Line #3 Film/Andersonville


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/andersonville_8.jpg]]
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3	''Andersonville'' is a MadeForTVMovie directed by Creator/JohnFrankenheimer, following a group of [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks Union soldiers]] captured at the Battle of Cold Harbor. Josiah Day and his friends are sent to the HellholePrison Fort Sumter, plagued by sadistic guards, thieving gangs of fellow prisoners, starvation and disease. As their numbers dwindle, they struggle to escape, or, at least survive.
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5	The film first aired on Creator/{{TNT}} in two parts in March of 1996. It is not an adaptation of the novel of the same name, sharing only the setting and a few historical characters. It is VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory, with several plot elements and lines of dialogue being taken from the diary of an Andersonville survivor named John Ransom.
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7	!! Provides examples of:
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9	* AmbitionIsEvil: Wirz requests a promotion to major from Colonel Chandler, supposedly to do more to help the prisoners but at least partially for his own ambition.
10	* AngryGuardDog: The prison has quite a few, which badly maul or even kill some characters.
11	* BadassBoast: Wirz is confident enough in his ability to capture the prisoners that he boasts he'd give two escapees at a time a twelve hour head start and could still get them back.
12	* [[{{BFG}} BFK]]: Munn may be a runty guy, but he also carries a ''huge'' bowie knife, the most lethal weapon in the camp... making him probably the deadliest Raider to battle.
13	* BigBadDuumvirate: Wirz, the commandant of the camp, and Collins, leader of "the Raiders", who both torment the other prisoners.
14	* BigGuyLittleGuy: Collins and Munn, the leaders of the Raiders.
15	* BitchInSheepsClothing: Munn is always treating new arrivals cordially, offering to show them around and help them out, but does so to lure them into the Raiders' territory to be beaten and robbed, while displaying murderous frustration at anyone who thwarts him from doing so.
16	* ChildSoldiers: Many of the Confederate tower guards are boys as young as ten. Union drummer boy Patrick also appears.
17	* ChromosomeCasting: There is little to no female representation in the movie, given the lack of female soldiers in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and how almost the entire movie is set at the prison camp.
18	* CoolOldGuy: Sergeant [=McSpadden=]. He's somewhere in his fifties, making him pretty old for being a soldier. But he is tough as they come, disarming Munn and knocking him out with relative ease.
19	* CreepyChild: The young Confederate guards enjoy luring Union soldiers into crossing the "deadline" supposedly for trading, then shooting them.
20	* CrusadingLawyer: Hopkins, who [[spoiler: defends the Raiders during their trial, claiming that everything they did was a byproduct of the camp's inhumane conditions and thus Wirz's fault]].
21	* CurbStompBattle: The Raiders win pretty much any fight: the spoils from their reign of terror keep them much better fed and stronger than anyone else in the camp. However, [[spoiler: the tables turn when everyone in the camp rushes them.]]
22	* DespairEventHorizon: Billy nearly gives up trying to stay alive after [[spoiler: failing to escape]] and needs a pep talk from Josie to keep going.
23	* DirtyCoward: Somewhat with Munn. While he's not afraid to fight, he will back down if he doesn't have the advantage or his Raider brothers backing him up.
24	* DoWithHimAsYouWill: After the battle with the Raiders, [[spoiler: Captain Wirz has the ability to intervene, but allows the prisoners to try and execute them, watching with curiosity and some amusement]].
25	* DownerEnding: To be expected, given the subject. But when [[spoiler:Wirz releases the surviving prisoners from Camp Sumpter in 1865, they aren't free, they're just moving to different prison camps]].
26	* DrivenToSuicide: Grundy, the man who tried to sell out the tunnel, has "tunnel traitor" carved into his forehead, becoming a pariah who will be targeted if the tunnel really is sold out. Eventually, he despondently crosses the dead line.
