Cross of Iron + intro

Director Sam Peckinpah took his particular approach to creating action on screen in a new direction with Cross of Iron – his only war movie. And, in Peckinpah’s typically genre-defying style, Cross of Iron offers something a little different from the average flag-waving, patriotic war film. 

Set amongst the German forces on the eastern front in 1943 as Soviet troops launch an offensive, the film explores the tensions between the soldiers of Feldwebel Steiner’s patrol, the war weary officers coordinating the German forces on the front, and a newly arrived naïve officer who seeks only the glory of being awarded the Iron Cross. 

Shot by one of the director’s regular collaborators the great John Coquillon and populated by an impressive cast, including Peckinpah favourite James Coburn alongside James Mason, David Warner and Maximillian Schell, Cross of Iron is perhaps Peckinpah’s most underrated film and a memorable and strident anti-war statement.

Event/ This screening will be introduced by Andy Willis, Senior Visiting Curator: Film at HOME, and Professor of Film Studies, University of Salford.