Legacy of the Battle of the Alamo
Encyclopedia
The Battle of the Alamo
left a substantial legacy and influence within American culture.
.
Efforts to preserve the Alamo have largely been an Anglo-American cause. The first major calls to restore parts of the Alamo occurred after 1860, as English-speaking settlers began to outnumber those of Mexican heritage. Likewise, according to Schoelwer, within "the development of Alamo imagery has been an almost exclusively American endeavor", focusing more on the Texian defenders with less emphasis given to the Mexican army or the Tejano soldiers who served in the Texian army. Many Tejanos viewed the Alamo as more than just a battlesite. They or their ancestors had experienced the benefits of the Alamo complex when it served as a mission, a hospital, or a military post. Americans had arrived in Texas much later, when the Alamo no longer served in those roles, and they tended to see the complex solely in relation to the battle.
In Mexico, perceptions of the battle have often mirrored those of Santa Anna. Initially, reports of the Mexican victory concentrated on glorifying Santa Anna, especially among newspapers that supported the centralist cause. Typical headlines included, "Immortal Glory to the Illustrious General Santa Anna: Eternal Praise to the Invincible Army of Mexico". Within days of the news, people began composing patriotic marching songs about Santa Anna and his victory at the Alamo. Santa Anna's political opponents were displeased that the focus had shifted to him; within days newspapers supporting the federalist viewpoint began questioning whether the victory had come at too great a cost, and whether it would actually help Mexico. Many of the newspapers were disenchanted with Santa Anna's deployment of General Martin Perfecto de Cos
, who had been paroled back to Mexico after the Siege of Bexar
on the condition that he no longer take up arms against Texians.
On April 27, 1836, Mexican Secretary of War José María Tornel
announced that Mexican soldiers who participated in the campaign to retake Texas would be eligible to receive a special medal; to commemorate the battle of the Alamo, the establishment date for the program was retroactively set to March 6, 1836. Within weeks, however, the Mexican government learned of Santa Anna's defeat and capture at the Battle of San Jacinto
; the medal program was immediately cancelled. The Texas campaign, including the Battle of the Alamo, was soon overshadowed by the Mexican-American War of the 1840s.
In the 1960s, the battle was often used as a historical parallel to the Vietnam War
. United States President Lyndon Johnson, whose father had authored the 1905 legislation that allowed the state of Texas to buy the long barracks, often compared the war to the Alamo. He remarked once that his decision to send more troops to Southeast Asia was "Just like the Alamo, somebody damn well needed to go to their aid." These remarks, and other similar ones, prompted a strong anti-Alamo backlash in the United States. The New York Times editorialized that "If Americans must remember the Alamo, let's remember that gallant men died needlessly in that old mission and that their sacrifice led eventually to a war that reflects little credit on the United States. ... To persevere in folly is no virtue. To dare to retreat from error can be the highest form of courage." In the late 1960s and early 1970s numerous anti-war protests were held on the grounds of the Alamo.
, Mexican troops quartered in the Alamo Mission. As the Mexican army retreated from Texas following the Battle of San Jacinto
, they tore down many of the walls and burned the palisade which Crockett had defended. Within the next several decades, various buildings in the complex were torn down, and in 1849 a gable was added to the top of the chapel. Today, the remnants of the Alamo are near the San Antonio town center. The church building remains standing and serves as an official state shrine to the Texian defenders. As the 20th century began many Texans advocated razing the remaining building. A wealthy rancher's daughter, Clara Driscoll, purchased the building to serve as a museum. The Texas Legislature later bought the property and appointed the Daughters of the Republic of Texas
as permanent caretakers. In front of the church, in the center of Alamo Plaza, stands a cenotaph
, designed by Pompeo Coppini
and erected in 1939, which commemorates the Texians who died during the battle. According to Bill Groneman's Battlefields of Texas, the Alamo has become "the most popular tourist site in Texas".
Many of the Mexican officers who participated in the battle left memoirs, although some were not written until decades after the battle. Among those who provided written accounts of the battle were Antonio López de Santa Anna
, Vicente Filisola
, José Enrique de la Peña
, José Juan Sánchez Navarro, Juan N. Almonte, and Francisco Becerra
. Texians Juan Seguín
and John Sutherland also left memoirs, although some historians believe Sutherland was not at the Alamo and wrote his memoirs from hearsay. Of the Texian survivors, more weight was given to the account of Susannah Dickinson
, the only American adult to live. The other survivors, including former slaves and several Tejanos, were not lauded as much as Dickinson.
