Cross of Iron

It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.

Cast

James Coburn

as Unteroffizier / Feldwebel Rolf Steiner

Maximilian Schell

as Hauptmann Stransky

James Mason

as Oberst Brandt

David Warner

as Hauptmann Kiesel

Klaus Löwitsch

as Unteroffizier Krüger

Vadim Glowna

as Gefreiter Kern

Roger Fritz

as Leutnant Treibig

Dieter Schidor

as Anselm

Burkhard Driest

as Schütze Maag

Fred Stillkrauth

as Unteroffizier Schnurrbart

Reviews

John Chard

War is Peckinpah's survival hell. Out on the Eastern Front 1943, battered by the war itself, a war they are losing, a platoon of German soldiers must also cope with a new aristocratic commander who deeply covets the Cross Of Iron, Germany's highest medal of honour. Universally hated and panned...

Wuchak

**_Brutal Germans vs. Russians WW2 flick with James Coburn and Maximilian Schell_** As defeat looms on the Eastern Front, an awarded, but battle-worn German NCO (Coburn) vies with a newly-appointed captain, a Prussian aristocrat, who’s obsessed with obtaining the Iron Cross (Schell), even if he h...

CinemaSerf

The aristocratic "Capt. Stransky" (Maximilian Schell) is put in charge of an accomplished squadron of men that works well under its no-nonsense "Sgt. Steiner" (James Coburn), and into battle against the approaching Soviets they go. A bloody encounter ensues and upon their return, victorious to a poi...

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