Cross of Iron

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Money
Review: I give only one star not because of the quality of the film itself. On the contrary, the film itself is brilliant. I watched it in a Hong Kong cinema in 1978. Forget about "Saving Private Ryan", "The Longest Day", "Guns of Navarone" ....which is nothing more than an over glorification of the fighting power of the Anglo-American soldiers. This film is an anti-war film and it shows us what a battle of attrition on the Eastern Front (about which only a handful were produced in the Western world)is really like. If you want to see and feel the horror of a battle, then this film is the perfect choice. The only film which can be comparable to it is "Stalingrad"(1992 version). However, what my comment is really about is that DVD should never have been released at all. I bought this DVD so as to replace my worn out Vhs version of the same film which I bought 13 years ago and, hopefully, to find some interesting special features from it. However,the picture quality of this DVD is a true disappointment, there is no question about that. It is no better than my worn out Vhs film. Besides, it is not the wide screen version as I expected. This DVD is nothing more than a dubbing of the Vhs version of the film in a DVD disc, no more and no less. What a disappoinment, what a waste of money! I would however give 5 stars to the Vhs version of the film.

Rating:
Summary: Hen¿s Tooth Video should be ashamed
Review: Totally agree with Newton Munnow's comments. This DVD is an abortion, shoddily transferred, poorly and cheaply packaged and to top it all off it's PAN AND SCAN. Hear that sound, that's Sam Peckinpah spinning in his grave. I have DVDs I paid $5 list price that are superior to this piece of garbage. The sad thing is that Hen's Tooth are releasing one of my fave movies, Vincent Ward's The Navigator next February, but on the basis of the assassination job they did on Cross of Iron, I will not be purchasing it. Please nobody buy this awful DVD. Wait and catch the movie on TV or hold on to your VHS copy because this thing aint worth $1.

Rating:
Summary: The worst transfer in the history of DVD
Review: As a movie, Cross of Iron is a five star experience. However, the American DVD by Hen's Tooth Video is daylight robbery. This is a video transfer, small screen, terrible print, appalling sound. At ever level this fails as a DVD. It is an expensive disgrace and an offense to Peckinpah. This is the ultimate example of a company abusing their rights and rushing a DVD into existence without making the slightest effort to satisfy the consumer. You might as well save a buck and buy the video. What a shame.

Rating:
Summary: The Cross of truth beats the forgotten Soldier
Review: There are two great things about this film;

That the small nation belligerents fighting a war get no chance to return home and see the outcome; its a fight to the death, the American Soldier in a larger nation can do his tour of duty and if he survives it, survives the war. In this film, you see that there is no rest for the wicked...even when Coburn's Iron Cross Sergeant returns from the front for R&R, he knows he is going back. Instead of reading how total war "sucks" in books like Guy Sajer's "Forgotten Soldier" which are used in a manipulative, high-handed way by the sea service bureaucracy to brain-wash its men to excuse away their incompetence in a cloud of "war is hell". Its one thing to be fighting for national survival in a total war its another to launch a frontal assault against prepared positions because your service needs a battle victory to insure its existence after the war in budget battles when the entire island could be bypassed and starved into submission like General MacArthur brilliantly did n the southwest Pacific. The conflict Coburn's Sergeant has with his officer who wants post-war glory via the "Cross of Iron" is a perfect microcosm of this moral failing in large, immoral, vain bureaucracies and is accurately depicted in this film and not in Sajer's Forgotten Soldier; who is frankly a clueless scared teen throughout the book, easily used as a means to manipulate similar naive kids today by using their impressionable empathy to brain-wash them into expecting little from their leaders.

Next, the film shows how automatic weapons fire in the slow-motion sequences has to be supported by tripods to fire effectively---these scenes themselves make thee ntire movie worth watching as we are constantly trying to get Soldiers to NOT fire rambo-style from the hip on full automatic.

Rating:
Summary: A classic of War films
Review: I saw this movie only on TV. This is a very realistic war movie and almost rivals the famous "Platoon".

The historical accuracy (equipment of the soldiers and the arms etc.) is quite good and far surpasses that of the average US-made films such as "Battle of the Bulge".

The story is rather unusual, in this sense it resembles "Apocalipse now". The story of "Platoon" is better than "Cross of Iron". The reason of the reality of "Platoon" comes from the fact that the Director Oliver STONE actually participated the Vietnam War.

