The Gates of the Alamo

San Antonio, April 1911: Terrell Mott, a 91 year-old who fought at the Alamo, rides along in the Battle of Flowers parade that his granddaughter organized.  While riding in the back of a Buick, he notes how the city has changed.  Then, he spots a dark man in a jaguar suit who seems to be taking a particular interest in him.  Has death come for him?

La Bahia Road, Spring 1835: Edmund McGown rides toward the coast from San Antonio.  A botanist in the employ of the Mexican government, his payments have stopped.  He attributes this to the frequently changing governments and worries that he will not be able to renew his contract.  On his way, he becomes deathly ill and encounters Comanche.  While crossing the lowlands of Texas, Edmund is always watching for new plant species to catalog: this is the great work for which he will be remembered.

Refugio, 1835: Mary Mott runs an inn with her son, Terrell, and Fresada, a Karankawa Indian.  During a trip to the coast to gather oysters, she is very nearly killed by raiding Karankawa Indians.  In the brief fight, she shot the chief but had her face bashed in by one of the warriors.  Only the intervention of Fresada saved her life.  She is only partly recovered when Jim Bowie visits.  There is also an aloof man named McGown on his way to Mexico.  McGown had missed his original ship to Veracruz and thus stayed at the inn for an extended period.  Most conversations concern the riled state between Texas and Mexico.  Will there be war?  McGown is doubtful.

Zacatecas, May 1835: Telesforo Villasenor is an ambitious lieutenant of the Zapadores with a talent for mapmaking.  During the Battle of Zacatecas, he is wounded in the arm but nevertheless finds his way to Santa Anna to give him a box of chocolates he pillaged.  Santa Anna is touched by this gesture and soon has Telesforo on his staff as a mapmaker.

San Luis Potosi, 1835: Blas Montoya, first sergeant in the Mexican Army, meets with some new recruits.  He likes what he sees.  Afterwards, he is called upon by Captain Loera.  Loera notes that Blas does not have a woman and arranges for him to take charge of Isabella, the woman of a deceased soldier.  Blas reluctantly agrees.  Isabella proves to be a Mayan from Yucatan who speaks virtually no Spanish.  She is viewed as a witch by many, but she has a talent for healing.  When word of rebellion comes, Blas leads his company north to Texas on a brutal winter march.

Terrell, Edmund, Mary, Blas, and Telesforo converge at the Alamo and offer a view of the siege and final battle from various perspectives.  All the principals - Crockett, Bowie, Travis, Santa Anna, Houston - are met by one or more of the characters.  Even after the battle, survivors provide a view of the slaughter at Goliad and the Texas victory at San Jacinto.

The book paints the setting brilliantly, giving one a strong feel for the time and place.  The characters are fully realized, feeling every bit as real as Davy Crockett or Santa Anna.  Better still, the historic events are faithfully related.  Some places where it appeared he was taking liberties proved to be little known incidents that are not typically shown in movies.  Outstanding book and highly recommended.

The Kentuckian, or a Trip to New York

In The Alamo (2004), there is an early scene where Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) attends a play where he happens to be the main character.  The actor portraying him, James Hackett (Lynn Mathis), comes on stage and greets Crockett, naming him as the inspiration for the show.  Curious, I researched this play.  Sure enough, The Lion of the West was written by James Kirke Paulding in 1830 for James Hackett.  By 1833, it had been re-titled to The Kentuckian, or a Trip to New York.  It was the most popular stage play in the United States until the release of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852.

The play sees Nimrod Wildfire (a thinly veiled Davy Crockett) visiting his uncle in New York City.  Nimrod's visit coincides with that of Mrs. Wollope, a widow from England who hopes to tutor Americans in proper, civilized behavior.  Of course, Wildfire speaks in hard-to-decipher jargon.  There is nothing subtle about him and he is only too eager to act first and think later.  One of the comical bits has Nimrod mistaking Mrs. Wollope's note to him to be a proposal of marriage, which he gladly accepts to her horror.

A comment in the play explains Crockett's last words in the The Alamo before he is bayonetted.

"I wanna warn you all, I'm a screamer..."

In the 1830s, a screamer was a fun, exciting, and extraordinary person.  Wildfire repeatedly refers to Mrs. Wollope as a screamer and thus explains his desire to marry her.

