This makes me want to start a Full Metal Jacket vs Apocalypse Now thread, now there's a battle! (I'd go with Apocalypse Now)

Same here. The opening sequence of Saving Private Ryan is the most critique portion of the entire film from all it's viewers. The remainder of the movie was just mediocre.

SPR was one tired cliché after another.

TRL was poetry and more of a meditative existential piece than anything else.

The Thin Red Line? Apocalypse Now? Platoon? I'm sure I can dig out more.

This thread is great. I can put all the Private Ryan lovers on my "ignore this person because his taste sucks" list. And I'm only "somewhat" kidding.

ok, time to get off the high horse...

Saving Private Ryan by far.

Heck, I'd take The Thin Blue Line over The Thin Red Line.

A classic case of the old art vs. entertainment debate: I loved SPR's battle scenes, but found the story and some of the acting cliched; TRL was superbly written, acted and photographed, but I've only been able to sit through it once. Still, my vote is for TRL for bringing something new to the table.

I really liked the score from Ryan, especially "The Last Battle" ... or the song featuring the baritone/tuba-sounding brass. Man, I know my music lingo ...

'Saving Private Ryan' had the same gritty feel as the equally excellent 1945 'The Story Of GI Joe', with a script based on the 1944 'The Fighting Sullivans'. The movie was (and still is) a masterpiece upon it's inital release, and how it lost the best picture nod that year is still a mystery to me.

'The Thin Red Line'...gave it a try, but turned it off after 60 minutes of watching the grass and the trees bend in the wind.

Saving Private Ryan.

Not that I think Thin Red Line is a bad film, but Saving Private Ryan is just better.

What was so awful about the middle of the film?

Agreed.

SPR felt like a dumbed-down war movie created to entertain high school kids. It was very contrived and there were many cheap tactics used to get a shocked emotion out of the audience.

There were many scenes that had me rolling my eyes.

I couldn't take it seriously at all.

Agreed here as well. TRL is the better film but I'm not surprised that more people would like SPR since it has more mass appeal.

I'd probably be more inclined to watch Saving Private Ryan over The Thin Red Line on any given night, but I do think The Thin Red Line is a superior film. It's themes of the paradox of civilization and war, and human nature and nature were really interesting to me.

Platoon is better than both of them.

-Paul Jacobi-

Except it's not...better than SPR, that is.

That's a question that needs qualifying, much like hall of fame voting. I would say Bridge on the River Kwai.

When they were first released (they were both released in 1998), I thought Saving Private Ryan was a better film than The Thin Red Line. But after repeat viewings of each film over the years, I have come to appreciate The Thin Red Line as the better film.

The horror of war through the eye of the camera is better depicted in Saving Private Ryan, but the horror of war through the eyes and thoughts of the men who fought through it was better depicted in The Thin Red Line. Does that make sense?

It's not really fair to compare these two films anyways, since they are so divergent from each other; Two different theaters of operations, one film is an external view while the other is an internal view, etc. A better comparison of two war films shall and will be Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima when they are both released later this year.

Not even close. The Thin Red Line is a masterpiece. Saving Private Ryan is a good popcorn flick.

Platoon was overrated.

Thin Red Line.

SPR is good but pretentious with the glurgy odsession with patriotism and mom and apple-pie. It pretends to have depth but is really, very shallow.

And The Thin Red Line isn't???

Talk about the pot calling the kettle African-American.

Yeah besides the opening and closing with the American flag, I don't remember a lot of flag waving in SPR. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me whats so bad about the middle section of the film? Just because its more straight forward than Thin Red Line doesn't mean its some dumb, flag waving, manipulation-fest.

If there was nothing more to SPR than the landing at Normandy, that would be enough. (But there is so much more.)

If there were nothing more to TTRL than the opening scenes of blissful, natural tranquility totally shattered by the animosities of man, that would be enough. (But there is so much more.)

I understand why someone might want to force a choice between two great films that take on a single, enormous subject. But ultimately it's a false exercise. Art is not a competitive sport. Both films have are stories worth telling. And both are well told.

Going to see TRL was like being dragged to a bad open mic poety reading. SPR was good on the first viewing, better on subsequent viewings (it's more of a collection of really good scenes rather than a cohesive film).

But Band of Brothers trumps them both.