Follow TV Tropes

Following

Referenced By / Saving Private Ryan

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0361.JPG

Films -- Animated

  • Ice Age: The Meltdown has a parody of the Shell-Shock Silence sequence once Manny is deafened by a nearby geyser.
  • Sausage Party: One scene features a parody of the Omaha Beach sequence, which includes an Oreo picking up its other biscuit, and a can of noodles bring cut open with his innards falling out.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: After the heroes are hit by Kaiju Superfly’s counterattack during the climax, Michaelangelo experiences a recreation of the Omaha Beach sequence.

Films -- Live Action

Music

  • Sabaton's Joakim Brodén was inspired to write a song about D-Day after watching the film. That song, "Primo Victoria" and its album of same name became their breakout hit.
  • My Chemical Romance's 'The Ghost Of You' more or less recreates the Omaha Beach sequence, interspersed with other scenes.

Video Game

  • Beach Invasion 1944: The entire game is essentially one long Shout-Out to the film's Omaha Beach landing. Special mention goes to the MG42 emplacements, where you can reenact the American soldiers getting massacred as their landing craft's doors go down.
  • Brothers in Arms: In Road to Hill 30's second-to-last mission "Tom And Jerry", Baker and his squad must defend the Carentan church from a German counterattack composed of SS Panzergrenadiers and the Panzer IV tanks accompanying them. How does he do it? By holding them off from the bell tower with a Springfield Sniper Rifle, and later grabbing an M1 Bazooka to fight the tanks. In a sense, this mission is basically the Battle of Ramelle, but where the Americans win without the need for reinforcements.
  • Commandos:
    • Commandos 2: Men of Courage features a mission named "Saving Private Smith", which requires to find and rescue an Allied soldier in a French town where Allied troops are besieged by the Germans. The mission has a hidden ending where the Commandos and the Allied soldiers must Hold the Line.
    • The third game features the obligatory Storming the Beaches sequence as its climactic final mission, referencing the film's opening scene.
  • Conker's Bad Fur Day has an entire level themed on the Omaha beach sequence, which includes multiple scenes ripped straight out of the movie, like the boat on fire and the soldier looking for his arm, but it's a parody since the war is being fought between cartoony squirrels and teddy bears rather than actual humans. Although that doesn't stop the game from being just as bloody as the film.
  • During the urban warfare section of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II, the protagonist receives an express order from the Resistance leaders to find, rescue, and bring back to safety a Private Bryan. Because the guy is a cook and the leaders really like his cakes.
  • Call of Duty while it rarely takes direct cues from the film, can be relied upon to make some sort of reference every time the action modes to D-Day;
    • Call of Duty 2 and Call of Duty: WWII both feature landings on or adjacent to Omaha Beach. 2 even recreates the "shell-shocked soldier viewing a direct hit on a landing craft" scene from the opening.
  • Company of Heroes is another game that not only re-creates the famous Omaha Beach scene but features a two-part mission depicting the capture and defense of a strategic river crossing at Carentan.
  • Guns, Gore & Cannoli: The Normandy beach landing sequence during the middle of the 2nd game's story borrows heavily from this film, complete with the German bunkers even closely resembling the ones seen in the film.
  • Hell Let Loose's Update 7 trailer had several scenes that were lifted directly from the film, including the assault on the German radar station and German infantry accompanying a Tiger I tank. In the game itself, the aforementioned radar station is a major landmark on the Omaha Beach map, and one of the first capture points is none other than Dog Green Sector itself.
  • Medal of Honor: Allied Assault: The entire 3rd and 5th missions are pretty much a reference to various scenes in the film. From the Omaha Beach landing, to fighting in the bocage, and even fighting Tiger tanks while defending a bridge in a bombed out French town. Heck, the Ranger Captains that appear as NPCs all resemble Captain Miller.
  • Medal of Honor: Frontline: The opening level, set in Omaha Beach, is, like Allied Assault, pretty much a reference to the film's opening battle. One of the subsequent levels, "Seaside Stowaway", reenacts the Battle of Ramelle complete with 101st Airborne paratroopers accompanying the player. This time, however, it's the Americans attacking the bombed-out French town, complete with Patterson having to knock out a Panzer near the bridge.

Web Original

Western Animation

  • American Dad!: In "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls", an elf is seen wandering through the battlefield and picking up his severed arm.
  • Family Guy
    • In "Brian Does Hollywood", one of the porno films Brian directs is Shaving Private Ryan.
    • There is an episode titled "Saving Private Brian".
    • In "Brian's a Bad Father", Quagmire watches the film "brought to you without commercial interruptions by Mazda", and the ensuing scene shows Mellish's death with the Nazi soldier whispering "Zoom zoom" to him.
  • Robot Chicken
    • The final sketch from "Unionizing Our Labor" features a Smurf caught in the middle of a war between Smurfs and Snorks, complaining that he can't hear. It turns out his name is Deaf Smurf.
    • The 5th season premiere, titled "Saving Private Gigli", opens with a parody of the D-Day scene featuring Seth Green and a group of RC regulars making their way through a hail of bullets representing the new season. Eventually, the Nerd disparagingly comments on how the producers think referencing the movie is "fresh and original", only to do an imitation of the slow-mo bullets scene from The Matrix.
  • The Simpsons
    • During the climactic car chase in "Beyond Blunderdome", Homer and Mel Gibson drive through the set of Rainer Wolfcastle's new movie Saving Irene Ryan.
    • In "E-I-E-I-(annoyed Grunt)", the Simpsons go to the movies and watch a parody of the D-Day opening, which turns out to be an advertisement for Buzz Cola ("Available in ze lobby!")
      Lisa: Do they really think cheapening the memory of our veterans will sell soda?
      Homer: I have to go to ze lobby!
    • In "Little Orphan Millie", Milhouse is informed by cruise representatives of his parents' disappearance in a way similar to how Mrs. Ryan was informed of the death of her sons.
    • During “Krusty the Clown” boys only, show taping (SE 30: EP 18 “ Bart vs. Itchy & Scraty”), Martin is seen picking up foam hand (in reference to soldier picking up their severed arm), during a glitter bomb aftershock, set off by feminist rights parody group “Bossy Riot.”
  • South Park
    • In "Free Hat", a satire on movies being altered for re-releases, the boys watch a trailer for a revised version of the film where soldiers are holding walkie-talkies instead of guns.
    • The flashback to Butters' ballet recital Gone Horribly Wrong in "You Got F'd in the A" features a man sliced open and collecting his entrails.
    • The terrorist attack in "Imaginationland, Part I" is styled like the D-Day opening.

Top