Favorite Movies: The Alamo (1960) - The Director's Cut

Since I've decided to restart writing on this blog I'm going to do a series where I talk about my favorite movies. So let's start off with the movie that got me into movies.

The Alamo (1960) - Director's Cut
D: John Wayne
W: James Edward Grant
S: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Veda Ann Borg, Denver Pyle, Richard Boone. 

Academy Award Wins:
Best Sound

Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture
Best Supporting Actor - Chill Wills
Best Color Cinematography
Best Film Editing
Best Original Song "The Green Leaves of Summer"
Best Dramatic or Comedy Score


I remember back when I was little boy, between the ages of 8-9 years old, I had this gigantic and strange fascination of anything Davy Crockett related. This can be traced back to me watching the two Disney produced Davy Crockett movies. Those movies being Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and the prequel Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Both films starred the late Fess Parker as the titular Crockett and the almost Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, Buddy Ebsen as his sidekick. I'll go into detail about these films for another post but rest assure those movies are just a barrel of fun and if you have kids I strongly recommend you show them these movies. But back to my main point, I was obsessed with the Davy Crockett mythos. I was so obsessed with him that one year for Halloween I dressed up as him for Halloween. A friend of my mother's made me a costume and I freaking loved it! On Trick or Treat night I marched proudly in my fake buckskin suit and imitation Raccoon skin cap. I went up to the first house, knocked on the door, said "Trick or Treat!" and the little old lady at the door said, "Oh how cute! You're Daniel Boone." And that happened at every house I went to that night. I was devastated. Of course I understand now why they thought that, seeing as I'm from Ohio and Ohioans know more about Boone than Crockett. Also at the time I didn't know Fess Parker played Boone on a tv show in the 1960s. To keep a long story short (Too late) I was obsessed. 

One night when I was about 9, my dad was watching the Turner Classic Movie channel and he said to me, "Hey, want to watch this movie with me? It's about Davy Crockett and stars John Wayne." And I'm probably one of the only people of my generation who knew of John Wayne at the age of 9. I of course said, "YES!" That movie was the 1960 John Wayne directed epic, The Alamo. I sat down with my father on the couch and watched and fell in love. 

This film was a passion project of John Wayne's for a long time, and it clearly shows. He and James Edward Grant had gotten a script put together and Wayne pitched the project to the Republic Studios. They essentially took the script and made it a thing of their own. A film called The Last Command (1955, Dir. Frank Lloyd) which more of Jim Bowie movie than an Alamo movie. I haven't been able to prove this but I'm willing to bet that this was made mostly to compete with Disney's Crockett franchise. Bowie even gets his own theme song. 

The film at the time was the most expensive film Republic Studios had made, and a lot of it probably had to do with them basically building their own Alamo set. But the movie bombed essentially and Republic Studios closed down. I've seen the film and their are many similarities between this film and Wayne's Alamo but there isn't much to the script. Despite its larger scale it is just a basic Western B-Movie. The only reason I would say check it out is if you're a big Ernest Borgnine fan like me, or you're obsessed with Alamo stuff... like me. Actually, I do own a copy of the VHS. I couldn't resist. 

Anyway, on with the main topic. John Wayne's The Alamo. What exactly made me like this movie, what made me LOVE this movie? So much so that I would name it my favorite film and site it as my main influence when it comes to film making and storytelling? Well it involves many of the things I love when it comes to stories and movies, it doesn't apply to ALL the stories and movies I like but having these elements doesn't hurt. First of all, the music is superb. Academy Award Winner Dimitri Tiomkin composes, in my opinion, one of the best scores for a movie. Every piece of music fits perfectly with every scene. The film's most notable track is the song  The Green Leaves of Summer. 

But some of you may have heard this song through Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.

But this is where the song popped up first. You hear bits and pieces of the song throughout the soundtrack, but the first time you hear the actual lyrics is the night before the final battle. It fits beautifully with the scene. As the defenders begin to think about their lives and what they've done with said lives. The dialogue that best summarizes the moments between Davy Crockett (Wayne) and one of his men Thimblerig the Gamber (Dukes of Hazzard's Denver Pyle).

