User Reviews

This film is a sequel to Sam Peckinpah's CROSS OF IRON (1977) which I have not seen. The lead character, Sergeant Steiner of the Wehrmacht, is played by an aging Richard Burton who, despite only being 54 at the time, looks more like 74 because of his dissolute private life. He only had five more years to live. The story of the rebellious German sergeant who does not support the Nazis, has twice refused promotion as an officer and wishes to assist an anti-Hitler general make peace with the Allies in Normandy against the wishes of Berlin is intriguing. The fact that Burton looks so old and 'past it', and is so wooden and stiff in the role, actually makes it more believable. After all, such a man could convincingly be at the limit of what he is prepared to put up with, and might really rebel against his own side in this way. In contrast to the comatose Richard Burton, Robert Mitchum, aged 62, seems twenty years younger than Burton and has all the energy and verve of a twenty-something as he big-shoulders his way through his scenes with all of his usual aplomb and confidence, as an American colonel who meets up with Burton and tries to facilitate a 'deal on the side' to break peace early. Unlike Burton, he had another 18 years to live. Curd (or Curt) Juergens is superb as General Hoffmann, who is part of the plot to kill Hitler and asks Burton to carry a secret message to a senior officer on the other side of the lines. Rod Steiger is also only 54 like Burton, but he looks, let us say 70, not quite as ravaged as Burton but still pretty ropey. He plays an American Brigadier General, but is getting too fat for it, and has lost most of his fire by this stage of his career. There is not much 'young blood' visible in this wartime tale. There are the usual nasty Nazis and gum-chewing Yanks. The result is a mediocre film which has never been issued on DVD, so that I watched an ancient video of it. It's just interesting enough not to switch it off, but not interesting enough to seek out and watch.

This is a sequel to the very under rated Peckinpah classic CROSS OF IRON . You remember it don't you ? James Coburn as Sgt Steiner getting on the wrong side of Maximillian Schell's Captain Stransky on the Soviet Eastern Front in 1943 . BREAKTHROUGH as it's known in Britain is a film trying to market itself as a sequel and I'm afraid if it resembles anything it probably resembles a plot device in DOCTOR WHO called regeneration where a Timelord can turn in to the same character with a completely different physical appearance and personality . In the case of Steiner he was last seen as being a cynical character with a strong resemblance to James Coburn who suddenly looks like a much respected stage actor from Wales who's slumming it in a not very good movie . Strangely enough Captain Stransky is also a Timelord . I suppose that's an advantage if you've got several million soldiers in the Red Army who want payback for having their families strung up with piano wire

There are a couple of good battle sequences at the start of BREAKTHROUGH but if you've seen CROSS OF IRON you'll instantly know where these scenes were stolen from . You also can't help noticing a bizarre lack of continuity to these scenes . Steiner you remember was a soldier's soldier , he might be fighting for a murderous regime but his loyalty was to his men not to the regime and for some strange reason he is now wearing a dress uniform on the front line and these's not even a speck of dust on his uniform . Maybe his clothes can regenerate after every battle with the Soviets ? You can't fail to notice how crap he is in a battle either . He's given an order to blow up a tunnel . Arrives at he tunnel , staggers down the tunnel no doubt looking for the nearest drinks cabinet , staggers alongside a Soviet tank , drops a grenade in the tank , and gets back in to his truck looking for the nearest bar . All he had to do was connect a wire to a plunger and blow the tunnel up which seems beyond his capabilities . In fact if this is the standard of the average Wehrmacht soldier the Soviets must be glad they didn't have to fight any Italian conscripts

I'm being very kind here because I awarded BREAKTHROUGH four out of ten on its own merits - not as a sequel to CROSS OF IRON in which case it would have been awarded minus points . It is a totally disjointed film especially where editing is concerned where the story jumps around from location to location with little rhyme or reason with the big name cast realising they're just doing it for the money . It says a lot when its predecessor was directed by someone suffering from intense substance abuse and was a hundred times better than this

Shoddy, shoestring budgeted alleged sequel to Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron" notable solely for the troika of superb actors who don't seem to care.

Burton as the war loathing Sgt.Steiner is simply too old. Dead-eyed and sunken cheeked, he growls a German accent that slips more readily than a stricken panzer retreating in the Russian winter. Steiger has barely three scenes but exhibits his customary late period bipolarism, roaring from rage to serenity in seconds with little in between. Mitchum is made of teak, reacting to the death of his only pal, the jeep driver, as if he had dropped a grocery receipt.

