Cross of Iron (1977)

Cross of Iron (1977) (Blu-Ray) (*)

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Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
English ( Dolby DTS-HD Master Audio )
English ( Dolby Linear PCM )
English ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( Blu-Ray/Region B )

Running Time:
133 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Documentary
Featurette
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1977 and produced in:
Germany ( Germany, Central Europe )
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
Yugoslavia ( Russia, Eastern Europe )

Directed By:
Sam Peckinpah

Written By:
Julius J. Epstein
James Hamilton

Actors:
James Coburn ..... Feldwebel Rolf Steiner
Maximilian Schell ..... Hauptmann Stransky
James Mason ..... Oberst Brandt
David Warner ..... Hauptmann Kiesel
Klaus Löwitsch ..... Unteroffizier Krüger
Vadim Glowna ..... Kern
Roger Fritz ..... Leutnant Triebig
Dieter Schidor ..... Anselm
Burkhard Driest ..... Maag
Fred Stillkrauth ..... Unteroffizier Schnurrbart
Michael Nowka ..... Dietz
Véronique Vendell ..... Marga
Arthur Brauss ..... Zoll
Senta Berger ..... Eva

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 (1976) proves the extent to which human beings will go in order to destroy themselves. Set in 1943, with the German army facing destruction by the Russians, it focuses on a doomed platoon. And without sentiment, it shows us a set of complex relationships between officers and other ranks in which the instinct for war proves greater that the instinct for survival. Sam Peekinpah is a director who doesn't wrap the comforter of a liberal message round many of his films he made The Wild Bunch an in this battle-piece, photographed as a thunderous map of hell by John Coquillon, Peekinpah is in his element, 'In war, anything goes', is the message to the troops a message relayed in every sour grimace and belligerent gesture by the platoon's problem hero, played by James Coburn, who has a long list of medals and a longer record of insubordination and 'dumb insolence'. The colonel, played by James Mason, recognises his sort and the danger he represents for since he is good at war to satisfy, his enjoyment of it fuels the conflict. Also in the fox-hole is a Prussian officer, played by Maximilian Schell, who needs war to satisfy not so much his bent for destructiveness, but his lust for personal glory. While the enemy are raining down shells, these two are locked in a struggle of personal vindictiveness conduct that would be absurd, if they themselves were not part of a greater absurdity called war. As always with a director who seems hell-bent on having his characters' guts for raw film stock, Peekinpah, using his celebrated technique of slow-motion mayhem, delivers his gory-covered message with brutal effectiveness. If such men are necessary to fight wars, that's one more reason for not having wars.

A squad of German soldiers fighting on the Eastern Front during WWII led by a battle-hardened sergeant fight to survive Soviet attacks and dogmatic commanders in a chaotic and lethal environment in this sympathetic portrayal of another side of the war not commonly portrayed in Hollywood film.

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 09 September, 2012.

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