Cross of Iron

Rating:
Summary: An under-rated classic.
Review: Excellent, brilliantly ironic and under appreciated Peckinpah war movie, told from the German side, that surpasses "Saving Private Ryan." Coburn is on top form as disillusioned German: Sergeant Stiener and is given strong support from medal hunting officer, Schell and lost cause General Mason. As you would expect from a Peckinpah film, its very bloody with lots of slow motion shots of men dying, with brilliantly staged battle scenes. It goes on rather too long, but the film covers a lot of aspects about war, including, homosexuality between the soldiers, the dangers of glory hunting and the use of children to fight. The script starts and ends with bitter irony, with German children singing a nursery rhyme and successfully displays the futility of war, without the use of overblown dialogue and clichéd characters that ruined, (for me, anyway), "Saving Private Ryan." What IS truly remarkable is that the characters engage our sympathies, despite being the enemy!

Rating:
Summary: A classic war film.
Review: Finally a film from the german perspective made in the US. Most Directors are affraid to do this and I give Peckinpah a thumbs up for this great movie. The action is realistic. I really wish that we could have seen the directors cut of it. Don't you?

Rating:
Summary: Great for the history buff
Review: A very realistic portrayal of life on the Eastern Front for a group of German soldiers in fall of 1943. Splendid performances by James Coburn and Max Schell add interest to the gray pall of death and destruction as viewed by the average German "landser". Military history buffs will appreciate the attention to detail paid to the living quarters, munitions and combat dress of the German soldiers. Combat scenes are disgustingly realistic and the film leaves you with a taste of the utter hopelessness that all foot soldiers must sense when fighting in a protracted conflict. Many questions are left unanswered by the script which tends to add to the overall value of the production. Overall, highly recommended for students of history and war...definately not for casual viewing.

Rating:
Summary: Goldmine picture for any military historian
Review: If you are tired of the old US and English made war movies where one platoon uproots the entire axis front(s), and are willing to see the entire spectrum of the men on the font lines, this is a must see.

Rating:
Summary: War is Hell
Review: Father son bonding at it's best. My Dad took me to see this movie when I was 15 after endless pleading. At that time it had a R rating, and it was one of the best movies I'd ever seen. This movie captures the reality that war is about the men on the ground who get caught up in the political fantasies of their leaders and survival is dependent often on your primitive best. James Corbun as Sgt. Steiner is very believeable as the NonCommissionOfficer who loves his men, their survival and the accomplishment of the mission. Max Shell as the pompous commander who is only interested in his own survival and his status back home gets what he desevres in the end. 21 years later and a senior NCO in the US Army seeing Cross of Iron is the reminder that politicans start wars fathers, husbands, and sons fight them.

Rating:
Summary: Survival of a German squad on the Eastern Front in 1943
Review: An excellent story of survival. The Germans by this time know they are defeated and the movie captures the savagery of the fighting (men scream when a bullet tears into them) to the questioning of their purpose ( one officer asks if the world will ever forget - or forgive them - for what they have done). One of the few - but the best - movie to come out about the Eastern Front. The action scenes are second to none and the scenes and equipment are authentic.

Rating:
Summary: what is the story
Review: want know the syory about the movie

Rating:
Summary: Compelling, realistic, accurate and forceful.
Review: The view of the movie coming from the point of view of the Germans in Russia, this movie seems to reflect with great accuracy the events going on there. Having read the book "The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer which tells the story of a 17 year old German soldier who survives as a front-line infantryman in the Grossdeutschland division for 3 years, Cross of Iron captures in the movie the fate of the German infantryman in Russia. As a combat veteran myself, it also captures many of the same feelings that I experienced. It displays the German attitude of stoicism and camaraderie right down to the marching song used as its theme.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect war movie
Review: Nobody can complain of this movie. Saving Private Ryan seems simply a stupid jokes.

Rating:
Summary: Realistic
Review: It's nice to finally watch a movie that doesn't have one Allied soldier wiping out a thousand Germans without so much as getting a scratch. A big reason for its non-partisan approach is that we experience the war through the eyes of German soldiers, which is a rare treat for WWII buffs. As well, we see German soldiers who are not the ghastly beasts that propaganda has made them out to be, but regular men, no better or worse than their Allied counterparts. If there is one thing that does distinguish the German soldier from the Allied one, it's that the German knows he his fighting a losing battle which makes his war all the more frustrating and futile. Adding to the realism that serious viewers are looking for in a war movie are fantastic action scenes that you will no doubt end up watching over and over again. There are a lot of war movies out there and this one would definitely be in the top five. Check it out!