Let's talk about Corporal Upham from Saving Private Ryan

[Jermei]

How do you feel about Corporal Upham? Obvious SPOILERS here for that one guy who hasn't seen Saving Private Ryan yet... (Looks at shadow_priest_x)

Yes Saving Private Ryan is an older movie but over the years I've had some interesting discussions about Upham and how people perceive him.

Some say Upham is a coward for not shooting that SS Soldier who killed Private Mellish (stabbing Mellish with a knife in the chest) Upham heard the whole thing and that Solidier simply walked past him to continue fighting.

...who by the way is NOT the same soldier that was blindfolded and set free by Upham (That was Steamboat Willie as seen below) Willie was the one who also shot Captain Miller and was then killed by Upham near the end of the film. Not the knife guy.

Some say Upham is a coward, some say he represents innocence lost, and some think he's evil for saving a life based on morals (the blindfold scene) and then taking it away (Killing only Willie).

Upham is a complicated character who made several choices by taking action and also by doing nothing.... What's your opinion on this guy?

 

[Thrawn33]

Coward.

 

[Pittie Petey]

Never knew that was two different people

 

[El Chimpo]

Coward.

You're in the middle of war, you watch the enemy kill a friend and let said enemy walk right by you...knowing you wouldnt do anything

 

[Jermei]

Never knew that was two different people

I was the same. I think I lost a 'Gentleman's bet' when debating a friend about Upham and I thought that knife guy was the same person. Its not and im not sure if the confusion was on purpose. Both actors look similar, both have scenes with Upham, both have shaved heads and no helmet.

 

[BisexualMMA]

He was a coward.

He wasn't evil for shooting the guy they had set free at the end. He just became pragmatic about things. And it was probably trying to relieve some of the guilt for being such a puss while his friend died earlier.

 

[GearSolidMetal]

There should be a poll.

I'm watched the movie with dozens of my fellow grunts in the Army. It was a universal consensus that he was a coward that hid while his fellow soldiers died, and he just listened while thinking about his own life.

"Oh, but he was afraid" some would say. Um no fucking shit, everyone in war is shitting the pants, but they do their duty and do what they need to do.

 

[DoomPatrol]

Upham was a coward. He had a job to do, and failed to do so resulting the horrible death of his brother in arms. When I was in the Marine Corps, we had a few guys come into my battalion, and we could tell they had his type of personality. We hazed the ever living shit out of those kids until they went UA (unauthorized absence) and left the unit. One kid was in my platoon. He was straight shitbag coward who joined infantry for no apparent reason. Me and a few others guys would routinely beat him, lock him out of his room, threaten him, steal his gear, break his stuff, et cetera. We just didn't want him on deployment with us, and we made it clear. He wound up going UA one day and went home. He threatened suicide when they caught him and seperated him from the Marine Corps. I don't regret what I did for one second of my life. Someone in my platoon would have fragged his ass the first time we had a firefight.

Upham is a fictional character, but he really pisses me off. I deeply hate everything he stood for in the movie. I understand he was probably a draftee, but as a man he should have bucked up and did his job. Instead he let Nazis kill better men than him while he hid like a total pussy.

 

[ShinkanPo]

Fuck hitler

 

[n...not crazy]

Never knew that was two different people

Very hard to tell these guys apart, I'll bet 75% of people thought it was the same guy. I sure as hell did.

Anyways, Upham was the coward and not much more to me. His apparent redemption in killing a prisoner was just as bad. It brought him from Coward to Immoral Coward.

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

Coward IMO I can't say I would be any different. Killing someone is hard to do especially if it's your first kill.

 

[Lethal_Striker]

He WAS a coward at first but later on he redeemed himself. He never expected to see liver action during the war then suddenly he was thrust into a situation he didn't expect but he killed the German by the end of the movie.

 

[Medical Marijuana Man]

Saving Private Ryan is without a doubt not only my favorite war movie of all time but also my favorite Speilberg movie.

 

[Thai Domi]

Coward.

And that stabbing is one of the hardest death scenes out there imo.

 

[John Stockton]

He was a coward and fairly self-aware. I put the blame more on Miller for accepting the risk of bringing an obvious liability. Cowardice is largely in inborn trait and I don't think Upham could have done much to change that. The Steamboat Willie situation is sort of a separate issue in my eyes. He blew his 2nd chance so I think killing him was fair game.

 

[thebluerider]

bitch made fo sho

 

[BangersAndSmash]

Lol. Why would you need a poll? What other answers were you expecting to get? Even if someone thought he didn't deserve to die, its near impossible not to view him as a coward. There's not really another side to this argument.

 

[KnightTemplar]

Coward.

/Thread.

Also, thought the guy he shot was the knife man.

 

[Jermei]

I think the term 'Give peace a chance' was shown when Willier was blindfolded.... they gave peace a chance and the sad truth is peace doesnt nessesarily work in the long run.

Also, Captain Miller should never have let Upham call the shot on the blindfolded Willie and set him free. They justified sparing his life but in reality im not so sure they'd let him live. For all the blood spilled in that battle what's one more...

 

[KnightTemplar]

Coward.

And that stabbing is one of the hardest death scenes out there imo.

Yeah, that was some Game of Thrones level shit. Funny, the scenes where guys are getting shot, blown up etc are intense, but they didn't make me want to turn away from the screen the way this did. Probably because it was so up close and personal.

The Nazi was a scumbag, of course, but I had more respect for him than for Upham. At least the SS soldier did his duty.