Breakthrough

"Burton...Mitchum...Steiger...Enemies...Yet Allies In Combat With Destiny!"

1979 1h 33m DE

😐

5.8

MID

★5.8TMDB · 37

DramaHistoryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

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.

“Burton...Mitchum...Steiger...Enemies...Yet Allies In Combat With Destiny!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

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

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Andrew V. McLaglen
Languages: English, French, German, Russian
Countries: Germany

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

47 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Russian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Cross of Iron Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, shot by Tony Imi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Peter Thomas. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Raymond Poulton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Richard Burton and Rod Steiger and Robert Mitchum carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Andrew V. McLaglen directs. Tony Imi behind the camera. Peter Thomas scores. Raymond Poulton cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in Germany. Dialogue in English, French, German, Russian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

147 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Russian.
3Part of the "Cross of Iron Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
5Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, shot by Tony Imi. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Peter Thomas. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Raymond Poulton shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Richard Burton and Rod Steiger and Robert Mitchum carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Burton...Mitchum...Steiger...Enemies...Yet Allies In Combat With Destiny!".
10IMDB entry: tt0078320 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Only 37 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Tony Imi
Original score: Peter Thomas
Editing: Raymond Poulton
Runtime: 93 min · 1h 33m
Status: Released
Original language: DE
Certification (US): 16
IMDB: Breakthrough (1979)

Part of

Cross of Iron Collection

The Cross of Iron movie collection revolves around gritty portrayals of soldiers' lives during World War II, with a focus on the Eastern Front.

Also by

Andrew V. McLaglen

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-11-03
★ 6/10
On paper, this ought to have been a belter. Andrew V. McLaglen being no stranger to grand scale cinema and a cast of Hollywood A-listers to deliver a story of wartime betrayal and courage. So what happened? Richard Burton dons a rather erratic German accent as the conspiring and rather hot-tempered sergeant "Steiner" who finds himself under the command of his own personal nemesis "Von Stransky" (Helmut Griem). Fortunately, for him, at the behest of his scheming general "Hofmann" (Curd Jürgens) he is despatched to try and make some sort of truce with the approaching allies at the height of the Wehrmacht's conspiracies to be rid of their Führer. Along the way he manages to help out American colonel "Rogers" (Robert Mitchum) but will that be enough to convince the sceptical "Gen. Webster" (Rod Steiger) that the approach isn't just a ploy to lure them into a trap, or buy more time, or both! Unfortunately, neither Burton not Mitchum are anywhere near their best here and though the director does his best to keep the film moving along with plenty of action and battle scenes, there are still too many flawed sub-plots, a weak and rather verbose script and multiple shallow characterisations to make the film flow well or engagingly. Steiger features much too sparingly to make much of a contribution and after about an hour I felt that I was watching an hybrid of half a dozen other, better, WWII adventures. I'm sure it was an useful payday for all concerned, but as a piece of cinema it's pretty disappointing.

Production companies