The first report of the names of the Texian victims of the battle came in the March 24, 1836 issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register
. The 115 names on the list came from John Smith and Gerald Navan, who had left as couriers. In 1843 former Texas Ranger
and amateur historian John Henry Brown
wrote and published the first history of the battle, a pamphlet called The Fall of the Alamo. He followed this in 1853 with a second pamphlet called Facts of the Alamo, Last Days of Crockett and Other Sketches of Texas. No copies of the pamphlets have survived. The next major treatment of the battle was Reuben Potter's The Fall of the Alamo, published in The Magazine of American History in 1878. Potter based his work on interviews with many of the survivors of the Battle of the Alamo. One of the most used secondary sources about the Alamo is Amelia W. Williams's doctoral dissertation, "Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders". Completed in 1931, it attempted to positively identify all of the Texians who died during the battle. Her list was used to choose the names carved into the cenotaph memorial in 1936. Several historians, including Thomas Ricks Lindley, Thomas Lloyd Miller, and Richard G. Santos, believe her list included men who had not died at the Alamo. Despite the errors in some of her work, Williams collect a large amount of information and her work serves as a starting point for many historians. The first full-length, non-fiction book covering the battle was not published until 1948, when John Myers Myers
' The Alamo was released.
As the 19th century progressed, the battle began to appear as a plot device in many novels. In 1869, novelists Jeremiah Clemens
and Bernard Lile wrote fictionalized accounts of the battle. Novelist Amelia Barr produced her own fictional version, Remember the Alamo, in 1888. In her book, Alamo Images, Susan Pendergrast Schoelwer noted that in these early novels "the Alamo passages seem almost incidental to the main plot, included perhaps as a means of attracting interest and encouraging sales".
's History of South American and Mexico. In Schoelwer's opinion, the scenes "bore absolutely no resemblance to the original". These and other early paintings often depicted buildings that looked nothing like the Alamo and battles that occurred very differently than the 1836 battle at the Alamo. However, their presence and popularity increased the Alamo's fame and likely contributed to the early waves of tourism at the battle site.
According to Todish et al., "there can be little doubt that most Americans have probably formed many of their opinions on what occurred at the Alamo not from books, but from the various movies made about the battle." The first film version of the battle appeared in 1911, when Gaston Melies
directed The Immortal Alamo
, which has since been lost. Through the next four decades several other movies were released, variously focusing on Davy Crocket, Almeron Dickinson, and Louis Rose. The Alamo achieved prominence on television in 1955 with Walt Disney's Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, which was largely based on myth. In the early 1950s John Wayne
began developing a film based on the Battle of the Alamo. When he left his contract with Republic Pictures
he was forced to leave behind a partial script. Republic Pictures had the script finished and developed into the 1955 movie The Last Command
. Although the film had its historical inaccuracies, it was the most detailed of the films on the Texas Revolution. Wayne continued to develop an Alamo movie, resulting in the 1960 film The Alamo
, starring Wayne as Davy Crockett. Although screenwriter James Edward Grant
claimed to have done extensive historical research, according to Todish "there is not a single scene in The Alamo which corresponds to an historically verifiable incident", and historians J. Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle
demanded that their names be removed from the credits as historical advisors. The movie was banned in Mexico. The set built for the movie, Alamo Village
, includes a replica of the Alamo Mission and the city of San Antonio and is still used as an active movie set.
