3. Cross Of Iron (1977)

Starring: James Coburn, Maximillian Schell, James Mason

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Running Time: 133 mins

Cross Of Iron is an American film depicting the battles of a Nazi Army Corps battling on the Eastern Front during the Second World War, headed by one unwilling officer, who rebels against the dictatorial and cowardly captain of his, who is desperate to win the Cross Of Iron, without going into battle.

Another WWII film, and this one was quite a bit better. I normally do enjoy films with a lot of action in them, and this had so much from the start. I found the characters of the captain and the officer very interesting, as I had never really seen Nazis in films being so anti-Nazi.(?)

The officer’s kindness made me develop a soft spot for him, however it was still difficult to really pick sides in this movie, as I don’t really want to support the Nazis against the Soviets, but the presentation was very realistic about soldiers in war.

However, towards the middle part of the movie, the main officer is injured, and admitted to hospital, where he stays trying to recover from the psychological damage that he suffered during his fighting. Although this is a very true representation of the effects of war, I felt that it dragged on for a bit, and was eventually a little tiring.

Overall, I enjoyed the action in this film, and that’s why it gets a 7.1, but it lost out in being a little too long on focusing on the one officer in hospital.