History Trivia / CrossOfIron

** Steiner (played by American Creator/JamesCoburn) and Brandt and Kiesel (played by British actors Creator/JamesMason and Creator/DavidWarner) as German soldiers. Native German actors make up a decent size of the cast though, notably Maximilian Schell, who plays Stransky.

* FakeNationality: Steiner (played by American Creator/JamesCoburn) and Brandt and Kiesel (played by British actors Creator/JamesMason and Creator/DavidWarner) as German soldiers. Native German actors make up a decent size of the cast though, notably Maximilian Schell, who plays Stransky.

* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: The film's ending is not the one in the script. The production had ran out of money, so Creator/SamPeckinpah got Creator/JamesCoburn to improvise.

* BigNameFan:
** Creator/OrsonWelles, when he saw the film, cabled Peckinpah, praising the latter's film as "the best war film he had seen about the ordinary enlisted man since ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront''."
** Creator/QuentinTarantino cited this as a big influence on ''Film/IngloriousBasterds''.

** According to Creator/JamesCoburn, the Yugoslav government had promised that all the military equipment would be ready for the start of filming, but producer Wolf C. Hartwig's lack of budget meant that considerable delays occurred when half the equipment was missing just as the production was about to begin.
** Creator/SamPeckinpah's alcoholism was also affecting the filming schedule because every day he was consuming 180° proof Slivovitz (Šljivovica). However every two to three weeks Peckinpah would go on a binge resulting in lost shooting days while he was allowed to regain his cognitive abilities.
** Due to the various productions delays, the film had cost overruns of £2 million. With no more money, Hartwig and his co-producer Alex Winitsky tried to halt the production on July 6, 1976 (the 89th day of shooting) before the final scene had been filmed. The original ending was expected to take three days to film in an abandoned rail yard. Special effects teams had already spent several days wiring pyrotechnics for the shoot. However, with the costs now at $6 million there was no more money. However, Coburn was so annoyed at this, he had Hartwig and Winitsky thrown off the set before making Peckinpah film a quick improvised ending for the film.
** Just after the last scene shooting, every crew member went away with his own luggage to take his train or plane home. The shooting was over, no wrap party. There was no more money to finish the movie.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Not well known, but the author of the novel (Willi Heinrich) served as an officer in the 101st Light Infantry Division. He served there with Feldwebel Johann Schwerdfeger who was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class, 1st Class, Knight's Cross, and Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross. [[http://moebius.freehostia.com/cross.htm A review of the unit history of the division reveals major similarities between Schwerdfeger and Steiner, including serving at Izyum and fighting at Hill 121.4, a real life location near Krymskaya.]]

* CastingGag: Creator/JamesMason played a senior German officer who is faced with the scandal of an officer taking credit for the heroic deeds of a dead man. He faced the same scenario in ''The Blue Max''.

* DawsonCasting: At 48, Creator/JamesCoburn was widely felt to be too old to play Corporal Steiner. The man his character was based on, Johann Schwerdfeger, was only 28 in the summer of 1943.

* ActorAllusion: Creator/JamesMason played a senior German officer who is faced with the scandal of an officer taking credit for the heroic deeds of a dead man. He faced the same scenario in ''The Blue Max''.

* DuellingMovies: With ''Film/ABridgeTooFar'', another British-made auteur films chronicling famous military defeats in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Maximilian Schell was in both movies.

* BasedOnATrueStory: Not well known, but the author of the novel (Willi Heinrich) served as an officer in the 101st Light Infantry Division. He served there with Feldwebel Johann Schwerdfeger who was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class, 1st Class, Knight's Cross, and Oakleaves to the Knight's Cross. A review of the unit history of the division reveals major similarities between Schwerdfeger and Steiner, including serving at Izyum and fighting at Hill 121.4, a real life location near Krymskaya.[[http://moebius.freehostia.com/cross.htm]]

* DawsonCasting: At 48 Creator/JamesCoburn was widely felt to be too old to play Corporal Steiner. The man his character was based on, Johann Schwerdfeger, was only 28 in the summer of 1943.

* FakeNationality: Steiner (played by American Creator/JamesCoburn) and Brandt and Kiesel (played by British actors Creator/JamesMason and Creator/DavidWarner) as German soldiers, but native German actors make up a decent size of the cast though, notable Maximilian Schell, who plays Stransky.

* FakeNationality: Steiner (played by American Creator/JamesCoburn) and Brandt and Kiesel (played by British actors James Mason and David Warner) as German soldiers, but native German actors make up a decent size of the cast though, notable Maximilian Schell, who plays Stransky.

* [[BackedByThePentagon Backed by the Yugoslav People's Army]]: The T-34 tanks seen in the film were supplied by them. All the Russian extras are also obviously played by members of the Yugoslav People's Army (they speak Serbo-Croatian).

* [[BackedByThePentagon Backed by the Yugoslav People's Army]]: The T-34 tanks seen in the film were supplied by them.

* ShoutOut: "[[Theatre/TheResistibleRiseOfArturoUi Don't rejoice in his defeat, you men.]]"