Cross of Iron

(Sam Peckinpah, UK/West Germany 1977, 120 min., 35mm)

War, Myth, Desire. Orson Welles once called this rarely shown, underrated WWII film the best he had ever seen about the “ordinary enlisted man” and one of the “finest antiwar movies.” Sergeant Steiner (James Coburn) is the gruff, conflicted commander of a WWII German reconnaissance platoon, forced to retreat from the Russian front in 1943. However, military conflicts turn personal as Steiner tries to protect his fellow soldiers from an aristocratic and ambitious officer (Maximilian Schell) who assumes command. Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Convoy) is here at his rawest.