CROSS OF IRON

I'd never got round to seeing this late (1977) Sam Peckinpah film because it was a bit of a flop, it's not a Western, which is the genre he is most associated with, and I thought it might be overly violent and nihilistic.

Not for the first time I was way wrong.  This film is so good, it's ridiculous it doesn't get the love it deserves.  I can accept that it was a commercial flop (what do the public know?), but any critic who panned it should have been in a different line of work, mentioning no names Vincent Canby.

We're in 1943 on the Eastern Front, when the Russians now have the upper hand and the Germans are struggling, and failing, to hold their position. The film focuses on one group of German soldiers in particular, headed up by a Colonel Brandt.  

One of the incidental joys of this film is the relationship between Brandt and his adjutant, Captain Kiesel, both enlightened and humane men, both somewhat cynical at this stage of the war, under no illusions about Germany's ultimate fate. They are wonderfully played by James Mason and David Warner.  

But their relationship is a sideshow to the main conflict, which is between Captain Stransky (Maximillian Schell), a newly arrived aristocratic Prussian with an obsessive desire to get an Iron Cross, and Sergeant Steiner, an inspirational platoon leader who despises all officers. Needless to say, the two don't get along.  The class and political dimensions to this film brought to mind the great Kubrick film 'Paths of Glory'.

Steiner is the main character upon whom the film rests. He is played by James Coburn, who gives a towering performance which I didn't realise he was capable of.  

But there is so much to admire besides the performances.  

The action scenes are spectacularly good, better even in their way than the opening sequence to 'Saving Private Ryan'.  There is a brilliant sequence near the end of the film involving Russian tanks.

There's a gripping and somewhat weird scene early on between Stransky and his adjutant Captain Triebig, in which Stransky establishes that the latter is a closet homosexual, giving him a hold over Triebig which becomes important at the film's climax.

All of the scenes involving Steiner's platoon do a very good job of conveying their camaraderie, and the platoon's fate at the end is gut-wrenching after all their heroics.

Before then there is also a great episode involving Russian female soldiers.

And the opening and closing credits are compelling, juxtaposing children singing a German nursery rhyme with a variety of images, including those of Hitler, and of war victims.

At this point it is very tempting to trot out a cliché and call this a flawed masterpiece.  But are there really any flaws?

It's true that the ending is rather abrupt and strange. This apparently was due to the production running out of money, and to Peckinpah being incapacitated by hard liquor and drugs.

We can guess that the original ending would have had a lot of spectacular violence.  I'm not sure that would have been better than what we have now. 

So let's just call this an out-an-out masterpiece.

RATING: ✓✓ Catch It If You Can