Cross Of Iron (1977) 2 Filmmakers react! 1st Time Watching! Audience request!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- Well the audience has been begging for this one for months since we did The Wild Bunch... so here it is. Cross Of Iron. A dreamy/ nightmarish trip into the world of theGerman soldiers towards the end of of World War 2. Neither of us had ever seen this film, and were both glad we watched it. It is a helluva film. James Coburn stars in this little known gem. I must admit this film really affected me as I found myself thinking about it after we watched, its a tough film. Join us as we delve into the MADNESS of WAR.
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Major and Richard are two filmmakers and Cinematographers. Richard also directs
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Major is also is a sound op
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This series will show films that one or both of us have not seen. They are honest straight reactions. We do not own the rights to these films, we simply critique and react to them. Please take the time to like and subscribe. Also comment below if you feel inspired to do so.
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@ richardkeithq7df
An amazing film, RIP to David Warner who died recently, he played Kiesel the aide to James Mason's character.
He was a great actor who appeared in some great films, "The Omen", "Tron", two Star Trek films, "Twin Peaks" and one of my favourites "Time Bandits" where his character is simply credited as "Evil Genius".
Warner was also in two other Peckinpah's films, The Ballad Of Cable Hogue and Straw Dogs. He also voiced Ra's Ah Ghul on some episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.
キーゼル大尉とマイヤー中尉は良かったですよね❗🇩🇪🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙋🙌🙌🙌🙌🙋🙌🙌🙌
He also played Jack the Ripper in “Time After Time.”
Don't forget Ed Dillinger (the villain) in Tron!
"And I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow." Best line in the film.
Actually widely used phrase in the german Army to this day, mostly in training, when you are about to show the recruits what it means to go beyond your limits.
@@HafdirTasare Still, the best line in the film.
@@gazoontight yes it is, it is used BECAUSE of the film!
I really like "I have to reload. HOW DO I RELOAD???"
I never forgot her
Wolfgang Petersen died few days ago. The opportunity to remind that he realised one of the best war movie: Das Boot
Rip
James Coburn was magnificent in every film he ever made. He is sorely missed in these soft times...
What kind of person thinks these are soft days? Only one living under a rock. Corburn himself would disaprove of your coment
This was the first Peckinpah film I ever saw, I was 13, and I saw it in the theatre. It was probably the darkest war movie I’d ever seen, and I saw a lot of them growing up… it still kinda haunts me. It came out the same year as Star Wars, and in my mind is the complete antithesis of Star Wars, in a great way.
A Bridge Too Far also came out in 1977 right?
Often overlooked Peckinpah classic. Thank you for giving it the respect and attention it deserves
Thanks for the reaction. I think you're the only TH-cam channel that's reacted to Cross of Iron. This movie was financed by some German interests that totally ran out of money. There was suppose to be a big final battle where Steiner and Stransky fought the Soviets but they could only afford a few extras etc. Peckinpah said doesn't matter I can make the ending work with edits and just a few extras and he did. The man was a genius
The ending was genius because it summed up the bizarre surrealism of existence quite magnificently.
They showed us this one rainy day at army cadets basic training. Everyone sat cross-legged on the floor of the gym and stared with awe at the brutality! I later learned they played it for all the wide eyed recruits who passed through the base so the Drill Sergeant could see who flinched and who cheered the action on! Thanks for another great reaction guys!
Steiner stands for the majority of German Wehrmacht soldiers who realized at this point that the war was lost and that they were only fighting for their lives and the lives of their families, NOT for Hitler and the "stinking Party". Only the diehards, SS and Gestapo types, still belived in the "End Sieg" (Victory at the End). I speak German and was stationed in Germany in the 1970's. I met both types of former soldiers. I was amazed that there were still former Nazi's who believed (very privately, of course) in the cause of National Socialism, but they were very few and far between. Most wanted to forget the war. Germany lost 2.5M soldiers and another 1M civilians in WW2.
Fantastic film! They don't make 'em like this anymore.
I can't freakin' believe you did a review for this film..I felt like I was the only one alive that had seen it. haha. It's such a different kind of film. There's other films like this..imo, like a few westerns (shane, hang em high, high noon) that show you that a good and bad isn't black and white and Will Penny (a lesser known Heston western) has a similar non-typical ending. This film has that Butch Cassidy or Kelly's hero vibe and feel where the way it's filmed and has the out of place music (might have the same director but I haven't checked. I've seen a lot of films though. haha
Anyway, if there's one thing you watch before you die, PLEASE make it Lonesome Dove. It's the greatest thing ever filmed. It's a 6hr miniseries but you'll really love the journey. It's like a time machine.
