The Power of Peckinpah Has Never Been So Real...Or So Brilliant!

Starring: James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason, David Warner, Klaus Lowitsch, Vadim Glowna, Roger Fritz, Dieter Schidor

DML Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆ - great

"It's all an accident... an accident of hands mine, others... all without mind... one extreme to another... and neither works... nor will ever, and we stand in the middle... in no mans land, you and I... go home." - Sgt. Steiner releasing the Russian boy

Why watch this? WWII, the German foot soldiers endured severe war hardships, too.

Plot Summary: Set during the German retreat on the Eastern Front in 1943, the story centers on a clash between a cynical, battle-hardened sergeant and a newly arrived, arrogant Prussian officer seeking personal glory. The sergeant prioritizes the survival of his men, while the captain's ambition for the Iron Cross leads him to make morally questionable decisions. This friction escalates amidst the brutal realities of war, ultimately placing the sergeant and his squad in extreme peril.

Dad's Preview: As Germany began to lose the war, it's army has to retreat from Russia. This is famed director Sam Peckinpah's only film about war. Its perspective (from the viewpoint of the German solider) and realistic, slow-motion violence, drives home the truism that war itself is futile and most costly on those who do the actual fighting. Coburn is excellent as the battle-wise Sgt. who knows how to keep his men alive. Though a war movie, it is certainly anti-war, and it's one of the best World War II films ever made.

Anglo-EMI Productions, Rapid Film, Terra-Filmkunst, ITC Ent.; EMI Films