People are voting emotionally.

Memorable, crazy movie

I wanted to but couldn't!

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

It's an undisputed fact that Hollywood makes an abundance of WWII movies. Breakthrough contains a mixture of battle scenes, conspiracy plots, and German-American allies, but overall, it doesn't really work.Curd Jurgens once again plays Richard Burton's commanding officer, as he did eighteen years earlier in Bitter Victory. He tells Burton of his involvement in a plan to assassinate Hitler, and requests he let the Americans in on the plan as well, so that they can negotiate surrender terms. Burton meets with Robert Mitchum on the American side, and when Mitchum reports back to his boss, Rod Steiger, Steiger is less than trusting of the German informant. Who's the German informant? Oh yeah, Richard Burton. He may be a wonderful, handsome actor, but he just can't do accents.If this plot interests you, you might want to give the movie a try, but it probably won't end up being your favorite war movie. The pacing is a little off, and it doesn't try very hard to be suspenseful.

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.

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!

Every actor looks ready to keel over in this action film about an undercover German-American alliance to assassinate Hitler. Burton and Mitchum really show their age and a lack of concern for a good script.