Iron Cross

Beautiful Blue Eyes (originally entitled Iron Cross) is a 2022 English thriller film written and directed by Joshua Newton. It stars Roy Scheider in his final role as a retired police detective who believes he has found the Nazi officer who slaughtered his family in World War II. Scott Cohen, Alexander Newton, Calita Rainford, Sarah Bolger, Anna Polony, and Helmut Berger appear in supporting roles. Shot in 2007, the original version of the film premiered as Iron Cross at the 26th Boston Film Festival in 2010. It was shortlisted by Variety as an Oscar contender (and without distribution secured) was screened at a small, four-walled theatre in Los Angeles for one week in order to qualify for entry into festivals. At the Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance International Film Festival (MOTIFF), the film's director Joshua Newton was presented the Remembrance Award by Clint Eastwood. At the Boston Film Festival, Joshua Newton received the Festival's Visionary Filmmaker Award and his 18-year old son Alexander Newton was voted Best Young Actor. Iron Cross was not shown publicly again, and in 2022 the film was re-edited and retitled Beautiful Blue Eyes and given a new release in 431 US Regal Cinemas to coincide with a re-release of Scheider's film Jaws. The film is currently exclusively available through the digital platform MovieKey. Plot Joseph is a retired NYPD cop and Holocaust survivor. He travels to Nuremberg to visit his son Ronnie years after turning his back on him for rejecting a promising career in the NYPD and marrying a local artist, Anna. No sooner does Joseph attempt to heal the rift with Ronnie than he swears that an elderly man living in Ronnie's building, under the false name of Shrager, is the Nazi SS Commander who slaughtered his entire family during World War II. With little hope of seeing him stand trial, Joseph talks Ronnie into exacting justice – and vengeance – and together they set out to kill him. Flashbacks reveal the teenage love of Young Joseph for a heroic Polish girl, Kashka, and his narrow escape from the massacre, leading to the film's climax.