Sat 24 Oct 2020
Reviewed by Ray O’Leary: FRANK THOMPSON – Alamo Movies.
Posted by Steve under Reference works / Biographies , Reviews , Western movies[5] Comments
FRANK THOMPSON – Alamo Movies. Old Mill Books, softcover, 1991. Republic of Texas Press, softcover, 1994.
I have a fondness for what I call “Alamo Movies”: films based on fact or fiction in which a small group of soldiers hold out against superior forces, a list which includes THE LOST PATROL, the Flynn CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE, THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, BEAU GESTE, BATAAN, 55 DAYS AT PEKING, KHARTOUM and ZULU. There are more, but by this time you either know what I mean or I can’t explain it. Anyway, in ALAMO MOVIES, Frank Thompson confines himself to one particular siege, about which there has never been a great film made.
After a brief introduction by Fess Parker, there’s a chapter on facts and legends surrounding the actual battle, mostly centering on whether or not Travis actually drew the line in the sand, and more importantly the fact that a handful of Alamo defenders were captured alive, with many eyewitnesses claiming Davy Crockett was among them (though executed shortly thereafter) although you will never see a film where Crockett doesn’t die heroically.
Chapters are devoted to the films: THE IMMORTAL ALAMO, the lost first film on the subject, made by Gaston Melies (George’s brother) who crammed the whole story into 10 minutes! MARTYRS OF THE ALAMO, produced by D. W. Griffith and subtitled THE BIRTH OF TEXAS to cash in on the notoriety of BIRTH OF A NATION, and with a similarly racist slant — the revolt isn’t so much against Santa Anna as to protect the flower of American Womanhood from dark-skinned Mexican Lust; Santa Anna was even played by Walter Lang, th would-be rapist in BIRTH OF A NATION.
Then there’s DAVY CROCKETT AT THE FALL OF THE ALAMO, directed by Robert Bradbury, whose son (later Bob Steele) played one of the defenders, so years later, on F-TROOP, when Steele as Duffy talked about fighting alongside Davy Crockett, it wasn’t so far from the truth.
As the chapters progress, more familiar films get their due: MAN FROM THE ALAMO, DAVY CROCKETT: KING OF THE WILD FRONTIER, THE LAST COMMAND, THE ALAMO, and the Peter Ustinov comedy, VIVA MAX. Moving on, Thompson appraises the TV miniseries 13 DAYS TO GLORY and the IMAX film ALAMO … THE PRICE OF FREEDOM.
Final chapters cover “lost” Alamo movies and films that were announced but never made. Thompson rates Wayne’s THE ALAMO as the best, “nearly great except for an awful screenplay,” which is like saying the Giants had a nearly perfect season except for a seven-game losing streak. Still, it’s an entertaining and informative read, with lots of purty pitchurs to look at when the going gets heavy.
October 24th, 2020 at 6:32 pm
While it is a mixed blessing as far as extraneous plots involving Ernest Borgnine’s character, I have always liked THE LAST COMMAND with Sterling Hayden as an imposing Bowie and Arthur Hunnicutt as Crockett.
MAN OF CONQUEST about Sam Houston touches on the Alamo in the way to San Jacinto as does Joel McCrea’s THE FIRST TEXAN and the Sam Elliot Houston bio.
THE IRON MISTRESS, an entertaining Alan Ladd bio of Jim Bowie based on the bestselling Paul I. Wellman novel, stops short of the Alamo with Bowie’s marriage to the daughter of the Governor General of San Antonio well before the Revolution and the Alamo.
One of the most obvious Alamo films, which even uses it as a constant reference, is Hawks’ RIO BRAVO where the villain even plays the haunting music played by Santa Anna’s buglers to let the soldiers in the Alamo there would be no quarter. It isn’t surprising Wayne did his Alamo film around that period.
Re Crockett, no one really knows how he died, and obviously the Mexican officers and soldiers who offer contradictory accounts are prejudiced as are the legends on the Texican side, but I would point out that being captured and executed is in no ways unheroic.
Perhaps it isn’t the blaze of glory of legend, but he and the others still fought and died for a cause even if they tried to survive at the end.
October 24th, 2020 at 6:42 pm
I remember watching THE ALAMO when it first came out, and I enjoyed it immensely. I was also overwhelmed. I haven’t had the urge to watch another Alamo movie, whether made before or afterward, ever since.
October 25th, 2020 at 9:56 am
Since I wrote this review long ago another ALAMO movie came out with Billy Bob Thornton plying Davy Crockett and surprise, surprise, it shows Crockett executed after the battle. He was excellent as Crockett and I enjoyed it very much.
October 25th, 2020 at 11:06 am
News to me, Ray. Thanks for thinking of this one. Here’s the description of the film as taken from Wikipedia:
“The Alamo is a 2004 American Western film about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. It was directed by John Lee Hancock, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson, distributed by Touchstone Pictures, and starred Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett, and Jason Patric as Jim Bowie.
“The screenplay is credited to Hancock, John Sayles, Stephen Gaghan, and Leslie Bohem. In contrast to the 1960 film of the same name, this film attempts to depict the political points of view of both the Mexican and Texan sides; Santa Anna is a more prominent character. The film received mixed reviews by critics and was a box office bomb, losing the studio over $146 million.”
October 28th, 2020 at 8:30 am
Don’t forget THEY WERE EXPENDABLE (1945) and THE GREEN BERETS (1968), both with Mr. Alamo himself, John Wayne.