Diagonaldi Very well executed

ThiefHott Too much of everything

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

MartinHafer While the story was in part fictionalized, "The Raid" is a decent retelling of a seldom mentioned part of Civil War history. In October, 1864, a group of Confederates entered the town of St. Albans, Vermont in order to burn the town, spread terror and steal bank money to help finance the Confederate cause. It was the northern-most raid made during the war and was a bit of an embarrassment to Canada, as the raiders used the country as a base of operations.The film starts with a group of Confederate soldiers mounting an escape from a Union prisoner of war camp. One of the leaders of these men, Major Benton (Van Heflin), would organize these men into a small band similar to Quantrill's Raiders and attack the town from Canada. But first, some of them would enter the town and pretend to be businessmen in order to scout out the town and determine the best way to mount the attack. Much of the film concerns this as well as their problems with a total screwup who is so bent on murdering Yankees that he's bound to blow their secret. At the end of the film, you see a re-creation of the raid and its aftermath. though they never really talked about the aftermath...which would make nice reading on your part!This is a pretty exciting film. The acting is quite nice and, as usual, Van Helfin is quite good. Had he been taller and better looking, I am pretty sure he would have been a much bigger star. Additionally, the project doesn't stray too far from the facts and is a quality film throughout. Well worth seeing and far better than I had expected.

WorthlessKnowledge This is a good film with lots of The Andy Griffith Show regulars. It was also filmed on the same set location as TAGS episodes, the legendary "Forty Acres" - where "Gone with the Wind" was filmed - and which later became the Desilu Studio lots where TAGS, Gomer Pyle, Hogan's Heroes, The Real McCoys etc were all filmed). Mayberry town landmarks such as the church steeple, the hotel, and even the courthouse are clearly visible and easily recognizable. It's an interesting sideline.See more of this amazing place at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RKO_Forty_Acres

bkoganbing Van Heflin stars and leads a group of escaped prisoners, re-formed into Confederate cavalry and operating in Canada that raid St. Albans, Vermont and burn the town down after looting it. It's a little known incident of the Civil War as the Confederacy in a last gasp takes the war north to about as far from the Mason-Dixon line north as you can get.Always present in the background is the reminder that General Sherman is moving through the south leaving a lot more destruction in his path. Sherman said war is hell and he tried to make it so. The Raid on St. Albans was a reminder to the north that hell is a two way street.Before The Raid, Heflin goes to St. Albans to scout the terrain and in the process becomes more than friends with Union widow Anne Bancroft and her young son Tommy Rettig. It's probably the most difficult part of Heflin's role. He is a likable and decent man, but war forces decent people to do indecent things. We're always reminded that his home was burned and wife killed during one of Sherman's raids.Peter Graves, Claude Akins, James Best, and John Dierkes all familiar faces are part of Heflin's troops. Lee Marvin is also and he has a most memorable role as a soldier so thirsting for payback that he forgets all kinds of discipline. Richard Boone plays a Union soldier who has left the front and runs a recruiting station at St. Albans. He too is a man with many secrets. What's not secret is his interest in Bancroft and his jealousy of Heflin in that regard.The Raid is a fine film and Van Heflin leads a distinguished cast with his usual professionalism. Those people at St. Albans got a taste of what New Yorkers felt on 9/11 albeit much different circumstances.

mack9201 A great picture depicting the Civil War, and the surprise attack on Saint Albans, Vermont by Confederate soldiers. You will not see many movies wherein the movie industry deviates from the "politically correct" Northern side of the War Between The States. This one takes you mostly to the Southern side. It takes place about the time of the push to Atlanta - or the indiscriminate burning of Georgia by the then estimated (and later confirmed) mentally impaired General Sherman. The lead actors Van Heflin, co-starring the young Ann Bancroft did a tremendous job. It would be a shame for Civil War history enthusiasts to miss this exciting movie.