The Alamo (Widescreen Edition)
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Movie Reviews of The Alamo (Widescreen Edition)
Movie Review: The Legend Retold
Summary: 5 Stars
The Alamo was originally an adobe mission compound on the outskirts of San Antonio. The film starts at the end of the battle. News of its fall reaches the Texans. Then the story begins one year earlier. Sam Houston wants to go to Texas. David Crockett, former Congressman, is a legend in his own time. [The show "Lion of the West" is a pun on Crockett's story-telling.] The Texicans (like other Mexican states) oppose the military rule of Santa Anna (who worked for the big bankers and landowners). There are personality conflicts between the Texians, and the conflicting policies for the defense of the state. [You need to know the history to understand some of the scenes.] The Alamo is the sole defense against the Mexican Army. Santa Anna made a winter march for a surprise attack. Captured rebels (or freedom fighters) are executed by Santa Anna.
The militia vote for their leader. Travis commands the regulars, Bowie the volunteers. There were no sentinels watching for the expected return of Santa Anna's forces, which greatly outnumbered the Texians. The defenders prepare for the worst. The Mexican artillery fires at night to deprive the defenders of sleep. Colonel Travis bravely recycles a cannon ball. Sam Houston wants a unified command. Houston doesn't have enough soldiers to relieve the siege of the Alamo. Santa Anna allows some to leave the Alamo. There is a red sky at evening. Some write letters to home. Santa Anna will take no prisoners.
Santa Anna ordered a simultaneous attack on all sides to overwhelm the defenders with numerically superior forces. [The Texans had better quality gunpowder.] After a while the battle is over. David Crockett resists to the bitter end. The Texians retreat east. Santa Anna splits his forces to pursue the refugees. General Houston knows the Mexican forces will become weaker, and the opportunity to attack will come. The battle of San Jacinto was over in 18 minutes. Santa Anna signed a treaty recognizing the independence of the Republic of Texas. Nine years later Texas became the 28th state. The war with Mexico followed and led to the expansion of America.
This film was said to be more historically correct than John Wayne's 1960 film, but it is less dramatic. This version correctly ends with the victory at San Jacinto, but skips over the massacre at Goliad. As entertainment, the 1960 film is better. You should read a book to best understand any historical film. Neither film did well at the box office, few historical dramas do well. Its difficult to pack weeks of history into a few hours without skimming over facts. This film shows the character of Santa Anna better than the 1960 film.
Movie Review: Good Movie ... Decent Accuracy
Summary: 4 Stars
Hands down, this is the most authentic and realistic screen adaption of the Alamo story ever made. ( The second best is an IMAX film called "The Price of Freedom", which can only be seen in San Antonio,TX as far as I know.)
I have nothing against the Wayne-amo. I first saw it on TV when I was about 6 and loved it. I bashed in imaginary soldado skulls with the stock of my Red Ryder BB gun for weeks afterward. (Mom was worried.)
However, the simple fact remains that the 1960 Alamo was more a statement on John Wayne's character and political beliefs than a dramatization of a historical event. Great battle scenes, rousing score, and almost void of historical accuracy.
I have been suprised at the amount of whining concerning "revisionist history" and "political correctness" concerning the most recent Alamo film. I have met and spoken with both of the historians that worked on this film, and neither Stephen Hardin nor Col. Alan Huffines are what I consider revisionist. They have both written excellent books on the Texas Revolution, and Hardin's "Texian Iliad" is considered to be one of the finest works on the subject.
Many reviewers have mentioned "A Time to Stand" by Walter Lord as being the best book about the Alamo. It is certainly one of the best, but it is a bit dated ( written in 1961.) For my money, the best Alamo book is "Three Roads to the Alamo", by William C. Davis.
Movie Review: The Best Alamo film ever made
Summary: 5 Stars
For serious students of history of the Alamo, director John Lee Hancock's "The Alamo" can't be beat. Every phase of the battle (a night battle which lasted about 90 minutes) is accurately depicted. The movie shows how outlying sentries, sleep deprived after days of shelling, were bayoneted during the initial charge, how the Mexican battalions first scaled the north wall where Travis was killed, shot between the eyes, how defenders retreated into buildings lining the walls where terrible close-quarters fighting took place, and how the last defenders, including David Crockett, retreated into the chapel at the end.
The film presents the view that some defenders, including Crockett, were captured and executed shortly after the battle. This controversial scenario is taken from the diary of a Mexican officer, Enrique De La Pena.