Every aspect of this accidental comedy is anaemic and threadbare; the implausible plot, emaciated script, jagged cutting and even the celluloid seems to have been dipped in coffee. Perhaps the creme de la cack is the score which seems to feature an orchestra of two.

A film can usually be judged on its own merits. But a film claiming to be a sequel to Peckinpah's "Cross of Iron" and featuring some of the greatest actors who ever lived needs to be held to a high standard. "Breakthrough" is a waste of time and fails in virtually all departments.

The plot cannot be taken seriously. It begins in late May of 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front. "Cross of Iron" is set in January of 1943, yet our sequel begins where it left off, yet it's almost 16 months later. We are immediately introduced to several familiar characters, none of whom seem to measure up with their personalities from the original film. Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) is ordered by Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) to blow up a railroad tunnel in order to prevent the Russians from using it. Steiner's squad fails miserably. Stop again: Coburn's Steiner was a crack NCO. He wiped out several different Russian outposts, patrols and tanks – with style. It's out of character for Steiner to be defeated to easily by one lousy Russian tank. Anyway: Steiner takes a breather in Paris, right as the Allies land in Normandy. His unit is transported to France, where they occupy the village of St. Bologne. General Hoffman (Curd Jurgens) appears and orders Steiner to cross the enemy lines and inform the American commanders (Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger) that the German high command is plotting to assassinate Hitler and would like to surrender. This plan comes undone, and the American forces move to attack St. Bologne – which Stransky has planned to blow up – a plot which will wipe out the attackers and the civilian inhabitants.

That's quite a bit to cram into one film, and McLaglen doesn't seem to know where he's going with this material. This is a very open-ended film, with little to link the sequence of events except pure coincidence. The script is serviceable on its own, but nothing here compares to "Cross". For starters, this new film ignores the last ten minutes or so of "Cross" and picks up right after the death of Lt. Triebig. Steiner appears to have no remorse against Stransky and, along with Kruger (Klaus Lowitsch) and Anselm (Dieter Schidor), joins the retreating force. Burton's portrayal of Steiner is simply unacceptable. For one thing, he's a bit too old and haggard to be considered a combat sergeant. He never gets involved in any physical action for this exact reason. Instead, he merely delivers dialog with a phony German accent and kills just as many Americans as fellow Germans as he seems confused as to whose side he's on. Unlike Coburn's Steiner, Burton's fails to stand for anything: he is loyal to his men, but winds up killing several of them in order to keep a promise to Colonel Rogers (Mitchum).

The film also fails miserably because, despite a slew of Hollywood legends and some familiar German actors, the acting is banal and limited. Mitchum and Steiger are both wasted in mediocre roles as American officers. Steiger's part is particularly disappointing, as he always seems sincere but isn't given very much to work with. The only American actor in the ensemble who seems properly placed in Michael Parks in a small but seemingly-enjoyed role as Sgt. Anderson, who tags along with Mitchum on various dangerous outings. Dare I forget to mention the presence of the legendary Curd Jurgens, who gets little to do here but plays his typical typecast role of an aristocratic German General with gusto despite his obviously forced surroundings!

The cast is chock full of German supporting actors, all of whom are forced into roles beneath their acting ability. Helmut Griem ("The McKenzie Break") is a pretty sorry stand-in for Maximilian Schell. He sure seems interested in getting his Iron Cross, but theme is reduced to an occasional reference or gag. The new Stransky is nothing more than a typical, one-dimensional Nazi out for American blood. Klaus Lowitsch is back and is a lot of fun as Corporal Kruger, although his character has changed, too: now he's wearing a German uniform and it's hard to tell is his cynicism is sincere. Werner Pochath ("Wartime") is a predictable pervert amongst the ranks of Steiner's squad; Gunter Meisner ("Is Paris Burning?") pops up in his usual role as a creepy SS officer; Horst Janson ("Shout at the Devil") is completely wasted as Steiner's company commander; even Joachim Hansen ("The Eagle has Landed") has a minimal role as Hoffman's aide. This film yearns for James Mason and David Warner, whose characters are simply forgotten in the midst of the chaos.

