Cross of Iron
| Cross of Iron | |
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Original British 1977 quad format film poster
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| Directed by | Sam Peckinpah |
| Produced by |
Wolf C. Hartwig Arlene Sellers Alex Winitsky |
| Screenplay by |
Julius J. Epstein James Hamilton Walter Kelley |
| Based on |
The Willing Flesh by Willi Heinrich |
| Starring |
James Coburn Maximilian Schell James Mason David Warner Senta Berger |
| Music by | Ernest Gold |
| Cinematography | John Coquillon |
| Edited by |
Michael Ellis Murray Jordan Tony Lawson |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
EMI Films (UK) Constantin Film (Germany) |
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Release date
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Running time
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133 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom West Germany |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000,000 |
Cross of Iron is a British-German 1977 war film directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner. The film is set on the Eastern Front in World War II during the Soviets' Caucasus operations against the Wehrmacht's Kuban bridgehead on the Taman Peninsula in late 1943.
The film focuses on the class conflict between a newly arrived, aristocratic Prussian officer who covets winning the Iron Cross and a cynical, battle-hardened infantry NCO. The screenplay was based on the 1956 novel The Willing Flesh by Willi Heinrich, a fictional work that may be loosely based on the true story of Johann Schwerdfeger.
Exteriors were shot on location in Yugoslavia. The film is notable for using a significant number of authentic tanks and equipment.
The movie opens with a German children's song, "Hänschen klein", mixed with black-and-white footage of prewar and war scenes. It then segues to color and a German platoon raid on a Russian forward outpost led by Sergeant Rolf Steiner (James Coburn), during which his men capture a Russian boy-soldier (Slavko Štimac).
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Wikipedia