The Alamo
Short description
The Alamo dramatizes the 1836 siege of a fortified mission in San Antonio, where a small force of Texan and Tejano defenders held out against the much larger Mexican army led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Among the men inside the compound are Davy Crockett, the famous frontiersman and marksman, and Jim Bowie, known for his skill with a knife, alongside Colonel William Travis, who struggles to impose his authority on a garrison that includes volunteers with their own ideas about who should lead. As the Mexican troops surround the mission and the defenders wait for reinforcements that do not come, the standoff builds toward the assault that made the site a rallying point for the fight for Texas independence.
The film is a historical war drama directed by John Lee Hancock, released in 2004 between his earlier The Rookie and later The Blind Side. Hancock wrote the screenplay with Stephen Gaghan and Leslie Bohem, and the producers were Mark Johnson and Ron Howard. Dennis Quaid leads the cast as Sam Houston, with Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett, Jason Patric as Bowie, Patrick Wilson as Travis, and Emilio Echevarría as Santa Anna. It was an expensive production, made for about 107 million dollars, and its worldwide box office of roughly 26 million was far below that figure.
Audience response has been moderate, with an IMDb rating of 6.1 from about 24,000 votes and a TMDB rating of 5.8 from fewer voters. Film critics were less positive still, giving it 5.1 from 157 reviews, a noticeably lower figure than either audience score.
What's left behind the scenes
- During filming, local news channels sent several helicopters to the film set area to obtain aerial footage. This disrupted the normal workflow so much that everyone present was ordered to make an obscene gesture so that uninvited guests could not use any of the material they filmed.
- For his role in the film, Billy Bob Thornton learned to play the cello.
- The film set, spanning over 20 hectares, became the largest and most expensive ever built in North America throughout the history of cinema.
- One of the extras stole a bag of Doritos chips from the warehouse before being called to the set. He stuffed it under his clothes and joined the formation. During the filming of the final battle, the group he was in charged, and at one point the bag fell out. The entire scene had to be reshot, and afterwards all members of the film crew were periodically checked for similar incidents.
- The film was shot in the vicinity of Austin, Texas, between January and June 2003, primarily on the grounds of the Rymers Ranch.
- The depiction of David Crockett's death in the film is based on the testimony of Mexican soldier José Enrique de la Peña. He claimed that the hero was identified by Mexicans and executed by them after the battle, and not killed in it, as some others believed.
- The role of Susanna Dickinson, the only adult American of non-Spanish origin to survive the siege of the Alamo, occupied significantly more space in the initial script compared to the final version of the film. She was supposed to become one of the central characters in the film, and Laura Clifton, cast in the role, was the only actress constantly present on the set. After the final editing, her role was reduced to a single line and a few fleeting appearances. As a result, a film that could have been a turning point in the actress's career actually did her no good.
- With total expenses exceeding $140 million, 'The Alamo' went down in history as one of the biggest failures in film history. The film's box office receipts totaled just $22.4 million in North American theaters and $25.8 million worldwide.
- Several people who were invited as extras were, in reality, descendants of the defenders of the Alamo.
- Disney originally planned to release 'The Alamo' for Christmas 2003, but due to director John Lee Hancock continuing to work on the film, its release was postponed to the Easter weekend of 2004.
- Ron Howard was originally slated to direct the film, with Russell Crowe, Ethan Hawke, and Billy Bob Thornton set to star. However, serious financial and creative disagreements between the studios Disney and Imagine Entertainment led to the first two actors withdrawing from the project, and Ron Howard limited himself to the role of one of the producers. One of the main reasons for this was Ron Howard's insistence on a $200 million budget, which Disney was unwilling to approve. Following this, Texas native John Lee Hancock was invited as director, and the budget was reduced to $107 million.
- Approximately six months were spent filming the movie, including over a month on the final battle, which in reality lasted less than 6 hours at dawn on March 6, 1836.
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