27	* EvilCripple: Wirz has a maimed arm, and is in charge of the camp, [[DownplayedTrope although he claims that he has had to work hard to get the prisoners what little care they already have and his superiors are the ones behind the suffering]].
28	* FaceDeathWithDespair: [[spoiler: Two of the Raiders, including/especially Munn]], utterly snap the moment they see the gallows where they're to be hanged. In [[spoiler: Munn's]] case, he tries to flee in panic, but the prisoners grab him and drag him to the gallows, all while he is screaming and [[DirtyCoward begging for his life]]. When his face is covered and the noose is wrapped around his neck, he can be heard loudly weeping until he is finally executed.
29	* FaceDeathWithDignity:
30	** [[spoiler: Collins]] walks to the gallows calmly, encouraging his men to be brave and noting that this moment was probably inevitable.
31	*** Averted at the last moment with [[spoiler:Munn]]. He holds things together pretty well until he is being led to the gallows, then he flees in a panic and turns into a weeping, blubbering mess.
32	** [[spoiler: Martin Blackburn]] maintains a sense of composure and good humor even while dying of scurvy.
33	* AFatherToHisMen: Both [=McSpadden=] and Gleason are strong, dedicated leaders who work to keep their men safe.
34	* FauxAffablyEvil: Wirz has the façade of a charming, humorous prison captain, yet it does nothing to hide his unquenchable cruelty.
35	* FightingForAHomeland: Near the end, an attempt is made to get Union prisoners to enlist in the [[UsefulNotes/RebelsWithRepeaters Confederate army]] in exchange for their freedom and farming plots.
36	* FightingIrish: While one of the more peaceful characters in the movie, Sergeant [=McSpadden=], speaks with a notable Irish accent and proves his strength and stamina against both the Confederates and the Raiders, most count (unsurprisingly, since they're all soldiers).
37	* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: Josiah firmly rejects the notion that the Raiders' actions are excused by the conditions of the camp, pointing out how many others have maintained honor and discipline while helping each other. [[spoiler: And because he does so during their trial, he turns this into a RousingSpeech which helps ensure their conviction]].
38	* GentleGiant: Thomas is one of the most compassionate and encouraging men in Josiah's unit, but also the biggest and strongest, and when he decides to retrieve Martin Blackburn's stolen banjo from the Raiders is utterly devastating fighting against them.
39	* GiantMook: One of the Raiders is even taller than Thomas.
40	* GoodIsNotSoft: Limber Jim is a dependable ally towards Josiah and the others who is moved by the suffering of others and is responsible for ultimately defeating the Raiders. He also displays pure hatred for the Confederates, the Raiders (who he wants to kill outright) and anyone who tries to betray the existence of tunnels and is willing to go after them with everyone he's got.
41	* GreatEscape: A tunnel is dug out of the camp, which promptly leads to an attempt to make it to a nearby river ahead of the guard dogs once the prisoners make it out the end.
42	* HateSink: Wirz. Beneath his LaughablyEvil routine, he's a despicable monster who gleefully bathes in the suffering of Union prisoners. There's a reason he was one of the few Confederate officials to be executed after the war.
43	* HandicappedBadass: Dick Potter joins in fights against the Raiders, swinging with his crutch. Another of the leaders against the Raiders has a peg leg.
44	* HellholePrison: The staff at Fort Sumter make almost no effort to care for their prisoners onscreen, and the mortality rate is pretty high.
45	* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: While their actions and nature are depicted fairly accurately, in real-life the reign of the Raiders over the rest of the camp lasted for barely a month, while in the movie they have been robbing and killing other prisoners for some time when Josiah and his friends arrive and continue to do so until late in the film, weeks if not months later. Munn, who is portrayed as the second in command of the group and its cruelest member, had only been a prisoner for about two weeks in real life before the fall of the Raiders.
46	* KangarooCourt: Averted with the Raiders. Their trial isn't an officially sanctioned one, but they are given ample opportunity to defend themselves (as well as a lawyer) and a jury made up of unbiased new arrivals to the camp.
