agabustony One reviewer found this movie quite hilarious. The film does have an unbelievable premise, that the military would actually send some one to investigate the POW camps. In fact in the opening scene, Harry Morgan (of MASH fame) tells Reagan that they have heard of atrocities but have no proof. but how did they hear? And why do they need proof? As if the Communists would actually be forced to behave humanely. That first scene was funny because Morgan comes off like he did as Gannon on Dragnet, the same stilted manner of speaking. Anyway, the film does portray the atrocities in a rather sobering way. And one neat thing is you get to see all these new actors in early roles: Strother Martin, Dewey Martin, Steve Forrest, Darrly Hickman, Dick Sargent and even Stewart Whitman. And One of the guards was Wesley Levy who played the communist leader on Satan Never Sleeps with William Holden. But it was a propaganda movie and so a bit forced and wooden except for Reagan. He was good.

L_Miller Not a very good movie but according to the info it's pretty accurate in depicting torture techniques. The purpose of the film was to show the brutality of the NK POW camps and that's done effectively enough, with surprising frankness for the time. Whatever technical flaws exist (and there are plenty) by watching this you'll see a forgotten corner of a forgotten war and some pretty nasty stuff - again, nasty because it's being done north of the DMZ and not in Guantanamo Bay.I don't think any of the Korean veterans brought up his torture when running for office, and if you watch the movies like this one and Pork Chop Hill in comparison to the Vietnam films. I don't know if it was the people in '54 being trapped in the WWII concepts (the boys tend to wisecrack a lot) or the war or what, but it's interesting to see this from the same system that 16 years later would be making movies like "Go Tell The Spartans".

taggerez I would suspect that some of the negative reviews of this movie stem from the fact that 1.) Ronald Reagan is the star and 2.) it would tend to fall in the very small category of anti-communist films produced by Hollywood. But for people who like good movies, this is a pretty good little film.More importantly, the film has a basis in fact. The screenwriter, Allen Rivkin, drew on true stories from those who suffered in those camps. When the Army transport "General Walker" docked in San Francisco carrying the first group of returning American POWs from North Korea, Rivkin was there and personally interviewed sixty of them. These ex-POWs told him of the harsh treatment, lack of food, freezing weather, poor medical treatment, and brainwashing sessions that were just some of the horrors they had lived through. In addition, Capt. Robert H. Wise served as the technical adviser on the film. Wise, who had spent a year as a prisoner of the Germans during World War II, spent three years in a North Korean prison camp. He nearly starved to death, dropping 90 pounds during his ordeal. His input lent invaluable veracity to the details of the film.So when you watch the scenes of torture, deprivation and mind control in "Prisoner of War," they are authentic. As for the statement that these scenes become homo-erotic "beefcake in bondage," the unfocused mind can conjure many things, but more often than not a cigar is just a cigar.A small film shot on a low budget, there is much to recommend "Prisoner of War" including its treatment of the subject post-war American defectors. A handful of Westerners opted to stay with the communists after the war (as opposed to thousands and thousands of captured Chinese and North Koreans who preferred not to go back to the Reds)and this film has an interesting twist on the subject.Might make a good B feature with "The Manchurian Candidate."

The_Ringo_Kid Prisoner of War is one of my most favorite Ronald Reagan film. This movie also deserves the title of: "Classic" because it is just that, a classic.Reagan is on a mission to infiltrate a POW camp by being behind enemy lines and once so, shortly manages to slip into line with a column of American prisoners being force-marched to a Chinese ran pow camp. The prisoners are starved and beaten and severely mistreated all the way to the camp. The camp is actually worse than the march was and could easily be called a: "Hell Camp." This hell camp is actually under the tender loving care of the Russians.Reagan, once inside the pow camp, has to find a way to send messages to his commanding officer, on the conditions inside the pow camp. Reagan does so by joining a VERY small group of American pows who appear to turn traitor. They are of course, hated by all the other pows at that camp and soon they make radio broadcasts telling about ""how well they are being treated"" and ind doing so, that is how Reagan manages to use such a cunning code, that the Chinese and Russians never knew that he was doing so.All the while, the camp guards try to break the morale of all the American pows by starvation, torture etc. Steve Forest portrays an Americam pow who's will just cannot be broken; no matter what the Russians do to him.This movie is a bit of a flag-waver but, that is essential as part of this movie. This is another one of those great movies that is rarely shown and really deserves to be shown as much as movies like: The Great Escape and The Dirty Dozen.This movie also needs to be released on DVD so that we all can enjoy viewing it.