The theater was nearly full and I was just about the only person there younger than 80 years old. The audiance reacted similarly to what was described in the article. Nearly everyone stayed throughout the credits, there was cheering and clapping during the rescue and complete silence when exiting the theater. Lots of tears.
A really wonderful film.
Our audience was much different, agewise. The theater was about half filled, and I would say that maybe twenty percent of the audience were in their late teens, early twenties, and the large majority were our age (in their 40s and 50s).
There were two young (mid-twenties) couples seated in front of us, and both of the young women were deeply moved (brought to tears) more than once. The four of them remained through the rolling of the credits (as did almost all of the audience).
But we live in a rural, very conservative area of the country, so I would imagine this may not be the 'norm'.
Saving Private Ryan, The Passion of Christ, Schindlers List,