United Artists, 1960, 162 minutes
Starring John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey and Frankie Avalon
Written by James Edward Grant
Produced by James Edward Grant, John Wayne and Michael Wayne
Directed by John Wayne

John Wayne’s insistence on choosing the Alamo to be his first film as a director meant that the studio was unwilling to pay more than a portion of the budget, which was so huge that even with the substantial assistance of private investors, he had to mortgage everything he owned to make this film. I mention this to show Wayne’s intense feelings for the film, which was made at the height of the Cold War, and was intended to show that Americans would fight to the death to defend democracy. It is also widely believed to make up for not serving his country in WWII.

The story of how William Barrett Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett had led 182 men to hold off a five thousand man Mexican army for thirteen days was familiar to American audiences, so the only background about the Texan Revolution is in the opening narration which admits that the rebels were Mexican citizens but Santa Anna was coming north to crush all who opposed his tyrannical rule. That’s it.

This is a pity since the background to the revolution is actually quite simple. Mexico had allowed American immigrants to settle in relatively remote and empty Texas. Preoccupied with its own revolution, the native population was soon outnumbered by the immigrants, many of whom were from the southern states, so they wanted to continue their practice of slavery even though it was illegal in Mexico. More important, this was the Age of Expansion and Americans were used to settling and absorbing an area, regardless of what the original population thought, so conflict was inevitable. After a series of confrontations, open warfare began in October 1835 and the rebels had gained control of Texas by early December.

Travis is in charge because the trauma of capturing the Alamo in heavy fighting had driven Bowie to find peace in the bottom of a bottle. In reality, Bowie, like Sam Houston, Stephen Austin and Travis, had left considerably before the final assault, and he was a heavy drinker who was popular because he led huge parties. Travis only inherited command when Bowie was laid low by something, probably tuberculosis, right after the arrival of Santa Anna’s army.

Travis is ordered to hold the Alamo to buy time for Houston to build an army. Actually, Houston had sent Bowie to take away the cannon and blow up the Alamo because he knew that the Mexican army would roll over any fort. Santa Anna stopped at the Alamo because he was ahead of schedule and he was waiting for his heavy artillery to catch up. Furthermore, Houston did not even believe that the Alamo was in danger, and the young Texan government was more pre-occupied debating whether or not to actually declare independence.

Colonel Davy Crockett shows up leading a group of jolly, happy Tennesseans who act like something out of an Errol Flynn film. When Travis tries to convince them to fight Santa Anna’s tyranny Crockett admits that although his men think they came to hunt, he came to fight because he worries that Santa Anna will continue north if he is not defeated in Texas, which is laughable since Santa Anna’s greatest worry was that America would become involved. I suspect that Wayne wanted the Tennesseans to be heroic volunteers rather than poor men with few prospects who were willing to kill dark-skinned people in exchange for a land grant.

Significant parts of the story are changed to make the rebels heroic. Crockett’s men comment that the Mexicans may have fancy uniforms but they just spent two years putting down revolts so they are fighting men. While seemingly giving credit to the enemy, Wayne obviously intended to conceal the fact that the rebels were beaten by an army largely made up of untrained conscripts. Also, Bowie loves his Mexican wife and two sons but in reality they did not have any children and since his wife was not mentioned in his will, it seems doubtful that he was attracted to anything other than her money.

Being a John Wayne film, he gets to beat up a lot of men, win the love of a charming, young Hispanic woman, and foil the plans of a slimy Anglo who is cutting deals with Santa Anna. This is not a bad thing since this is what he was best suited for and there is some good humor in the courtship scene.

Much of the movie focuses on the three main characters’ contrasting leadership styles. Travis believes that the best way to handle troops is to lie to them, while Bowie is unable to see the big picture. It is Wayne’s movie so Crockett is the ideal leader, who reasons calmly with Travis and handles Bowie by getting him drunk. Another theme is the conflict between regular and irregular troops. Unable to speak other than with clipped words, Travis maintains strict discipline, while Crockett and Bowie basically go their own way. At first, Bowie and Crockett do not consult with Travis when they raid the enemy but the three leaders learn to respect each other and realize the need for regulars and irregulars to cooperate.

With any movie about the Alamo, the key question is why did they stay? In this version, Travis believes that by the time Santa Anna’s full army arrives, reinforcements will come from Goliad, the nearest rebel fort. When they do not arrive in time Travis makes a stirring speech that persuades everyone to stay although it seems unlikely that the men had any choice since the Mexicans had already surrounded the Alamo.

The final assault begins when the whole Mexican army marches up, drums banging, in broad daylight. The actual final assault was a surprise dawn attack but I guess the point is that honorable men attack during the daytime. The Mexicans take horrendous casualties but even so the rebels die one by one, while the long line of cannon simply knock down a wall. Viewers may wonder why Santa Anna did not just use cannon instead of throwing away so many men. In fact, Santa Anna was jealous of the glory that his other commanders were gaining and wanted to take the Alamo through assault to put fear into the rest of the rebels. The huge casualties that would likely result did not matter in the least.

Wayne has been repeatedly and unfairly criticized for his limited directing ability. Many people have felt that John Ford, Wayne’s mentor, was the uncredited director because he had showed up early in the shooting. While there is little debate that the film could have benefited from his touch, when he started to tell Wayne how to direct, he was sent off for several weeks to film second unit footage that was not used, so for better or worse it was Wayne’s film.

Admittedly, the Alamo does not stand up with the work that he did with Ford, but then again what does? Some beautiful work with shadows proves that William Clothier was one of the best cinematographers of the time. The huge budget was worth it and it is a pleasure to see Santa Anna’s huge army back in the day of casts of thousands. The set was designed for interior and exterior scenes, which gives the film a very realistic feeling. While even Wayne’s friends admit that he did not know how to direct actors, few scenes drag, mainly the overlong speeches, although the stagy and preachy dialogue does not seem natural. Furthermore, Wayne’s movies were usually limited by his preference for directors like Andrew McLaglen, who were competent but easily dominated, so this film is smoother because he could not dominate himself. In fact, he was so busy starring, directing and producing that the supporting characters were given a great deal of screen time.

It stretches the facts horribly and there is a bit more adventure than is plausible but it is a good movie.