Steiner - Das Eiserne Kreuz, 2. Teil

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.

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.

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

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.

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.