Andersonville

Description

They left the nightmare...and entered Hell. Captured Union soilders cope with life inside the Civil War's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. A powerful, compeling tale of war and will, with Emmy Award-winning direction by John Frankenheimer and a cast including Frederic Forrest (Apocalypse Now) and William H. Macy (ER, Fargo) Year: 1996 Director: John Frankenheimer Starring: Jarrod Emick, Frederic Forrest, Ted Marcoux

Customer Reviews:

Good and bad in every group........2007-07-23

Andersonville was a film made about 30-40 years too late. These days, with the internet and cable TV, we need far less reminding of how cruel we can be. It is a good film.

Better Than I Expected.......2007-07-21

This movie is very well done, which can't be said for all movies like this. Good choices were made and the point of what that prison was like were brought to life. It's great that Turner pictures continues to make these movies because of their importance.

Civil War movie review.......2007-07-15

Fairly well done movie on a terrible subject!! Not for the squeamish, or diehard Rebel fans.

Andersonville.......2007-07-12

Atlanta's Ted Turner has become the consummate Executive Producer of Civil War Epics. His Big Screen cast of thousands Epics "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg" have defined him. His scores and sound are second to none, and this movie is as it should be.
Although there are no " Big Name Stars", they are well directed by Emmy Award winning master John Frankenheimer. It is an excellent team that works- albeit with out any star players. In this movie, the team scores and the neferious "Raiders" are subdued and hung by their fellow prisoners. Turner drives home the point that good can triumph even amidst misery.
In the Turner tradition, everything is historically accurate, well researched, and correctly costumed. He has captured the essence and spirit of the most notorius of all Civil War Prison Camps. This is the ONLY and defining movie of Andersonville Prison Camp. It is a must have for every Civil War Buff.

Very informative DVD!.......2007-07-05

This DVD arrived quickly and in excellent shape. I watched this along with my husband, not personally knowing much about this time in history, and was amazed.

The Andersonville Trial (Broadway Theatre Archive)

Average customer rating:

Great Play, Terrible DVD
"The real crime is that I chose the losing side."
When television offered great drama...
Celebrates Real Acting of Yesteryear
wow! shatner was once an actor???

The Andersonville Trial (Broadway Theatre Archive)
Starring: William Shatner , Cameron Mitchell , Richard Basehart , Jack Cassidy , and Martin Sheen
Director: George C. Scott
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Period Piece | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

Civil War | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B0000A0DTC
Release Date: 2003-08-26

Customer Reviews:

Great Play, Terrible DVD.......2007-08-31

I remembered this play from when it was first on PBS and eagerly bought the DVD. Some of the actors give great performances. Richard Basehart is outstanding. Jack Cassidy shows he can excell in a drama. Cameron Mitchell, in a supporting role, gives a performance of a lifetime. The great weak spot is William Shatner. Still a great play is worth seeing...BUT the DVD is terrible. The sound annoying. Find another way to see this play!

"The real crime is that I chose the losing side.".......2007-08-16

Directed by George C. Scott, and starring Richard Basehart, Cameron Mitchell, Jack Cassidy, William Shatner, Martin Sheen, and Buddy Ebsen in some of their best roles ever, this stunning 1970 production was a shoo-in to win three Emmys and the Peabody Award, with Cassidy also nominated for an Emmy as Best Actor. Filled with the kind of drama that only a real war crimes trial can generate, the play by Saul Levitt focuses on the trial of a German-born Confederate captain who was in charge of the Andersonville Prison in Georgia, where Union soldiers died at the rate of 3000 men a day during the hot summer months of their incarceration in 1864. Living in overcrowded conditions without shelter, shade, clean water, or adequate food, the men became desperate, preferring to risk being shot during escape attempts to living in the squalid and unsanitary conditions of the prison.

Captain Wirz (Richard Basehart in one of his all-time best dramatic roles), was in charge of the prison and is now on trial. His counsel, southern lawyer Otis Baker (Jack Cassidy), is highly skilled at twisting words, and brilliant at forcing the court to consider the rules of wartime engagement and the necessity of following orders. The courtroom battles between Baker and the Union prosecutor, Col. N. P. Chipman (William Shatner, when he was young and hungry for great acting jobs), are memorable for the philosophical complexities of their arguments and the emotions with which they argue their positions. Gen. Lew Wallace (Cameron Mitchell) is hard pressed to keep the two sides in order and arguing relevant legal issues.

Buddy Ebsen, a fine actor who does not deserve to be remembered primarily for "Beverly Hillbillies," is the doctor who worked at the prison for eight months, a man who shows how his compassion gradually became dulled by the horrors of the conditions, until he became inured to the hundreds of deaths he had to certify every day. Michael Burns as James Davidson, a nineteen-year-old Vermont soldier who was incarcerated at Andersonville, shows the traumatic effects of his experiences as he testifies, his role becoming one of the most sympathetic in the entire play.

