If any filmmakers wish to take on D-Day again, Beevor's book provides enough material for a dozen screenplays. It shows the tension between patriotic and therefore collective loyalty, and the struggle of the individual for survival: those mutually contradictory pressures, which in many ways lie at the heart of war,' Beevor observed in the talk. 'Spielberg's basic story line had great potential. He has expanded on the criticism in a lecture. 'It's sort of a 'Dirty Dozen' cliche of the worst form,' he said. He admires the famed Omaha Beach opening - 'Probably the most realistic battle sequence ever filmed,' he said - but described the rest of 'Saving Private Ryan' as 'ghastly.' Not only is it not the greatest war movie, it's not even the best cinematic depiction of D-Day, says Beevor, author of the newly published 'D-Day: The Battle for Normandy' (Viking). Military historian Antony Beevor begs to differ. (CNN) - Some reviewers have called 'Saving Private Ryan,' Steven Spielberg's World War II film about D-Day and the search for a soldier, one of the greatest war movies.