Best War Film Ever

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2020)

Sam Peckinpah's version of battle between Germany and the Soviet Union on the Russian front is stunning. A modern hym to Homer.
James Coburn, smashing as Steiner, leads a first-rate cast which includes Maximilian Schell, James Mason and Senta Berger but the first star is Peckinpah - his directorial eye cutting to the essence of a scene with electric force, orchestration of movement, editing with incision and elan, the violence bewildering and hallucinatory. Orson Welles sent Peckinpah a telegram with high praise after seeing the work.
2mm of this film is worth 10 Saving Private Ryans. RIP Sam.