WILD WEST MONDAY GUEST BLOGGER(S) - JACK AND CHANTEL

I'm delighted with our guest bloggers this time because they are two young western fans and that's what the genre needs - new blood. These guys Chantel and Jack run the Dominic Fox Blog. Visit them HERE, after you read their Archive piece of course.


And so The Tainted Archive presents the two young turks:

THE ALAMO vs. THE ALAMO

1960 movie:

John Wayne as Davy Crockett

Richard Widmark as James Bowie

Laurence Harvey as William Travis

Richard Boone as Sam Houston

Director: John Wayne

Run time: 2 hours 34 mins

2004 movie

Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett

Jason Patric as Jim Bowie

Patrick Wilson as William Travis

Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston

Director: John Lee Hancock

Run time: 2 hours 11 mins

OK these are two movies about the same subject – the thirteen days of glory that came to an end on 6^th March 1836 when the Alamo at San Antone de Behar, Texas fell.

The mission had been under siege and the Texans had withstood two assaults before the Mexican army broke through on the third attempt.

The 2004 movie is not so much a re-make of the 1960 movie but a retelling of the story. It depends more on talk than action so that by the time The Alamo is attacked I was not aware that it had been under siege and, despite some good ‘photographic images’ the battle sequences were over and done within a blink of the eye or so it seemed.

Another thing that I found difficult to follow was who was who. Many of the actors seemed to wear the same clothes and hairstyles that it was not easy to identify with the characters.

Not so with the 1960 version which claimed to be authentic and accurate. I have read up on the battle of the Alamo and I agree with that claim. Maybe, it is because this movie paid attention to some details like the moment that Travis draws a line in the sand and every man but one crosses the line.

Time is taken to show the build up of the Mexican army, the siege and the attacks themselves.

A lot of this is missing in the 2004 movie.

What the 2004 movie does give us is the Battle of San Jacinto where Sam Houston’s army attacks the Mexican army and captures the General Santa Anna and secures Texas for the Texicans.

This brings me to the run times of both movies. In 2 hours and 11 minutes the 2004 version of The Alamo gives the viewer both the battle for the mission and the aftermath. Whereas the 1960 version takes over two and a half hours just to portray the attack on The Alamo. Much of the time is taken up with a lot of John Wayne making speeches and conflicting with other characters. I suppose in a perfect world I would have liked to have seen the 1960 movie use some of the run time to include the Battle of San Jacinto. That would have made it the perfect version for me.

Having seen both movies I have to say that I have a preference for the 1960 version of The Alamo – for the simple reason that it is the best version. But, then, I haven’t seen the silent movie version made in 1911.

Contributed by Jack and Chantel of ‘the Dominic Fox scene’