Having looked forward to seeing this film for quite a while, I was quite let down when I finally managed to view it. Andersonville is a story that needed to be told, but this telling of the tale rattles and rambles trying to find its sense of direction. The production suffers from a rather poorly written script and mediocre acting. There were some decent scenes, and a few good performances, but by and large this was a rather jumbled, boring, over-long, predictable mess. It could have been, and deserved to be, so much more.So unless you really have to see a movie about this notorious prisoner of war camp, I'd give this one a miss.

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 film won three awards and was nominated for several others. The directing, acting, editing, script and cinematography are all of a high standard. It seemed quite authentic, and this is confirmed by the comment below. Even if you do not normally like 'films of this type', this film is worth watching or even studying, because of the overall excellence. An admiration of the quality of this film is probably the reason that the brutal story that it portrays did not place a heavy or negative feeling upon me. Lesser films would contaminate the story with adding romance, light comedy or bright flashbacks. This film powerfully gives the viewer a strong sense of realism.

As a practicing Civil War re-enactor, I have found myself drawn into viewing this movie several times. I considered the movie to be the result of a very thorough and extensive research done by its creators. Everything was completely in accordance with what we in the re-enacting community call "of the period". I am speaking of authenticity. I have studied the true-life accounts left to us in the words of both Union and Confederate soldiers found in exerpts from the pages of their personal diaries, and in so doing, I have been able to combine this newly acquired knowledge with other experiences and studies related to this time period in our nation's history. After doing this, I was then able to formulate unbiased opinions about the movie.We have to remember that the people of the middle nineteenth century were men and women just like us. There was nothing "mysterious" about their ways, their words, their fears and all their other emotions. I felt that these natural human reactions and outlooks were well portrayed by the actors of the movie, "Andersonville".