When I was young, I saw a videotape of Fess Parker as Davy Crockett from Disney's interpretation of the legend and one of the parts was Crockett at the Alamo, which I loved. Then what seemed like a month later my dad picked up a videotape with one of my favorite movie stars, John Wayne, and it said The Alamo. My dad explained that in this movie John Wayne played Crockett. I excitedly watched it with him but I can't remember ever watching it again as it was very long. Well years later I saw it was coming on tv and decided to watch it all over again. And what i saw was... pretty darn good if you ask me.
The story, or legend in this case, involves Mexican general Santa Anna's charge to drive away the Texicans from then Mexico territory, Texas. Because of the lack of organization of militia and army elements scattered all over the territory, Sam Houston (Richard Boone) orders Colonel William Travis (Laurence Harvey) to hold his troops at an abandoned mission, The Alamo, and hold off Santa Anna and buy himself the time to mount a defense against the coming intruders. Travis conflicts with local militia leader Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) on what the next steps should be but are soon benefitted by the arrival of the legendary Davy Crockett (John Wayne) and his band of rough and tumble Tenesseeans. Eventually surrounded by over 7,000 Mexican troops, the men must hold out during thirteen days of siege by Santa Anna, building to their final encounter with history.
This film is indeed an epic in most respects. For his first time ever at bat as director, Wayne certainly is able to fill his screen with men and sets, one of the best sets ever made for a film in my opinion. He knows where the camera should go and his action directing is top-flight. The final assualt sequence alone is worth a place alongside the Huey attack in Apocalypse Now and even the charge on Ft. Wagner in Glory. This was advertised as "fourteen years in the making" as this had become Wayne's passion project and even sunk much of his personal wealth into it. Unfortunately the film was not a giant success and critics singled out the film as Wayne trying to promote his conservative Republican ideals.
With that said, the film is not without its problems, and sadly there are a few notable ones. It's clear that Wayne is exhausted in front of the camera playing Davy Crockett as his duties behind it were enormous. The acting is very hit and miss, which the actors attributed to Wayne's uncomfortableness trying to motivate an actor without his own style of acting coming into the fray. Sometimes there are lively readings, such as Chill Wills and Richard Widmark, but the others come standard and uncaring about the long-winded dialogue. Yes lets talk about the writing. There are a lot of scenes with talking, and sadly some of these fall desperately short. The rhythm is off and the dialog is very stuffy and long winded. I call this "speechifyin" and Duke does a lot of that. James Edward Grant was his favorite writer and sadly Duke didn't question any of his awkward choices of both lines and character. The film's length, although necessary I suppose, doesn't help this.
Technically this film is a marvel. As i said before the art direction is amazing, with the Alamo compound recreated in painstaking detail. An element that should be studied for years to come is the astonishing sound mix. Recorded in Oscar winning Todd-AO, it is crisp and clear, almost like it was recorded yesterday. Kudos! The cinematography by William Clothier captures both the splendor of the Alamo and even the loneliness of it, and because of Wayne's carefully placed army extras, we get the sense of dread and anticipation. I cannot dare say Wayne and his crew didn't master atmosphere for this movie. It looks and sounds great.
Overall, I love this movie. Can it be slow and a touch too long? Yes. Corny? Unbelievably so in many instances. But I deeply respect Wayne's dedication and craft to bring this story to life and they all did try to give something to the audience. I can see some of Wayne's own politics coming into the fold, but this is very small as he wanted to make a movie, and thats what he gave us.
Note: I've seen both the roadshow cut (a dvd/video you should get before it goes out of print forever) and the restored general release version which I think is better paced and Wayne even took out scenes to make it flow better.
The story, or legend in this case, involves Mexican general Santa Anna's charge to drive away the Texicans from then Mexico territory, Texas. Because of the lack of organization of militia and army elements scattered all over the territory, Sam Houston (Richard Boone) orders Colonel William Travis (Laurence Harvey) to hold his troops at an abandoned mission, The Alamo, and hold off Santa Anna and buy himself the time to mount a defense against the coming intruders. Travis conflicts with local militia leader Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) on what the next steps should be but are soon benefitted by the arrival of the legendary Davy Crockett (John Wayne) and his band of rough and tumble Tenesseeans. Eventually surrounded by over 7,000 Mexican troops, the men must hold out during thirteen days of siege by Santa Anna, building to their final encounter with history.
This film is indeed an epic in most respects. For his first time ever at bat as director, Wayne certainly is able to fill his screen with men and sets, one of the best sets ever made for a film in my opinion. He knows where the camera should go and his action directing is top-flight. The final assualt sequence alone is worth a place alongside the Huey attack in Apocalypse Now and even the charge on Ft. Wagner in Glory. This was advertised as "fourteen years in the making" as this had become Wayne's passion project and even sunk much of his personal wealth into it. Unfortunately the film was not a giant success and critics singled out the film as Wayne trying to promote his conservative Republican ideals.
With that said, the film is not without its problems, and sadly there are a few notable ones. It's clear that Wayne is exhausted in front of the camera playing Davy Crockett as his duties behind it were enormous. The acting is very hit and miss, which the actors attributed to Wayne's uncomfortableness trying to motivate an actor without his own style of acting coming into the fray. Sometimes there are lively readings, such as Chill Wills and Richard Widmark, but the others come standard and uncaring about the long-winded dialogue. Yes lets talk about the writing. There are a lot of scenes with talking, and sadly some of these fall desperately short. The rhythm is off and the dialog is very stuffy and long winded. I call this "speechifyin" and Duke does a lot of that. James Edward Grant was his favorite writer and sadly Duke didn't question any of his awkward choices of both lines and character. The film's length, although necessary I suppose, doesn't help this.
Technically this film is a marvel. As i said before the art direction is amazing, with the Alamo compound recreated in painstaking detail. An element that should be studied for years to come is the astonishing sound mix. Recorded in Oscar winning Todd-AO, it is crisp and clear, almost like it was recorded yesterday. Kudos! The cinematography by William Clothier captures both the splendor of the Alamo and even the loneliness of it, and because of Wayne's carefully placed army extras, we get the sense of dread and anticipation. I cannot dare say Wayne and his crew didn't master atmosphere for this movie. It looks and sounds great.
Overall, I love this movie. Can it be slow and a touch too long? Yes. Corny? Unbelievably so in many instances. But I deeply respect Wayne's dedication and craft to bring this story to life and they all did try to give something to the audience. I can see some of Wayne's own politics coming into the fold, but this is very small as he wanted to make a movie, and thats what he gave us.
Note: I've seen both the roadshow cut (a dvd/video you should get before it goes out of print forever) and the restored general release version which I think is better paced and Wayne even took out scenes to make it flow better.