Cross of Iron
Filmed in Yugoslavia with money put up by a West German porn producer.,The Soviet planes that bomb the German trench system are actually U.S. Navy Vought F4U Corsairs. You can even see the U.S. military markings on them.,Colonel Brandt: What will we do when we have lost the war?
Captain Kiesel: Prepare for the next one.,The End Credits in the North American BETA/VHS & DVD versions contain the quote: "Don't rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world stood up and stopped the bastard,The bitch that bore him is in heat again." Bertolt Brecht,VCD (Video CD) by Ocean Shores is 133 minute R Rated version. Featuring some extra profanity and brutality.,Featured in Breakthrough (1979),Hänschen klein
(uncredited)
Traditional,"Cross of Iron" was Sam Peckinpah's only war movie. It deals with a company of German soldiers retreating through Russia at the close of Hitler's ill-fated Russian campaign. Unusual for a war film, the story is told from the German point of view. Being a Peckinpah film there are explosions and blood-spurting bodies a-plenty. The rough terrain and cramped quarters that the soldiers have to deal with lend well to the declining German fortunes in Russia. As in his other films, notably "The Wild Bunch", Peckinpah utilizes his now famous slow-motion technique to illustrate the violence and show the effects of the destruction. James Coburn stars as the battle wise Sgt. Steiner who has survived the war thus far by his wits. Maximillian Schell plays his aristocratic Captain whose main goal is the pursuit of the Iron Cross, Germany's highest decoration and who will go to any lengths to get it. James Mason is the Company commander and David Warner is his adjutant. Coburn is excellent in the lead who continues to do his duty in spite of the inevitability of impending defeat. Schell is suitably ambitious and cunning as the chief villain and Mason and Warner convey the hopelessness of the situation while maintaining stiff upper lips. "Cross of Iron", in it's uncut version (132 minutes) ranks as one of the greatest of all WWII films in my opinion. One of Peckinpah's best.,