Release Date: April 9, 2004
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarría
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Written by: Leslie Bohem, Stephen Gaghan, John Lee Hancock
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (sustained intense battle sequences)
The Alamo started as a project under the supervision of director Ron Howard, who, by all accounts, intended to create a completely (perhaps brutally) honest portrayal of the siege that took place in 1836 between a small group of Texans and the Mexican forces led by Gen. Santa Anna. Touchstone Pictures opted to go a more family-friendly route, though, and hired The Rookie director John Lee Hancock instead. Lacking true emotion and intriguing historical drama, the result is rather disappointing. Though we will never know for sure whether Howard’s version would have been better, it can certainly be said that it wouldn’t have been hard for him to top this Alamo.
As for accuracy, there is still plenty of history throughout the film, which was written by Hancock, Leslie Bohem, and Stephen Gaghan, but it’s poorly assembled into a story that is sluggishly paced and into a collection of characters that have no passion or conviction. There are figures reciting dialogue and speeches, going where the historical fact-checkers say they should, and trying to stir emotions among themselves and the audience, but it is surprisingly uninteresting, more like a half-hearted reenactment than a full-fledged drama. If not for the title, it wouldn’t be impossible for some viewers to forget what bit of history the movie is about.
But at least the cast is respectable and the scenery attractive. Playing Gen. Sam Houston, Dennis Quaid does his best to portray a leader who dearly loves the state of Texas but stays miles away when the Mexican army is dishing it out to the few Texan soldiers who refuse to let the Alamo fall to foreign hands. Quaid’s character is sparsely seen, but as anyone familiar with the story knows, his role is pivotal when all is said and done. The actor adds the right touch to the part with a rugged and unwavering performance that doesn’t get to show its full strength until the very end, when he gives the speech that includes the famous rallying cry, “Remember the Alamo!” A movie solely about Houston could probably have been a lot more interesting.
Ironically, everything within the Alamo itself is the most tedious. There is a feud between Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), a knife-wielding alcoholic, and Col. William Barrett Travis (Patrick Wilson), both of whom claim to be in command of the military force guarding the fort. But their rivalry has the touch of a high school grudge match, not that of two men fighting for honor in the face of danger. Neither of them is particularly likeable and the scenes in which they argue feel like filler material the writers never got around to treating properly: Is this part of the old saw about war being hell, or are these just two immature men who can’t get past their differences? In the end, the writers never answer the question, they only sidestep it: They put Bowie in a sickbed, out of the action, for the entire second half of the movie.
Then there’s Davy Crocket (he prefers to be called David), played by Billy Bob Thornton, who is the only interesting personality within the Alamo’s walls. A legend even in his own time, Crocket is a patriot and a hero, and a great violin player to boot. Though you can sense his fear, he never gives up on the men he’s committed himself to, and he has one of the best scenes of the movie: When Santa Anna’s men are trying to intimidate the Americans with calvary music, Crocket fires back by standing atop the fort and serenading the enemy with a tune on his violin. The Mexicans stand down and let another tense moment pass, extending the hope for peace. Still, the character, played quite well by Thornton, is a diamond lost in a pile of rocks.
Word has it that Hancock had to cut out nearly an hour of footage after negative test screenings, and so the film was pushed back four months from its original release date. This isn’t surprising, given the numerous empty spaces throughout the story, like the women and children living in the Alamo who all remain nameless or the subplot of two black slaves that is never resolved, and the complete lack of drama in the battle itself. It didn’t need to be as bloody as Saving Private Ryan (though that might have helped cover up the movie’s blandness) -- movies like The Lord of the Rings have proven you don’t need an R rating to make captivating war sequences, just a healthy dose of humanity. The Alamo has none; it is only a showcase of impressive costumes and set pieces that will be long forgotten while the story of the real battle lives on.
-- Andy Zientek (zfilm@earthlink.net)