User reviews

I still rate this as the best and most honest war film I've seen. It ignores the Hollywood schmaltz that spoiled Saving Private Ryan and manages to portray the soldiers as human beings and particularly for German soldiers this is an exception. The battle scenes are expansive and very bloody as we follow the German platoon trying to get back to its own lines. The soldiers are heroes in an unheroic war and the film captures the chaos, cynicism and heroism of the German retreat. Well worth checking out.

"Cross of Iron" was Sam Peckinpah's only war movie. It deals with a company of German soldiers retreating through Russia at the close of Hitler's ill-fated Russian campaign. Unusual for a war film, the story is told from the German point of view. Being a Peckinpah film there are explosions and blood-spurting bodies a-plenty. The rough terrain and cramped quarters that the soldiers have to deal with lend well to the declining German fortunes in Russia. As in his other films, notably "The Wild Bunch", Peckinpah utilizes his now famous slow-motion technique to illustrate the violence and show the effects of the destruction. James Coburn stars as the battle wise Sgt. Steiner who has survived the war thus far by his wits. Maximillian Schell plays his aristocratic Captain whose main goal is the pursuit of the Iron Cross, Germany's highest decoration and who will go to any lengths to get it. James Mason is the Company commander and David Warner is his adjutant. Coburn is excellent in the lead who continues to do his duty in spite of the inevitability of impending defeat. Schell is suitably ambitious and cunning as the chief villain and Mason and Warner convey the hopelessness of the situation while maintaining stiff upper lips. "Cross of Iron", in it's uncut version (132 minutes) ranks as one of the greatest of all WWII films in my opinion. One of Peckinpah's best.

I saw this film in 1993 at 29 Palms in the Marines. It was selected as a training film for the entire company by my platoon leader who wanted to depict the leadership qualities of the noncommissioned officer & the cohesion of small units. It got a tepid reception from Marines, then enamored of sci-fi actioners & the sardonic 'Full Metal Jacket,' who thought the scenes of male bonding were sappy, or 'gay.' Nor did the company commander seem to appreciate Peckinpah's anti-establishment tone. Anti-establishment is really the best description of 'Cross of Iron' rather than anti-war and, though it is his only real war film, holds to the dark theme of government/corporation vs. manly individualist that marked most major Peckinpah films. The story follows ace platoon NCO Steiner (Coburn) as he holds together his elite but war-weary men & deals with his officers: wise Colonel Brandt (Mason), dissolute adjutant Kiesel (Warner), heroic Lt. Meier (Galo) and weaselly Lt. Triebig (Fritz). Hardest to deal with is his company commander, the ambitious, arrogant Captain Stransky (Schell) who transferred from the comfort of France to the horrors of the East to, as Kiesel notes, achieve 'spiritual domination' of the war, symbolized by his obsession with winning the Iron Cross. Significantly, most of the experienced soldiers, including all the other officers, have already won the Iron Cross while Meier & Steiner, Stransky's subordinates, are highly decorated. Though not well known in English, Heinrich's book is a World War II counterpart to 'All Quiet on the Western Front' as it starkly depicts a German soldier's struggle to remain human through the horrors of Total War & the prospect of Total Defeat. Heinrich is a bit awkward & preachy compared to Remarque & this comes through in the film, notably in scenes with the officers. For a film with a modest budget, it's pretty long, accentuating the preachiness. The impressive multinational cast suffers from the necessity of putting English-speaking stars in the main roles. Only Coburn & Warner make even slight attempts at German accents. Coburn depicts, rather than details, Steiner, using his wicked smile & humor sparingly while bringing to life a talented, tortured individual torn between his hatred of war, love for his friends & his fear of leaving the only world he knows. Mason is, as usual, both nuanced & commanding. Schell is fine as the pompous captain but only gets a chance to show his tremendous talent when Stransky is manipulative, notably the scene in which he blackmails Triebig. The fine Senta Berger gets little chance to develop nurse Eva. The soldiers are all scruffy to the point of ugliness, a Peckinpah feature discarded in the body-by-Soloflex action films made from the 1980s onward. Peckinpah had refined his trademark touches to a fine point. There's the brotherly love the men share without being 'gay' as well as their conflicted attitude toward women, at once desiring, worshiping & fearing them. The contrast of hardened, jaded veterans with innocent youth, first explored in "The Wild Bunch," permeates 'Cross of Iron' in Steiner's interaction with the Russian boy (Prohic) & Private Dietz (Nowka), the latter playing a 'kid's game' of avoiding sunlight as the platoon is about to make an attack. Like 'The Wild Bunch,' the film has a bizarre but engrossing opening montage, featuring war & Nazi footage mixed with band music & a German child's rhyme. Above all is the theme of resistance to oppressive authority. Steiner rejects the bullying of Stransky but also the condescending sympathy of Brandt & Kiesel, which he hates just as much, and expresses disdain for all 'medal scavengers.' Two new Peckinpah features: a surrealist motif including flashbacks & fantasies, and an overt political tone driven home by photos of Vietnam & a Brecht quote in the closing montage. The action scenes, especially the slow-motion effects, are as good as any by Peckinpah. Considering the low budget, they should be the stuff of legend, featuring extraordinary photography & precise, correct detail. Peckinpah's operatic violence contrasts with the crushing, unmanning action depicted in versions of 'All Quiet in the Western Front.' To balance making a film about the most demonized military machine in history, Peckinpah is at pains to depict ALL the major German characters, even Stransky, as anti-Nazi. Stransky declares himself a Prussian aristocrat, Steiner is openly disdainful of a SS soldier & Brandt lays plans for the existence of Germany after the Nazis. The platoon soldiers wear a mishmash of uniform, civilian clothes & pilfered Soviet items, further de-Nazifying them. This is probably Peckinpah's gloomiest film except 'Alfredo Garcia'--which is pretty gloomy--but it lacks the exquisitely artful darkness of 'Apocalypse Now.' Then again, Heinrich's book isn't 'Heart of Darkness.' If you can watch 'All Quiet,' 'Cross' & 'Apocalypse' all in one day without abandoning all hope, then you're as cheerful as Pippi Longstocking. 'Cross of Iron' is a unique work, either as a war film, an action movie or even a Peckinpah work.

