"SAVING PRIVATE RYAN," THE GROUND-BREAKING WORLD WAR II DRAMA, AIRS UNEDITED FROM ITS THEATRICAL VERSION, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 ON ABC

Winner of Five Oscars, the film will air in HDTV Format With 5.1 Surround Sound

"Saving Private Ryan," the winner of five Academy Awards(r) and 11 nominations, will air in its complete, unedited theatrical version THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 (8:00 -- 11:20 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network (rebroadcast. OAD: 11/11/01). The telecast will be presented in HDTV with 5.1-channel surround sound.

Editors please note: This film replaces the episodes of "Extreme Makeover," "life as we know it" and "Primetime Live" which had been scheduled for this evening.

The World War II drama tells the story of Capt. Miller (Tom Hanks, "Road to Perdition," "Cast Away," "Forrest Gump"), who leads an eight-man mission to rescue Private Ryan (Matt Damon, "The Bourne Identity," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Good Will Hunting"), the sole surviving brother of four fighting in the war. The film starts as Capt. Miller and his men make the landing on Omaha Beach on D-day. After surviving that crucible of fire, they are assigned to scour the front lines to find Private Ryan and return him to safety -- first, in order to save his mother any further grief, and second, to serve as a heroic symbol of the Normandy invasion.

"Saving Private Ryan" stars Tom Hanks as Captain John H. Miller, Tom Sizemore ("Pearl harbor," TV's "Dr. Vegas") as Sergeant Michael Horvath, Edward Burns ("Life or Something Like It," "The Brothers McMullen") as Private Richard Reiben, Barry Pepper ("We Were Soldiers," "Battlefield Earth") as Private Daniel Jackson, Adam Goldberg ("Edtv") as Private Stanley Mellish, Vin Diesel ("The Fast and the Furious") as Private Adrian Caparzo, Giovanni Ribisi ("Gone in 60 Seconds") as T/4 Medic Corporal Irwin Wade, Jeremy Davies as Corporal Timothy E. Upham, Matt Damon as Private James Francis Ryan, Ted Danson (TV's "Becker" and "Cheers") as Captain Fred Hamill, Paul Giamatti ("Big Momma's House," "Planet of the Apes") as Sergeant William Hill, and Dennis Farina ("Snatch,") as Lieutenant Colonel Anderson.

The 1998 feature was directed by Steven Spielberg ("Schindler's List") -- who won his second Best Direction Academy Award (r) for "Saving Private Ryan" -- from a screenplay by Robert Rodat ("The Patriot"). The film was produced by Amblin Entertainment, DreamWorks SKG, Mark Gordon Productions, Mutual Film Company and Paramount Pictures. (CLOSED-CAPTIONED)

This program carries a TV-MA,L,V parental guideline. Due to graphic violence and intense adult language, viewer discretion is strongly advise.

"SAVING PRIVATE RYAN" IN HDTV:
The ABC Television Network's HDTV broadcast of "Saving Private Ryan" will air in 720 Progressive (720P), ABC's selected HDTV format, with 5.1-channel surround sound.