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Gone To Texas is an astonishing faithful presentation of Sam Houston’s life, although the fictional version is a more dynamic individual than the real man. Sadly, while the script is surprisingly accurate, the acting is mediocre. Still, the miniseries is worth watching as a moderately entertaining history lesson, which is more than can be said about most of the movies on the Texan Revolution. Read More…
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The miniseries presents the history of Texas from the establishment of Stephen Austin’s first colony in 1823 to the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1846. Lacking the budget required to receate the battle of the Alamo, the producers simply re-used footage from John Wayne’s movie The Alamo. While the script deserves credit for showing the reaction of the native Tejanos to the American colonists, the acting makes the miniseries hard viewing. Read More…
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As the title says, the film examines the thirteen-day-long siege of the Alamo during the Texan Revolution. The best thing that I can say is that Raul Julia clearly had fun playing Santa Anna, more fun than I had watching the movie. At least, this version dreamed up some new inaccuracies. Honestly, it is better than several versions in the 1940 and 50s. Please do not misunderstand, I am not saying that it is good but there are worse. Read More…
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Initially, three episodes that were shown as the Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett, the movie presents Crockett as a frontiersman, congressman and one of the defenders of the Alamo. Honestly, I was surprised, it’s not bad. Better than most movies on the Alamo, and it shows the full scope of Crockett’s eventful life. Read More…
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Although the film covers the entire Texan Revolution, it is presented as a chapter in the life of Sam Houston, so viewers will actually learn little about the revolution, especially since the script is a giant mess of inaccuracies. Oddly enough for a film about a revolution, the endless talk about freedom means there is little time for battles. Read More…
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Heroes of the Alamo presents the growing tension between the American immigrants in Mexico and the Mexican government that eventually led to the Texan Revolution. Unlike most films on the Alamo, it focuses on the Dickinson family, rather than Davy Crockett or Jim Bowie. Made in 1937, the acting is stilted, as if the actors have not adapted to sound. Even for the time, this is horrible, almost incompetent. Read More…
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Hoping to start over in Texas, Sam Houston is drawn into the movement to secede from Mexico. The general chronology of the Texan Revolution is correct, at least the dates are correct, but everything else is inaccurate. The movie is so lacking in energy, I wonder why they bothered. Read More…
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The Last Command examines the origins of the Texan Revolution and presents the siege of the Alamo, placing Jim Bowie firmly in the hero’s role. Unbelievably lame, it is more historically accurate than John Wayne’s version but it is also much less fun. Read More…
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The movie presents Abraham Lincoln’s first major case as a young lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, where he defends two young strangers accused of murdering a popular deputy. Director John Ford’s first collaboration with Henry Fonda, they would work together again on Drums Along the Mohawk and Grapes of Wrath. A touching movie with excellent court-room scenes, Fonda’s Lincoln employs a simple manner and sharp wit to win the sympathy of the jury, and proves to be a formidable cross-examiner. Despite a slow start, Fonda captures the real Lincoln’s mix of self-depreciating humor and belief in people’s better nature. Read More…
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Unbelievably boring, the movie follows the correct sequence of events but drastically changes Abraham Lincoln’s character to fit the needs of the script, while its plodding pacing makes watching it an unpleasant experience that should never be repeated.
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Santa Fe Trail (1940) covers Bleeding Kansas and John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, which helped start the American Civil War, but not even Errol Flynn’s limitless charm can redeem a movie that shows black people preferring the peace and security of slavery to freedom. Read More…
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While Dark Command is entertaining and surprisingly dark for 1940, it completely airbrushes the savagery that made the fighting in the Missouri-Kansas region a particularly brutal part of the Civil War. Along with Santa Fe Trail, which was made the same year and also deals with Bleeding Kansas, the film attempts to paper over the deep divisions that had caused the Civil War in an effort to unite northerners and southerners as the United States seemed increasingly likely to enter WWII. Read More…
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The Alamo (1960), John Wayne’s directorial debut, is entertaining, but stretches the facts horribly, transforming the Texan Revolution from a rebellion by American immigrants who wanted to continue their practice of slavery into a defence of liberty against tyranny. Read More…
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The Alamo (2004) presents an iconic moment in American history with impressive historical accuracy, Read More…