Summary
Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.
Details
Release Date: March 1, 1979
Runtime: 93 minutes
Genres: Drama, History, War
Original Language: DE
Rating: ⭐ 5.8/10 (28 votes)
Cross of Iron Collection
Cross of Iron
It is 1943, and the German army—ravaged and demoralised—is hastily retreating from the Russian front. In the midst of the madness, conflict brews between the aristocratic yet ultimately pusillanimous Captain Stransky and the courageous Corporal Steiner. Stransky is the only man who believes that the Third Reich is still vastly superior to the Russian army. However, within his pompous persona lies a quivering coward who longs for the Iron Cross so that he can return to Berlin a hero. Steiner, on the other hand is cynical, defiantly non-conformist and more concerned with the safety of his own men rather than the horde of military decorations offered to him by his superiors.
Breakthrough
Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.
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Cast
Richard Burton
Sergeant Steiner
Rod Steiger
General Webster
Helmut Griem
Major Stransky
Klaus Löwitsch
Krüger
Michael Parks
Sergeant Anderson
Werner Pochath
Keppel
Robert Mitchum
Colonel Rogers
Véronique Vendell
Yvette
Horst Janson
Captain Berger
Joachim Hansen
Captain Kistner
Dieter Schidor
Paul Anselm
Bruno Dietrich
Nissen
Curd Jürgens
General Hofmann
Sieghardt Rupp
Corporal Rothe
Hans-Jürgen Schatz
Schulze
Günter Meisner
SS Officer
Christoph Waltz
Paramedic