Posts from itdo in thread „The New Alamo Picture“

the interesting thing about the Disney film is that they put the cinema version together from the three 1-hour-TV episodes - therefore cutting a lot. They were just cashing in on the success they didn't even expect. They cropped the original frame to make it look like some widescreen. And for the theatrical release, they somehow made it more like a kiddie version, cutting a lot of swearing and shooting, and lots of the gory Alamo scenes from the TV version aren't seen in the theatrical version.

Oh yes, I never did like Fess Parker's coonskin cap, too! In terms of "dead beaver hats" the best would be Wayne's! (they still have it on display in San Antonio)

That's another thing on historical accuracy: I read that Crockett never wore it once he was inside the Alamo. That's what the new film picks up as well.

Also the workings of the canons (the balls actually exploding AFTER they hit their target) and the long rifles should fascinate you.
As for Itdo Rudy Robbins: he's a bit hard to identify in Green Berets cause he's clean shaven for once! Look for him in the scene where Kirby first gets to Dodge City with his men.

I've seen Disney's version just recently (got in the mood to see Alamo pictures after I saw the new one), and the Alamo part is really the one the didn't spend too much money on. The only times you see the chapel is a matte painting, they actually had just one wall built and only a dozen or so extras! (and they borrowed battle footage from Budd Boetticher's Man from the Alamo!) So, 50 years later, it's hard to imagine how this could have started the Crockett Craze. While I enjoy it immensly to watch (I'm glad to have the 35mm version) it sure looks like the TV production it was.

"It do" Rudy Robbins went to Hollywood after The Alamo and also played a part in Wayne's Green Berets. I met him in Brackettville a few years back, and he told me that he came back to the area when his movie career didn't take off. He's playing in a country band.

Of all the Alamo movies, which one would you consider the most accurate?
I'd have to say, despite the execution scene, it would have to be the new one (we're only looking at historical accuracy now, of course).

I think it's fascinating that you have relatives going all the way back to the Alamo.
I hope you don't mind my talking about the subject, being a foreigner in terms of Texas history, but the theme is definitely intriguing. I think you should watch the new version, just for the sake of having seen it. Because I think they didn't set out to destroy the myth, just to make a new version with aspects we haven't seen so far. As production values goes, it certainly is the most handsomely mounted production since Wayne's version, certainly there was more money spent than on the other films, including the IMAX film and the Burt Kennedy version. The Alamo and the town they built look really great and ring true to historical paintings. They are true to little details, even re-creating Crockett's west, the one shown in The Alamo today. With the exception of the Crockett execution, the battle seems to be all the way true to the facts (they don't show someone trying to blow up the pulvera).

But then of course they want to give the audience what one expects - just with little differences. The death of Bowie, for instance, is directed like all his movie deaths before, shooting two pistols from his stretcher - yet this time he just has time to reach out for his knife before they cut him to ribbons. Being true to history and yet trying to be entertaining was a difficult task I imagine. Like in the scene of Crockett arriving in Bexar, someone greets him: Hey, Davy! And one of his men instantly clears this one up: "He prefers DAVID." Which is true to the records, of course, yet as an avid Alamo fan, wouldn't you just want to hear them call him DAVY?

I finally got the chance to see the new Alamo version - had to get the DVD, even had to get it from overseas, since the film never made it to our cinemas. I guess the distributors feared the theme would be to alien for Europeans, and of course, it's not an upbeat ending.

Anyway, what I was really waiting for is the scene which caused so much discussion between the "Crockett surrendered" and the "Crockett fought to the death" people. I think the film quite cleverly choose the middle road: Crockett didn't die fighting, but he didn't beg for his life neither, going down with a smart line offending Santa Anna. In all the Alamo movies I have seen, this is the one most accurate to history, as far as it's known, I'd even include the IMAX presentation which is only shown in San Antonio, unfortunately. But then again, the Alamo is about myth, and I much prefer it that way on the screen. Of course, with every new Alamo movie they make, one has to fear: Are they going to be better than the beloved Wayne movie (not that there's much chance though, but anyway, that's what you think). And time and time again, they don't even come close. Ha!

Nope, maybe Crowe was "considered" at one time (or maybe they just spread the word to make use of his star-name to drum up some publicity) but now it's definitely Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett. I expect a lot of him. Haven't seen a bad performance by this man yet. He's in theaters over here right now, with a very very funny cameo in "Love Actually", that british film. Do you get that over in the US? Hope so! I had an interview with director Richard Curtis (he wrote "Four Weddings", "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones" and the "Mr.Bean" sketches) and actress Laura Linney as well as Ricardo Santoro (of Charlie's Angels fame), and it was quite funny to do it, too. Asked Curtis what he hated about Americans (which caused quite a reaction from Linney) because it seems he likes to see Americans in his films as the kind of stupid tourist. Note the line "torturing Americans" in "Four Weddings", the stupid US General (Burt Reynolds) in "Mr. Bean - the Movie", and even the way Julia Roberts behaves in Notting Hill. Now its Billy Bob doing the US cliches (playing a horny president). Curtis answer? There is a percentage of stupid people in my movies, and therefore they have to be the Americans! :lol:
The man made a very funny and romantic movie. Go see it! It'll be some time before we can see Billy Bob defending the Alamo.

Make sure you see the UNCUT version first (yeah, here I go again), the way JW intended it to be seen, and to my knowledge you'll get this 191 min version only on VHS or on Laserdisc (the DVD has the old gutted version - look out!).

AFTER you saw JW's original dream, you can go ahead and watch the cut version and cry.

And THEN you can see the new flic.

If they even come close to the JW-version (which they won't, they can't) I'll switch boards and can be found at Billy Bob Thornton's messageboard from then on.

Watch the Teaser:

http://alamo.movies.go.com/main.html

Boy-o-boy, would I like to be in the US at Christmas to go see it and not having to wait another couple month till it hits Europe!

The thing historians always fight about (and that's the choice Wayne's art director had do make, as well as the one for the new picture) is: How did the chapel really look. The way it looks today in San Antonio isn't the way it looked in 1836. Some portion on top was added. Wayne's Alamo has a broken down top (note the windows of Wayne's Alamo, they are cut in half) whereas this picture of the new one shows the chapel fassade intact, the way it is today (of course, that's only a promotion, I have no idea how the new chapel actually will look in the film).

Walt Disney made an interesting choice for the chapel when he did his version: he built his Alamo (or rather: his matte painter painted it for they never had a complete set) the way it is today - moving the Crockett barricade back! So the chapel would actually not be a very safe place for the wounded - that way it is exposed to the enemy, haha! I guess Uncle Walt wanted to have it that way so the kids who would visit San Antonio weren't dissappointed.

The new Alamo picture is coming right at us, and here's the upcoming DVD-cover already:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005JM...01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Alamo historians will point out how they recreated the famous chapel, Wayne's Alamo built by Al Ybarra had a broken down roof - this one seems closer to the modern version standing in San Antonio today.