Cross of Iron

"On the Eastern front in 1943, the German soldiers no longer had any ideals. They were not fighting for the Party—but for their lives!"

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.

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Cast

James Coburn

Unteroffizier / Feldwebel Rolf Steiner

Maximilian Schell

Hauptmann Stransky

James Mason

Oberst Brandt

David Warner

Hauptmann Kiesel

Klaus Löwitsch

Unteroffizier Krüger

Vadim Glowna

Gefreiter Kern

Roger Fritz

Leutnant Treibig

Dieter Schidor

Anselm