from imdb
Quote:
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The film opens with a squad of seasoned German soldiers, led by a disillusioned but skilled sergeant, on a patrol on the Russian front in WWII. They return to base to find a new commander, a traditional Prussian officer who wants only one thing from his command - An Iron Cross to maintain his family honor. The scene is set for a graphic portrayal of the horrors of war and of the conflict between two men of differing backgrounds. Written by Michael Lawn
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"Set in
1943 on the
Eastern Front of
World War II,
Cross of Iron is the story of the class conflict between a newly-arrived,
aristocratic officer who covets the
Iron Cross and a cynical, hardened infantry
platoon leader in a
Wehrmacht regiment during the
German retreat from the
Taman Peninsula on the Black Sea coast of the
Soviet Union.
Cross of Iron is based upon the novel
The Willing Flesh, by
Willi Heinrich, published in
1956; it might be loosely based on the true story of Johann Schwerdfeger. As typical of Sam Peckinpah's action films, much of this war movie's action is in slow motion, iterating the anti-war message."