The Alamo

How many stars does it take to be "star-studded"?

Because this one definitely was.

More than you can shake a stick at . . . just maybe two fewer than Tombstone (which I will describe later)

However, I have to give the movie credit for showing William Travis as the cad he was for leaving his pregnant wife and denying his son. And I thought the tension between him and Bowie made for an intriguing portion of the movie, but I have to admit that the middle half of the movie (during which period Bowie was sick and delirious) made for some very slow moving. I know the director was trying to build up tension, but dang! How many shots does it take to show the "rag-tag" band of ne'er-do-wells who are marching into Texas history against the snazzy, sharply-dressed and well-fed (even if cowardly and impress children into service) Mexican army.

Takes about an hour of movie time, apparently.

Personally, while musically-speaking I really enjoyed Crockett's violin in contrapuntal melody with the Mexican drums, artistically speaking I feel that was an overused device, i.e. to show the "moment of togetherness" that two enemies have right before they slaughter each other.

Be that as it may: I have to admit that the cinematography seemed quite vivid: the splash of colours, the orange pre-dawn sky (which we saw how many times?) and the movement of the extras was all quite exciting, once the action began. And not that I appreciate slaughter in any way, and being a Disney movie they did seem to "play down" any actual gore - seemed like one of those old cowboy movies: shoot, fall down, grab chest, no blood - dead.

In all honesty, I only became truly interested in this movie AFTER the fall of the Alamo, when Sam Houston was leading Santa Ana's army through the Texas wilds, making him split his troops, luring him into a false move. THAT was the best part of the movie: Houston's strategy, especially since all his men wanted a quick and bloody revenge. Then they got it, in two minutes of movie-time with a tag line that stated, "Santa Ana's army was defeated in eighteen minutes."

Heck, I would have like to have seen the eighteen minutes in real-time.

Overall, I'd say this film was a little overdone (don't even get me started on the CARICATURE of Santa Ana - ay carumba!!!) but it had some decent action toward the end and a few good quips and in all honesty, I say if this film interests anybody in further research on American history then it will be well worth it.

Check it out. Or better yet, just go to the library and check out books on the Alamo.


VG