Cross Of Iron is a masterpiece, one of the greatest anti-war, anti-authoritarian movies. It is one of director Sam Peckinpah's two finest works -- the other being The Wild Bunch. It deserves to be ranked in the same great war movie company as Apocalypse Now, Das Boot, Full Metal Jacket, Paths Of Glory, Saving Private Ryan, Seven Samurai, and Zulu. Its setting on the World War Two Eastern Front, its gruesomeness, and its risk-taking viewpoint on ugly combat from the German side, have tended to count against fair assessment of its considerable artistic achievements. Viewers wary of the morality of its German viewpoint and its explicitness might find that it is fundamentally about humanity in general as a victim of war. The film reflects on the humanity which may be found on all sides of conflict--including Russian humanity portrayed variously as relentless, innocent, brave, and feminine.

Cross Of Iron opens with an intense, chilling montage of nursery rhyme, propaganda, combat newsreel and atrocity. By the end of the main title the montage subtly introduces the central characters, a German reconnaissance unit patrolling on the 1943 Russian front.

This 1977 film set rarely matched standards of cinematic mayhem. Cross Of Iron explosions don't look merely like pretty fireballs -- they blast fragments, rocks and debris, leaving no doubt as to why blood gouts from stumps of limbs and shrapnel-shredded entrails. Amid the screams of wounded and dying, as dust subsides from a mortar barrage, an artillery piece shorn of its crew by a near hit swings across a pocked battlefield, its traversing wheel spinning under its own momentum. The carnage occurs in the choreographed slow motion which Peckinpah made his signature.

James Coburn turns in one of his finest roles as Rolf Steiner, a highly decorated NCO who leads a German reconnaissance squad. Steiner fights less for his country than for his comrades. He has low opinions of class and rank distinctions. He is contemptuous both of Nazism and the aristocratic Prussian arrogance of his new superior officer, Captain Stransky, played with great style by Maximilian Schell. But there are hints of a dark side. Although Steiner is articulate and philosophical he has no answer when his love interest during an enforced break from battle, nurse Eva (Senta Berger), bitterly accuses him of being afraid of what he would be without the war.

Among the many fine supporting performances, James Mason plays the war-weary Colonel Brandt. He sees the immorality and futility of German war aims, but his sense of honour and duty about the prevailing struggle makes ceasing to fight unthinkable. David Warner plays Brandt's out-of-place and out-of-time adjutant, Captain Kiesel, who represents to his colonel the hope that a more enlightened postwar Germany might arise from the ashes of inevitable defeat.

War movie buffs irritated by the technical inaccuracies common in many examples of the genre will find some satisfaction in attention to authenticity of weaponry. A range of genuine WWII German and Russian small arms appears. The T 34/85 tanks are real, although the very picky might argue that this is at least six months premature, and that for the summer of '43 they should be T 34/76. Tactics at times deviate from the textbooks, but this is a drama, not a combat manual.

At the time of writing, this great film of a great American director lacks the high quality collectors' edition Zone 1 DVD release it deserves. The Warner Home Video Zone 2 release available through www.amazon.co.uk has the high quality video and sound which have been missing from the non-studio Zone 1 releases. This film is a must-have for war movie fans.

