Posts from alamo221 in thread „James Arness“

Amanda Blake died some time ago I think in the early to mid 1990s. Most of the cast, with the exception of Buck Taylor and Burt Reynolds, are now sadly gone.

James Arness has died

http://www.jamesarness.com/

I was excited when I first heard of The Alamo, 13 Days of Glory being made. But after seeing it, I was pretty disappointed. Julia was a great Santa Anna, Baldwin was fine as Travis, Arness was a bit too old for Bowie and Keith's Crockett WAY too old (plus no coonskin cap!). The budget was far too low-they counted on using Duke's stock footage for the battle and couldn't afford it. But the producer bragged that it was going to be the most accurate version, then ignored the input of his Alamo advisors.

Harvey's accent didn't bother me. I thought it gave him a nice edge when confronting the other characters and acting arrogant. Plus he was a good enough actor to be able to overcome some of dialog and still sound somewhat natural.

Well, Ya know what they say about opinions. Anyway, back to Arness, I think he would have been great as Houston (or Bowie).

Charlton Heston was offered two different roles in the film, Jim Bowie and Colonel William Travis. But Heston did not want to be directed by Wayne because he feared critical response to a right-wing movie (According to Heston, Wayne had intended the epic to be an allegory for America's Cold War with the Soviet Union). Heston (along with Clark Gable, who was offered a role and turned it down) in later years said they were sorry for not accepting the roles they were offered.
http://www.thedigitalbits.com/…tsiegel/siegel040609.html

Loved every minute of The Alamo, and wish it was LONGER!

But Heston said later he wished he HAD done it. I don't think Arness doubted Duke's directing skills, he just knew how much would be expected by Duke.

Like I said, I think he was intimidated by Wayne. He had the possibility of doing either Houston or Bowie in The Alamo, but didn't show for the meeting. He was announced for The Undefeated-but again bowed out. Reading his bio, I got the impression he really didn't like acting much-he constantly had GS scripts rewritten so his character was barely in most episodes, giving him more free time. He knew from previous experience what Duke would expect-especially if Duke was directing. To be blunt, I think he "chickened out".

It's kinda strange, but I've always had the personal feeling that James Arness was a bit intimidated (who wouldn't be!) by John Wayne. I think thats why he got cold feet on doing The Alamo and The Undefeated. I'm sure he appreciated Duke's help in his career tho- after all it made him a millionaire. IMHO I think they pretty much liked and respected each other tho. Arness did do a tribute special on Duke after his death.

I'm pretty sure Arness was only doing narration for the Comanche Stallion movie. Does anyone know if it was ever completed? Last I heard it was going to be an animated feature.