Breakthrough (1979)

This one has been in my collection for a long time, and tonight I decided to give it a watch.I guess I bought it because of the cast, and I have to admit, I enjoyed it as much for seeing actors I remember...looking their best...as for the quality of the story line.A young Michael Parks. I only remembered him from later roles...From Dusk 'til Dawn, etc.Anyway, as I watched I tried to decide if it is a "good" film for the period, or a real candidate for Mystery Science Theater 3000.The latter won.

I wanted to rate this film higher, I saw it's in the 4's overall now which it really doesn't deserve. But after watching it fully, the ending does justify a lower rank so I'm giving it a 6. It seems to use stock footage from other war films while at the same time has a lot of military hardware filmed so it does have some kind of a budget going for it. Plus it has a cast that merits attention so I cannot see this as a war film that rates it's actual 4 score. With that said. Have you ever noticed that Soviet war films are scored very high on IMDb? I am going to guess that's the same reason why this film ranks so low. The overall vote on the Soviet films are bolstered by Russians and leftist travelers that I am going to say give it an overall plus 1 to their rating. Likewise here. this is a film about taking down Hitler (in a way), so I'm guessing for all those 10 votes the travelers give those so-so Soviet films, there are many pro Nazi types that give this film a 1 rating. As far as the cast goes, casting Mitchum as a 35 year old Colonel when he's in his 60's and not looking very excited about the role is the blaring casting mistake. Burton actually looks older then Mitchum here, like an old man with dementia in most of his scenes and is the second casting mistake. Mitchum would excel later on as a Naval officer and that is a role he can pull off, not here though. BTW what Colonel's (full bird old American ones) go behind enemy lines? That's what a Colonel tells a young Captain to do! And hey get a haircut reflecting 1944 Robert! Jurgens was good but that worn out cap didn't cut it for him being a Prussian General even if it was his WW1 cap. Steiger was good also and realistic and BTW the same age in real life as Burton and in much better looking shape health wise. Michael Parks rounds out the cast I recognize as Mitchum's NCO and Quentin Tarantino says he's the best actor still alive, FYI, so you may just want to watch it for his role which is fairly major. The hardware in the beginning looks close enough for me (probably taken from a Russian or East European war film), and using those post war US tanks for the Western front scenes is much more forgivable then using them as German tanks like in The Battle Of The Bulge! But what was up with using German bomber footage during D Day? Probably HE 111's from the Battle Of Britain film. That was crazy but only one scene so I can laugh about that one. Those anti tank guns are obsolete by 1944 also and not realistic. The film score absolutely sucks too as others have mentioned so in retrospect maybe it's worth it's 4 rating here, but I did stay with it and was overall entertained so I'm sticking to 6. The ending is stupid crazy but overall it was a lot better then many WW2 films from the late 70's so I'm going to give it a 6. Worth watching (once) for us war film buffs.

The Sergeant Steiner character from Cross Of Iron is carried over to this rather indifferently shot film Breakthrough. Steiner is played here by Richard Burton and is a professional soldier who's really getting disgusted by the useless slaughter ordered by his leader who never rose beyond corporal in the last war.In fact Burton finds a kindred spirit in his commanding general Curt Jurgens who is part of the Stauffenberg plan to assassinate Hitler. He sends Burton out on a most secret mission to find some high ranking officers to tell the American high command that the war could cease abruptly. Burton finds Colonel Robert Mitchum for that job.Of course Mitchum's message is received with a natural amount of skepticism from General Rod Steiger. But two days later when the Stauffenberg plot is a royal bust, the Americans don't know what to expect, especially in Steiger's part of the western front in France. Jurgens shoots himself and fanatical Nazi Helmut Griem is in command.Burton, Mitchum, Steiger, and Jurgens look like they've just cashed their paychecks and are just saying the lines to get the film over with. Andrew McLaglen was far better doing westerns for John Wayne back in the day as a director. Griem who was good at playing Nazis, he was great in Voyage Of The Damned is the only one giving a little life to his performance.This story about a separate peace in a part of the French front in World War II is sloppy and indifferent and one the stars did for the money.

Another in the never ending supply of "War is Hell" films, this one is a time killer and nothing more. Thankfully Mitchum and Steiger are playing Americans, but no thanks to having Burton play a German Sergeant. Now, in my opinion, James Coburn was also miscast as Steiner in 'Cross of Iron,' but since most everything else was well done in that film, his Americanisms could be tolerated somewhat. Not so with the ageing and mostly immobile Burton, his growling Welsh baritone making no pretense of Germanic origin. Surrounded by an all-German supporting cast, Burton stands out badly. And, worse, he's a bore. He rattles his booze-ravaged physique through the motions while his craggy, scowling face makes occasional movements belying its near-comatose state... meanwhile his Great Actor's voice grumbles or barks its lines. Then there is the ever-lethargic Mitchum, phoning it in as an American Colonel. His character's obsession with discovering the German Army's anti-tank capabilities is ludicrous. Sure, it could've been a point to ponder, but having Mitchum prowling behind enemy lines and grabbing German soldiers just to find out what they might have handy to destroy Allied tanks is ignorant nonsense. Just as absurd is the final battle with Burton's character submerged into a muddle of conflicting emotions and actions, alternately killing Americans and trying to save them. Jurgens, as a German General, need not appear on set at all: his performance could have been spliced from footage in any one of a number of films where he plays the same part. And Steiger, as an American Brigadier General, does his surly over-emotional routine yet again... but at least we're spared his usual dissolve into tears. Technically the film is mostly a bust. Unlike 'Cross of Iron' which benefited from its Yugoslavian location and availability of correct tanks from that period, this one was filmed in Austria and thus uses that country's available hardware which is the usual anachronistic post-war tanks that annoy war buffs. Only the opening footage of the film, which is lifted from 'Cross of Iron' shows the correct tanks of the period. In addition, the main thrust of the plot, concerning Jurgens' and Burton's attempt to obtain a cease fire after Hitler is ostensibly assassinated, is interesting, but badly handled. For instance, it features a forced meeting of our two stars: Mitchum absurdly searching behind the lines for info on those anti-tank guns he's obsessed with, and Burton a lowly sergeant looking for an American to make his cease fire pitch to. Steiger's character is absolutely correct to scoff at the notion that a mere sergeant would be the point man to offer surrender of an entire army AND be privy to a plot to kill Hitler. The only two things that feel right in this film are Parks as the laconic, drily humored sidekick of Mitchum's, and the few scenes of German soldiers razzing each other with the dark humor of soldiers near their doom. And the music score is terrible: a weird mixture of futuristic electronic noodling and medieval-like horn blare.