The Alamo

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Overview

John Wayne's directorial debut The Alamo is set in 1836: Wayne plays Col. Davy Crockett, who, together with Colonels Jim Bowie Richard Widmark and William Travis Laurence Harvey and 184 hardy Americans and Texicans, defends the Alamo mission against the troops of Mexican general Santa Ana. There's a lot of macho byplay before the actual attack, including the famous "letter" scene in which Wayne craftily rouses the patriotic ire of his subordinates. Also appearing are Richard Boone as Sam Houston, and Chill Wills ...
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Overview

John Wayne's directorial debut The Alamo is set in 1836: Wayne plays Col. Davy Crockett, who, together with Colonels Jim Bowie Richard Widmark and William Travis Laurence Harvey and 184 hardy Americans and Texicans, defends the Alamo mission against the troops of Mexican general Santa Ana. There's a lot of macho byplay before the actual attack, including the famous "letter" scene in which Wayne craftily rouses the patriotic ire of his subordinates. Also appearing are Richard Boone as Sam Houston, and Chill Wills whose somewhat tasteless Oscar campaign has since become legendary in the annals of shameless self-promotion as Beekeeper. Wayne's production crew was compelled to reconstruct the Alamo in Bracketville, Texas, about a hundred miles from the actual site. Dimitri Tiomkin's score, including "The Green Leaves of Summer," received generous airplay on the Top-40 radio outlets of America. Rumors persist that Wayne's old pal John Ford directed most of The Alamo; cut to 161 minutes for its general release, the film was restored to its original, 192-minute length in 1992.
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Editorial Reviews

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello
Since John Wayne was unable to persuade friend John Ford to direct the star's long-cherished project on the historic event, he decided to get behind the camera himself, with better results than might have been expected. Although overlong, especially in its current three-hour-plus running time, and, at times, clumsy in staging, composition, and pacing, the film remains an entertaining experience. This is especially true of the excellent battle scenes, at least some of which were directed by Ford with the second unit. There are also bright moments early on, as the three principals, Davy Crockett (Wayne), Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark), and Col. William Travis (Laurence Harvey), vie for leadership of the beleaguered force. There's also an oversupply of the kind of tiresome horseplay Wayne thought of as comedy. The cast, which includes many Western veterans such as Chill Wills and Ken Curtis, is solid. Cowboy icon Richard Boone, in particular, excels as tough Governor Sam Houston. On the other hand, Patrick Wayne and Frankie Avalon look as though they've just wandered in from a beach movie.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 10/3/2000
  • UPC: 027616854681
  • Original Release: 1960

    • Rating:

  • Source: Mgm (Video & Dvd)
  • Format: VHS

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits
John Wayne Col. David Crockett
Richard Widmark Col. James Bowie
Laurence Harvey Col. William Barrett Travis
Frankie Avalon Smitty
Richard Boone Gen. Sam Houston
Patrick Wayne Capt. James Butler Bonham
Carlos Arruza Lt. Reyes
Linda Cristal Flaca
Joan O'Brien Mrs. Dickinson
Chill Wills Beekeeper
Joseph Calleia Juan Sequin
Ken Curtis Capt. Almeron Dickinson
Jester Hairston Jethro
Veda Ann Borg Blind Nell Robertson
John Dierkes Jocko Robertson
Denver Pyle Gambler
Aissa Wayne Angelina Dickinson
Hank Worden Parson
Bill Daniel Col. Neill
Bill Daniel Col. Neill
Wesley Lau Emil Sande
Chuck Roberson Tennesseean
Olive Carey Mrs. Dennison
Ruben Padilla Gen. Santa Anna
Charles Akins Travis' man
Carol Baxter Melinda, Texan Girl
Danny Borzage Bowie's man
Buff Brady Tennessean
Jim Brewer Travis' man
Jim Burk Tennessean
Tap Canutt Bowie's man
Ed Carter Bowie's man
Mickey Finn Bowie's man
Miguel Garza Bowie's charro
Fred Graham Bearded Volunteer
Big John Hamilton Bowie's Man
Robert H. Harris Bowie's man
Chuck Hayward Tennessean
William Henry Dr. Sutherland
Jim Walker Bowie's man
Joe Graham Travis' man
Joe Jackson Travis' Man
Leroy Johnson Bowie's man
Ronald Lee Travis' man
Cy Malis Pete
Jack Miller Bowie's man
Boyd "Red" Morgan Tennesseean
Jack Pennick Sgt. Lightfoot
Gil Perkins Tennessean
Jerry Phillips Travis' man
Rudy Robbins Tennessean
Bob Rose Tennessean
George Ross Bowie's man
Charles Sanders Travis' man
Bill Shannon Tennessean
Dean Smith Bowie's man
Alfred Taylor Bowie's man
Ted White Tennessean
J. Williams Bowie's man
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Lt. Finn
Jim Wright Bowie's man
Technical Credits
John Wayne Director, Producer
Frank Beetson Jr. Costumes/Costume Designer
William H. Clothier Cinematographer
Nate H. Edwards Production Manager
Victor A. Gangelin Set Decoration/Design
Stuart Gilmore Editor
James Edward Grant Associate Producer, Screenwriter
Fred Hynes Sound/Sound Designer
Ann Peck Costumes/Costume Designer
Robert E. Relyea Asst. Director
Robert Saunders Asst. Director
Jack Solomon Sound/Sound Designer
Dimitri Tiomkin Score Composer
Paul Webster Score Composer, Songwriter
Alfred Ybarra Art Director
Lee Zavitz Special Effects
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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 8 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(2)

