The Alamo is a 1960 American War film released by United Artists, starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett, Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, and featuring Frankie Avalon, Chill Wills, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joseph Calleia as Juan Seguin, Ruben Padilla as General Santa Anna, Richard Boone as Sam Houston, Ken Curtis, Hank Worden, and Denver Pyle. It was photographed in 70 mm Todd-AO by William H. Clothier. The subject of the movie is the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.
Background
As early as 1945, John Wayne decided to make a movie about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.Wayne hired James Edward Grant as scriptwriter, and the two began researching the battle and preparing a draft of the script. The two hired Pat Ford, son of John Ford, as a research assistant. As the script neared completion, however, Wayne and the president of Republic Pictures, Herbert Yates, clashed over the proposed $3 million budget. Wayne left Republic over the feud, but was unable to take his script with him. That script was later rewritten and made into the movie The Last Command.
Themes
Historical accuracy
The film does very little to explain the causes of the Texas Revolution or the reasons why the battle took place. Although Grant and Wayne had done significant research, according to Alamo historian Timothy Todish, “there is not a single scene in The Alamo which corresponds to an historically verifiable incident”. Historians J. Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle demanded that their names be removed from the credits as historical advisors.
Politics
Wayne’s daughter Aissa later wrote, “I think making The Alamo became my father’s own form of combat. More than an obsession, it was the most intensely personal project in his career.” Many of Wayne’s associates agreed that the film served as a political platform for Wayne. Many of the statements that his character made were indicative of Wayne’s own views. Roberts and Olson point to an overwhelming theme of republicanism, veering closely towards libertarianism. They point to a scene in which Wayne, as Crockett, remarks; “Republic. I like that word. Means that people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. Republic is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat.”
The film draws many elements from the Cold War environment in which it was produced. According to Roberts and Olson, “the script evokes parallels between Santa Anna’s Mexico and Khruschchev’s Soviet Union, as well as Hitler’s Germany. All three demanded lines in the sand and resistance to death.”