As the 150th anniversary of the battle approached in the 1980s, several additional movies were made about the Alamo, including the made-for-television movie The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory
, which Nofi
regards as the most historically accurate of all Alamo films. The movie Todish calls "the best theatrical film ever made about the Alamo" was also filmed in the 1980s. Filmed in IMAX format using historical reenactors instead of professional actors, Alamo ... The Price of Freedom is shown only in San Antonio, with several viewings per day at a theater near the Alamo. It runs only 45 minutes but has "an attention to detail and intensity that are remarkable". In 2004 another film, also called The Alamo
, was released. Described by CNN
as possibly "the most character-driven of all the movies made on the subject", the movie starred Billy Bob Thornton
as Crockett, Dennis Quaid
as Sam Houston, and Jason Patric
as Bowie. However, the film, with its revisionist viewpoint of the siege and the reasons for it, was one of the year's biggest box office failures. In Peewee's Big Adventure, Peewee Herman's stolen bike's location was said to in the basement of the Alamo by a fortune teller, but on a tour of the structure, he is told by the tour guide that Alamo has no basement.
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" spent 16 weeks on the country music charts, peaking at number 4 in 1955. Marty Robbins
recorded a version of the song "The Ballad of the Alamo" in 1960 which spent 13 weeks on the pop charts, peaking at number 34. "Remember the Alamo
", written by Texas
folk
singer and songwriter
Jane Bowers
, was recorded by The Kingston Trio
, Johnny Cash
, Tex Ritter
, Donovan
and others.
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
left a substantial legacy and influence within American culture.
Perception
Within weeks of the battle, it began to be compared to the Greek stand at the Battle of ThermopylaeBattle of Thermopylae
The Battle of Thermopylae was fought between an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, and the Persian Empire of Xerxes I over the course of three days, during the second Persian invasion of Greece. It took place simultaneously with the naval battle at Artemisium, in August...
.
Efforts to preserve the Alamo have largely been an Anglo-American cause. The first major calls to restore parts of the Alamo occurred after 1860, as English-speaking settlers began to outnumber those of Mexican heritage. Likewise, according to Schoelwer, within "the development of Alamo imagery has been an almost exclusively American endeavor", focusing more on the Texian defenders with less emphasis given to the Mexican army or the Tejano soldiers who served in the Texian army. Many Tejanos viewed the Alamo as more than just a battlesite. They or their ancestors had experienced the benefits of the Alamo complex when it served as a mission, a hospital, or a military post. Americans had arrived in Texas much later, when the Alamo no longer served in those roles, and they tended to see the complex solely in relation to the battle.
In Mexico, perceptions of the battle have often mirrored those of Santa Anna. Initially, reports of the Mexican victory concentrated on glorifying Santa Anna, especially among newspapers that supported the centralist cause. Typical headlines included, "Immortal Glory to the Illustrious General Santa Anna: Eternal Praise to the Invincible Army of Mexico". Within days of the news, people began composing patriotic marching songs about Santa Anna and his victory at the Alamo. Santa Anna's political opponents were displeased that the focus had shifted to him; within days newspapers supporting the federalist viewpoint began questioning whether the victory had come at too great a cost, and whether it would actually help Mexico. Many of the newspapers were disenchanted with Santa Anna's deployment of General Martin Perfecto de Cos
Martín Perfecto de Cos
Martín Perfecto de Cos was a 19th-century Mexican general. He was married to Lucinda López de Santa Anna, sister of Antonio López de Santa Anna.-Background:Cós was born in Vera Cruz in the year 1800, the son of an attorney...
, who had been paroled back to Mexico after the Siege of Bexar
Siege of Bexar
The Siege of Béxar was an early campaign of the Texas Revolution in which a volunteer Texan army successfully defeated Mexican forces at San Antonio de Béxar . Texians had become disillusioned with the Mexican government as President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's tenure became increasingly...
on the condition that he no longer take up arms against Texians.
On April 27, 1836, Mexican Secretary of War José María Tornel
José María Tornel
José María de Tornel y Mendívil was a 19th century Mexican army general and politician who greatly influenced the career of President Antonio López de Santa Anna.- Birth :...
announced that Mexican soldiers who participated in the campaign to retake Texas would be eligible to receive a special medal; to commemorate the battle of the Alamo, the establishment date for the program was retroactively set to March 6, 1836. Within weeks, however, the Mexican government learned of Santa Anna's defeat and capture at the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
; the medal program was immediately cancelled. The Texas campaign, including the Battle of the Alamo, was soon overshadowed by the Mexican-American War of the 1840s.