We had like twenty requests for it, I had never heard of it
@@majormoviemadness9927 90s German movie Stalingrad is a great counterpart!
This film was released the same week as Star Wars, and thus slipped through the cracks initially, though it did well in Europe. Of course now, it's become on of the all-time great war films, influencing the likes of Tarantino with its grittiness, gore, and sympathetic take on the "bad guys."
Great review! Thank you for taking the time to do this one.
This movie is such a hidden gem. One of the best anti-war films ever made. Plus most people aren't terribly used to a WW2 movie from the perspective of a German soldier. Around the time it was filmed, most WW2 films up until that point were more of a bit of a propaganda piece for the American Army. This one seems to try to look within that very blurred line that war brings when it comes to morality.
Though we have the expressionist movement of the late 60's-early 70's to thank as well. It's a nice balance to a more nationalistic and glamorized view of war.
Great reaction vid!
Great review guys, I first saw this film as a teenager and it blew me away, but you do have to watch it a few times to really appreciate all of the details and themes. As others have said, they ran out of money hence the completely improvised ending, but I feel it works pretty well, Stransky is absolutely hopeless in combat, and Steiner is cracking up laughing at how hopeless he is. He doesn't need to kill Stransky because demonstating to him how pathetic he is is punnishment enough and would have definitely dented his arrogance. I absolutely love Pekinpah's style of editing where he keeps cutting between several things happening at once, the absolute disorientating chaos of the combat sequences with those slo-mo shots. When I researched the making of this film and everything that went on, the fact they were able to put together such a masterpiece in the editing room at all is so impressive. This is quite a good video someone made about the making of the film: th-cam.com/video/U9iGpviOiC4/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=TonyBush-KFR%28KillerFilmReviews%29
My father (RIP) many years ago had an original pre-cert version of this movie (UK) amongst a small collection of vhs tapes he had gotten I think from a local video store that sold older well used movies cheap, he'd watch it quite often, even I had sat in and watched it a few times, years later he sadly sold his small collection of pre-cert movies pretty cheap for some reason, after a while I decided once I got my own money to buy a new copy of it, I sat put it on and low and behold it was cut to pieces, especially the ending he fires once and thats it, I was amazied I even thought I had imagined the original ending, just recently I spotted and bought a copy of the 4k version of the movie and was totally blown away by how amazing it looked and also included alot of the missing and cut scenes!
You are probably the only ones that can react to A Passage to India and provide a good commentary. I don't think anyone else has.
The end was improvised because they had no more budget. The fall of stransky in the last scene is also accidental and the scene could not be reshooted because they had no more film.
Stalingrad (1993) is another good film from the German perspective.
The reason the ending is strange is because they ran out of money and the studio shut them down before they could flim the intended ending.
Swedish actor Maximillian Schell playeed Stransky.He always played Germans/Nazis.In "The Young Lions" 1958,he played a nazi.And,ofc,as General Wilhelm Bittrich in ' A Bridge Too Far".
Top actor.
Yeah, but he was a child molester.
For your consideration. James Mason, The Blue Max. A WWI movie about another medal chasing Officer. Excellent flying film.
I ALWAYS wanted to see this movie. It came out while I was in HS. Never got to see it. The thought of James Coburn as a German intrigued me to no end. I went out and bought the book. Side note when I got to junior high first book I dragged home from the school library was The Desert Fox a biography of Erwin Rommel - to my parents distress. Anyway thanks so much for reviewing this film. Also where the fighting was taking place was in the Crimea.
The Kuban (or Taman) Peninsula is in Russia, not Crimea (It is the eastern end of Putin's bridge to the Russian Occupied Crimea) - it is set during the end phase of Germany's retreat from the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast. To the north is the Sea of Azov to the west is the Kerch Strait and south is the Black Sea. Check Google Maps for Krasnodar & Novorossiysk in southern Russia. (the nearest cities of any size.) The campaign there is largely a sideshow by this stage and most of the troops evacuated to the Crimea were later killed or captured when the Russians retook the Crimean Peninsula a few months later.
the ending was meant to be a 3 day shoot but never happened as the director was on a bender AGAIN,even the helmet falling off was a blooper but works so well in contrast to the young boys face
Stieners gun was a ppsh41 and held 71 rounds in the drum.
The Eastern Front of WW2 was the largest clash of arms ever in the history of humanity, and there are barely any films about it. This and Stalingrad from 1993 are the only two I can think of that actually deal with it from a traditional war film perspective (Come and See is more about the genocide but still amazing).
Huuuge risk by Peckinpah to make this, even in '77.