Update as at September 2011: It appears that only the DVD and Blu-ray releases of this film for the European market - notably those published by Studio Canal - are good quality transfers, as well as being in the original widescreen aspect ratio. Studio Canal's Blu-ray release (encoded for Region B only) is significantly better even than their DVD. It shows so much more detail compared to the DVD releases, for example, that the lettering and designs of German military awards like the Krim and Kuban Shield shoulder insignia can be seen clearly on screen, and wine and beer bottle labels are easily read. The Blu-ray is available from Amazon.co.uk, but can be played only on Region B-capable Blu-ray decks. Extras on this Blu-ray include a gem, a documentary by Mike Siegel called "Passion & Poetry - Sam Peckinpah's War". This gives fascinating insight into the making of "Cross of Iron" and Peckinpah's directorial style through contemporary and later interviews with James Coburn, David Warner, Senta Berger, Maximilian Schell, Roger Fritz, Vadim Glowna, Katy Haber and Peckinpah himself. It includes a shot of Peckinpah reminiscing proudly about receiving a telegram from Orson Welles saying it was 'one of the finest war films ever made'.

When Nazi Germany invaded The Soviet Union in 1941 it led to the worst carnage in human history . From June 1941 to the final battle of Berlin in April 1945 the conflict between the Nazis and red army cost the lives of 35 million people. IF you look upon the war between Hitler and Stalin as being separate from all the other campaigns of conflict in the second world war then the campaign in Eastern Europe is the bloodiest conflict in the history of mankind. Something that seems very unlikely to be exceeded . Alas however western film makers seem reluctant to acknowledge this . Off the top of my head I can think of only 3 American / European movies to be set on the Eastern front: ENEMY AT THE GATES , STALINGRAD and CROSS OF IRON.

I first saw CROSS OF IRON in 1983 and have seen it umpteen times since then. This is an intelligent anti war classic and I never get bored with it. James Coburn , star of many a forgettable lightweight caper movie is perfect as the cynical Sgt Steiner. For the first time in his career he shows he has presence and probably gives his best performance in any film . James Mason is also good , though you have admit has Mason ever been bad ? but the best performance award goes to Maximillian Schell as the villain of the piece. It`d be all too easy to have Schell as a goosestepping Nazi , but Schell`s character is a Prussian aristocrat opposed to fascist egalitarianism . He dislikes the Nazis almost as much as Steiner does.

That`s one of many good aspects of the script , it`s so thoughtful and with one exception it doesn`t show any of the Germans as out and out idealogue fascists. But notice the couple of ironic touches in the film where people say the excuse of " I obey orders. It was none of my doing. I was not responsible " Something that has been said a lot of times during the last century , and the century before that , and the one before that. Guess if you travelled a thousand years` in the future we`d still be hearing that. I also find the script perfectly paced, CROSS OF IRON lasts nearly two and a half hours but no matter how many times I watch it I never find it dragging in any way. I sometimes watch SAVING PRIVATE RYAN but I only watch the first half hour and last half hour `cos the middle of SPR is totally tedious. CROSS OF IRON has a much better script.Maybe the battle scenes of SPR are slightly more gory but at best they`re only as good as the ones in this film. I`d say this is Peckinpah`s best film . The editing during the battle scenes are absolutely superb as we see Soviet soldiers in slo mo , Germans in real time, cutting back to Soviets in real time then Germans in slo mo. Then seeing a cross cut with a Soviet and German dying at the same time.

A classic and unforgivably forgotten film set during the worst conflict in history . In my opinion the greatest WW2 film ever surpassing even DAS BOOT

I can't add much to these reviews except to comment that I've found this film to be a great favourite among real soldiers. I once got to deliver the classic line to a Major and a Captain about hating all officers. Luckily(?) they knew I was quoting from the film!

I'm not bothered about the assortment of accents in the cast (that others have mentioned). It seems to me that if you believe in their situation and have immersed yourself in the film, as it was easy for me to do, then you don't even notice them after a while. I would argue that the cast (in terms of dialogue) in Private Ryan is far more of a problem, since these seem to be 1990s guys transported back to 1944 and are far too 'knowing'. Moreover, in Private Ryan I kept stepping back from the film feeling that I was simply being manipulated by the director. COI is far more chilling. I really liked (if that's the word) a scene where an artillery explosion killed both Germans and Soviets. Kind of emphasises the 'war is hell' message without preaching or being manipulative.

I think Steiner is one of the greatest military characters ever to appear on film (for what its worth, Gregory Peck as Savage in Twelve O'Clock High, and Jeff Daniels as Chamberlain in Gettysburg are also up there). I must say I didn't really like the ending, but I can't suggest a better one, but as an alternate "ending" I would certainly recommend that people *do not* see the awful sequel 'Sergeant Steiner' with Richard Burton(!) as Steiner.

