I’m sure most of us can still recall the visceral reaction that we had to the opening sequences of Steven Spielberg’s masterful WWII drama "Saving Private Ryan." Once the movie settles into its narrative framework, Spielberg drops us into the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy, and we begin to feel like we are members of the battalion that are following Tom Hanks and his soldiers into battle. It’s immersive and devastating… and it had a similar effect on the men who were filming the sequence for us to watch later on the big screen.

We have made arguments on CinemaBlend over the years that "Saving Private Ryan" is both Steven Spieberg’s best movie as well as Matt Damon’s best movie. It’s harder to rank it on a list of the best Tom Hanks’ films because he has participated in so many stone-cold classics. When stopping by the ReelBlend podcast to discuss his new film, Elvis, however, Hanks recalled the shocking moment when he realized that Saving Private Ryan was going to be something extraordinary.