allied forces invaded Nazi-occupied France.
A massive turning point in the war, less than a year later Hitler would be dead and victory in Europe was declared.
Operation Overlord has been recreated in several iconic war films over the years.
And no more iconically than in Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, which is streaming in HD on the Channel 4 app for free, for the next 19 days.
Upon its release in 1998, World War II veterans found the combat scenes, including the opening sequence of D-Day, incredibly realistic of their own experiences with some even unable to continue watching. The Omaha Beach scene cost $12 million to shoot for over a month with 1500 extras.
Considered one of the greatest films of all time, Saving Private Ryan won five Oscars. And in a 2015 poll of Academy votes, given another opportunity, they would have voted for the film to be Best Picture.
The blockbuster stars Tom Hanks as US Captain John H Miller who is tasked with locating Matt Damon’s Private Ryan, to have him sent home because his three other brothers had been killed in action.
Saving Private Ryan features an incredible cast of future A-listers including Vin Diesel, Bryan Cranston, Nathan Fillion and Paul Giamatti.
Following the success of the film, Spielberg and Hanks would create the incredible miniseries Band of Brothers, following the 101st Airborne through the war. This has been followed up by both The Pacific and most recently, Masters of the Air.