Cross of Iron (1977)
by Sam Peckinpah
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Product details
Actor: David Warner, James Coburn, James Mason, Klaus L?witsch, Maximilian SchellDirector: Sam Peckinpah
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog; French (Original Language); German (Original Language); Russian (Original Language)
Format: Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued
Running Time: 129 minutes
Release Date: 1998-10-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Henstooth Video
Studio: Henstooth Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Cross of Iron (1977)
Movie Review: I liked it in 1977 - not so much today
Summary: 3 Stars
I saw "Cross of Iron" when it was in theatrical release in 1977 and thought it was a pretty good treatment of the German side of WWII.
I watched it again last night on DVD and found myself fast-forwarding past the dull spots. Since I have collected WWII German militaria, lots of little mistakes in uniforms and equipment jumped out at me. The most glaring was the imitation Reich war flag hanging in the background in the outdoor hospital scenes.
Coburn's performance holds up, but Schell's character is so broadly drawn as to seem malevolently cartoonish. And then there's Peckinpah's cliche treatment of violence by reverting to slow-motion when the shooting and stabbing start. It served him much better in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid."
The art of the war film has matured considerably since 1977 and compared with "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers," "Cross of Iron" comes across today as a heavy-handed Hollywood production.
Movie Review: A nicely done Eastern Front movie
Summary: 4 Stars
Overview
Cross of Iron is director Sam Peckinpah's look at the German Army on the Eastern Front in 1943. In this movie, Feldwebel Steiner (played by James Coburn) leads a Reconnaissance platoon (more like a squad) that has received a new company commander, Hauptmann Stransky who has arrived from a posting in France with the focus of winning the Iron Cross. To gain the Iron Cross Hauptmann Stransky is prepared to do whatever is necessary.
The Good
The characters are great. James Coburn is outstanding as the seasoned veteran leading his section and he does a great job in this role. Maximilian Schell is also good playing Hauptmann Stransky; he's everything we want to hate in an officer that focuses on himself and not his men. James Mason plays the regimental commander that is sympathetic to Steiner and does a good job in this role.
The action is fast and very nice. While bloody at times, it fits with how war movies should be and captures what I've read about the actions on the Eastern Front from history books.
The story takes place on the Crimean Peninsula and is woven around the actual battles that took place there in that timeframe. While the regiment is not directly mentioned, the dress and bearing is that of one of the many infantry regiments that would have fought there.
Showing Russian women in service. For the time period this movie was made in that was something that many people in the West weren't aware of. Since that time it's become more common knowledge but this would have been one of the earlier references to it.
I also loved the uniforms. Mr. Peckinpah didn't make the mistake of using later war camouflage uniforms or SS uniforms. Matter of fact, I love the fact that this is around a regular infantry unit rather than a SS or elite unit.
The Bad
Ignoring the minor things (use of F4U's for Russian aircraft and T-34/85's vs T-34/76's), I have an issue with James Coburn's age when this was filmed. Coburn looks in his late 40's or early 50's. You don't expect a Feldwebel leading a recon platoon to be that old (it can happen though).
I also had a problem with the fact that Hauptmann Stransky bounces in to get the Iron Cross and then is bouncing back to France. I'm sorry, at that point in the war that would be highly unlikely, even for a member of the former aristocracy. Something like that would have been more likely if Hauptmann Stransky had been assigned to Italy, but then we wouldn't have the story set in the Crimean.
The conflict between Feldwebel Steiner and Hauptmann Stransky was to close to a Vietnam thing. I won't say that German officers wouldn't lie to get something they wanted, I will say though that Steiner would have been very out of character for a Feldwebel and probably sentenced to a Penal Battalion.
The alcohol flows a little freely for a unit on the Eastern Front. If they were in France or Italy I could say yes, but there's a lot of it and it's not vodka they show (actually beer and wine).
The Rating
A Solid 4.5 stars! The acting is solid, the story moves and has a purpose. I love the interplay between Steiner and Stransky. You see two men who are very different, one rich, one who's working class. I also love the camaraderie between Steiner and his men. This is something that occurs when people share tragic events and continue to live. There is a little sexual content and the battle scenes are a little graphic (for when the film was made. Since Amazon requires whole numbers, I'll have to give the nod to 4 stars because to much of the film reminded me of the strife between US officers and enlisted people in the early '70's rather than what we read about the German Army in 1943. A very good movie thought that I'll highly recommend.
Movie Review: Terrible video transfer; great story done badly
Summary: 2 Stars
I saw this movie originally back in the 1970s. I received the movie the other day. Cross of Iron was a pretty good movie back in 1977 but now - after spending a good bit of time studying the German Army - this movie has issues and just isn't that good. "A Bridge too Far" is a far better movie and is from the same production time period.
First, Hen's tooth video does a poor job of transferring this video to DVD. Indeed, it's terrible. Names are cut off, parts are deleted, and the whole movie has a grainy quality to it. I would go as far as to tell people that it ruins the movie. Indeed, there is one important part where Captain Stansky is flailing around in a trench during the attack on Steiner's platoon and that is cut out. That's a major part where it shows both the motivation of the characters.
Now to the major problems with the movie.
