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Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

It's 1943 at the Russian front and the Germans are losing. Rolf Steiner (James Coburn) is a superior soldier and leader of men. Aristocratic Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell) is the arrogant true-believer new commander. During a bloody battle, the brave Lieutenant Meyer dies leading a heroic counter attack while Steiner is injured and Stransky bumbles in his bunker. The ambitious Stransky claims the counter attack as his own and requests the Iron Cross giving Steiner and the homosexual Lieutenant Triebig as witnesses. After a stay in a hospital, Steiner returns to the front unexpectedly and refuses to lie for Stransky. The order comes to evacuate but Stransky deliberately leaves Steiner and his platoon behind.Director Sam Peckinpah brings alive the war action. The story behind the action is compelling but it is the action that is exceptional. Peckinpah lets loose with an orgy of muddy explosive violence. The war action is relentless. Coburn is terrific as the leader of men. There are memorable sections like the female Russian squad. This follows the great tradition of anti-war movie.

(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 Peckinpah was known for the display of violence in his movies, but since then directors like Tarentino set the new standard. So what worked in the 70s does not necessarily work now. What remains is a movie to be judged on its message and on its acting.The movie is about the personal fight between a 'rusty' soldier and an upper class officer. The soldier does the fighting, the officer is only there to get his decoration, because he can't bear the humiliation to go back to his entourage in Germany without one. This collision between interests is the theme of this movie. It is an interesting theme but the movie is only partly able to display it. The story is fragmented, some events hardly fit into the movie. The end is very sudden, it seems no one knew how to finish the movie, or maybe the budget was gone. Anyway, it seems rushed. But that is not the biggest problem. Acting is. Good acting should make you forget you are looking at an actor. Instead the actor must be able to make you believe you are looking at the character he plays. High ranking stars James Coburn, Maximillian Schell and James Mason were chosen for principal parts. James Coburn is not really an actor, he is only able to show his face and it depends on the movie whether you accept him in his role. In this entire movie he remains an out of place James Coburn. James Mason is a good actor but profoundly British and his part is to small to see him as the German he is playing. Schell is the only one who is able to make you forget he is a star, and merges with his character in this story. So the movie fails primarily on the acting and secondly on the flow of the story. This movie seems to be out of date, maybe it was good in its time but it misses the extra to still be attractive. That is too bad because the theme is interesting.