Cross Of Iron

Bleak, unpleasant, and ugly look at men in combat that was almost universally panned by the mainstream press upon its initial release. Its complex and vivid portrayal of the absurdity of war, however, prompted none other than Orson Welles to write Peckinpah and proclaim it the finest antiwar film he had ever seen. Based on a celebrated novel by German author Willi Heinrich, the film is set at the Russian front circa 1943, as the Germans are retreating before the Soviet army. We follow corporal Coburn (in what may be his best performance), a German soldier--not a Nazi--who "hates this uniform and everything it stands for." Loyal only to his men, a tight-knit group o...