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From Amazon.co.uk
In Cross of Iron Sam Peckinpah weighs in on World War II from the German point of view. The result is as bleak, if not quite as bloody, as one expects from the director of The Wild Bunch, in part because this 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 Chute, Amazon.com
Product Description
United Kingdom released, Blu-Ray/Region B DVD: LANGUAGES: English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 ), English ( Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio ), English ( Dolby Linear PCM ), English ( Subtitles ), WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SPECIAL FEATURES: Cast/Crew Interview(s), Documentary, Featurette, Interactive Menu, Scene Access, SYNOPSIS: In 1943, in the Russian front, the decorated leader Rolf Steiner is promoted to Sergeant after another successful mission. Meanwhile the upper-class and arrogant Prussian Captain Hauptmann Stransky 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 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 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 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. ...Cross of Iron (1977) (Blu-Ray)
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Right from the start, this film grabs you by the lapels and forces you to watch - the titles appear over stills of Hitler Youth errecting a Swastika flag, German soldiers suffering in the Russian winter, partisans being executed... all to the tune of a children's rhyme, interspersed with a military marching tune. An unrelenting artillary bombardment ensues, amidst the mud of Russia, where the Wehrmacht are being forced back. Steiner (Coburn) is the battle-weary veteran corporal, trying to keep himself and his squad of men alive, and at odds with his superior officers, particularly the newly-arrived Prussian aristocrat, Captain Stransky (Schell). The attention to detail will delight afficianados of the war - real T34 tanks, Germans preferring captured Russian weapons rather than their own - and the impending sense of doom as the story approaches it's bloody climax - well, this IS a Peckinpah film, after all!
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By Pyke Bishop
Format:DVD
Sam Peckinpah's only war movie, and his interpretation of war itself. The body count in his movies were so high he hardly needed the excuse to commence death in a WWII epic. But we're all glad he did, praised by Orson Welles as "Greatest war film I ever saw". Coburn (who plays the part of Corporal Steiner) is a seasoned combat veteran, and is sick of war in the eastern front and of the arrogance of his commanding officer (played by Maximilian Schell) who can't see past his own need to win the coveted Iron Cross. A bittersweet drama portraying the true gritty realism of war along the eastern front (not unlike Das Boot). This is a typical Peckinpah movie: slow motion death sequences of enemies/allies being shot or blown to hell and scenes of sexual violence. Although I thought the ending was a little abrupt - Coburn and Schell taking on the might of the advancing Russian troops just as the movie comes to a close. All-in-all a fantastic war movie not just for Peckinpah fans but all movie lovers alike.
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By S J Buck
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:DVD
Cross of Iron is still, nearly 30 years later one of the great (anti) war movies. Its 1943 and the Germans are being overrun on the Russian front. Peckingpah's trademark slow motion is used to good effect in the battle scenes. Yes this being Peckinpah the battle scenes are very well done.
The cast give marvellous performances:
Maximilian Schell as Captain Stranszky perhaps steals the acting honours as a cowardly Prussian seeking the Iron Cross.
Coburn pushes him close as the officer hating Steiner.
In a supporting role an ageing James Mason gives a seemingly effortless demonstration of how doing very little can amount to a superb performance.
There are occasional lighter moments, but mostly this film is relentlessly grim. Even if you don't see their deaths, you know that all the characters will die.
Strangly though this is a film I want to watch again (and look forward to watching). This is because the main characters are so well drawn (and acted) and as I said above you don't see them all die.
In a typically perverse move Peckinpah ends the film on a moment of black comedy relating to Stranszky's incompetence; Steiner can't stop laughing. A great film.
The cast give marvellous performances:
Maximilian Schell as Captain Stranszky perhaps steals the acting honours as a cowardly Prussian seeking the Iron Cross.
Coburn pushes him close as the officer hating Steiner.
In a supporting role an ageing James Mason gives a seemingly effortless demonstration of how doing very little can amount to a superb performance.
There are occasional lighter moments, but mostly this film is relentlessly grim. Even if you don't see their deaths, you know that all the characters will die.
Strangly though this is a film I want to watch again (and look forward to watching). This is because the main characters are so well drawn (and acted) and as I said above you don't see them all die.
In a typically perverse move Peckinpah ends the film on a moment of black comedy relating to Stranszky's incompetence; Steiner can't stop laughing. A great film.
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cross of iron
Great movie, Nice blu Ray with à lot of great extras. Recommended. I enjoyed the peckimpah interviews à lot and also coburns interview.
Published 6 days ago by s m cauvin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Iron Cross
'Cross of Iron' is a somewhat pretentious title for 'Iron Cross', but the film certainly has its merits, provided that you can put up with Peckinpah's brand of gory combat. Read more
Published 12 days ago by lycidas
5.0 out of 5 stars
NO subtitles
I have seen this film before several times it is very good and I wanted to add it to my collection.
But a warning for people with hearing problems it has NO subtitles. Read more
But a warning for people with hearing problems it has NO subtitles. Read more
Published 25 days ago by Ian D. Jones
4.0 out of 5 stars
Import version
The film is excellent and the disk is as described. Note this version comes with non english menus and subtitles. I use the dutch menu as it is closer to english.
Published 1 month ago by South Western
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bloody war film
This is for BLU-RAY only, this film is about a cowardly nazi Captain who will stop at nothing to get an Iron Cross, the film is set on the Russian border where the Germans are... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Alan
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cross of Iron
Firstly ignore the Amazon.co.uk reviewer who appears to have been watching something else (Max Schell not James Mason played the Iron Cross seeking officer) and ends by telling us... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Bagnold's Drift
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly classic war film
I bought this film with slight reservation. It seemed viewers either (mostly) loved it or hated it on the grounds that Coburn acted in the understated 'wooden' way in which he is... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Jon Warden
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Superb Piece of Cinema
This is a brilliant film that manages to fully capture the realities of combat on the Eastern Front of the Second World War . Read more
Published 12 months ago by Terry J
5.0 out of 5 stars
Coburn's Finest Moment
Cross of Iron is a remarkable film, not just for its brutal portrayal of war but because it is one of the few big-name films to focus on the second world war from the German point... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Alfie Cooke
2.0 out of 5 stars
cross of iron digitally restored
I bought this video a few months ago but have only just watched it. At the outset I should say that I saw this film at the cinema several years ago and enjoyed it. Read more
Published 14 months ago by vilde
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