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Amazon.co.uk Review
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
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An opera of bloody war.,
By Pyke Bishop (Birmingham, UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Cross of Iron [DVD] (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.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Startling image, authenticity and brutality of war.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Cross of Iron [DVD] (DVD)
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!
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Essential War Movie,
By
This review is from: Cross of Iron [DVD] (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.
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