MOVIE · 1977

Cross of Iron

ActionAdventureDramaWar133 min

As the German army retreats across the Russian front in 1943, Corporal Steiner (James Coburn) is focused on keeping his men alive while a new superior turns the unit into a struggle over rank, class, and ambition. Maximilian Schell's Captain Stransky, an aristocratic officer obsessed with earning the Iron Cross, sees Steiner's battlefield record as his way to a medal and a hero's return to Berlin. Sam Peckinpah's World War II drama follows exhausted infantry, crumbling command, and the widening conflict between soldiers fighting to survive and officers still chasing military glory.