On its own, "Breakthrough" still fails to make any sort of impression. The lack budgetary restrictions show up in nearly every frame. The first few scenes are composed almost entirely of stock footage from "Cross of Iron" and "The Battle of Neretva", while the rest feature a tremendous lack of extras and flair. We rarely see more than half-dozen actors on screen at one time, and the battle in the St. Bologne uses many of the same shots more than once, alternate takes of some shots, and some rather shabby soundstages. The direction always seems pretty standard and unimaginative; McLaglen, who's usually at least a competent director, doesn't take any chances in this film. Nothing happens that we haven't seen before, and the lack of flair makes the whole affair seem even more pedestrian. The music score is ill-fitting and badly written. It's composed mostly of symphonic cues which belong in a spaghetti western – or perhaps one of Antonio Margheriti's early sci-fi adventures – but certainly not an anti-war film! Fans of the cast will be disappointed. Fans of its predecessor will be severely disappointed. It's even a let-down for me, and I consider myself a pretty opened-minded war film fan. Don't even bother with this one.

Though one can hardly tell it, this film is meant to be a sequel to Sam Peckinpah's 1977 World War II Cross Of Iron. I one for one didn't realize this until after seeing the film which shows you that this is a sequel in the loosest of terms. While it most certainly is not in the same league as Cross Of Iron, Breakthrough is still your fairly typical World War II film. It's also an example of how to under-use and misuse the talents of good actors.

I'll admit the major reason I saw this was for its actors and especially Richard Burton, my favorite actor. That said the talents of the cast are sadly underused or misused for the most part. Burton is certainly miscast in the role of Sargant Steiner as he is too old (approximately fifty-five if I remember correctly) to be believable even as an older Sergeant in the German Army. The same can very much be said of Robert Mitchum as American Army Colonel Rogers who looks a bit too old to be realistic in the role. While they may be too old for their roles, both Burton and Mitchum give fair performances though far from their greatest moments to be certain. The movie does make some decent use of its supporting cast, especially Rod Steiger and Curt Jergens as American and German generals respectively. The test of the film's supporting cast gives fairly middle of the road performances as well. As a consequence, the overall acting quality in this is less then one might have expected.

The production values, music and direction as well are nothing incredible either. The entire film has a very low budget feel to it from the opening credits (which in fact use footage from Cross Of Iron) to barely decorated sets and beyond. Not to mention the score from composer Peter Thomas that, with a very electronic feel to it, seems more evocative of the disco music popular when the film was made rather then a score more befitting to a World War II film. The film's direction also seems to be a bit lacking as well in many scenes which seems a shame considering that it was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, the director of things like The Wild Geese (also starring Burton) and the World War II action/adventure movie The Sea Wolves. All said the production values, music and direction are all things that let the film down.

This brings us to the script of Breakthrough. The script certainly has an interesting premise by taking some of the characters of Cross Of Iron, organizing circumstances to get them to the other front of World War II Europe and then throwing the July 20th plot to kill Hitler into the middle of it. The problem is that while the first two things are done somewhat believably things start going downhill as soon as the Hitler assassination plot comes forward. The whole thing is set-up rather strangely and requires a couple of major leaps in plot (Steiner to go towards American lines in the middle of the night at the exact same time Rogers goes looking for anti-tank guns) to get things moving and once they do things don't get better. What could have been an interesting thriller plot instead descends into your rather standard World War II shot 'em up by the time it's over with. The result is an uneven film that seems to just go from plot line to plot line in hopes of one of them taking charge of the film. The sad fact is none of them ever do.

Somehow Breakthrough feels like a list of missed opportunities. With an underused / misused cast, low budget production values, an out of place score, uninspired direction and an uneven script there's plenty of instances where things could have been something better. Instead we get a fairly typical World War II movie with an interesting but sadly misused premise. In short: it could have been better, especially as it's a sequel to Cross Of Iron.

1944, Nazis are suffering a crushing defeat,Richard Burton commands a group of misfit soldiers for a dangerous mission .This is a rugged WWII Actioner concerning about the experienced Sergeant Steiner, he's assigned by Colonel Nazi (Curd Jurgens)to contact enemy for a treaty of peace . The Nazi commando turns out to be a rag-tag, oddball and motley gang (a largely cast formed by Klaus Lowitsch, Werner Pochath, among others), under command Sergeant Steiner . The commando led by Steiner get a chance to redeem themselves by execute a risked mission. The picture stars Robert Mitchum as American Colonel who is saved by heroic German Sergeant. Then the mission is suspended when the Nazi authorities (Gunter Meisner) thwart an attempt on Hitler's life, the famous event ,¨the 20 July plot¨ designed by Claus Von Stauffemberg. Later on, they are sent on yet another new mission by staff command (Major Nazi played by Helmut Griem and captains performed by Joachin Hansen and Horst Janson) . Later its cancellation they must participate in suicidal missions, the first to wipe a French village and prepare an assault over a strong position located on the hill where are the Allied tanks led by General Rogers (Robert Mitchum) and assistant (Michael Parks). Finally the American infantry, artillery and tanks enter on the village at some spectacular scenes.

