10 Things You Didn't Know About Saving Private Ryan

The most iconic and emotionally devastating portion of the film comes at the beginning, when the soldiers all take part in the D-Day Landings at Normandy. A vividly detailed, quick and relentless depiction of one of the war's most horrific and important days, the Omaha Beach sequence is said to have caused numerous ex-soldiers to either walk out of the movie or breakdown in tears.

In many cases, it certainly received a similar response from regular movie-goers.

For the scene, Spielberg filmed much of it himself using shaky and improvised filming techniques - including using a drill on his camera to make the scene shake during explosions - determined to make the audience as enveloped as possible by the horrific scenes playing out before them.

All told, the epic scope and stunning detail of the scene ended up costing production over 12 million dollars, a fairly impressive chunk of the film's 70 million dollar budget. Some of the things this money went toward included over 40 barrels of fake blood, and the funds needed to keep the shoot going.

Filming the beach scene took 25 days (out of a 59 day shoot for the whole movie) and a large portion of the budget, but given how well it all turned out, it's safe to say it was worth it.