CROSS OF IRON Movie Review

Steiner—Das Eiserne Kreuz

1976 Sam Peckinpah

Sam Peckinpah's only war film is a forgotten masterpiece that has never really managed to overcome its troubled production. In many important ways, it is a variation on themes the director explored in The Wild Bunch, with carefully choreographed action sequences that mirror those in his great western. Both are stories of men on the wrong side who realize their position and so are loyal only to each other. In The Wild Bunch, they're train robbers; in Cross of Iron, they're German soldiers on the Russian front.

The year is 1943 and the Germans have begun their retreat. The opening credits emphasize the early Nazi indoctrination of children. A montage of still photographs and newsreels carries the party through its rise to power and expansion to the Wehrmacht's first defeats. Oblivious to the realities of the situation, Capt. Stransky (Maximilian Schell) arrives in Russia and immediately throws his aristocratic Prussian weight around. “I volunteered for this campaign,” he boasts, “because I feel that men of quality are needed here. It is time to destroy the myth of Russian invincibility.” Col. Brandt (James Mason) and his adjutant Capt. Kiesel (David Warner), both seasoned veterans, don't realize how deluded Stransky really is. (The man's madness is revealed gradually.) Instead, they advise him to rely on men like Sgt. Steiner (James Coburn), whose courage and skills as a soldier are unquestioned.

Like Col. Brandt, Steiner has been awarded an Iron Cross for bravery. Stransky covets one of the medals and is willing to do anything to get it. But how important is one madman's obsession within the larger madness? That's what the film is really about. Working from a script that he collaborated on with Julius Epstein (Casablanca) and veterans James Hamilton and Walter Kelley, Peckinpah shows the war as near pure chaos where women and children are recruited as soldiers along with men. He takes particular care to show the incredible destructive power of mortar and cannon shelling, and their effect on those who survive. Some of the battles are so authentic-looking that they might contain German archival footage.

The scenes of the men at rest, though, are just as important to the film. The moments in the bunker where Steiner's platoon lives have an unmistakable feeling of truth to them. A birthday where one man surprisingly cracks under the built-up pressure is the most obvious example, along with one long exchange of foxhole philosophy between Steiner and Schnur-rbart (Fred Stillkrauth). Throughout, the touches of fatalistic soldier's humor are perfectly timed, and toward the end, a memorable moment redefines a fate worse than death.

Peckinpah and his stars work remarkably well together. Coburn's performance is worthy of an Oscar nomination. The long, brilliantly edited hallucinatory sequence involving Steiner's stay in a hospital is some of the best work either man has ever done. Mason, usually a reserved and cool screen presence, lets real emotion show through in his role. The scenes between him and David Warner are a small balance to the conflict between Steiner and Stransky. The conclusion is unusual and unexpected, but not inappropriate for such an unconventional and original war film.

Cast: James Coburn (Sgt. Steiner), Maximilian Schell (Capt. Stransky), James Mason (Col. Brandt), David Warner (Capt. Kiesel), Senta Berger (Eva), Klaus Lowitsch (Kruger), Vadim Glowna (Kern), Roger Fritz (Triebig), Dieter Schidor (Anselm), Burkhard Driest (Maag), Fred Stillkrauth (Schnurrbart), Michael Nowka (Dietz), Veronique Vendell (Marga), Arthur Brauss (Zoll); Written by: Julius J. Epstein, Walter Kelley, James Hamilton; Cinematography by: John Coquillon; Music by: Ernest Gold. Producer: ITC Entertainment Group, Wolf C Hartwig, Arlene Sellers, Alex Winitsky. British, German. MPAA Rating: R. Running Time: 120 minutes. Format: VHS.