Cross of Iron (Widescreen Special Edition)
by Sam Peckinpah
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: David Warner, James Coburn, James Mason, Klaus L?witsch, Maximilian SchellDirector: Sam Peckinpah
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); Russian (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Special Edition, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 132 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Henstooth Video
Movie Reviews of Cross of Iron (Widescreen Special Edition)
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.
Summary of Cross of Iron (Widescreen Special Edition)
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 ChuteWidescreen Special Edition DVD Features include:
Audio Commentary by film scholar Stephen Prince, author of Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies
Original Theatrical Trailer
Photo Gallery of German Lobby Cards
Language Options: English, French
New Widescreen 16:9 Anamorphic Transfer
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