Cross of Iron (1977) was a low budget masterpiece from ace director Sam Peckinpah. After having a falling out from Hollywood, Peckinpah went to Europe to direct this W.W.II. anti-war film. The film centers around Sergent Steiner, a battle weary veteran who leads his company into battle everyday for the past three years. Unlike others his only concern is the survival of his men and the fact that he's a live to live another day. One day an officer of Prussian descent (Maximillian Schnell) decides to make his and everyone beneath him lives miserable. James Mason plays the battle hardened Colonel whilst David Warner co-stars as his cynical aide de camp.

Using the limited time and budget to it's fullest extent, Peckinpah created a very stylish and action packed film. The bullets fly, shells pound the earth and the blood flows. The editing is brilliant and the cinematography perfectly captures the action. The battles are very well staged and the acting is executed very well. James Coburn earned his stripes with this film. He's the man! Senta Berger a Peckinpah veteran from Major Dundee) has a small role as a German nurse who briefly becomes involved with Sergent Steiner. What I liked about this movie was the fact that Coburn, Warner and Mason didn't bother to use fake Teutonic accents.

If you're a viewer of war films or a Peckinpah fan, this has to be on top of your list. This is one hell of an action film. War will never look the same again after watching this film. Sadly the domestic D.V.D. release is not only expensive but of poor quality. Try and find and alternate way of watching this neglected masterpiece. I have to give this film a very high rating.

Highest recommendation possible.

In 1943, in the Russian front , a squad of German soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front during WWII struggle to survive Soviet attacks and tough Nazi commanders . Nazis are suffering a crushing defeat , a battle-hardened sergeant ,James Coburn , commands a group of misfit soldiers in a chaotic and lethal environment and carry out dangerous missions . This is a rugged WWII Actioner concerning about the experienced Sergeant Steiner , he's assigned by Colonel Brandt (James Mason) to risked assignments . The Nazi commando turns out to be a rag-tag , oddball and motley gang (a largely cast formed by Klaus Lowitsch, among others) , under command Sergeant Steiner . The commando led by Steiner get a chance to redeem themselves by executing dangerous missions and take a Russian teenager under their protection . They return to base to meet a new dogmatic commander , a traditional Prussian captain named Stranski (Maximilian Schell) who wishes only one thing , an Iron Cross to maintain his family honor . Later on , they are sent on yet another new mission by the staff command . Finally the Russian infantry , artillery and tanks enter on the German trenches at some spectacular scenes . The final closing is a quote from Bertolt Brecht: It states: "Don't rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, The bitch that bore him is in heat again."

This excellent movie about the heroics of weary German soldiers results to be one of the history's best war movie . This over-the-top war film of fundamental interest packs frantic thrills , perilous assignments , relentless feats , interesting message and buck-loads of explosive action and violence . The noisy action is uniformly bad-made , especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes on the German base . Serious and rough James Coburn is top-notch as leader of the motley pack together thwart the Russian enemies , as well as the largely secondary cast with special mention to James Mason as Colonel Brandt and David Warner as captain Keisel . And of course , Maximilian Schell , he steals the show as a tricky and coward officer . Photographed by John Coquillon in Yugoslavia in low budget with money put up by a West German porn producer and the ending wasn't the original ending in the script , at the time the film had run out of money so Sam Peckinpah got James Coburn to improvise .

Director Peckinpah proved had not lost the touch that made Cross of Iron one of his best movies and is the only World War II film directed by Sam Peckinpah . The film is possibly is one of the most brutal and ferocious Peckinpah , when it was dominated by alcohol , melancholy, loneliness and despair . Professionally made by the famous director who was a real creator and author of masterpieces as ,¨The ballad of Cable Hogue¨, ¨Wild bunch¨ , ¨Straw dogs¨, ¨Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia¨. ¨Cross of Iron¨ is lovely realized by Sam Peckinpah in his punchy directorial style . Hardcore Peckinpah moviegoers will appreciate this one more than the casual spectator.

'Cross of Iron' is followed by an inferior sequel titled 'Breakthrough' a boring war movie with all-star-cast as Richard Burton , Rod Steiger , Robert Mitchum , Curd Jurgens though really wasted in which the command under orders Steiner must participate in suicidal missions , Steiner-Burton tries to contact enemy for a treaty of peace and later on , they prepare an assault over a strong position located on the hill where are the Allied tanks .

I have to admit that I had some reserves about this movie before watching it. Although my mother told me this is one of her favorite war movies ever (yes I know, it may sound a bit strange, but we have the same taste for war movies), I also saw a rather bad score on IMDb (about 6.6 at the time). Well, now that I've seen it, I can only say that this movie will be in my top 5 of war movies. This movie shows war the way it actually is: dirty, deadly, tragic,... and with plenty of losers, but no winners. In this movie you won't find any glorification of fake patriotism or dying for a good cause that only politicians in their ivory towers seem to know. No, this movie shows the war in its purest and most horrifying form.