Love this film - one of the greatest anti - war films ever made.And your views on the EF are on point,the EF was a bloodbath like no other in history.
It was simply a bloodbath on a colossal scale with no quarter given by either side.
One of the best Russian equivalents - "Come and See" ( as you mention ).Just harrowing,but this was the EF,after all.
@@richardscanlan3167 The film was made in Yugoslavia and most of the actors, (other than the main name stars) are also Yugoslavs. Lucky to film there because the country had plenty of German, Soviet (and Western ) Military uniforms and equipment==not to mention , the terrain could pass for 'somewhere in Europe' (France, Italy, Greece, Russia, etc). I think, I heard from an anecdote that one of Peckinpah's 'people' (tech person, production guy, film guy, camera guy) claimed to have been an SS Soldier in WW2 and when he got 'juiced up' he loved to harangue the Yugoslavian members of the crew about how much he enjoyed 'overrunning their stupid country'.
This was the first Peckinpah film I saw. There was plenty in it that I was unable to forget. I love the exchanges between Coburn and Mason in this. There is a sort of sequel to this film starring Richard Burton which sounds great on paper (although I haven't seen it) but is allegedly rubbish.
If people are hassling you about 'Paths of Glory' (great film) and 'The Deer Hunter' (not really my cup of tea), I feel obliged to mention that regrettably it was announced this week that Wolfgang Petersen has died. RIP. You did imply that his magnum opus was going to be part of your war movie madness...
Also whilst I've mentioned Burton, 'Where Eagles Dare' is possibly the pinnacle of a teen boys' comic book style WW2 action film - who in their right mind wouldn't want to see Clint Eastwood duel wielding MP40s.
I'm surprised no one's made a documentary about Cimino and Deer Hunter/Heavens Gate. Such a bizarre rise and fall, and the influence it had on studio-director relations was seminal.
another great Peckinpah film with James Coburn to watch is Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Also Duck You Sucker with James Coburn to finish out the Leone Spaghetti films.
Coburn is also in Peckinpah's Major Dundee, with Charlton Heston and Richard Harris.
One of the things I remember most from this film was the German soldier saluting with his leg.
I hope you're going to watch "Where Eagles Dare".
Thank you for giving this one a view. I agree it does end in a non conventional and ambiguous way. Maybe that’s part of the anti war message. There are no clear winners or any ultimate resolution . Keep up your journey into war movie madness, I’m with you .
"And I will show you where the Iron Crosses grow."
Damn.
Somehow, this movie wasn't one that I ever saw as a kid on the Saturday or Sunday war movie T.V. programming.
Battle of Britain 1969 directed by Guy Hamilton is amazing with a great cast. Would love to see you react! If you guys come back 🎉😢❤
Tarantino says this film is overrated which doesn’t make sense to me because no one ever really talks about it. I love it.
24:55 that line 'Where the Iron Crosses Grow' is actually the title of a book from 2016 on the Fighting in the Crimea.
There was morre to the ending. Should have watched till end of the credits. Chilling.
great intelligent review, thanks
Have never seen this one…looks interesting!
Rommel wasnt actually involved in the plot though
Though he was most likley aware that the plot existed
They made a part 2 named "Breakthrough" in 1979 A.K.A. "Steiner 2" in West Germany.
This one makes a wonderful double feature with Samuel Fuller´s The Big Red One, with Lee Marvin instead of Coburn.
Coburn was a marine in the pacific in WW2.
Col. Brant: You're a brave man. Braver than you know. There will be a time when Germany, if such a thing is permitted to exist, will need brave civilians.
Cross of Iron is based on a German language Novel "Das Genuldige Fleisch" -sp?) ("The Willing Flesh" - and later retitled to match the film.) by Willi Heinrich, a WW2 Russian front veteran. Actually the 'elliptical ending' was the part I found the most interesting as, like in both war and ordinary life, there is no tidy 'ending' or climactic event, just a step to the next phase , whatever that may entail, but leaving much unresolved. (I found out it was due to budgetary concerns, but Peckinpah used what he had already and it still works well, as is.)
My Grandfathers favourite film. He served in WW2. I find it a difficult watch. Maybe because I didn’t experience what he did.
You need to read the book. The movie nearly follows the book which is unique. But yeah, read the book.
You need to see”At Play in the fields of the lord”.
w/Tom Beringer.
You can’t comprehend unless you have genes.🀄️.
Never seen anyone react to this before. The East Front has always been a favorite course of study for me, from both sides. If you want more of the German point of view (good and bad), and you want to watch a three part series, may I suggest the German series "Generation War". (In German the actual title is "Unserer Müter, Unserer Väter"--Our mothers, our fathers.) It's all in German, but worth the watch.