This tiring wartime movie about the heroics of weary German soldiers results to be a following to ¨Sam Peckimpah's Cross of Iron¨ .This dull war film of marginal interest packs frantic thrills, perilous assignments, relentless feats,and buck-loads of explosive action and violence.The noisy action is uniformly bad-made, only deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes on the impregnable village. Like most Warlike movies , there is some of action-packed , but that alone can't help the worn-out argument or usual clichés.Serious and rough Richard Burton is average as leader of the motley pack together thwart the the Nazi schemes, as well as the largely secondary cast with special mention to Rod Steiger as vociferous general. This is is a wartime typical vehicle and inferior into the warlike commando genre, which also belongs the classics from the 60 as 'Dirty dozen(Robert Aldrich), 'Where eagles dare(Brian G. Hutton)' and 'Kelly's heroes(again Hutton)'. The motion picture is badly realized by Andrew V McLagen, son of the great actor Victor McLagen. He's a warlike expert , such as proved in several films(Return to Kwai,Wild Geese, Dirtdozen: the next mission,Sea wolves). However director McLagen proved had lost the touch that made ¨Devil's brigade¨, ¨Sea wolves¨ and specially ¨Wild Geese¨ such memorable films. ¨Breakthrough¨ cannot be called great and did not received , deservedly, much acclaim when released. Certainly a lousy work done by one of Hollywood's more skill director, a real craftsman.

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.

I posted a review on the 1950 Breakthrough movie page as I didn't see it right away on the page with movies having Breakthrough in the title. It makes sense now that this was a rather low budget European production. It's not a bad movie but not a great one either. With Mitchum and Burton, I'm surprised it was this obscure. Anyway, without rehashing a plot synopsis all over again, it centers around the impending defeat of the Nazi's around the time of D-Day. It's basically a subplot concerning an effort by some of Hitler's generals trying to bump him off and negotiate a cease-fire with advancing Allied and Soviet forces before Germany is completely defeated and occupied. Not a stirring epic by any means, but no worse than a lot of John Wayne's stuff either.

It's an undisputed fact that Hollywood makes an abundance of WWII movies. Breakthrough contains a mixture of battle scenes, conspiracy plots, and German-American allies, but overall, it doesn't really work.

Curd Jurgens once again plays Richard Burton's commanding officer, as he did eighteen years earlier in Bitter Victory. He tells Burton of his involvement in a plan to assassinate Hitler, and requests he let the Americans in on the plan as well, so that they can negotiate surrender terms. Burton meets with Robert Mitchum on the American side, and when Mitchum reports back to his boss, Rod Steiger, Steiger is less than trusting of the German informant. Who's the German informant? Oh yeah, Richard Burton. He may be a wonderful, handsome actor, but he just can't do accents.

If this plot interests you, you might want to give the movie a try, but it probably won't end up being your favorite war movie. The pacing is a little off, and it doesn't try very hard to be suspenseful.

This movie never had the direction or production costs to make it a BlockBuster therefore with only B-Movie aspirations in mind this one is a gem of a WWII movie. I mean with actors such as Robert Mitchum,Richard Burton and Rod Steiger together in a War movie with a pretty decent script with some good one liners and a touch of nudity.

Come on, it was made in 1979 on a budget. Every War movie can't be Saving Private Ryan or Schindler's List. Don't listen to the nay sayers on this one. If you're a WWII movie fan and like the old ones and can find it(VHS only, I think), WATCH IT. I rated it a 9 out of 10 for a B-movie!

The film shows the very worst aspects of war: the reckless cruelty, the sacrifice of innocent civilians, the nightmare of blind command turned fanatic by war craze, blasting cities to ruins, the 100% destruction with nothing good to come out of it at all, and so forth.