All in all, this is a classic of the realistic WWII land warfare. Viewers can feel the Antiwar feeling in the film.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best war films ever!
Review: Cross Of Iron is one of the best war films ever made. Sam Peckinpah again shows his skill and talent in this violent film about WW2.

The film is about a German platoon led by Sgt.Steiner(James Coburn)who are trying to survive the horrors of the eastern front. This film is a bloody,disturbing,violent film but the battle scenes are exellent and the acting is superb. The film also has a fine supporting cast which include Iron cross hunter Capt.Stransky(Maximilian Schell) and war weary Col.Brandt(James Mason).Watch it now!

Rating:
Summary: Required viewing for Eastern Front affectionadoes
Review: I have never understood how many war movies are called "anti-war" and COI is another example ... it is one of the most acurrate "war" movies available. Probably any accurate "war" movie could be called "anti-war" because war is not anything any of us ever wants to experience ( especially those who have been there ). Not only is the film visually accurate, but the story is interesting, though a far cry from the book, which btw is definitly worth a read. The weapons, vehicles and uniforms are good, there appears to be a Corsair ( F4fu ) flying overhead at one point, and the T34 is a T34/85 ( an unlikely visitor to the fighting around Krasnodar in 1943 ) ... but other than that and everyone speaking English, it is a great "war" movie.

Rating:
Summary: Peckinpah in His Element
Review: Sam Peckinpah & World War II is an obvious match made in Hollywood (Heaven never entered into it). Peckinpah's extreme pessimism, best expressed in his most cynical film, 'Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,' is in full-blown force in 'Cross of Iron." When I first saw this film in a theater, the effect of the battle scenes was quite shocking, leaving me trembling as I left the building. James Coburn, a Peckinpah favorite, is the center of the film - a hard, embittered veteran who sees only disaster and collapse ahead for his Fatherland. He is offset by Maximilian Schell, playing an effete officer with deluded visions of glory for the Reich - most particularly with personal decorations won in battle, the Iron Cross being the most sought-after. The Eastern Front was easily the most thankless battleground for Wehrmacht forces - far from home, facing an enemy without regard for individual hardship. Any dreams of conquest were quickly consumed by daily attrition - of materiel, of supplies, and, most unimportant to Hitler, of fighting men. Peckinpah relentlessly shows the pounding shock of combat, the almost careless expense of human lives, and the ultimate folly of war far more effectively than many more expensive and publicized movies. Its force and conviction make it a considerable achievement.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This movie truely shows the horrors of battle on the Eastern Front. Not only is it told from a German perspective exclusively- it shows all the feelings and emotions German soldiers felt while sitting in trenches waiting for the Russians to attack, and the komeraderie of the common soldier and his loyalty to his platoon.

A great show from beginning to end, and one thats for the person who is tired of seeing endless American heroics in movies based on the Western Front.

Rating:
Summary: An astonishingly good movie.
Review:

Sam Peckinpah has done it again! This is a great movie in its genre. You should be warned, though, it is as close to realistic war as you are likely to see on the screen, and it is entirely from the German viewpoint. There are no allied heroes. And it is entirely devoid of humor.

James Coburn, as always, does a magnificent job in his role as Sergeant Steiner, an anti-authoritarian iconoclast who has been awarded the Iron Cross for heroism, but who could not care less. He is not motivated by medals. Captain Stransky, however, is. He desperately wants the Iron Cross, and tries to engineer one by leaning on his troops to lie for him, including Steiner, who is contemptuous of him, and credit him with the feats of the late Lieutenant Triebig.

The movie is mostly about Steiner's attempt to hold his platoon together, and get them to relative safety.

James Mason plays a German general who has a sense of honor, and who recognizes that they are defeated, and he carries the part very well as might be expected.

This is a movie that you will not soon forget. It is about mud, and death, and fear, and the cynicism of beaten men struggling to stay alive, and the brutality of a war fought on foreign soil when men lose their humanity.

I personally prefer a good comedy, but if this is the kind of movie you prefer as entertainment, then this is probably one of the best you will ever see.

Joseph Pierre,
Author of THE ROAD TO DAMASCUS: Our Journey Through Eternity