It brings us the story of Rolf Steiner, a veteran hardened by the war, who leads his men through every battle and dangerous situation, but who also takes care that they will survive the madness. Than a Prussian officer, who volunteered to leave the quiet, battle-free world of France for the real action in Russia, joins his fighting group. The man thinks of only one thing: to get an iron cross as fast as possible, so his family can be proud and shouldn't see him as a disgrace to their military tradition. This leads to a lot of problems between the two of course and gradually the tension cumulates until it explodes...

I don't know if the story is based on true facts, but the movie certainly gives a good idea of what the war at the Eastern Front was like, especially after the Germans had suffered a major loss in Stalingrad. They had to retread, but had to take care that they didn't get overwhelmed by the Soviet troops when doing so; a lot of the man had lost faith in victory; no prisoners were taken, but were shot at the spot; optimism had made place for cynicism ... It all feels very real and believable.

And the feeling of realism can also be found in the way of filming. Some might say Peckinpah experimented too much with slow-motion, hand-held camera's,... but personally I believe it only gives an extra dimension to this movie, giving it that extra touch that makes it different from so many mediocre Hollywood productions. I really liked the way he followed the action closely, making you feel like you are part of it yourself, but what really sparked my interest was the contrast between the child's voice singing a "happy" song and the images of the horrors of the war at the beginning and the end of the movie. That really made shivers go down my spine.

If I thought about anti-war movies, I always used to name the World War I classic "All Quiet on the Western Front" (the 1930 version as well as the remake from 1979), but from now on I'll have to add one extra movie: Cross of Iron. If you are a fan of realistic (anti-)war movies, than this is a movie you shouldn't miss. I give it a 9/10.

By the time he got around to directing a World War II movie, Sam Peckinpah was a shell of his old self. Yet even in his advanced state of alcoholism and mental collapse, Peckinpah could find moments of glory, especially when the subject rallied his attention. Such is "Cross Of Iron".

It's the spring of 1943, and in a southwestern section of Russia near the Black Sea a platoon of German soldiers struggle to stay alive. Leading them is Steiner (James Coburn), a crusty but sympathetic non-com who quickly finds himself on the bad side of his new commander, the incompetent, glory-seeking Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell).

"Men like Steiner are our last hope, and in that sense he is truly a most dangerous man," observes another, more reasonable officer (David Warner).

He certainly kills well. Working for both Hitler and Peckinpah, you expect nothing less.

"Cross Of Iron"'s agenda isn't clear. "Anti-war", yes, but with Germans as a nominal rooting interest and Russians storming the front, it's also a world where warfare is the only reality. There's a lot of idle banter about the ugliness of conflict, uttered by men we can only assume were happier about it when they were winning. We see a lot of death while Steiner looks on in stoic agony, a representation of the Peckinpah ideal in all its stark nihilism. He even turns his back on a tryst with the gorgeous Senta Berger to return to the front, this despite the pains Peckinpah and Coburn take to register Steiner's distaste for the cause of the Third Reich.

Peckinpah has a way of turning weaknesses into strengths on screen. The film is so sordid in its life-is-cheap aesthetic it becomes more visceral even as it becomes less coherent. Peckinpah embraces the ugliness of his surroundings here, of bad teeth and bodies pancaked under tank treads, until the very pointlessness of the visuals becomes a kind of point that resonates long after film's end.

In his Hen's Tooth DVD commentary, Stephen Prince makes many sharp observations. One regards the blurred, muddy look of the film, realized by cinematographer John Coquillon. Coquillon and Peckinpah worked together on the similarly grim "Straw Dogs", and Prince notes how well Coquillion brought out the chilly, expressionist side of Peckinpah just as Lucien Ballard captured something more lyrical.

Two sequences show Peckinpah's still-sharp editing prowess. The opening scene features Steiner and his platoon taking out a Soviet mortar position with quick cuts that seem to catch moments of death on the off beat; later we see similar dispatch in a stealth attack on a bridge.

Except in these smaller moments, though, the film never gels. Often the film goes too far in search of random profundities. One hospital-based scene cross-cuts between convalescents attacking a bowl of salad and Steiner dancing with a nurse. Warner and James Mason are wasted as a kind of Greek chorus bemoaning the tide of war between slugs of Mosel. A Russian prisoner is gunned down while Steiner cries out in overplayed anguish. I don't even want to begin trying to explain a sequence where Steiner's squad face a group of female Russian soldiers; it simply doesn't work on any level and runs ten long minutes.

