I don't think I'll be able to forget this vile "film." Easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen, I'm absolutely stunned at the rave reviews and high rating it has on this wonderful site. Usually the reviewers get it mostly right, but here is a good example of how nothing is perfect. I don't know where to start criticizing this piece of trash. With a cast that includes some of my favorites I was expecting an interesting experience and was punished with a nightmare mess of a movie. I felt so sorry for James Mason as I couldn't figure out what accent he was trying. Maximillian Schell is awesome, but here I actually laughed out loud twice which could not have been the intention of the writer or director. I could only understand about 20% of what David Warner was saying and James Coburn was supposed to be the star I guess and had about 12 sentences of dialogue. He also had a totally unintelligible scene with some woman, maybe a nurse? I had to really stretch to find a reason to give it a 2 instead of a 1. A couple decent lines and battle sequences is about it here. I kept waiting for it to get better, but amazingly enough it got worse towards the end! If you have to see every movie ever made, then go for it. Otherwise, there has to be a better choice out there somewhere.

(64%) A raw slice of second world war carnage from director Sam Peckinpah that very nearly dances its way toward being a wartime exploitation flick, but due to the fact that it is so well made, strongly acted, and grippingly intense that it never drops fully down to such trashy levels. The viewpoint is taken from the eyes of the Nazi fighters, made up from an international cast of actors, battling and losing, against the Soviets during one of the final parts of the war. James Coburn leads well despite never truly feeling like the character he plays, but the action is harsh and bloody with fantastically well shot battles as this tries, and largely succeeds, to bring the horror of war to life. Despite the so-so ending, this is worth a look for both war, and Peckinpah fans alike.

"Cross of Iron" is a war film that features Academy Award winners James Coburn and Maximilian Schell as central characters. The film is directed by Sam Peckinpah ("The Wild Bunch") and a writing team that includes Julius J. Epstein ("Casablanca"). The first 45 minutes of this over-2-hour long movie, we find out about the life and interactions of a group of soldiers during World War II. They talk about war, but also about everything else guys talk about, such as French girls.Next up is lots of war action and Schell's character who seemed charismatic as always and so dominant early on just like a central character, disappears out of the picture for almost the whole movie until the very end. It's all about Coburn (Steiner) at this point. The film had occasionally some good scenes, like with the Russian women or also when they talk about Schell's character possibly (not) getting the Iron Cross. As a whole, however, I was rather disappointed. Yes, shooting belong to a war, but at some point, it felt as if the whole movie consisted of nothing else anymore and it was a bit too much war action for my taste.I believe this film could have been kept at 100 minutes with many of the insignificant scenes being left out. And, especially the ending left me disappointed here. It felt completely unrealistic that Coburn's character and Schell's character would all of a sudden bond again after all that happened before. Why would Steiner kill the other guy in his rage, but not Stransky, who is actually even more responsible? This film received much more acclaim than the sequel with Richard Burton as Steiner, but I cannot say that it was considerably better. Both left me wanting for more. Not recommended.

Sam Pekinpaugh has given us a big war-time movie situated on the Russian front, starring James Coburn as the savvy and taciturn Sgt. Steiner and Maximilian Schell as the newly arrived, dapper, Junker aristo, eager for the Iron Cross, the decoration given only for heroism in battle. It has Pekinpaugh's signature on it -- an abundance of painful deaths, more explosions than have ever before been committed to celluloid, and all in slow motion. The story is such that, if it weren't for some cogent lines, it could have been directed by Sam Fuller.I'll give one example of what I thought was a good line. At the end, both Coburn and Schell stand face to face, armed, and about to be overwhelmed and killed by the onrushing Russians. It's only a brief pause, but Schell admits his status still requires the winning of the Iron Cross. "You come with me," says Coburn, "and I'll show you where the crosses of iron are." It's neat because by a simple transposition of words within the phrase, Coburn has turned a medal (the Iron Cross) into a grave marker (crosses of iron). It has its weaknesses. It's really too long and too loose-limbed for what it has to say. As Steiner, Coburn is a monument to military perfection, while Schell is a stereotypical cowardly and spiteful traitor. Coburn does well enough by the role of the humanitarian but dedicated sergeant. Schell is a marvelous actor but he has only one scene in which he's able to put his chops on display -- when he tricks a subordinate into admitting that he prefers the company of men to women. "He said YES! He said YES!" Schell is in a transport of delight at having finagled his subordinate into a possible admission of homosexuality which, as far as we can tell, isn't true. The effect, though, is to make the subordinate a compliant slave.It's not a bad film in any way but it lacks poetry of any kind. Pekinpah by this time in his career was describing himself as "a functioning alcoholic." He's lucky he got it out at all.