A 6 from Major wow!!! He is normally the more critical one
masterpiece.
27:46 Correction Its the British, Canadians, as well as the Free Polish!
The ending was a mess due to studio interference.
I've heard that they literally ran out of film on location in I think Yugoslavia after a difficult shoot. James Coburn burst out laughing when the very last film stock was used on a messed up scene, hence the abrupt finale. An ambiguous ending was the best that could be done.
Filming there in 1977, a Communist country but under Tito who typically had no problem allowing Westerners to make films there, meant that that only were the the Soviet T-34 tanks authentic WW2 stock, presumably from storage/reserve but the uniforms too, either sent for the short period the USSR and Yugoslavia were allies or captured from German stores by Tito’s forces.
Probably my favorite (anti)war movie!
Incorrect information regarding Rommel. Arch nemesis was Monty and their was no actual proof he was involved in the July plot, just speculation and rumour.
outstanding review channel. I'm a sub for sure
Wow! Just. Wow!
Note: the ending of the film was due to the filmmakers running out of money, so they cobbled together that ending from what they had shot.
Take a look at "Zulu" and "The Blue Max".
Absolutely love this movie ! …. As a WW2 German reenactor, this movie is almost considered a requirement to watch ! ….if you can’t quote Cross of Iron, you’ll probably get looked at with disbelief ! 😂
Where do you reenact?
@@majormoviemadness9927 All across the country, really. I live in Missouri so most of the events I attend are usually within the surrounding states, but I’ve gone as far Utah for a movie shoot and to Pennsylvania for a huge battle ! … if you have the time off and gas money, there’s usually an event every other weekend somewhere in the US.
I also wanted to say that I appreciate you guys reviewing a somewhat obscure war movie from the 70’s, it’s a title you hardly ever see being reviewed or analyzed on TH-cam, it’s a breath of fresh air.
My Grandfather has 3
Could you guys react to the movie: "Cool Hand Luke" (1967) it is an American prison drama film.
There is still debate whether Rommel was involved in the July 20 Plot. I wish that people would stop repeating it as absolute fact
“& I will show u where the iron crosses grow....” 💯🔥🤙🏽😎
I don't understand why people watch other people watch movies. Can't they just review it?
Yes its a British film as well along with the Germans
I read a couple of really good war comics from the German perspective. It didn't condone the actions of the Nazi party but showed the soldiers trying to live with the horror they committed or finding their morals coming into direct opposition to what the Nazis did. Johann's Tiger was one of 4 stories in Garth Ennis' War Stories vol 1. But the story called Enemy Ace about a German pilot is a great standalone graphic novel. If you like authentic war stories, I highly recommend his war comics. Many of them are inspired by real events like the story of the all female Russian flight squadron, the Night Witches. The Germans gave them that name because they would bomb, with precision, German lines in the middle of the night. But the women had to fly old WWI biplanes. The engines were so loud, they had to fly high, cut the engine, glide into position, drop their bombs, kick the engines back on, and hightail it out of there before the flak cannons got a bead on them. Russia enlisted many women to fight. But they were usually not on the front line but in ancillary positions like pilots or snipers. I think you guys would appreciate them if you read them. They're not kid comics by any means. Looking forward to the war movie theme. Here's hoping we'll get Kelly's Heroes as a reaction. Avoid them negative waves, man.
I heard those biplanes were super difficult to intercept because they went so much slower than the WW2 fighter planes who would just blast by them before they could get them in their sights.
@@AlexG1020 Yes! They mention that very thing in the Night Witches.
Those Garth Ennis war comics are absolutely fantastic.
@@vivadjango Superb. Any of them would make amazing films. There's a new hardcover of his story SARA about a Russian female sniper that's amazing.
It's a flawed and dated film, yet there is a definite unique style to all of Peckinpah's movies I really enjoy.
did u guys watch the cut film
What do you mean?
I think you should watch also The Boys from Brazil
Nice reaction. Officier Steiner has been portrayed at least 2-3 times in war movies. Here and in The Eagle has Landed with Michael Caine.
The Eagle Has Landed was Captain Kurt Steiner,differant character
There's also Breakthrough with Richard Burton.
Sam p at his finest
You need to see Downfall --in German with english subtitles --it and Saving Private Ryan are among the best WW2 movies
One of the best opening scores ever, very important for the build up of the movie and you talk all rhe way through it! Whatś wrong with you?!
Steiner did not die,there was a sequel with Richard Burton playing the role.
