'Alamo' gets
anniversary release
Doug Nye
-
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
Friday, December 29, 2000
In the late 1950s, John Wayne hocked just about everything he owned
to fulfill his dream of making a movie about the Alamo.
To say he threw himself into the
project is an understatement. He produced the film, directed and
starred in it. Wayne had such high hopes, he even dared to think
that it might pick up a few Oscars. But when ''The Alamo'' was
finally released in 1960, the historical epic received a lukewarm
welcome from critics.
Wayne may have been disappointed, but
he wasn't devastated. He felt all along that he had made ''a pretty
good picture'' and took some satisfaction in that the movie did go
on to receive seven Academy Award nominations, including best
picture. Time has proved that the Duke was right. Critical
appreciation for ''The Alamo'' has grown over the years, and it is
easily among the 100 best westerns ever made.
Celebrating the film's 40th
anniversary, MGM Home Entertainment has released a stellar DVD
version of ''The Alamo'' ($19.98), presented in all its wide-screen
(letterbox) glory and its original thunderous stereophonic sound.
Included is a 40-minute documentary, ''John Wayne's Alamo,'' which
features interviews with some of the surviving cast members,
on-location footage and video clips from a 1960 television special
about the movie.
Wayne, decked out in buckskin jacket
and coonskin cap early in the film, acquits himself well as the
good-natured frontiersman Davy Crockett, who leads a band of
Tennesseans into Texas, where they join the fight for freedom. Age
51 when filming began, Wayne was just right for the part. The real
Crockett was 50 when he made the journey to Texas.
Richard Widmark is fine as another
famous frontiersman, Jim Bowie. Laurence Harvey plays Col. William
Travis, first in command, as an obnoxious but dedicated officer who
realizes the gravity of the situation. Richard Boone's appearances
as Sam Houston are limited but extremely effective.
The focal point of the film, of course,
is the 13-day siege of the Alamo, an old San Antonio mission built
in the early 1700s. The siege and massacre of Texans by Mexican
troops in 1836 is considered one of the pivotal moments in Texas'
fight for independence from Mexico.