I would have preferred that there be more middle and far distance scenes for those of us who love the history and are interested in military tactics. But director Hancock chose mostly close-ups of the action. This, I presume, was an artistic choice to maximize dramatic effect and my wishes to the contrary are but minor quibbles. (Boy, would I love to see the outtakes!) All in all, the film is a great achievement, the best Alamo film ever made.
The politics which led to the war are skillfully presented. The script courageously includes the fact that the Mexican people were betrayed by the Anglos to whom they had given lands in return for oaths of allegiance. Another uncomfortable truth portrayed here is that the Texian rebels fought, against Mexico, for their freedom to continue the institution of slavery.
The courage of both the Mexicans and the Gringos is shown. We see the Mexican army marching through the snow in the terrible winter of February, 1836, with rags tied around their feet to redeem the honor of Mexico. This is no John Wayne; "There was 10 of us and a million Mexicans" Alamo.
But what makes any war story great is the human portrayal. This is not lacking here. The writing is delicious. On arriving in San Antonio, Crockett makes one of his famous "Prettiest wife, ugliest dog, meaner than a snapping turtle..." speeches. A listener says; "Gosh, Davey, now that yer here, Santy Anny won't dare attack!" Crockett replies with a sick grin: "I understood the fightin' was over. Ain't it?" Crockett had come, hopeing to become the first President of the Republic of Texas.
The counter-intuitive choice of Billy Bob Thorton to play David Crockett was brilliant. Thorton captures Crockett's humility and compassion for the common man (Crockett opposed Jackson's removal of Native Americans from the east, realizing that these people were more like the people Crockett knew than the politicians who wanted their lands). Thorton shows us how Davey really must have felt. And Thorton manages to even look like the few extant drawings and paintings we have of Crockett. This is good acting because Crockett was alot better looking than Billy Bob!
Jason Patric smoulders and exudes danger as Bowie and Patrick Wilson's youthfulness truly illucidates Travis' courage. Emilio Echevarria's Santa Anna is at once sympathetic in his ideals and detestible in his arrogance and cynicisim. He says: "What are the lives of soldiers but the lives of so many chickens?" Santa Anna ignored the tenants of Napolianic theory of warfare which held that artillery should breach a fortified position before infantry advance. Santa Anna ordered his men to attack the fort with ladders and "Sappers" carrying axes to dismantle fortifications. The Mexican soldiers did their duty.
The Alamo is America's Thermopylae. The story must be told again and again. No matter if the heroes' flaws are exposed. They are greater in the imperfections of their humanity. It will be a long time before this story is better told.
Movie Review: A Tale of Two Alamos
Summary: 4 Stars
I re-watched this movie after visiting Texas and the Alamo recently, and while there, bought a copy of Walter Lord's 1961 book "A Time to Stand" (considered by many to be the best book on the Alamo) as well as David Crockett's autobiography (I heartily recommend both), and was surprised how well the movie jived with the actual history.
I think the main reason this movie did so poorly (reading from some of the negative reviews) was that many people were expecting a remake of the 1960 movie with John Wayne and Richard Widmark. It was an excellent movie, but mostly myth- you had larger-than-life actors playing larger-than-life heroes. The 2004 movie made them more human, more down-to-earth, portraying their flaws, which does not detract from their heroism. Some may be disappointed that Travis dies early in the battle from a bullet to the head (which he did) instead of breaking his sword at the last moment, or that Crockett is captured and executed (which evidence suggests he was) instead of going down swinging Old Betsy. These people prefer the myth to reality- so be it.
Their may be some political correctness in the film- the Texans are portrayed as land-grubbing Yankees (In one scene Santa Anna tells his men their descendants will "beg crumbs from the Americans" if they fail). However, to a certain extent this was true- at that time, "manifest destiny" was the catchphrase, many Indian tribes had been force from their homes on the infamous "trail of tears" because white men coveted their land, and a decade later the US would go to war with Mexico and take even more territory).
Some may quibble with a couple inaccuracies in the film, but it is the most accurate depiction of the battle I've seen. If you want to see how it happened, watch this movie. If you want the myth, watch the John Wayne version.
Movie Review: Seriously?
Summary: 5 Stars
"Made by Texans?" How did they work the videocamera drunk?
Just kidding. Nothing wrong with Texans. They can hold their liquor, and they have a strong sense of culture. I'll check out the flick. Maybe.