The Alamo (2004 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Alamo


imdb_id = 0318974
producer = Ron Howard
Mark Johnson
director = John Lee Hancock
writer = Leslie Bohem
Stephen Gaghan
John Lee Hancock
starring = Dennis Quaid
Billy Bob Thornton
Jason Patric
Patrick Wilson
Emilio Echevarría
Jordi Mollà
Leon Rippy
Tom Davidson
with Marc Blucas
and Robert Prentiss
cinematography = John O'Connor
Dean Semler
music = Carter Burwell
editing = Eric L. Beason
distributor = Touchstone Pictures
released = April 9, 2004
runtime = 137 min.
language = English
budget = $107 million
amg_id = 1:283301

"The Alamo" is a 2004 American war film about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. It is the second major studio film about the battle, following John Wayne's 1960 film of the same name. The film was directed by Texan director John Lee Hancock, and produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson. It was produced and distributed by Touchstone Pictures.

The screenplay is credited to John Lee Hancock, John Sayles, Stephen Gaghan and Leslie Bohem. In contrast to the earlier 1960 film, the 2003 script makes an effort to depict the political points of view of both the Mexican and Texan sides; Santa Anna is a more prominent character.

Production

The film was originally set up with Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard in the director's chair and producing partner Brian Grazer as producer. Russell Crowe was originally cast as Sam Houston, Ethan Hawke as William Barret Travis and Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett. But there were financial and creative disagreements between Imagine and Disney, particularly with Howard wanting a $200 million budget. Disney rejected Imagine's proposal for the film, and Howard, Grazer, Crowe and Hawke left the project. Disney opted to go with director John Lee Hancock instead with a budget of $95 million. Thornton was the only member of the original team to remain throughout the project.

The film was shot near Austin, Texas between January and June 2003, mostly on a local property named Reimers Ranch. The film's art direction focused on historical accuracy and verisimilitude; for instance, the mission's facade does not feature the well-known "hump" at the top, a detail that was actually added years after the battle during a restoration.

The film was shot in 2003 and scheduled for release in December of that year, but was then rescheduled for release in April 2004.

Controversies

This latest version of the Battle of the Alamo was the first to show Crockett being killed as a prisoner of war. All others had depicted his death as occurring during the battle, rather than him having been captured then executed along with six others. This sparked debate and criticism from many Alamo enthusiasts and some historians. [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/34178/alamo-dvd/] This version of his death came from memoirs written by former Mexican officer José Enrique de la Peña, who was an officer in Santa Anna's army and who fought in the battle. It is controversial in that de la Peña also described the death of Col. William Travis, the garrisons commander, in his book "With Santa Anna in Texas", during which he describes Travis bravely facing his charging attackers.

Cast

*Dennis Quaid - Gen. Sam Houston
*Billy Bob Thornton - David Crockett
*Jason Patric - Col. James Bowie
*Patrick Wilson - Lt. Col. William B. Travis
*Emilio Echevarría - Antonio López de Santa Anna
*Jordi Mollà - Cpt. Juan Seguín
*Leon Rippy - Sgt. William Ward
*Tom Davidson - Col. Green Jameson
*Marc Blucas - James Bonham
*Robert Prentiss - Albert Grimes
*Kevin Page - Micajah Autry
*Joe Stevens - Mial Surlock
*Stephen Bruton - Capt. Almaron Dickinson
*Laura Clifton - Susanna Dickinson
*Ricardo Chavira - Pvt. Gregorio Esparza
*Steven Chester Prince - Lt. John ForsytheMany of the extras that took part in the film were actual descendants of the Alamo defenders.

Box office

The film was highly unsuccessful at the box office, opening on Easter weekend to mostly middling reviews and a low box office turnout. In its first weekend, it was defeated in box office numbers by a resurgent "The Passion of the Christ". It cost over $140 million USD to make and market the film but earned only $9.1 million USD in its first weekend. By its second month of release, the film had yet to muster $30 million USD in domestic earnings. It ended its theatrical run with a worldwide gross of slightly less than $26 million.cite web
url = http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=alamo.htm
title = "The Alamo (2004)"
work = Box Office Mojo
publisher =
accessdate = 2008-06-19]

ee also

* The Alamo – other uses
* Battle of the Alamo
* "The Alamo" (1960 film)
* Jim Bowie
* David Crockett
* William B. Travis
* Sam Houston
* James Bonham

References

External links

*imdb title | id=0318974 | title=The Alamo
* [http://www.thealamofilm.com/ "The Alamo" Movie site (2004)]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=set+of+The+Alamo&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=26.4545,58.271484&ie=UTF8&ll=30.352491,-98.127544&spn=0.007018,0.014226&t=h&z=16&om=1 Google Maps view of movie set]