The Alamo (1960)

In 1836, Sam Houston (Richard Boone) leads the forces of Texas against the Mexican forces lead by General Santa Anna (Ruben Padilla). But he needs time and he depends on Colonel Travis (Laurence Harvey) to defend a former mission called The Alamo where a group of Texicans are set to take a stand. They are soon joined by Davy Crockett (John Wayne) and his men and Jim Bowie (Richard Widmark) and his volunteers. Produced and directed by John Wayne, this is a true epic albeit mostly fictional. The film originally clocked in at three hours and 23 minutes but was cut down to two hours and 47 minutes. The film could use some judicious editing shears. I haven't heard such long winded speechifying in one movie in all my life. It seems every 20 minutes or so, some character pontificates on freedom, God, life, death etc. Alas, those remain in the film. Unfortunately, what was often cut is character development and the restored scenes add clarification. Not surprisingly in such a testosterone laced film, it's the female characters (Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien) whose roles are diminished. Some of the acting is good (Widmark) but lots of it is bad (notably, Frankie Avalon and Chill Wills). I watched the original uncut Roadshow version (includes overture, intermission, entr'acte, exit music) and it's easy to spot the deleted scenes because they lack the clarity and color of the rest of the movie. The film sports some of the best sound (the directional stereo is excellent) I've heard in a film and justifiably won the Oscar for best sound. The bombastic score is by Dimitri Tiomkin. The huge cast includes Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Veda Ann Borg, Olive Carey and Wesley Lau.