# Saving Private Ryan question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 16, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359 "2002-06-16T14:07:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/1 "2002-06-16T14:07:22Z")
This here is a question for all those German speakers who have seen the movie. A friend asked me something, but not being able to speak German, I figured I’d come here and see if someone else could help me out. Towards the end, during the big battle at the bridge, when the German soldier they let go earlier kills the Jewish soldier, what does he say? I was under the impression he simple coed him (just lay over him saying “Shhhhh, shhhhhh,”) but my friend is convinced he said something, and is curious as to what it was. If anyone can shed some light on the subject, it’d be much appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2002, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/2 "2002-06-16T14:59:17Z")
I lifted this directly from [here (IMDB - Trivia Page for _Saving Private Ryan_](http://us.imdb.com/Trivia?0120815). But I don’t speak German, so you’ll have to trust them. As the German soldier stabs a US soldier to death, he says: “Gib’ auf, du hast keine Chance! Lass’ uns ein Ende machen es ist so viel leichter für dich!” This translates: “Give up, you don’t stand a chance! Let’s end this here, it will be easier for you like this!” The words are spoken in Austrian-accented German. ---
**Author:** ![Summers\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Summers\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Summers_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/3 "2002-06-17T09:49:11Z")
Was that really the same soldier they captured and let go at the machine gun nest? I’m pretty sure they were different people… ---
**Author:** ![DemonSpawn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@DemonSpawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonSpawn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/4 "2002-06-17T10:24:04Z")
German speaker here: just wanted to let you know that the words and the translation are correct ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/5 "2002-06-17T12:02:10Z")
They were different soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/6 "2002-06-17T12:09:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ArchiveGuy \* > \*\*They were different soldiers. \*\* No, they were the same soldier. Hence, his letting the American guy live instead of shooting him dead on the steps. And, the reason the American guy shot him dead at the end even though he was a prisoner and unarmed. He let the German guy live, the German guy let him live, and his grief at the fact his trying to be humane led to the deaths of his own people led to a sacrifice of his humanity for revenge. That was the whole point of the German’s character and the scene at these two scenes (the machine gun nest and “execution” at the end). Demonstrates you can’t be civil in war. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/7 "2002-06-17T13:30:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by El Elvis Rojo \* > No, they were the same soldier. Hence, his letting the American guy live instead of shooting him dead on the steps. And, the reason the American guy shot him dead at the end even though he was a prisoner and unarmed. He let the German guy live, the German guy let him live, and his grief at the fact his trying to be humane led to the deaths of his own people led to a sacrifice of his humanity for revenge. That was the whole point of the German’s character and the scene at these two scenes (the machine gun nest and “execution” at the end). Demonstrates you can’t be civil in war. \*\* While that makes sense, most of the material I read indicated that “Steamboat Willie” was not the same German as the one who killed Mellish at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Summers\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Summers\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Summers_Son)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/8 "2002-06-17T13:59:06Z")
well i cant remember the two (or one) guys face(s) but i remember the guy at the machine gun nest having a different voice to the guy who killed Melish but that could be cause he was reduced to groveling as a captive… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/9 "2002-06-17T16:56:39Z")
> [@](#): > > No, they were the same soldier. [Wrong](http://www.scruffles.net/spielberg/movies/saving-private-ryan/saving_private_ryan_faq.html) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/10 "2002-06-17T16:57:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Summers\_Son \* > \*\*well i cant remember the two (or one) guys face(s) > but i remember the guy at the machine gun nest having a different voice to the guy who killed Melish > but that could be cause he was reduced to groveling as a captive… \*\* I was going to say that the guy in the end appeared a bit tougher as well. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/11 "2002-06-17T19:15:37Z")
Then why’d he let the whiney American on the stairs live? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/12 "2002-06-17T19:39:27Z")
It certainly seemed to me that they were the same man. If he wasn’t, how’d the guy at the end know Oppum’s name? Telepathy? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/13 "2002-06-17T22:05:56Z")
I think the German soldier who is shot at the end is the same as the one they let go, but is different from the one who kills Melish. But it’s been a while since I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/14 "2002-06-17T22:10:23Z")
The soldier Upham shoots is the same one they let go at the machine gun nest (“Steamboat Willie”), who is different from the one who Upham encounters on the stairs after failing to save Mellish. I think he probably let Upham live out of contempt. He could tell he wasn’t even worth wasting a bullet on (the site I linked to above also indicates he–unlike Willie–was in the SS, so that may contribute to his feeling of fearlessness towards the cowardly G.I.) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/15 "2002-06-17T22:33:50Z")
i would just like to say i thought that movie sucked! ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/16 "2002-06-17T23:06:46Z")
I agree that the German soldier let Upham live out of contempt. I seem to remember him brushing Upham aside as he came down the stairs. Did I imagine that? ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/17 "2002-06-17T23:20:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by gatopescado \* > \*\*i would just like to say i thought that movie sucked! \*\* Gosh, thanks. That puts everything into perspective for us, knowing that some anonymous wanker thinks the movie sucked. Obviously, our actually giving a fuck about the movie means that we have no lives and must rededicate ourselves to our respective gods’ service. Whew. I am so glad _that’s_ been cleared up. ---
**Author:** ![RadioWave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RadioWave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadioWave)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/18 "2002-06-18T00:20:04Z")
I’m 99% sure that [this site](http://www.sproe.com/s-steamboat2.htm) is correct in that Steamboat Willie does **not** kill Mellish but he is the one who kills Capt. Miller. The camera zooms in on Willie right before Miller gets shot and you can clearly tell that it is the same soldier. ---
**Author:** ![Kyomara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8edcca/32.png) [@Kyomara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyomara)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/19 "2002-06-18T01:10:19Z")
The scene where the German soldier kills Melish is a very intense experience for both of them (not to understate things too much or anything)…I always firgured the reason he doesn’t kill Upham on the stairs is because 1) killing one guy up close with a knife to the sternum was an intense enough experience to shake the German soldier up good, and 2) Upham clearly didn’t pose a threat. To put it a different way, I took it as a statement on the difference between killing another human being from a distance with a gun (like they’d been doing for most of the film up to that point) and actually looking into your victim’s eyes and being almost intimate with them while driving a knife into their living flesh. When the German soldier killed Melish, they weren’t German and American or Nazi and Jew anymore…they were just two guys, one of whom was going to have to kill the other for no other reason than the fact that they were at war. And it sucked, and it fucked up the German soldier enough that he couldn’t even think straight to kill Upham on the stairs. That’s what I thought, anyway. To say that he let Upham live out of contempt is too simple and a disservice to the scene (one of my favorite in the movie)… Next time ask me about how unbelievably homoerotic that killing scene was. Go on, ask me. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359/20 "2002-06-18T01:21:00Z")
So, Kyomara, would you say that scene was homoerotic at all? Just curious [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saving-private-ryan-question/114359.md?page=2)