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Alamo, The

For days before seeing The Alamo I was a little leery. I’m a Texas expatriate in New York and, like a good, red-blooded Texan, I worried that revisionary history would rear it’s ugly head. It wouldn’t be my idea of a good time to watch evil, all-powerful Americans ruthlessly attack the sweet and peace-loving Mexicans led by Saint Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Also, to be honest, I couldn’t see Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, (notwithstanding that he also is an expatriate Texan and from Houston). I had even half-planned to write some irreverent trash about John Wayne dying for our sins at the Alamo. However, I was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the history wasn’t hopelessly mangled. That, alone, probably makes it the best picture ever made on the battle of The Alamo. Of course, this is Hollywood we’re talking about and I found myself mumbling, "I don’t remember that," several times. At the climax of the battle scene, I found myself slightly blurry-eyed, but I’m from Texas and I can’t be certain it would affect yankees and other foreigners the same way. A nice surprise was the treatment of Juan Seguin, a Texan who left the Alamo to deliver a message to General Houston and never made it back in time to die with his friends. His story is too long to tell here, but it would make an interesting film by itself. Suffice it to say, he got a little of the attention he certainly deserves. Performances were quite solid all around. Which includes Quaid, as the father of my country. If he were here I’d apologize for doubting him. Jason Patric, (James Bowie), plays the strong, silent type without playing to the stereotype. Patrick Wilson (William Travis), draws what I think to be a very accurate picture of the somewhat stuffy, but brave and conscientious commander of the Alamo. The great redeeming quality of this film, however, was the very interesting take on David Crockett. Of course, we’ve all come to expect memorable performances from Billy Bob Thornton and he does not disappoint. He shows Davy Crockett the great American hero, bar-wrassler and river-jumper to be David Crockett... a man. Leave it to Thornton to show the essential kernel of the character simply and eloquently. So, all-in-all, it was not bad. It didn’t raise a patriotic fervor or affect like, for instance, Saving Private Ryan, but you won’t regret paying for a ticket.

Written by: Randy Long

Reviewers Rating: 7
Reader's Rating: 6.85
Reader's Votes: 7

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