10 Most Ambitious War Films Ever Made

When Steven Spielberg decided to write and direct a WWII film in the late nineties, it was destined to be discussed for decades. And, when it did release to theaters in 1998, it hit audiences like an artillery shell. This is because the second scene of the film is a twenty-three-minute long depiction of the storming of Omaha Beach. Spielberg barely gives you a chance to breathe before you're in the midst of one of the bloodiest conflicts in human history.

Production for the scene cost 12 million dollars and used 1500 extras. The scene also called for 20 to 30 amputees. This was so Spielberg could accurately dramatize maimed Allied soldiers. Spielberg didn't storyboard any of the scene; instead, he relied on the cast's genuine reactions and followed those scenes as they played out.

Tom Hanks said to Roger Ebert about filming,

"The first day of shooting the D-Day sequences, I was in the back of the landing craft, and that ramp went down, and I saw the first 1-2-3-4 rows of guys just getting blown to bits. In my head, of course, I knew it was special effects, but I still wasn't prepared for how tactile it was."