47	* LetThePastBurn: After the defeat of the Raiders their base was burned, symbolic of the end of their reign of terror.
48	* MenOfSherwood: Limber Jim's VigilanteMilitia against the [=POW=] camp's gangs does contain the main characters, but they don't take an active role in it for a while and there are dozens of other prisoners involved. Once Jim's followers finally take up arms against Collins and his raiders, they handily crush them.
49	* NeverMyFault: Wirz claims to have tried to provide for the prisoners, while the Confederate High Command is responsible for the camp's poor factors. It is unclear if this is true.
50	* NoManLeftBehind: During the escape attempt, [[spoiler: Martin]] is captured while trying to help [[spoiler: Thomas]] after he's shot and mauled.
51	* NoSale: Near the end of the movie, things have gotten so desperate for the Confederates that Wirz tries to persuade the prisoners to enlist in the Confederate Army in exchange for their freedom. [[spoiler:They all turn their backs on him and march away]].
52	* OhCrap: Many examples.
53	** When the Raiders appear to plunder. Their victims don't have a chance.
54	** Wirz when he sees Colonel Chandler is ''very'' upset about how he's running the camp.
55	** [[TheBully Collins]] seeing ''all'' the other prisoners coming after the Raider camp. He knows there's no way he's going to win this one.
56	* TheOldConvict: Dick Potter, a friend of Josiah and the others, was captured some time before them, has a maimed leg and appears prematurely old as he shows them around the prison and gives tips to survive it. Patrick the drummer boy is also affectionately referred to as the oldest man in Andersonville, due to being an early prisoner.
57	* ThePlace: The film is named after the camp which about 95% of the film takes place in.
58	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Colonel Chandler is appalled with the camp's poor living conditions and delivers a scathing speech to Wirz about it. Wirz points out though that other, more powerful Confederate leaders have allowed the camp to be run the way it is and that neither of them actually has power to change it.
59	* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: [[spoiler: Sergeant Gleason is the only man not killed or recaptured after the escape attempt. [=McSpadden=] tells Josiah that he heard Gleason being attacked by the dogs in the woods and believes he was killed, but encourages him to remain silent to provide a MotivationalLie that he'll bring back help. Later, however, several new prisoners claim to have heard about the camp from an escaped prisoner and when asked if he was Gleason, think that was his name]].
60	* RunTheGauntlet: The Raider {{mook}}s are forced to do this off-screen.
61	* TheSavageSouth: Indeed, Andersonville would have been anyone's worst nightmare, ESPECIALLY a Northerner during the Civil War.
62	* SayingTooMuch: Tobias accidentally publicly mentions the tunnel to other prisoners ''twice''. The first time, it's just to Josiah and the others, who are recruited to work on it. The second time, it almost gets them betrayed by Grundy.
63	* SergeantRock: Sergeant [=McSpadden=] doesn't let a shot to the arm stop him from bravely maintaining authority.
64	* StockPunishment: The prisoners captured after the failed escape are confined this way, with one of them strangling to death when his legs give out.
65	* TagalongKid: Patrick becomes a close associate of the core characters, and [[=McSpadden=] starts caring for him as he gets weaker.
66	* TraitorShot: After a bunch of characters hear about the tunnel, there's a close up of one man's face before he goes to try and tell the guards (he gets stopped just in time).
67	* TunnelKing: Gleason and his men (particularly Tobias and Blackburn) have been digging a tunnel for a long time (it's implied to be the first one to make it all the way to the end without being discovered) and are noted to be aided by skills they learned as coal miners before the war.
68	* VigilanteMilitia: A large group of prisoners led by a man named Limber Jim forms first to protect their territory against the Raiders, and then to strike out and crush them.
69	* VillainsWantMercy: [[spoiler: One of the Raider leaders expressed incredulity upon realizing he's actually going to be hanged, and Munn tries to run away, and cries all the way to the gallows]].

Context Film / Andersonville