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Cross of Iron is a 1977 film directed by Sam Peckinpah. James Coburn, James Mason, David Warner and Maximilian Schell co-star.
The story is about conflicts within the leadership of a regiment of the Wehrmacht during the German withdrawal from the Soviet Crimea's Taman peninsula in 1943 during World War II.
The film is an Anglo-German production (Anglo-EMI Productions Ltd., London and Rapid Films GmbH, Munich), and the screenplay and story make no reference to the United States's involvement in the war. It drew some criticism for casting in the roles of the lead characters - all of which are German officers - two English actors (Mason and Warner), one American (Coburn), and an Austrian (Schell).
As with most of Peckinpah's films, the on-screen action includes a substantial amount of very realistic combat utilizing his characteristic slow motion gunshot scenes.
The movie is based on a book called The Willing Flesh, written by Willi Heinrich and released in 1956. More recent prints of the book are been titled Cross of Iron to tie in with the film. There are several major differences between the two versions which are tackled by the following articles [1] (http://www.wargamer.com/articles/cross_of_iron/)[2] (http://www.wargamer.com/articles/cross_of_iron_2/)[3] (http://www.wargamer.com/articles/cross_of_iron_3/).
Particularly notable for the strange opening credits... scenes of Hitler Youth climbing mountains contrasted with the horrors of war.
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