Steiner is eternal
There was a sequel - markedly inferior,Steiner/Stransky end up in France - in the end Steiner kills Stransky.
it's a expensive load of bullshit.
@@rickyj5547I don't know about the cost,but it was a pile of shit.
Here's an interview with James Coburn, talking about working with Peckinpah:
th-cam.com/video/2w4m22S9pFk/w-d-xo.html
At about 34:15, he talks about the process of coming up with the ending of Cross Of Iron (and running out of film stick the night before they were going to shoot it!). Long story short, they didn't have an ending planned, and they didn't like anything the producers, etc were sending down, but they ended up improvising something after Maximillian Schell had a mishap with his gun, and Coburn reacted by laughing. Peckinpah saw that, and liked it, and came up with what we have.
My take on it is that Steiner is so immersed in war and death and trauma, he doesn't so much want to destroy Stransky the person, but destroy the lies Stransky is telling everybody else and himself about war and glory. Stransky will lie and betray his soldiers to get an Iron Cross - he has no shame - and if Steiner just shot him, Stransky would just end up a posthumous hero. But he can bring Stransky into the war he knows, and war as he understands it - "where the Iron Crosses grow".
And of course, the difference between Stransky's image of himself and the reality is so vast that his self-confidence and military bearing dissolves into clownishness. I love the boy soldier's "are you kidding me?!?" expression - he's a child soldier in a movie that doesn't look away from children being sent to die. The reality of war is that they're all scared children, fumbling and panicking, at the mercy of random, chaotic chance. The children and adults who have to fight the war have an understanding about war that the aristocrats, the party bigwigs, and the generals who send them there don't.
I really liked the video, and it was great to hear both of your perspectives on this movie. Definitely checking out your other stuff!
Iron cross film was a cut short due to ran out of money
Not dead theres a cross of iron 2
It's a great film by Peckinpah. I would now recommend a Finnish film called "Talvisota". In English it is called "The Winter War", but you can probably only find sub-titled versions. Powerful film about the 100 day war between Finland and USSR (1939-40). Have you seen "Z" by Costa Gravas (a story of political assassination during the Greek dictatorship) with Yves Montand, JL Trintignant, Irene Papas.
Yes, it's a very good movie.
Great film but Rommel was not the greatest German General of WW2.
Who was?
@@majormoviemadness9927 Probably Von Manstein but it's a matter of some debate.
The line about preparing for the next war.. Yeah, to think they hadnt even finished WW2 as Allies were already preparing to the next conflict. Had to get in on the race for Berlin in 1944 to make sure Soviets dont claim all of Europe.
Luckily for all of us the Cold War never got hot.
I've never seen 'Patton', they may get to it but apparently he wanted to attack the Soviets immediately. Would have been suicide considering size of the Red Army.
But there were military theorists just before WW1 who said once the theorized Total War occurs, humanity will be stuck in perpetual mass warfare. All citizens would be mobilized in one way or another. Besides the interwar period they were kind of right considering the extent of 20th century conflicts and the military industrial complex.
you guys should definitely check out the band of brothers type series ''generation war'' its also german sided but a bit more modern with its production
I’ll check it out sounds interesting
Would you say it's just as good or better than BoB?
nope. There's a phrase. Jack left town, came back, left again.
Movie needs to be big screen, you guys small screen. If seen at all.
It is kinda nice to see you american guys realising that WW2 didn't start with Pearl Harbour though.
I get it.
My question, after scrawling through, is-
Why?
No debate, no humor.
Two guys with barely perceptible facial changes sulk over a wee screen. At crotch level.
Rethink your model.
You DO know that Pearl Harbour wasn't the beginning for everyone else. Right?
absolutley weak reaction, i can stare in silence at this movie myself too
I´m sorry, but I find it odd that you call yourselves filmmakers and NAME your camera after Kubrick but you have never seen Paths of Glory??
Let me explain. I Richard have seen most of these films including every Kubrick movie multiple times. Major has not: he’s a cinematographer but his actual film knowledge has been. Limited. Does that clarify?
@@majormoviemadness9927 is that the same for all the 1st time watching videos you post?
No for example neither of us have seen this film. It usually states in the video who has or has not seen or heard of it
@@majormoviemadness9927 I see. thanks
full on but not overdone
p♥r♥o♥m♥o♥s♥m 🔥
Don't you two realise that you just witnessed a supreme masterwork of the highest order and the second greatest war movie ever made ! ? (only Elim Klimov's 'COME AND SEE' is a better film). The ending was not ambiguous at all but rather it was total and utter perfection just like every other scene and frame in this movie.
I appreciate your passion friendo