The Alamo (1960): The Classic Historical Epic

The 1960 film The Alamo is perhaps the most popular depiction of the 1836 battle of the Alamo in movies. Earlier cinematic offerings included Martyrs of the Alamo in 1915 and Heroes of the Alamo in 1937. In 1955 both The Last Command and Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier appeared. The latter was one of two compilation films created from the Davy Crockett-centric episodes from the Walt Disney’s Disneyland television series (1954–58). Such media spurred a national revival of interest in the battle of the Alamo and in Davy Crockett in particular. It was in this climate in 1956 that John Wayne made his pitch to United Artists to finance his personal vision of what has been referred to as “the Texas Iliad.”

Wayne’s Efforts to Launch Film

Wayne had long been interested in doing an Alamo movie. He stated that the Alamo story was “the greatest piece of folklore ever brought down through history, and folklore has always been the most successful medium for motion pictures.” As early as 1945 Wayne had worked on an Alamo script for Republic Pictures but eventually had a falling out with studio head Herbert Yates. Wayne left Republic, but the script stayed with the studio and was reworked into The Last Command.

As many major stars had done in the waning days of the studio system, Wayne formed his own production company, Batjac (originally Wayne/Fellows Productions), in 1952. During the following years he developed a new Alamo script with frequent collaborator James Edward Grant. Wayne originally intended to produce and direct but not star in the movie. Investors, however, insisted that he star in the movie, since his bankability was based on his career in front of the camera, not behind it. Wayne took on the role of Davy Crockett, though he bore no physical resemblance to the legendary Alamo martyr.

Casting

Western actor Richard Widmark, who Wayne preferred for the Crockett role, was instead cast as Jim Bowie—Wayne had wanted Charlton Heston for the role of Bowie. Sam Houston, the bit part Wayne had envisioned for himself, was played by Richard Boone, who was then starring in the hit Western television series Have Gun—Will Travel. British actor Laurence Harvey played William Barret Travis. Clark Gable was Wayne’s first choice for Travis, but he eventually cast Harvey, recently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Room at the Top (1959), because he had a patrician persona, which Wayne thought was appropriate since Travis, an attorney, was well-educated. As confirmation of his sophisticated tastes, Harvey had caviar and his favorite wines delivered to the remote filming location.

Argentine actress Linda Cristal, was cast as Flaca, a fictitious character. She later achieved a lasting legacy in Westerns thanks to the NBC series The High Chaparral (1967–71). Teen idol Frankie Avalon, best-remembered for the beach party films of the 1960s, was cast as a courier named Smitty. He turned nineteen while the film was being made. Another novelty in the cast was renowned bullfighter Carlos Arruza, who played Lt. Reyes, the movie-original officer who Santa Anna dispatched to demand the surrender of the rebels.

Other supporting actors included Joseph Calleia (as Juan Seguín), Joan O’Brien (as Sue Dickinson), Ken Curtis (as Almeron Dickinson), Veda Ann Borg, John Dierkes, Denver Pyle, Hank Worden, and Texans Chill Wills and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams. Wayne’s children, Patrick and Aissa, portrayed James Butler Bonham and Lisa Dickinson, respectively.

Filming Location

Texan investors insisted that the film be shot in Texas. The Alamo mission, though still standing, was an unsuitable filming location as it was in downtown San Antonio. Around 115 miles west of San Antonio, rancher James T. (Happy) Shahan owned a 22,000-acre ranch just six miles north of Brackettville in sparsely populated (2,452 people in 1960) Kinney County. He offered his property as a location. Shahan was also the mayor of Brackettville and had been seeking to attract filmmakers to the community. Prior to The Alamo, three Hollywood features were shot in Brackettville’s environs: Arrowhead (1953); The Last Command, the 1955 Republic Studios Alamo movie; and Five Bold Women (1959).

The wide-open terrain of Shahan’s ranch was not terribly different from what the Canary Islanders would have encountered on the banks of the San Antonio River in the early eighteenth century. A full-scale facsimile of the Alamo, as well as a pueblo of San Antonio de Béxar set, was built on the ranch for the film and maintained for future film productions (see ALAMO VILLAGE). Construction began in December 1957 and took almost two years. Accommodations also had to be made for hundreds of horses and longhorns and thousands of extras (who were paid $10 per day). Wayne opted to shoot the film in Todd-AO, a 70mm (twice the width of conventional film) widescreen (2.20:1) format.

