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Cross of Iron (1977)

Posted By: Efgrapha

Date: 16 Apr 2015 19:02:28

A quote from Bertolt Brecht ends this bitter and angry war film by Sam Peckinpah: "Do not 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." Peckinpah's intense and belligerently non-commercial work, (based on the book by Willi Heinrich), is a World War II tale told from the German perspective, following a platoon of German soldiers in the Russia of 1943, when the German Wehrmacht forces had been decimated and the Germans were retreating along the Russian front. James Coburn is Steiner, a German corporal and recipient of the Iron Cross who feels that he owes his loyalty to his family and fellow soldiers and not to Hitler and the German war machine. But when a new commander, Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), takes over the platoon, Steiner and Stransky come into immediate conflict. Stransky is a career soldier, the complete opposite of Steiner, and a man who pledges himself heart and soul to Hitler and the war. But he envies Steiner for having been awarded an Iron Cross and deeply desires one himself. The problem is Stransky is a complete coward and recognizes that the only way he can be awarded an Iron Cross would be to get the bitter Steiner on his side.

Synopsis by Paul Brenner, Allmovie.com

If you like Sam Peckinpah ("Straw Dogs"/"Major Dundee"/"Ride the High Country") for his ability to shoot action pictures and not hold back on the violence, this one fits nicely into his oeuvre. It's an unpleasant, grim and ugly combat tale, that goes to extremes to paint a picture of war as insane. It's based on the noted novel by German author Willi Heinrich, and is Peckinpah's only film that takes the POV of the German soldier, and is the first of many war films he directed. It's set on Russia's Eastern front in 1943, as the German Wehrmacht are being routed while in retreat from the Soviet army.

It has great production value, the action scenes are terrific and everything technical is first-class, but the acting is stiff and the dialogue pretentious. It looks like a conventional war drama, but it's sharply bitter take on the universality of war and its alarming message of corrupt officers fighting a corrupt war, ala Kubrick's Paths of Glory (57), makes it a more demanding watch than the usual unintelligent Hollywood blockbuster action war drama. It points to the loss of a moral compass during war, its brutality and how the innocent are compromised. The low-budget film ran out of money before finishing, which slowed things down but did not ruin the pic.

It features a troubled brave German corporal named Steiner (James Coburn ), soon to be promoted to sergeant, who hates the Nazis and is no longer a believer in the war but will do anything to lead his tight-knit platoon of war-weary soldiers except commit atrocities. Steiner's rival is his new platoon commander, the film's heavy. Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) is a smug wealthy Prussian aristocrat and Nazi enthusiast, who yearns to win the Iron Cross (Germany's highest honor for bravery). The problem is that he's a coward and refuses to go out to the battlefield, but has no trouble ordering his platoon to fight. When Stransky's platoon goes on a counterattack after their compound is attacked, Stransky cowers in the bunker. But he writes up in the report that he led the counterattack, which will get him an Iron Cross. When Steiner refuses to confirm that to the colonel, the evil Stransky fearing he will be exposed as a coward schemes to eliminate the platoon by leaving them stranded in the field of attacking Russians.

Steiner has already won the Iron Cross, and his nobleman German commander, Colonel Brandt (James Mason), though he believes the war is lost now believes that one must save the brave soldiers to return to civilian life and build a new Germany. The colonel's favorite officer, Captain Kiesel (David Warner), answers his call for a rebuilt Germany by saying in a mocking tone we must "Prepare for the next one." There's also a quote from Brecht: "Do not 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."

Review by Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

IMDB 7,5/10 from 18 888 users

Wiki

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Writers: Julius J. Epstein, James Hamilton, Walter Kelley, Willi Heinrich (book)

Cast: James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, David Warner, Senta Berger