Enough does work to keep you watching. Coburn is a rough diamond, maintaining a fragile cool that gives this film a solid center. Its look is hard and surprisingly authentic considering its legendary budget problems. "Cross Of Iron" isn't great, sometimes it's not even good; but its sordid sensibility and ruthless aesthetic resonate with the power of its one-of-a-kind director.

This is one of those movies that I needed to watch a second time and do a little research on. Once again, "Bloody" Sam didn't let me down. This is definitely a different war film from its time and now. Peckinpah's directed this in a great fashion that hasn't been seen I have not seen his films since "The Wild Bunch". I was lucky enough to have found the 133 minute version in a rental store. I hope one day to see this version on DVD in widescreen. James Coburn is once again in a great role as Steiner. He is also supported by the great James Mason, Maximillian Schell in his best role since "Judgment at Nuremberg", and David Warner. The film had some fine editing and slow motion shots, good underscore, and a solid script. It is a tragedy that Peckinpah went so over budget that they had to end the movie half way through the script. I hope one day that somebody will remake this in the eyes of Peckinpah, and be able to film the entire film.

Sam Peckinpah was known for the display of violence in his movies, but since then directors like Tarentino set the new standard. So what worked in the 70s does not necessarily work now. What remains is a movie to be judged on its message and on its acting.

The movie is about the personal fight between a 'rusty' soldier and an upper class officer. The soldier does the fighting, the officer is only there to get his decoration, because he can't bear the humiliation to go back to his entourage in Germany without one. This collision between interests is the theme of this movie. It is an interesting theme but the movie is only partly able to display it. The story is fragmented, some events hardly fit into the movie. The end is very sudden, it seems no one knew how to finish the movie, or maybe the budget was gone. Anyway, it seems rushed.

But that is not the biggest problem. Acting is. Good acting should make you forget you are looking at an actor. Instead the actor must be able to make you believe you are looking at the character he plays. High ranking stars James Coburn, Maximillian Schell and James Mason were chosen for principal parts. James Coburn is not really an actor, he is only able to show his face and it depends on the movie whether you accept him in his role. In this entire movie he remains an out of place James Coburn. James Mason is a good actor but profoundly British and his part is to small to see him as the German he is playing. Schell is the only one who is able to make you forget he is a star, and merges with his character in this story. So the movie fails primarily on the acting and secondly on the flow of the story.

This movie seems to be out of date, maybe it was good in its time but it misses the extra to still be attractive. That is too bad because the theme is interesting.

I first saw this movie when I was very young and it has since then remained as one of the best movies I have seen and perhaps the best war movie ever. My grandfather fought and died in the useless war against the Russians in 45 and one of my uncles as well as my mothers father were both veterans of those battles. The Germans who fought alongside the Finns in World War II were not heartless nazi monsters or a band of murderous aryans - they were men who had been taken from their homes to fight a pointless war which destroyed everything and gave nothing. Peckinpah portrays this in a truthful way when the German patrol tries to make its way back to their army group. The scene where Anselm rips a Russian female soldiers shirt in an attempt to rape her before being stopped be Steiner is something never before or after seen in a movie - a seemingly friendly and well behaving man turns into a beast when he sees a woman from the enemy army. War is hell and it brings out the best and worst in us - something that Hollywood should remember before making the next Saving Private Ryan.

Hey guys, all those of you who say "Saving Private Ryan was better". Of course it was (in some ways).

But it was also filmed 21 years later, in a modern GCI reality, with this film as one of the foundation stone on which it was built.

SPR used obvious cardboard tanks and Hollywood "stars". COI used real equipment and actors who could act, not just pose.

COI did the action shots with real effects, real explosions. SPR did a lot with digital technology. Of course it's a snappier, smoother visual experience, but it has 2 decades of heritage and technology to prop it up.

In my Opinion, COI is one of the 3 best war films of all time. Apocalypse Now had a huge budget in the modern era - COI had 5 yugoslav tanks, and comes a VERY close second. {Don't ask me to pick the third, right now. I have several options, but COI and An are head and shoulders above the rest.} Steiner is a performance of a lifetime for Coburn - should've been an Oscar, IMHO.

This is one of those films I watch several times a year, as a calibration for the other stuff, and for pure fun.

Buy it, watch it, and watch it again, and again...

In 1943, in the Russian front, the decorated leader Rolf Steiner (James Coburn) is promoted to Sergeant after another successful mission. Meanwhile the upper-class and arrogant Prussian Captain Hauptmann Stransky (Maximilian Schell) is assigned as the new commander of his squad. After a bloody battle of Steiner's squad against the Russian troops led by the brave Lieutenant Meyer (Igor Galo) that dies in the combat, the coward Stransky claims that he led his squad against the Russian and requests to be awarded with the Iron of Cross to satisfy his personal ambition together with his aristocratic family. Stransky gives the names of Steiner and of the homosexual Lieutenant Triebig (Roger Fritz) as witnesses of his accomplishment, but Steiner, who has problems with the chain of command in the army and with the arrogance of Stransky, refuses to participate in the fraud. When Colonel Brandt (James Mason) gives the order to leave the position in the front, Stransky does not retransmit the order to Steiner's squad, and they are left alone surrounded by the enemy and having to fight to survive.