Production Difficulties

The Alamo ran into production problems during its lengthy shooting schedule (September 9 through December 15, 1959). Richard Widmark clashed with Wayne over how his character of Jim Bowie should be portrayed. At one point, he even walked away from the production. Originally considered to play Crockett, he felt Bowie was the least appropriate of the Alamo triumvirate for him. Laurence Harvey suffered a broken foot when a cannon he had just fired recoiled and smashed his foot. Rattlesnakes and scorpions were common pests. Less dangerous but peskier were crickets, which often flew into the camera range during takes, and the chirping of which interrupted sound recording.

Most egregiously, on October 11, 1959, LaJean Ethridge, an extra, was murdered by her boyfriend, Chester “Chet” Harvey Smith, also an extra. The murder occurred in Spofford, nine miles south of Brackettville, where some of the extras were housed. Wayne was compelled to testify at an inquest (he complained about the imposition as the film cost roughly $60,000 per day) held at the Val Verde County courthouse.

Release and Box Office Returns

Due to the length of The Alamo (560,000 feet of exposed film), post-production required almost ten months. The film premiered on October 24, 1960, at the Woodlawn Theatre in San Antonio. With an overture, intermission, and exit music, the running time was 202 minutes. The film was chopped down to 167 minutes for general release. Its first television showing was on NBC in September 1971. The Alamo brought in $7.9 million at the domestic box office on the strength of 11,449,275 admissions; it was ranked number ten in both categories for 1960. The film was also popular in Europe and Japan; it was banned in Mexico.

However, the film’s original $7.5 million budget had ballooned to $12 million (at the time it was one of the most expensive films ever made), much of it Wayne’s own money—he mortgaged his houses and took out loans using his automobiles and yacht as collateral. For comparison, another 1960 release, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, budgeted at $807,000, had pulled in $32 million at the box office. Wayne did not shed all his debts until NBC bought the television rights to The Alamo in 1971.

Historical Inaccuracies

While much time, effort, and money were expended on historical accuracy of the architecture, uniforms, and props, the same could not be said of the script. Among the film’s historical inaccuracies:

Richard Boone as Sam Houston mentions that the Alamo is on the Rio Grande, not the San Antonio River. Also, he orders the men to defend it; in reality he had ordered them to abandon and burn it.

Travis’s death, which occurred on the rampart early in the battle, was portrayed as having occurred on the ground.

While the circumstances of the death of Davy Crockett remain the subject of speculation, blowing up a powder magazine as his last act is not one of the scenarios considered.

Jim Bowie’s former slave (a fictional character played by Jester Hairston) dies protecting him in the film.

Travis’s famous “Victory or Death” letter from the Alamo is omitted from the film. Also, the famous “line in the sand” scene is portrayed without a literal line in the sand.

James Butler Bonham informs the troops that James Fannin’s reinforcements have been massacred at Goliad. In reality, Bonham brought news that Fannin and his troops were on the way. He didn’t know that Fannin’s expedition had broken down in Goliad. The massacre did not occur until three weeks after the fall of the Alamo.

While the historic battle started in the dark in the early morning hours, the cinematic version took place in broad daylight.

Texas historians J. Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle, who had been hired by Wayne as advisors, insisted their names be removed from the credits. John Lee Hancock’s 2004 version of The Alamo (filmed not at Alamo Village but on a new set erected near Dripping Springs) is generally considered the more historically accurate film. Historical hiccups aside, the script of Wayne’s Alamo movie has also been criticized as too dialogue-heavy and poorly paced.

Academy Awards

The Alamo did, however, secure its share of Academy Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture. It was also nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Chill Wills), Best Cinematography (William H. Clothier, a veteran of many Westerns), Best Music Score (Dimitri Tiomkin), Best Song (“The Green Leaves of Summer” by Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster), and Best Film Editing (Stuart Gilmore). Despite the extensiveness of the Alamo Village set, Alfred Ybarra was not nominated for Best Art Direction. The only Oscar the film received was for Best Sound (Gordon E. Sawyer and Fred Hynes). While Tiomkin did not win an Oscar for the movie, his score remains popular.

If The Alamo did not win many Oscars, it was not for lack of publicity. The unit publicist (a film production’s public relations functionary) was Russell Birdwell, a native Texan, who had handled publicity for other big-budget films, including Gone with the Wind (1939). Given an extravagant budget, Birdwell produced a 183-page pressbook. His handling of the Oscar campaign, however, came to naught. Academy Award voters were unhappy that the campaign implied that voting for any film other than The Alamo was un-American. The campaign for Wills in the Supporting Actor category was particularly offensive, as an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter asserted that Wills’s fellow cast members were praying harder for him to win the award than the Alamo defenders prayed before the battle.

Despite its historical inaccuracies and its cost overruns, John Wayne’s film is likely the best-remembered version of the battle of the Alamo among moviegoers.