In 1979, Sam Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron" debuted. It as a very violent anti-war war film starring James Coburn as a German soldier, Sergeant Steiner, stationed on the Russian Front during WWII. Well, someone thought that a follow-up film would be great...even though Coburn would not be in it nor would Peckinpah direct. Instead, the older and alcoholic Richard Burton would star as Steiner and instead of the Russian Front, the film would be set on the Western Front. To someone this seemed like a good idea at the time. Drugs or alcohol might well have played a part in this decision!
To save money, the filmmakers decided to re-use battle scenes from the old film...assuming no one would notice. My favorite of the re-used scenes was at the beginning where you see an F4U Corsair...a plane that never, ever flew anywhere near the Russian Front nor Western Front! Yet, despite being inappropriate in the first place, they re-use it in the second film as well!
When the film begins, Steiner is once again contemptuous of idiotic superior officers yet also able to somehow survive against all odds. Oddly, after his latest exploits in battle AND insubordination, he's transferred to the Western Front in order to help defend the French coast before D-Day.
The most unusual thing about this film is the age of many of the stars. Rod Steiger, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens are all quite old for a war film. As for Burton, while a decade younger than Mitchum and Jürgens, he looks older due, presumably, to his alcoholism. You know that his drinking was out of control when Mitchum complained about Burton's drinking during this production....as Mitchum was himself notorious for his own excessive drinking. So sad.
So is it any good? Well, from a consistency standpoint, no. Not only are we expected to believe Steiner is transferred thousands of miles away (as well as being played by a different actor), the exact same thing occurs with Steiner's old nemesis, the Major! As far as the film itself goes, it all seems very, very low energy and dull...which is odd since the film is about war as well as a plot to murder Hitler!! Dull...very dull and not especially interesting nor compelling.
To save money, the filmmakers decided to re-use battle scenes from the old film...assuming no one would notice. My favorite of the re-used scenes was at the beginning where you see an F4U Corsair...a plane that never, ever flew anywhere near the Russian Front nor Western Front! Yet, despite being inappropriate in the first place, they re-use it in the second film as well!
When the film begins, Steiner is once again contemptuous of idiotic superior officers yet also able to somehow survive against all odds. Oddly, after his latest exploits in battle AND insubordination, he's transferred to the Western Front in order to help defend the French coast before D-Day.
The most unusual thing about this film is the age of many of the stars. Rod Steiger, Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum and Curd Jürgens are all quite old for a war film. As for Burton, while a decade younger than Mitchum and Jürgens, he looks older due, presumably, to his alcoholism. You know that his drinking was out of control when Mitchum complained about Burton's drinking during this production....as Mitchum was himself notorious for his own excessive drinking. So sad.
So is it any good? Well, from a consistency standpoint, no. Not only are we expected to believe Steiner is transferred thousands of miles away (as well as being played by a different actor), the exact same thing occurs with Steiner's old nemesis, the Major! As far as the film itself goes, it all seems very, very low energy and dull...which is odd since the film is about war as well as a plot to murder Hitler!! Dull...very dull and not especially interesting nor compelling.