Glory of 'The Alamo'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

THE ALAMO (PG-13) Three Stars (Good) The latest attempt to depict the Texas battle of 1836 struggles valiantly to present the iconic story more accurately than ever before. But despite much that's engrossing, the film falls short of a hoped-for epic stature. Still, Billy Bob Thornton is a fascinating Davy Crockett. John Lee Hancock directs. Touchstone Pictures, 137 minutes.

By film's end, viewers may still be unclear about why and how this bloody defeat became the most memorable aspect of the Texas battle for independence from Mexico.

Still, there's much to admire and enjoy in John Lee Hancock's "Alamo," starting with a fascinating portrait by a magnificent Billy Bob Thornton. He's Davy Crockett, the famous backwoods Indian fighter and former U.S. congressman who's come to Texas in search of new frontiers.

But, unlike the larger-than-life legends depicted by Fess Parker and John Wayne in popular films more than 40 years ago, Thornton's Crockett has feet of clay. He's an everyday guy with undeniable skill and gumption. But he's also trapped in an impossible myth that he must somehow try to uphold. If you believed the stage plays and dime novels of the day, Davy Crockett could leap rivers and grin down grizzly bears.

Crockett and a handful of fellow Tennessee volunteers join the 100-plus or so supporters at the Alamo, just as Gen. Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarria) and 2,400 Mexican soldiers are about to surround the mission turned fort at San Antonio.

This version even suggests Crockett had no idea the Alamo was about to be the site of a lopsided battle — and might not have come if he knew.

To the extent that this "Alamo" depicts an intriguingly realistic Crockett, the film has great appeal. It's less winning with its more superficial portraits of the other three major figures of the story — the independent-minded, knife-wielding Bowie (Jason Patric); the young, ill-at-ease commander William Travis (Patrick Wilson), and the Texan leader Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) who tries to build a suitable army elsewhere, while the ragtag handful struggle at the Alamo.

Bowie and Travis are under-served by the script.

The usually reliable Quaid clenches his teeth for an overly hammy portrait of Houston. And the film fails to sufficiently explain Houston's end game. (He used the sacrifices at the Alamo as a stalling tactic, while he prepared his army for the ultimate victory, six weeks later at San Jacinto.)

Indeed, sacrifice is at the center of the Alamo story, and this version offers poignant moments; however, this "Alamo" just doesn't tear at the heart like the story of a great sacrifice should.

Rated PG-13, with battle violence.