Load of rubbish!!

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

For a long time, I was rather suspicious about this movie, despite my lifelong interest in the US Civil War theme. The movie seemed to be bland, long, vapid, without stellar cast, or rather grim. Than, I watched it. It lasts for almost 3 hours, and yet, it is one of The best movies I have ever seen for along, long time. This movie must be shown to all those who like to think that was is fun and action. Nope. War is all hell. it is dirt, deprivation, hunger, blood, suffering, angst, death, despair, pain and mud. Thus yellow, think, fat stick yellow mud is a great symbol of the movie and a great reminder of the ultimate destination of all warheads - soil. Grave. Death. The movie is long, but never wastes a second of a precious time. The brilliantly made casting, with such greats as Willaim Macy or Mr. Forrester among many, helps to build a great tension and produce a lasting impression - war is all hell. The terrible fate of Andersonville prison camp inmates is shown so brutally vivid, so real, so true to life that nothing of an illusion remains whatsoever. War is all hell. This is a decent portrayal of sheer pain and tragedy of more than 12 000 Union soldiers who dies there. And those who survived, Who fought and survived. I like this tremendous film, it is Highly Recommended

This is one of my favorite Civil War movies ever. Ted Turner must be given much credit for bringing these entertaining and educational movies to the screen. Set in Andersonville prison in the last years of the Civil War, this movie follows the fate of a group of prisoners captured at Cold Harbor. Superbly directed by John Frankenheimer, this movie was very well done, and all the actors involved did a great job. I thought that Frederick Coffin and William Sanderson really brought the villainous 'Raiders' to life. Also special mention to Frederic Forrest and Jan Triska. Having recently visited Andersonville prison site, thoughts of this movie ran thru my head as I walked the grounds of the old stockade. Movies like this help us remember the great sacrifices made by both the Blue and the Gray during our nations Civil War.

This is a sobering, if perhaps a bit too long, recreation of life in the notorious Confederate Camp Sumter (better known as Andersonville after the neighbouring community) which housed almost 50000 Union prisoners of war during the last year and a half of the Civil War. I found it difficult to determine from what perspective the story was being told - which perhaps makes it a fairly balanced movie. There's no doubt that the Confederate guards were portrayed as ruthless, and that Captain Henry Wirtz, the Camp's commander, was portrayed as both ruthless and perhaps a bit insane, but the bulk of the movie really deals with the problem of factionalism between the Union prisoners, as a group known as the "Raiders" establish their own ruthless control over the other prisoners, stealing from them, withholding supplies from them and sometimes murdering them. The first half of the movie dealt largely with this internal conflict, and was very interesting. The point at which the rest of the prisoners rebelled against them and finally, with Wirtz's approval, put them on trial, seemed to mark a transition in the movie. After their trial and the execution of the ringleaders, the movie took on more of an air of hopelessness (and perhaps became a bit less interesting), as the prisoners await a liberation that, in the movie at least, never comes, as the movie ends with the prisoners being transferred to other prisons.The movie begins somewhat abruptly with Union soldiers captured in battle being sent into the hellhole that was Andersonville, but there was no real historical context given. It might have been more interesting to see the camp from the beginning, and to trace the descent of the camp into what it became. The whole Andersonville issue is historically controversial, and the movie alludes to the controversy, with Wirtz pleading with a Confederate colonel sent to inspect the camp for more supplies, and many today think Wirtz was unfairly condemned after the war for a situation that was largely out of his control. I thought his portrayal in the movie was fair. Others complain that conditions in Union camps were also harsh, but that's neither here nor there for the purposes of evaluating this movie, which certainly presented a sobering enough look at the conditions in this particular camp - which was, after all, its purpose.The movie features not a stellar cast (there are some fairly well known faces, but no mega-stars) but a solid cast that did a pretty good job with their roles. 7/10

John Frankenheimer pain stakingly chronicles prisoners of war struggling to survive in an ill run Confederate prison camp during the Civil War. New prisoners are savagely introduced to the pecking order in this small pit of hell. Strong images support the story line for this well written and produced epic. Featured cast members in this trial of humanity are:Frederic Forrest, William Sanderson, Jarrod Emick, Jayce Bartok, Cliff De Young, Justin Henry and William H. Macy. It is hard to find fault in this glimpse of the notorious place called Andersonville.