Richard Burton is good as usual and carries the film on his shoulders, although he makes a rather melancholy part, as a bullied German officer who gets dispatched around to be out of the way with his disciplinary second thoughts and objections, and finally ends up in France after D-day to encounter the American invasion, headed here by Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger. Burton's character is a disillusioned veteran who has seen the worst and is forced to constantly see even worse things. Ultimately he manages to save some civilians in a bombed out French town and avert some massive German cruelty, but he was old here, already 54 with only 5 years left to live, and his character reminds you somewhat of Nicholas Ray's old general in "Hair", the same kind of withered decaying shadow of what he used to be. It's not a very good film, although it has some inteersting points, and ends up in the mediocre B-faculty.

First of all, there is a major issue with this movie: captain (major) Stranski must have died at the end of part 1. At least everything refers to this fact. His weapon was out of ammo and some russians of the red army were just pointing guns at him. I don't believe they let him live. In fact I'm not sure if Steiner survived either. Next thing is the two main characters were replaced. If the roles of major Stranski and sergeant Steiner had been played by Maximilian Schell and James Coburn this movie could have been much much better. On behalf of Sam Peckinpah, I wouldn't have given permission to release this movie.

This is one of those movies that, for me, is tough to categorize/rate. On the one hand, Breakthrough is nothing more than a poorly made B-grade war movie -- hardly worth watching. On the other hand, it's bad enough to make it worth watching -- provided, of course, you have a soft spot in your heart for terrible movies, you have friends who like terrible movies, and, of course, you have enough alcohol to swill while watching it.

What's wrong with it? Well, for starters, the story is fairly ridiculous. Secondly, the score is, for lack of a better term, weird -- it's hardly evocative of Europe in 1944, but more akin to really bad 60s hippie music (or something like that). Burton & Mitchum, both seasoned actors, spend the majority of the film "phoning-in" their lines -- you get the strong impression that this movie was nothing more than "contractual obligation" for the both of them. The other aspect of this film that we thought was really amusing was the number of times a high ranking military officer is out, walking around alone (or with one other person), in the middle of the night, well within the front lines. Who the heck does that!?

The other thing we found odd about this movie, is the fact that the production values reek of late 70s / early 80s made-for-TV-movies. Was this movie originally destined for the small screen?

So, in the end, I would recommend that you avoid this movie. Unless, of course, you enjoy bad movies, and have friends who enjoy bad movies (it would help if they're also self-styled WWII buffs).

Good movie rating: 4/10 Bad movie rating: 6/10

The Sergeant Steiner character from Cross Of Iron is carried over to this rather indifferently shot film Breakthrough. Steiner is played here by Richard Burton and is a professional soldier who's really getting disgusted by the useless slaughter ordered by his leader who never rose beyond corporal in the last war.

In fact Burton finds a kindred spirit in his commanding general Curt Jurgens who is part of the Stauffenberg plan to assassinate Hitler. He sends Burton out on a most secret mission to find some high ranking officers to tell the American high command that the war could cease abruptly. Burton finds Colonel Robert Mitchum for that job.

Of course Mitchum's message is received with a natural amount of skepticism from General Rod Steiger. But two days later when the Stauffenberg plot is a royal bust, the Americans don't know what to expect, especially in Steiger's part of the western front in France. Jurgens shoots himself and fanatical Nazi Helmut Griem is in command.

Burton, Mitchum, Steiger, and Jurgens look like they've just cashed their paychecks and are just saying the lines to get the film over with. Andrew McLaglen was far better doing westerns for John Wayne back in the day as a director. Griem who was good at playing Nazis, he was great in Voyage Of The Damned is the only one giving a little life to his performance.

This story about a separate peace in a part of the French front in World War II is sloppy and indifferent and one the stars did for the money.

Richard Burton is a fine actor, just not as a macho action lead, especially at this point in his life. Mitchum, as US Col. Rogers, looked as if he was sleeping too. The original movie was based on a convoluted German novel that was a lot stupider than it seemed to be. But it was cool in its own way and used the (deceased) Yugoslavian Army and their Soviet Bloc weapons for good Eastfront Realism and some incredible action scenes.

I watched 30 minutes of this one before shutting it down because of one stupid scene after another. First off, Steiner and his squad have to blow up a railway tunnel to stop the Red Army from advancing through it during one of the innumerable East Front retreats. Where in western USSR, flat swampy country, tunnels may be?? So all they had to do was just block it off and maybe take out a Red tank or two. But as they are setting up demolition charges, a number of men in his squad run into the tunnel towards the advancing tanks armed only with small arms. WHY?? They get shot down by the tanks for no good reason, and because there are some of Steiner's men still in the tunnel, where they never should have ventured into to begin with, they don't blow the tunnel. This is akin to a cheap horror film where the trapped protagonists/victims all separate in a creepy house to find dark isolated rooms to be attacked in alone by the nemesis.

