Starting in late May 1944, during the German retreat on the Eastern Front, Captain Stransky (Helmut Griem) orders Sergeant Steiner (Richard Burton) to blow up a railway tunnel to prevent Russian forces from using it. Steiner's platoon fails in its mission by coming up against a Russian tank. Steiner then takes a furlough to Paris just as the Allies launch their invasion of Normandy.
Acting
Burton's magnificent disinterest; Mitchum's visible nap.
Production
Shamelessly recycles 40 minutes from 'Cross of Iron'.
Director
Andrew V. McLaglen
Richard Burton
Sergeant Steiner
Rod Steiger
General Webster
Robert Mitchum
Colonel Rogers
Véronique Vendell
Yvette
Werner Pochath
Keppel
Klaus Löwitsch
Krüger
Michael Parks
Sergeant Anderson
Helmut Griem
Major Stransky
Curd Jürgens
General Hofmann
Horst Janson
Captain Berger
Joachim Hansen
Captain Kistner
Dieter Schidor
Paul Anselm
Bruno Dietrich
Nissen
Sieghardt Rupp
Corporal Rothe
Hans-Jürgen Schatz
Schulze
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This 'sequel' to Peckinpah's 'Cross of Iron' uses 40 minutes of his footage without permission. Peckinpah threatened lawsuits; producers didn't care.
Burton filmed his scenes in three days while visibly ill from alcoholism; his Paris hotel scenes were shot in a Munich warehouse.
DE