4 Star

(4)

3 Star

(2)

2 Star

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1 Star

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Sort by: Showing all of 8 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A reviewer

    The Alamo was the realization of a years long dream of John Wayne and it shows. From the meticulous recreation of the Alamo compound and San Antonio de Bexar (from original drawings & plans) to authentic period costumes to outstanding casting. The only drawback to production was writer James Edward Grant's script. Another was the later editing that took many of the best scenes. One of which was my favorite: the parson's death scene. I'm looking forward to seeing a DVD special edition of the director's cut along with the trailer and complete featurette.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    Disastrous Moment in History Meticulously Recreated

    John Wayne¿s conviction was so firmly steeped in his production of 'The Alamo' that he went out on his own to direct this lumbering fictional account of the slaughter of 187 men at the Texas landmark after every major studio in Hollywood turned him down. The resulting film is a sprawling and unabashed flag waver that quite simply fails to get the patriotic juices flowing. Wayne plays Davy Crockett as something of a Disney-fied fun-loving frontiersman who¿s not above a good brawl. Laurence Harvey needs less starch in his britches as the rigid Col. William Travis. Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie is left to veer between Wayne and Harvey in a performance that can only be described as unsympathetic. Richard Boone, Chill Wills and (oh, you gotta be kiddin' me) Frankie Avalon are in it too. Frankie doesn't sing. No expense was spared in this brick-by-brick recreation of the Alamo. The laserdisc version contained the original director's cut of 'The Alamo'. This DVD is the standard theater release version. There's no entrance, exit or intermission music and the aspect ratio is misframed at roughly 2:25:1. Colors are generally rich and vibrant but during scenes taking place at night they tend to become a muddy, grainy mess. The scene in which Crockett is confronted by Travis in the saloon is riddled with age related artifacts and a faded camera negative that looks as though it were dragged by four wild horse through the Texas deluge. The audio is 5.1 but strident in spots and remarkable muffled in others. Extras include ¿The Making Of The Alamo¿ featurette - but it has been edited for DVD - presumably because, like the film, it just was not possible to digitally compress all that information on one side of a DVD. So why didn't MGM do a 2-disc or flipper disc for this film?!?! Go figure. Perhaps with the remake of 'The Alamo' getting ready to debut on DVD we'll see MGM go back to their vaults and revisit this Western saga.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 1, 2010

    A Grand Spectacle

    Forget for a moment that this movie is not as accurate as historians would have liked. What you have then is a grand, colorful, rousing spectacular that serves as the forerunner to movies like ''Saving Private Ryan'' and ''The Patriot.'' What ''The Alamo'' lacks in historical accuracy it more than makes up for in design. The sets, including a re-created Alamo fort and chapel, are spectacular. The uniforms for the Mexican army are elaborate. The script itself is typical John Wayne, and expounds with his personal political philosophies, but the cast is outstanding, with Richard Widmark (as James Bowie) and Lawrence Harvey (as Travis) serving as perfect foils for John Wayne's Davy Crockett, as well as for each other. All in all, this is splendid entertainment, and the Bonus Features, including a 40-minute ''making of'' feature add additional insight into John Wayne and the creation of this classic epic.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 1, 2010

    ALAMO

    I recently visited the Alamo and wanted to see an older version movie of what happened-this was good.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 23, 2012

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 8, 2010

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 15, 2009

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 14, 2010

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