I just happened to start watching this movie and was immediately struck by how restrained it was. It didn't go over the top in either direction, either making the historical figures larger than life OR turning them into complete jerks or anti-heroes. It just let them be human beings--not quite average human beings, but human beings nonetheless.SPOILER ALERT I started reading up on Bowie before the movie reached the point of his death and learned that the movie depicted the most likely scenario, that he died sick in bed trying to defend himself with his pistols. But the film didn't try to turn this into some last stand of blazing glory where he takes out a dozen or more enemy soldiers before falling. Bowie manages to shoot just one or two soldiers before he's overwhelmed and slaughtered.Crockett's death was probably more dramatized--from what I read it's more likely he died during the battle than from being captured then executed (but not before getting in a couple of digs at Santa Anna). Still, even that scene doesn't overwork the dramatics too much.

I just finished revisiting this film, and despite some lingering quarrels with Davy Crockett's cheesy death scene and Dennis Quaid's overheated portrayal of Sam Houston, this movie is a wonderfully emotional experience for me as a native Texan. The macho and occasionally corny 1960 version with John Wayne, Laurence Harvey and Richard Widmark is, in my opinion, far inferior to this film. John Lee Hancock did a brilliant job of portraying the haunting fears and nagging doubts that the doomed and selfless defenders surely felt when they faced the grim reality that they were surrounded and alone. He also tried to hew pretty closely to the historic facts while engaging in the inevitable amount of dramatic license required for a Hollywood feature. I cringed when I heard that Billy Bob Thornton was cast as Davy Crockett, but he was a very pleasant surprise. His twangy Southern accent was a perfect fit for the role. The other pleasant discovery was the Hispanic actor who played Juan Seguin. This well-known Texas history story passed into the realm of heroic legend long ago, and that makes it difficult to portray without disappointing lots of viewers and history buffs who have rigid expectations. I give full credit to native Texan Hancock for even taking it on. The final siege sequence is visually stunning, inspiring, overwhelming, and heartbreaking. And the coda at San Jacinto provides an emotional catharsis. Great music score as well. I wish Hancock had been better served by a couple of the main performances, but I remain a fan of this film.

As the Mexicans sends an army of thousands to take back Texas(which was rightfully theirs), The Alamo becomes one of the main battlegrounds, in spite of being difficult to defend and possessing too few troops - the Americans simply didn't think there was much of a risk. We focus on general Houston(Quaid, a smart, if at times overly aggressive, commander) who some consider obsessed, Bowie(Patric, doing much better than in Speed 2, the only other thing I've seen him in... a man resigned to his terminally ill state, who still won't stand for just anything), Travis(Wilson, a man who has to prove that he isn't just a pampered rich kid) and Crockett(Thornton, stealing the film - having a complicated relationship with the mythical status he enjoys).There are some positives to this. Every major character is a human being, no one is a cardboard cutout, and our protagonists are not flawless. We have themes of legend vs. reality, ambition vs. Family and lower class vs. educated. We can understand both sides, and this does admit some gruesome things the Americans did(and in general there are a ton of little details that feel real, and are there purely for that, whether they reflect well on "our guys" or not). When Spanish should be spoken, it is, and convincingly so. The production design is good, with high authenticity.It's apparently the most(I haven't watched the others) historically accurate account, however, it is also Disney-fied. There is Little tension, the actual battle comes in late and is short(and violence tends to be implied). It's talky, and comes off as a made-for-TV piece, not reaching the levels of epic that it's clearly going for. There is no one vision shining through, and we're left wondering what to feel. As such, the 2 hour, 3 minute running time sans credits(or 2 hours and 11 minutes with) at times really snail-paces by.The DVD comes with an English Audio descriptive language track, the featurette Return of the Legend: The Making of The Alamo(18 minutes long; I will review this on its own separate page here on the site), 5 minutes of fine deleted scenes(with optional director's commentary), a 4 and a half minute decent Set Tour and a King Arthur trailer. I recommend this only to those easily roused, and those looking for a summary of what happened in the form of a film. 6/10

*** WARNING:THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS***By far the most accurate Alamo film ever made. The opening scene is very emotional, and the music throughout the movie is amazing. This is also the only Alamo movie to show William Travis dying from a bullet to the forehead. All the other movies show the Mexicans breaching the walls, Travis turning around, drawing his sword, killing a few Mexicans, and then dying from a bullet wound to the chest. so wrong. This movie also gets the fact right that the entire final battle took place at night. The real battle wasn't a heroic John Wayne glorious last stand. It was a desperate struggle during the early morning hours. One of my favorite parts in the movie is Crockett's last stand. The scene shows him and a few other Texans that have retreated into the church. They know there is no way they can survive. Looks of sadness are on their faces when they realize they are about to die. Suddenly, Mexicans charge through the church's entrance. Crockett and his men literally run to meet them with swinging muskets. It also shows Crockett surrendering and being executed by Santa Anna's men. Before he dies, he warns them that he's a "screamer." Right before the Mexicans bayonet him, he screams at them before being run through with their bayonets. The most epic way of showing Crockett's death. A+