The impact of "Iron Cross" in the 70's was amazing and even thirty years later and having watched this movie for the third time, it is still one of the best war movies of the 70's. The story disclosed from the German side, showing German soldiers as human beings was quite unusual in that decade. James Coburn has one of the best performances in his filmography, in the role of an experienced rebel soldier from the lower classes, hardened by the war, but committed with his subordinates and exerting a perfect leadership. On the other side, Maximilian Schell is also perfect in the role of an arrogant aristocrat aiming only be awarded with a medal and capable to step on his men. The scenarios and the action scenes are awesome, and the battles have an amazing choreography, with Sam Peckinpah still in good shape. Senta Berger has a minor participation, but her beauty was impressive, and I believe this was the last time that I saw a movie with this actress. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Cruz de Ferro" ("The Iron Cross")

This film makes the biggest mistake a war film can make in my opinion: It's directed and edited like an action movie. CROSS OF IRON jumps from shot to shot very quickly, with almost every second one showing a soldier dying theatrically in slow motion in front of an explosion.

You also don't get a good sense of the geography of the various battle scenes - once characters are in a trench, in the next shot they are shown inside a building and after that they are suddenly in the woods (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN does this way better f. e.). All in all, the battle scenes move way too quickly, even if they are well done from a technical standpoint.

This action-heavy tone conflicts very much with the few attempts of seriousness througout the movie - especially at the end, when the film all of a sudden decides to show us random pictures of war crimes and the Holocaust, which feels very disconnected to the film.

Although the acting is generally good, the relationship between Steiner and Stransky isn't thorougly explored and the whole psychological aspect of the film falls flat and feels kind of superficial.

The film isn't bad by any means, just not as good as I expected going in. It's still watchable, mainly due to its high production value with some nice sets and well done practical special effects, and I have to give Peckinpah credit for showing the German perspective of the war. But how people can call this an anti-war film is beyond me.

This movie is very uneven. It seems Peckinpah was unable to decide whether to shoot a metaphysical "deep" movie, for which the entire "Eastern Front affair" would only be a pretext, or a more reflexive war movie. To some extent, he approached the same junction later found by the makers of "Stalingrad;" while both movies serve very well as proof of the "war is madness" thesis, they tend too much toward the sub-conscious, unrealized, sub-real. This movie tells the story of Corporal/Sergeant Steiner, a "living legend" of the German reconaissance, bearer of a lower-class Iron Cross. One day, he is given a new superior, Cpt. Stransky, a Prussian aristocrat who volunteered for the Eastern Front and got reassigned from Paris. Stransky isn't much of an officer, besides, he has never been to the East and so isn't accustomed to the kind of war waged there (much different from the Western, clockwork a-country-a-month warfare conducted on France in the 1940). Yet, he's focused on a single goal - to get his own Iron Cross. Soon enough, the German trenches are attacked by a huge Russian force and survive mainly through the heroism of a few brave officers - mainly Lt. Meyer, who dies in combat. Eager to get it over with (and probably expecting no further chances), Stransky decides to act on it and claim the Cross for conducting of a counterattack (Meyer's doing). However, he needs two witnesses - and one of them is, by necessity, Steiner. What practically rips the movie apart is a set of scenes which seem more like delusions or manic dreams than reality. While the hospital scenes, placed as they are just after the aforementioned battle (in which Steiner got wounded) are intelligible, some similar scenes in the latter part of the movie aren't. I still haven't found any movie which would successfully resolve the realistic-metaphysical paradox, this one hits still too far from home. Other unrewarding aspects of "Cross of Iron" are the many mistakes, the roles played by Mason and Schell (bordering on self-parody, time and again reminiscent of Altman's "M.A.S.H.") and questionable realism of front changes and battle occurrences (like a single plane bombing without an assault to follow or a cannon bombardment laced directly on German positions yet seemingly leaving the Germans untroubled). I guess Peckinpah managed to touch upon the nightmares of the WW2 Eastern Front, yet in general, it's far from ideal. As for the metaphysical aspect of the movie, it leaves the viewer a bit confounded. I, for one, don't know, which parts of the movie are imagined and which are "real." Perhaps it's all a dream and Steiner spent the whole movie in hospital... I'm giving it six stars, because it's worth viewing just as much as "Stalingrad." Other than that, it's a tough movie, unsympathetic, demanding, unrewarding. A typical Peckinpah? Not really, no. I wouldn't name it as the late master's masterpiece, yet it does bear his mark (outside the bloody slo-mo sections).