The plot is pretty good. A new German Army Captain wants the highest award the military has: the Iron Cross. So, he joins a line unit, claims credit heroics by a slain officer, Sergeant Steiner refutes his story and discredits the Captain. As revenge the officer does not tell Steiner of the withdrawl and his unit is trapped behind enemy lines.
The movie does correctly show the Germans picking up and using Soviet weapons. One soldier discards his K-98 and gets a sniper version of the Soviet M-91/30. That is correct and the Germans had so much captured Soviet ammo that supply is never a problem.
Now to the many technical problems with this movie. First, the Germans were clean shaven in WWII. Oh, if there was hard fighting or lots of action they would grow stubble. However, more than a few of these men have '70s' type facial hair. Next, the actors are too old. Jame Coburn is over 50 in this movie and it shows. James Mason looks like a Grandfather, not a German Colonel. Maximilian Schell plays the Prussian Captain. Schell, an excellent actor, should have been given Mason's role. Coburn was much too old for the part and some other younger actor for the time should have been used. The same goes for Stansky's part. When somebody is brutally killed the movie goes into slow motion gore. Also, there is a major air attack where the director uses F-4U Cosair fighters in the movie. I can ignore the T-34/85 being used in the movie but in 1943 the Cosairs were a Pacific aircraft and were never given to the Soviets.
This is a C grade movie. The poor video transfer nearly wrecks the movie. The problems with the old actors detract from an otherwise good story. If any movie should be remade it's this movie. With younger actors and better special effects it would be a fantastic movie for 2010.
Movie Review: War on the Eastern Front
Summary: 4 Stars
First of all, it does not do the book justice... but then again, what movie ever does?
With that being said, this is a good war movie in its own right. It is intensely graphic and the imagery it is certainly intended to put lie to the idea of war as a noble crusade or a romantic adventure.
Cross of Iron revolves around the obsession a German captain has with being awarded the Iron Cross for valor, more as a trophy or vindication for his life as a soldier. One of his soldiers, Steiner, has already earned an Iron Cross, and other decorations, but he too has come to be defined by the war.
An excellent film, well worth trying out.
Movie Review: "What will we do when we loose this war?"
Summary: 5 Stars
Cross of Iron (Full Screen)
That question was addressed to Captain Kessel, by Colonel Brandt. Captain Kessel's answer should be remembered by all of us, "prepare for the next war".
As I watched the rest of the movie I looked for scenes with Captain Kessel in them. To me he seemed to be a sad almost comedic relief as he commented about his health not being worth drinking to....Then before he left for the railhead, telling Colonel Brandt, "there are better men than me, most of them are dying out there."
When I first saw this movie, I wondered how a company such as Hen's Tooth could butcher a fine film such as this. I have a copy of The Wild Bunch, that has been restored in the wide screen verison...It's sad to see that no one will do the same to Cross Of Iron.
I always watch the battle scenes, and the ones in this movie are as realistic as any I have seen. I have seen Saving Private Ryan, and Enemy At The Gates. The scenes in Cross of Iron are 10 times better, and not computer generated.
I had trouble with James Coburn playing corporal/sergeant Steiner. Its one of the things I look for in war movies....American actors trying to pass them selves of as German officers, soldiers, etc. There is a whole generation out there that think of Colonel Klink and Sergerant Shultz as the German army prototype. As the movie progressed I came to accept James Coburn as the right person to play Steiner. Captain Stransky was well cast, as I hated him the first time he appeared. James Mason has always been a favorite of mine and he came thru again. I also looked at the lesser known actor(s)...playing Captain Meyer.....the extras playing German and Russian soldiers....Senta Berger was cast to remind Steiner of home. It also brought out what war does to soldiers. When Steiner saw the truck loading up to go back to the front....he realized he didn't know how to function anywhere but on the battle field. I couldn't hear what she was saying to him, since my copy of the dvd is so bad...But it seemed she was questioning if he could exist of the battle field.
The battle scenes were well done, it was nice to see blood and guts, bullets and bombs going off.....war is a bloody God awful business...
I always watch the credits, and recognized a former German Field Marshall as a technical advisor on the film. To me that indicates Sam wanted to make a film that was as realistic, bloody, and would show the TOTAL WAR fought on the Russian front.
I WOULD HIGHLY RECCOMEND THIS MOVIE AND I HOPE AND PRAY SOMEONE WILL RESTORE THIS MOVIE TO BRING OUT ALL THAT SAM WANTED THE PUBLIC TO SEE.
Summary of Cross of Iron (1977)
Sam Peckinpah weighs in on World War II--and from the German point of view. The result is as bleak, if not quite as bloody, as one expects, in part because the 1977 film was cut to ribbons by nervous studio executives. The assorted excerpts that remain don't constitute an exhilarating or even an especially thrilling battle epic. The war is grinding to a close, and veterans like James Coburn's Steiner are grimly aware that it's a lost cause. The battlefield is a death trap of sucking mud and barbed wire, and the German generals (viz., the martinet played by James Mason) seem to pose a bigger threat to the life and limbs of Steiner's men than the inexorable enemy. Not even Peckinpah's famous sensuous exuberance when shooting violence is much in evidence; the picture is a depressive, claustrophobically overcast experience. The bloody high (or low) point isn't a shooting; it's a wince-inducing de-penis-tration during oral sex. For a fun time with the men in (Nazi) uniform, try Das Boot instead. --David ChuteSam Peckinpah Video
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