Here is an interesting look at 1830s America and worth reading.  Though told in 3 acts, it is quite brief and easy to read.  Recommended.

The Alamo (2004)

It is 1835 in Washington DC and Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) is trying to sell land in Texas.  He runs into Congressman David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton), who doesn't seem interested.  Though Crockett enjoys fame - The Kentuckian (based on him) is the most popular play around, his electoral prospects don't look good.  Some months later in Texas, the Mexican Army has been chased across the Rio Grande and the bigwigs of the Texas Revolution have met to determine what to do next.  Houston is opposed to an attack on Matamoros.  Those present strip him of his army command for his reticence to fight.  Jim Bowie (Jason Patric) supports Houston but isn't keen on Houston's order to abandon the Alamo.  Bowie's home is in San Antonio.

In San Antonio, William Travis (Patrick Wilson) is given command of the Alamo while Colonel Neill is away.  Neill expects to return long before there is any action.  Travis and Bowie do not see eye to eye.  Their constant bickering is quelled by the arrival of Davy Crockett and his Tennessee Boys.  Crockett had not been re-elected to Congress and opted to come to Texas.  He was surprised to hear the fighting wasn't over.

In late February, Santa Anna arrived with an army.  He spent the next two weeks toying with the fortress, hoping to lure Sam Houston to a battle.  Though Houston has called for troops, he doesn't have enough to relieve the siege.  On March 6, 1836, the Mexican assault begins.

After the Alamo fell, the Texians demanded that Sam Houston fight.  Instead, Houston retreated east in search of the right battlefield.  Santa Anna split his army to keep pace.  Finally, Houston found his battleground and turned to attack.  The ensuing Battle of San Jacinto took 18 minutes and ended with a route of the Mexican Army and the capture of Santa Anna.

The movie makes a serious effort to credit as many participants as possible.  Though the big three are well-known, there are many other Alamo defenders and survivors who are not often mentioned.  Susanna Dickinson, wife of one of the defenders, survived the siege and provided an internal account of events.  Juan Seguin (Jordi Molla) was sent with dispatches after the siege began and later took part in the Battle of San Jacinto.  James Bonham, William Ward, Almeron Dickinson, Micajah Autry, and several others are given their due.

Billy Bob Thornton is a very different Davy Crockett than previous interpretations.  Fess Parker, John Wayne, and Brian Keith played up the buckskins with the coonskin cap.  Thornton dresses in the style of the period and also is the first to play the fiddle.  This Davy Crockett is not so eager to fight to the death.  He comes across as a conflicted but noble man who has to live up to the heroic image of himself.  The major change that caused a lot of fuss when this was released was that Crockett survives the battle only to then be executed.  A Mexican soldier reported that this was how Crockett died.  However, this contradicts some of the survivors' accounts.  Overall, Thornton is the best Davy Crockett so far.

Jason Patric plays Bowie as a tragic figure.  Obviously, he's dying from consumption, but here we see some of his history beyond a retelling of the Sandbar Fight.  There are flashbacks to his early times in San Antonio, before his wife and children died from cholera.  He is not particularly friendly and initially takes a dark pleasure in slapping down Travis.  Patric's Bowie exudes a natural magnetism where it is easy to accept that, despite his weakened state, his words carried a lot of weight with the Alamo defenders.  One of the best things that Jim Bowie did for his reputation was die at the Alamo; he had not lived an admirable life.

Emilio Echevarria was 20 years too old to play Santa Anna.  He didn't have the charisma for the role.  Yes, Santa Anna had an immense ego but he was also charming.  With this Santa Anna, it isn't clear why anyone is loyal to him.  However, his comment where he views soldiers as expendable is true to character.  Santa Anna was never concerned with casualties, only victory.  Raul Julia was a much better Santa Anna (1987).

Dennis Quaid bookends the movie as Sam Houston.  His Houston is 'prickly' and stubborn.  Houston will have his way or not at all.  That the movie included the Battle of San Jacinto was different from the usual Alamo movies.  However, it does make for an uneven narrative.  The movie is more than The Alamo, it is selected battles from the Texas Revolution.

History buff that I am, I liked this film quite a lot.  It covers a lot of ground and the research staff was better than most.  This is an excellent telling of those historic events.  Recommended.