Easily on par with "Straw Dogs" and "The Wild Bunch"

Rating: 9/10 (31 March 2007)

A Peckinpah classic on par with "The Wild Bunch" and "Straw Dogs". Made later in his career, it is a great war film and a supreme human drama. James Coburn, one of the greatest actors to have walked the silver screen, is brilliant as Steiner, a respected, individualistic soldier who locks horns with Kruger (Klaus Löwitsch), an aristocratic Prussian superior whose military service amounts to a series of desk jobs. As a result, Kruger is ready to sacrifice anything and anyone for the coveted Iron Cross. My synopsis simplifies the conflict, of course, but this brawny military nightmare exudes a raw anger and power that is electrifying. Peckinpah's trademark penchant for staging masculine violence is in brutal evidence, as is his uncanny ability to capture the troubled male psyche. Featuring a stellar cast and a superb screenplay, this is simply stunning.