I had read reviews of cross of iron well before my recent viewing of this incredible masterpiece on our local TV station during the small hours. None have given this remarkable film any justice. No war film is so unrelenting in portraying just a small sector of the largest conflict in history. With pitiless carnage from start to finish, one wonders how any who were drafted to fight on the eastern front could survive such inferno after so many written accounts of the brutality and suffering of eastern front warfare are made visual in this film. I can't believe the compassion I could feel for the characters considering the age of the film compared with the bubblegum war films of that era. The mosaic opening scene entwining images of the phoenix rise of Germany, prosperity and incredible evil against a child's nursery rhyme left me cold. No one could have any romantic notions of modern warfare after sitting through this film.

This film satisfied something in me that has brooded for a long time. I have grown physically ill of films that portray German soldiers as useless cattle that were mercilessly butchered by brave American\British supermen. The soldiers of all sides were largely boys not a lot different to each other. All sides in the conflict had their brave and humane Steiners or their callous and evil Stransky's, even those who fought to rid the world of the heinous Nazi's. Cross of Iron's closest contemporary in terms of visual repulsion and subject matter - Saving Private Ryan is simply another Hollywood Dirty Dozen in shiny new clothes. It portrays rank and file Germans and their soldiers as hideous Nazi's and paves the way throughout the film for Spielberg to inflict a glorified orgy of death upon them in the final scene which can only be described as a very personal fantasy for the director that unfortunately we are all now privy to. The image where rays of light bathe an American soldier who has murdered a surrendered prisoner like some kind of suggestive sainthood is disgraceful and who knows how many are influenced by this kind of vicious manipulation of film-making. Cross of Iron shows the wholesale slaughter of all humans in war and the increasingly hopeless situation of all involved is a physical strain upon the viewer. There is no better anti-war film.

Films concerning the Second World War face a problem that is somewhat unique to their subject matter. In almost any other war that is popularly represented in films it can be difficult to draw the line between "good guy" and "bad guy". Certainly a film made in one of the belligerent countries has a tendency to simply portray their own countrymen as heroes and those of opposing nations as villains.

The Second World War does not have such wavy distinctions however. The war clearly pitted the allied nations, of which most were free democratic countries with one partner, the Soviet Union, a notable exception which could be described as the lesser of two evils at best, against the most brutal expansionist powers since the Roman Empire. This makes it quite easy for a filmmaker to vilify the Germans, Japanese, and Italians, but what of a film that features them as the main characters? What of a film that paints some of them in a heroic light nonetheless? Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron handles this issue quite well. In order to reconcile the heroism of the average soldier with the brutality of the government they serve the main cast of characters is a rag-tag group of soldiers that have found themselves in this war and just wish to do their job and come out alive, politics be damned. To heighten this, the main conflict in the story is not against the Soviet enemy, but against a politically motivated and glory obsessed party line Prussian aristocrat. This method of dealing with "The Nazi Problem" is really quite common in films from Germany as well as from other nations and does depend a bit on a popularized German stereotype, but it is effective in separating the actions of the common soldier from that of the regime, though one wonders how different this film would be if the enemy had been the Americans or British, rather than the admittedly inhumane Soviets.

These distinctions aside the film is a fantastic testament to the ability of the independent and human spirit to endure the ravages of most brutal war and is certainly worth a watching for anyone interested in war films or cinema in general.

Sam Peckinpah's (The Wild Bunch/The Getaway) 1977 war effort starring Oscar winner James Coburn & Oscar winner Maximillian Schell. Framed as a tale of some German troops during WWII as Coburn & his troop battle the Russians as they make their way to safety at their bunker. Once there Schell emerges as their new commander, a strident martinet, who barely knows how to shoot his pistol but quick to order Coburn to get back into the field in a futile effort to stave off the Russian forces which during one skirmish finds Coburn hospitalized to recuperate from some wounds. Once back in the war arena, Coburn & his ragtag crew have to don Russian garb to cross enemy lines to make it back home w/disastrous results as their own men open fire on them before the Russians overwhelm them. W/the action at Peckinpah's usual excellence, it's disheartening for me (since this is essentially the last film of his which I never saw) that the screenplay falls into such mundane, muddy fashion making this fighting man's journey opaque w/Coburn left adrift by the scenario. Especially since we would have Sam Fuller's masterful The Big Red One three years later (which followed a similar trajectory from the American side of the armed forces w/a scene where Lee Marvin also ends up in hospital during a segment) which did a similar story so much better. Also wasted here are James Mason & the late, great David Warner as fellow German soldiers.