"What are you thinkin' about, Davy?"

"Not thinking. Just remembering."

Now this scene isn't in its entirety. But I'll get to that in a little bit.

But what else do I love about the film? Well it has a great cast and practically each one fills the role perfectly. As I stated above this was John Wayne's passion project, he was the director and the producer and he originally wanted to take the role of Sam Houston. He wanted the role because it was a smaller part and he wanted to concentrate on directing, but the financiers wanted him in the lead role so he took it, and Wayne's Davy Crockett is as of right now my favorite incarnation of the legendary pioneer. When it comes to judging the performance of Crockett I approach very similar to how Doug Walker (aka The Nostalgia Critic) judges the performances of Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings films. I have to able to buy the fact that Crockett is both a Frontiersmen and a Congressmen. To get my reference point check out his video LOTR Animated vs LOTR (http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/9754-lotr). Fess Parker's version from the Disney films of the 1950s, but Wayne's comes in a very close second. 

Probably Wayne's best scene (or second best if we're talking about the theatrical cut. Again, I'll get to that) is his Republic Speech. 

Another great casting choice was Laurence Harvey as William Travis and Richard Widmark as James Bowie. These actors fit their roles perfectly and the arc between the two characters is helped out a lot by their performances. Throughout the film the two conflict with each other in ideals about how to command the fort, and the slow progression of respect shows up when Santa Anna's army arrives at the fort. A cavalry officer gives delivers a message saying they have the opportunity to surrenders, but before the message is finished Travis fires off a cannon thus starting the siege. When asked by Crockett what he thought about it, Bowie replies with,

"I hate to say anything good about that long winded jackanapes, but he does know the short way to start a war."

Travis's arc is displayed visually displayed in a very clever way. Throughout the film we see Travis giving orders and talking down (literally) to the other men. We get an idea of his character from a speech he gives where he says in the privacy of his office to one of his officers, Capt. Dickinson (Ken Curtis),

"I am better than that ramble down there."

As the film grows closer and close to the final battle Travis starts to gain more respect for the men. His arc is completed when he announces to the other men of the fort that no help is coming. He does this on the ground level and looking up at them. Alamo - No Retreat. The first to join him is Bowie, and slowly each defender gets off their horse and joins him. 

And during the final battle, as the enemy is swarming in, he casts aside his saber's scabbard and changes on into them sword fighting them. Before he dies (I'd say this is a spoiler but people if you know about the battle you know what happens) he breaks his sword in half and tosses at them, symbolizing how he'll never surrender. I sadly can not find a picture or video of this so PLEASE go and watch the film. 

But of course every film has their flaws and so does this film. The biggest actual flaw of the film, outside of some continuity issues, is Frankie Avalon. He is clearly the weakest link in this cast of greats. No I'm not picking on him because he's young or because he's a singer. There are plenty of singers who have done great in acting. Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra are the biggest examples (both have won Oscars for acting). But, he is extremely out of place. He does have one pretty good acting moment. At the very end of the film, after the final battle, Smitty (Avalon) was sent out as a courier to get help he tries to ride back so he can help but he is obviously too late. As the music plays we see him slowly take off his cap honoring his fallen comrades. Very simply, very subtle, and very moving. Actually that about summarizes the ending as well. 

But the saddest thing about the film is that the version I feel in love with, the film that made me love movies, isn't available on DVD. The Director's Cut (or Roadshow version) is only available on VHS... which of course I own. I'm still not really sure why they can't convert this to DVD. Thankfully, we have a saint on Youtube who posted the scenes. Many of these scenes add so much more. 

Now the final battle is beyond words. The build up, the sounds, the sights, and action is superb. I know my words won't do it justice so I again insist on getting the film. Here's a few still shots I found just to give you an idea.

I could go on and on about this film but I want you to experience it. Hopefully you'll enjoy. If you've seen it share your thoughts. Also, don't be surprised if you see me post a lot about this movie, at least on my Facebook page. Which you 'Like' right here. John's Film Reviews

What better way to end this is to quote the movie's Sam Houston (Richard Boone)

"I hope they remember. I hope Texas remembers." 

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