Then Sargent Steiner gets 2 weeks leave, and the next day he ends up in Paris, France. Mind you, he would have had to used the over-worked, constantly under attack by air and partisans railway network to travel a 1000 miles, which in Summer of 1944 would have taken all of his 2 weeks to get to Paris.

Then he gets assigned, after the D-Day landings which happened the next day, along with the rest of his unit that got magically flown from East to West front in hours, to face the US Army. So what does Steiner do? He parades his men in broad daylight in the town square because, he deduced, the Americans will shell only the other part of town at this hour. Of course, the Americans would never have spotters who'd spot his men out in the open and correct fire. While parallel to that scene are the new US colonel of that regiment, along with the general who commands his division, played by Robert Mitchum and Rod Steiger respectively, view Steiner's men in the open yet neither of them bothers to get on their radios to correct their artillery fire to decimate the enemy troops. After that point, Steiner's general, Hofmann, tells Steiner about the German General's bomb plot on Hitler and how Steiner has to make contact with the US Army to work out ceasefire after they do away with Hitler. Such security..

I mentally pictured the rest of the movie, and along with modern tanks standing in for WW 2 brothers, said good bye to this stupid sequel

Interesting movie. Kind of what it might have been like as the Germans realized that Hitler was a mental case. The acting was good and the plot pretty interesting. I liked this movie.

I spent the 70's and 80's with eyes pinned to the box and until recently had never heard of this film despite a liking for war movies and Sam Peckinpah's Cross of Iron in particular.

This movie was never broadcast on British television as far as I know and after watching it on You Tube I can see why. It really is a very badly made movie. Burton looks miscast here, he tries to put on a faux German accent but it doesn't work, overall he looks more like a Chelsea pensioner than a hardened combat soldier. I thought Robert Mitchum did his usual thing well as did Rod Steiger even with the clichéd dialogue, but I put it all largely down to bad staging and editing. Perhaps there were budgetary issues with this film because it really shows and it only last 90 mins so what was cut out?

Helmut Greim was particularly bad as Stransky but had to follow the magnificent Maximillian Schell from the first movie. Again Greim looks miscast here, perhaps even more so than Burton.

Clearly when a film project is launched all the essential elements don't quite come together and here is a clear example. Despite all the failings it still manages to be entertaining because you find yourself enjoying these big name movie stars being so badly represented.

Looks and sounds very dated now, first of all, in terms of its basic film quality and background music. 1979 is around the same time as movies like Apocalypse Now and A Bridge Too Far, for example, both of which have much better all-round production quality when compared to this turkey.

The leading character played by Burton, with his plummy Shakespearian English stage actor's voice, is totally miscast as a battle-hardened (probably working class) German sergeant. That's the main jarring note of the whole thing.

Robert Mitchum does what Robert Mitchum does, as we've seen him in a hundred other war movies. He drawls his way through the film with the usual world-weary cynicism and hangdog expression.

Obligatory Hollywood German officer, Kurt Jurgens, looks like he's wearing an old uniform borrowed from someone much smaller and slimmer, and who didn't possess either a decent steam iron or an aide with one. Comic, as Kurt is usually so immaculate.

The plot is weak, the dialogue dull and the cinematography unremarkable.

One of the most forgettable films I am ever likely to see.

I expected rubbish, and that´s what I got. Compared to this, Andrew McLaglen´s Wild Geese is actually pretty classy, and the original Cross of Iron definitely shines! Richard Burton can be pretty awful if needed. His version of Steiner expresses his hatred of war by staring like a madman and looking generally sick. It is also funny to see the two surviving actors from the Cross of Iron (didn´t the other one die?) playing dull, diluted versions of their former selves. The single most annoying element of the film, however, is the score by Peter "Raumpatrouille" Thomas. At his best Thomas is a genius. But here the music is irritating, gimmicky, and totally unsuitable for the film´s style. At one scene a German soldier sits in a hut with a radio, listening to some weird space-age Peter Thomas Singers. 1944, yeah. A fanatic lover of war films MAY want to check this out.