George C. Scott, as director, gets the finest performances possible from these actors and wrings the play of every moment of drama. The tension is so great that viewers will easily sit through the two-and-a-half hour performance, breathless with anticipation, their emotions soaring with the legal points made by the prosecution and soaring equally with the human feelings engendered by the defense. As Chipman says, "I'd like to believe that I am more of a man than Wirz was to save those men, but am I?" One of the finest productions ever done by Broadway Theatre Archive, this is a performance not to be missed by lovers of theatre and anyone interested in Civil War history. Mary Whipple

When television offered great drama..........2007-06-13

I remembered watching this broadcast as a kid on television and when I saw the title from Amazon.com, I wondered if it was as good today as I remembered from then... Wow! what a relief to find the program itself has held up over thirty plus years since the original air-date in the early 1970's... plus, the quality of the DVD transfer is so great! If you have an interest in first-rate live theatre, and want to enjoy it in you home theatre, this is a great DVD for an evening's entertainment. The acting is superlative, the writing smart and the directing well-paced. The tale of America's "first war crimes trial" is a little known tale that should be seen by all those interested in contemporary concerns about morality and "civilized" behavior in times of war.

Celebrates Real Acting of Yesteryear.......2007-04-27

When was the last time you saw REAL acting?

I remembered this PBS production vividly as when I saw it, ahem, 37 years ago!! It harkens back to William Shatner's acting on The Twilight Zone, before he became almost a parody of himself (that record album) or a brand name (for Priceline).

Yes, there is real acting here, including a portrayal of post-traumatic stress disorder (before it was an official diagnosis)...the real stars are Cassidy and Shatner, but Shatner really outshines them all. When he comes to conclude that perhaps this really is a sham trial, and that soldiers following orders cannot and should not be put on trial, that the "evidence" against Wirz is flimsy at best (or at least as the trial preparation went). The young Lt. Col. J.A. realizes that he is effectively killing a man for his government as well as a musket ball could. "I was only following orders" is not offered as a defense, as it would years later for equally abhorrent war crimes. Today, "rules of engagement" have replaced direct orders as the ultimate arbiters, making such political prosecutions much easier to mount.

There is no doubt that Andersonville was a horrible place--and place confining humans in a small space will ultimately become a place of disease, demoralization, and desecration. However, the focus of this trial rings as relevant today as it did in the height of the Vietnam War. Can a soldier disobey an order as "immoral"? As John F. Kennedy said of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, "Victory has many fathers, while defeat is an orphan." One can easily see that in a room full of Generals, Colonels, in their glamorous uniforms, the Victors, one defeated Captain hardly stood a chance of exoneration in a time of bitter conflict and martial law.

No special effects, no camera shifting, no profanity or racial slurs, just excellent acting, and well worth the price of admission.

wow! shatner was once an actor???.......2007-03-25

produced for public television back in the days before they became the station of high class infomercials, this courtroom drama focuses on henry wirtz, the commandant of the infamous civil war prison camp who was executed for war crimes. played effectively by richard basehart (anybody remember him?) but as usual the stars are the two lawyers: prosecutor william shatner and defense counsel jack cassidy, both of whom get to display acting chops they usually had to hide behind their personae. not for the faint of heart, but i remembered this for over 30 years and wasnt disappointed seeing it again.

Average customer rating:

Civil War: A Concise History

Manufacturer: Finley-Holiday Film Corp.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

DVD Extra - Interactive Menus Chapter Search
DVD Extra - Civil War Music Video Civil War Quiz
DVD Extra - Civil War Parks Today Raising the USS Cairo
DVD Extra - Historical Photo Gallery Screen Saver
DVD Extra - Internet Resources

ASIN: B000EM8Y3Y

Product Description

This is the story of America's bloody war between brothers - battle by battle - from causes to conclusion. It features the authentic Civil War music of Bobby Horton and the best collection of Civil War visuals ever assembled in one 75-minute program. A breathtaking and first-hand account of the war. Great DVD Bonuses

The Horrors at Andersonville Prison: The Trial of Henry Wirz

Average customer rating:

America's worst prison?

The Horrors at Andersonville Prison: The Trial of Henry Wirz

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000E371ZA
Release Date: 2004-10-17

Description

In the summer of 1865, a war-ravaged but triumphant Washington D.C. rumbled with the repercussions of the arduous struggle so recently completed. As the government wrested with Reconstruction and the loss of Lincoln, the capital played host to one of America's first war-crime tribunals. The man on trial, Henry Wirz, had been the commander of the notorious prison at Andersonville, Georgia, where 13,000 Union soldiers had died in 15 months. Capturing the tense atmosphere of post Civil War Washington, examining the brief and brutal history of the prison and exposing the many people who helped make the sufferings there possible, THE HORRORS AT ANDERSONVILLE PRISON illuminates one of the Civil War's most compelling tales.

Customer Reviews:

America's worst prison?.......2007-07-16

I had heard a lot of great things about this DVD and was anxiously anticipating watching it. I must admit, that although it was very good well made, and had many interesting nuggets of information, I came away a little dissappointed. I guess there was not a whole lot in the DVD that was all the "shocking" to me. More or less standard stories of an overcrowded undersupplied prison. I did find it interesting that they showed evidence of Henry Wirz the monster and Henry Wirz the humanitarian. All in all I still really liked the DVD, despite the fact that it did not live up to the hype I had heard about it. I would still very much recommend this DVD, as it was very entertaining and educational.

Average customer rating:

Andersonville/Gone With the Wind
Starring: Clark Gable , Vivien Leigh , Leslie Howard , Olivia de Havilland , and Thomas Mitchell
Director: Victor Fleming , George Cukor , and Sam Wood
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B0000E6FRH
Release Date: 2003-11-18

DVD:

DVD

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