Breakthrough

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.

This movie is very disappointing. Following on the heels of the fascinating Cross of Iron, this flick is a true dud. Richard Burtons' Sgt. Steiner (as opposed to James Coburns'portrayal in CofI) might have been intriguing but for the bland, and badly made film that surrounds him. Wheras Cross of Iron had at least a feasable script, the main theme of of war disillusionment and the plot to kill Hitler just gets in the way. I suspect this whole red herring was added to make the movie more palatable for its German co-producers etc.(or vice versa) the score by the Berlin Orchestra is ridiculous, and sounds like something from a fast paced breaking news cast; Also very distracting. Regardless, Burtons' enigmatic portrayal of a stereotypically stoic German soldier stands out. It is just too bad this movie's makers failed to capitalize on their best assets: their actors!

1944, Nazis are suffering a crushing defeat,Richard Burton commands a group of misfit soldiers for a dangerous mission .This is a rugged WWII Actioner concerning about the experienced Sergeant Steiner, he's assigned by Colonel Nazi (Curd Jurgens)to contact enemy for a treaty of peace . The Nazi commando turns out to be a rag-tag, oddball and motley gang (a largely cast formed by Klaus Lowitsch, Werner Pochath, among others), under command Sergeant Steiner . The commando led by Steiner get a chance to redeem themselves by execute a risked mission. The picture stars Robert Mitchum as American Colonel who is saved by heroic German Sergeant. Then the mission is suspended when the Nazi authorities (Gunter Meisner) thwart an attempt on Hitler's life, the famous event ,¨the 20 July plot¨ designed by Claus Von Stauffemberg. Later on, they are sent on yet another new mission by staff command (Major Nazi played by Helmut Griem and captains performed by Joachin Hansen and Horst Janson) . Later its cancellation they must participate in suicidal missions, the first to wipe a French village and prepare an assault over a strong position located on the hill where are the Allied tanks led by General Rogers (Robert Mitchum) and assistant (Michael Parks). Finally the American infantry, artillery and tanks enter on the village at some spectacular scenes.

This tiring wartime movie about the heroics of weary German soldiers results to be a following to ¨Sam Peckimpah's Cross of Iron¨ .This dull war film of marginal interest packs frantic thrills, perilous assignments, relentless feats,and buck-loads of explosive action and violence.The noisy action is uniformly bad-made, only deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes on the impregnable village. Like most Warlike movies , there is some of action-packed , but that alone can't help the worn-out argument or usual clichés.Serious and rough Richard Burton is average as leader of the motley pack together thwart the the Nazi schemes, as well as the largely secondary cast with special mention to Rod Steiger as vociferous general. This is is a wartime typical vehicle and inferior into the warlike commando genre, which also belongs the classics from the 60 as 'Dirty dozen(Robert Aldrich), 'Where eagles dare(Brian G. Hutton)' and 'Kelly's heroes(again Hutton)'. The motion picture is badly realized by Andrew V McLagen, son of the great actor Victor McLagen. He's a warlike expert , such as proved in several films(Return to Kwai,Wild Geese, Dirtdozen: the next mission,Sea wolves). However director McLagen proved had lost the touch that made ¨Devil's brigade¨, ¨Sea wolves¨ and specially ¨Wild Geese¨ such memorable films. ¨Breakthrough¨ cannot be called great and did not received , deservedly, much acclaim when released. Certainly a lousy work done by one of Hollywood's more skill director, a real craftsman.

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 a sequel to the very under rated Peckinpah classic CROSS OF IRON . You remember it don't you ? James Coburn as Sgt Steiner getting on the wrong side of Maximillian Schell's Captain Stransky on the Soviet Eastern Front in 1943 . BREAKTHROUGH as it's known in Britain is a film trying to market itself as a sequel and I'm afraid if it resembles anything it probably resembles a plot device in DOCTOR WHO called regeneration where a Timelord can turn in to the same character with a completely different physical appearance and personality . In the case of Steiner he was last seen as being a cynical character with a strong resemblance to James Coburn who suddenly looks like a much respected stage actor from Wales who's slumming it in a not very good movie . Strangely enough Captain Stransky is also a Timelord . I suppose that's an advantage if you've got several million soldiers in the Red Army who want payback for having their families strung up with piano wire

There are a couple of good battle sequences at the start of BREAKTHROUGH but if you've seen CROSS OF IRON you'll instantly know where these scenes were stolen from . You also can't help noticing a bizarre lack of continuity to these scenes . Steiner you remember was a soldier's soldier , he might be fighting for a murderous regime but his loyalty was to his men not to the regime and for some strange reason he is now wearing a dress uniform on the front line and these's not even a speck of dust on his uniform . Maybe his clothes can regenerate after every battle with the Soviets ? You can't fail to notice how crap he is in a battle either . He's given an order to blow up a tunnel . Arrives at he tunnel , staggers down the tunnel no doubt looking for the nearest drinks cabinet , staggers alongside a Soviet tank , drops a grenade in the tank , and gets back in to his truck looking for the nearest bar . All he had to do was connect a wire to a plunger and blow the tunnel up which seems beyond his capabilities . In fact if this is the standard of the average Wehrmacht soldier the Soviets must be glad they didn't have to fight any Italian conscripts

I'm being very kind here because I awarded BREAKTHROUGH four out of ten on its own merits - not as a sequel to CROSS OF IRON in which case it would have been awarded minus points . It is a totally disjointed film especially where editing is concerned where the story jumps around from location to location with little rhyme or reason with the big name cast realising they're just doing it for the money . It says a lot when its predecessor was directed by someone suffering from intense substance abuse and was a hundred times better than this