Remembering The Alamo

I had hoped to be in San Antonio this weekend for the annual Alamo Symposium and other events commemorating the fall of the Alamo, March 6, 1836.  I did make the trip in 2011 and had a wonderful time.  The dawn ceremony on the sixth of March was very moving and inspiring.  For people interested in the subject of the Alamo and its defenders the Alamo Society is the place to go.  For information, please click on this link:  http://www.alamosociety.org/ .

 

The Alamo has featured in a number of movies since the 1911 film The Immortal Alamo, which told the story of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto in one reel, a little over ten minutes, depending on projection speed.  Although this is a lost film photos exist.  Information on this and other movies may be found in the book Alamo Movies by Frank Thompson.

 

Like most of my generation I first encountered the Alamo courtesy of Walt Disney and the television program Disneyland.  Fess Parker was Davy Crockett and we learned all the verses of the song, in addition to learning about Jim Bowie and William Barrett Travis.  Republic's The Last Command told the story of the Alamo with Jim Bowie as the focus.  Five years later John Wayne donned the coonskin cap and starred in, and directed, The Alamo.

Other dramatizations followed, My personal favorites were Disney's, Republic's, and John Wayne's seriously flawed masterpiece.  The 2004 The Alamo should have been a contender, but the script and bad handling of some of the characters made it a hard film to love.

My personal favorite Alamo film is still The Last Command.  I think I like it because it is not a BIG movie.  Also the characters come across more as real people.  John Wayne's opus was doomed by a gargantuan script by James Edward Grant.  There were no conversations for the most part, but just about everyone made a speech.  There were no villains.  Even the despot Santa Anna comes across as a kind, grandfatherly type.  The battle scenes were spectacular but lacked any sense of realism.  The saving grace is Dimitri Tiomkin's wonderful score, one of the best of his long, distinguished career.

But back to The Last Command.  Arthur Hunnicutt steels the show with his portrayal of Davy Crockett.  He looks like someone who crossed hundreds of miles to reach San Antonio.  Richard Carlson's Travis is a hot headed type, but not the boor of Grant's script, or the weakling of the 2004 film.  Sterling Hayden does tend to be stiff as Bowie at times but still is a strong presence.  J. Carroll Naish is excellent as Santa Anna.  This was probably the first film portrayal that showed Santa Anna as a more rounded person and not as a snarling villain.  Certainly he is devious and a dictator, yet he is very human and, in his own way, likable.

The Last Command is also blessed by a good score; this one by Max Steiner, famed for his many great scores of the thirties and forties.  Steiner's Deguello, while nothing like the actual bugle call favored by Santa Anna, is downright scary.  It was appropriated for the horrid TV film The Alamo: 13 Days To Glory. 

But, getting down to basics, the siege and fall of the Alamo one hundred and seventy-seven years ago has become one of those moments in our nation's history that demonstrate the courage and ultimate sacrifice in men fighting for a cause.  The garrison was outnumbered and outclassed by the professional army of Mexico.  Both sides displayed great courage during the battle.  The Mexican army had also completed a long, hard march through the late winter weather before they arrived at San Antonio.  Theirs was not an easy task.

This is a special time to me for I have loved the story for close to sixty years now.  There have been many books on the subject, new discoveries, and new theories.  Oddly, while there have been a number of movies on the subject, there has never been a really GOOD movie on the subject.  All have had serious flaws, but most have been watchable, with the exception of 13 Days To Glory.  But most have also opened a window on the events that lead to the creation of the Republic of Texas.  So, sometime in the next few days take the time to watch one of the Alamo movies and reflect on what inspires mere men to take a stand even though the odds favor the other side.  Take some time and Remember the Alamo.