This isn't nearly as close as people make it out to be. Forrest Gump is a thinly veiled Hollywood "feel good" movie. In fact, the only way they were able to sell the movie was to completely change the core of the character. I'm about to drop a bomb on you, kiddies. Santa ain't real- The REAL Forrest Gump, the one from the novel and the original scripts, is not a sweet, naive man with a low IQ. He is an abrasive, cynical, slightly crude autistic savant. Try putting THAT guy in the film, and it ruins the magic. The whole movie hinges on the studio hoping you pity a ******. Only an actor the caliber of Tom Hanks could have made that movie work. Forrest Gump is more of a testament to the actors (Hanks, Gary Sinise, Robin Wright Penn), then to being an actually great film.
Saving Private Ryan, however, IS an acheivement in modern film making. Yes, the opening sequence is the most intense. The movie never quite reaches that same intensity. And for some reason it's had it's detractors in this tournament for that sole reason. The entire film is gripping. I find it funny that it LOSES points with some people, just because the first scene in the film happens to be the greatest sequence ever filmed in the history of film, and the rest of the film just happens to be fantastic, just not on the EPIC scale of the first scene.