Breakthrough (1979)

Sick Product of a Sick System

One of my all time favorites.

best movie i've ever seen.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

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.

Though one can hardly tell it, this film is meant to be a sequel to Sam Peckinpah's 1977 World War II Cross Of Iron. I one for one didn't realize this until after seeing the film which shows you that this is a sequel in the loosest of terms. While it most certainly is not in the same league as Cross Of Iron, Breakthrough is still your fairly typical World War II film. It's also an example of how to under-use and misuse the talents of good actors.I'll admit the major reason I saw this was for its actors and especially Richard Burton, my favorite actor. That said the talents of the cast are sadly underused or misused for the most part. Burton is certainly miscast in the role of Sargant Steiner as he is too old (approximately fifty-five if I remember correctly) to be believable even as an older Sergeant in the German Army. The same can very much be said of Robert Mitchum as American Army Colonel Rogers who looks a bit too old to be realistic in the role. While they may be too old for their roles, both Burton and Mitchum give fair performances though far from their greatest moments to be certain. The movie does make some decent use of its supporting cast, especially Rod Steiger and Curt Jergens as American and German generals respectively. The test of the film's supporting cast gives fairly middle of the road performances as well. As a consequence, the overall acting quality in this is less then one might have expected.The production values, music and direction as well are nothing incredible either. The entire film has a very low budget feel to it from the opening credits (which in fact use footage from Cross Of Iron) to barely decorated sets and beyond. Not to mention the score from composer Peter Thomas that, with a very electronic feel to it, seems more evocative of the disco music popular when the film was made rather then a score more befitting to a World War II film. The film's direction also seems to be a bit lacking as well in many scenes which seems a shame considering that it was directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, the director of things like The Wild Geese (also starring Burton) and the World War II action/adventure movie The Sea Wolves. All said the production values, music and direction are all things that let the film down.This brings us to the script of Breakthrough. The script certainly has an interesting premise by taking some of the characters of Cross Of Iron, organizing circumstances to get them to the other front of World War II Europe and then throwing the July 20th plot to kill Hitler into the middle of it. The problem is that while the first two things are done somewhat believably things start going downhill as soon as the Hitler assassination plot comes forward. The whole thing is set-up rather strangely and requires a couple of major leaps in plot (Steiner to go towards American lines in the middle of the night at the exact same time Rogers goes looking for anti-tank guns) to get things moving and once they do things don't get better. What could have been an interesting thriller plot instead descends into your rather standard World War II shot 'em up by the time it's over with. The result is an uneven film that seems to just go from plot line to plot line in hopes of one of them taking charge of the film. The sad fact is none of them ever do.Somehow Breakthrough feels like a list of missed opportunities. With an underused / misused cast, low budget production values, an out of place score, uninspired direction and an uneven script there's plenty of instances where things could have been something better. Instead we get a fairly typical World War II movie with an interesting but sadly misused premise. In short: it could have been better, especially as it's a sequel to Cross Of Iron.

This is one of those movies that, for me, is tough to categorize/rate. On the one hand, Breakthrough is nothing more than a poorly made B-grade war movie -- hardly worth watching. On the other hand, it's bad enough to make it worth watching -- provided, of course, you have a soft spot in your heart for terrible movies, you have friends who like terrible movies, and, of course, you have enough alcohol to swill while watching it.What's wrong with it? Well, for starters, the story is fairly ridiculous. Secondly, the score is, for lack of a better term, weird -- it's hardly evocative of Europe in 1944, but more akin to really bad 60s hippie music (or something like that). Burton & Mitchum, both seasoned actors, spend the majority of the film "phoning-in" their lines -- you get the strong impression that this movie was nothing more than "contractual obligation" for the both of them. The other aspect of this film that we thought was really amusing was the number of times a high ranking military officer is out, walking around alone (or with one other person), in the middle of the night, well within the front lines. Who the heck does that!?The other thing we found odd about this movie, is the fact that the production values reek of late 70s / early 80s made-for-TV-movies. Was this movie originally destined for the small screen?So, in the end, I would recommend that you avoid this movie. Unless, of course, you enjoy bad movies, and have friends who enjoy bad movies (it would help if they're also self-styled WWII buffs).Good movie rating: 4/10 Bad movie rating: 6/10

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!