In the 1960s, the battle was often used as a historical parallel to the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. United States President Lyndon Johnson, whose father had authored the 1905 legislation that allowed the state of Texas to buy the long barracks, often compared the war to the Alamo. He remarked once that his decision to send more troops to Southeast Asia was "Just like the Alamo, somebody damn well needed to go to their aid." These remarks, and other similar ones, prompted a strong anti-Alamo backlash in the United States. The New York Times editorialized that "If Americans must remember the Alamo, let's remember that gallant men died needlessly in that old mission and that their sacrifice led eventually to a war that reflects little credit on the United States. ... To persevere in folly is no virtue. To dare to retreat from error can be the highest form of courage." In the late 1960s and early 1970s numerous anti-war protests were held on the grounds of the Alamo.
Alamo Mission
Following the Mexican victory at the Battle of the AlamoBattle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
, Mexican troops quartered in the Alamo Mission. As the Mexican army retreated from Texas following the Battle of San Jacinto
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...
, they tore down many of the walls and burned the palisade which Crockett had defended. Within the next several decades, various buildings in the complex were torn down, and in 1849 a gable was added to the top of the chapel. Today, the remnants of the Alamo are near the San Antonio town center. The church building remains standing and serves as an official state shrine to the Texian defenders. As the 20th century began many Texans advocated razing the remaining building. A wealthy rancher's daughter, Clara Driscoll, purchased the building to serve as a museum. The Texas Legislature later bought the property and appointed the Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is a sororal association dedicated to perpetuating the memory of Texas pioneer families and soldiers of the Republic of Texas. The Daughters of the Republic of Texas is best known for its role as caretakers of The Alamo. They also operate a museum in Austin...
as permanent caretakers. In front of the church, in the center of Alamo Plaza, stands a cenotaph
Cenotaph
A cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
, designed by Pompeo Coppini
Pompeo Coppini
Pompeo Luigi Coppini was an Italian sculptor who emigrated to the United States. Although his works can be found in Italy, Mexico and a number of American states, the majority of his work can be found in Texas...
and erected in 1939, which commemorates the Texians who died during the battle. According to Bill Groneman's Battlefields of Texas, the Alamo has become "the most popular tourist site in Texas".
Literature
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
, Vicente Filisola
Vicente Filisola
Vicente Filisola was a Spanish military figure, Mexican military and political figure in the 19th century.-Life and career:...
, José Enrique de la Peña
José Enrique de la Peña
Jose Enrique de la Peña was a colonel in the Mexican Army. Under General Antonio López de Santa Anna, de la Peña participated in the Battle of the Alamo.In 1955, a book of his memoirs of the battle was published...
, José Juan Sánchez Navarro, Juan N. Almonte, and Francisco Becerra
Francisco Becerra
Francisco Becerra was a Spanish architect. Born in Trujillo, he designed and worked on several cathedrals in the New World.Becerra either designed the Puebla Cathedral, or worked on building it to designs by Claudio de Arciniega. He also built several convents in Puebla. He also designed a...
. Texians Juan Seguín
Juan Seguín
Juan Nepomuceno Seguín was a 19th-century Texas Senator, Mayor, Judge, and Justice of the Peace and a prominent participant in the Texas Revolution.-Early life and family:...
and John Sutherland also left memoirs, although some historians believe Sutherland was not at the Alamo and wrote his memoirs from hearsay. Of the Texian survivors, more weight was given to the account of Susannah Dickinson
Susannah Dickinson
Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson was one of two American survivors of the 1836 Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution, where her husband, Captain Almaron Dickinson, and 182 other defenders were killed by the Mexican Army...
, the only American adult to live. The other survivors, including former slaves and several Tejanos, were not lauded as much as Dickinson.
The first report of the names of the Texian victims of the battle came in the March 24, 1836 issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register
Telegraph and Texas Register
Telegraph and Texas Register was the second permanent newspaper in Texas. Originally conceived as the Telegraph and Texas Planter, the newspaper was renamed shortly before it began publication, to reflect its new mission to be "a faithful register of passing events"...
. The 115 names on the list came from John Smith and Gerald Navan, who had left as couriers. In 1843 former Texas Ranger
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
and amateur historian John Henry Brown
John Henry Brown
John Henry Brown was an American historian, journalist, author, military leader, and a politician who served as a state legislator and as mayor of both Dallas and Galveston, Texas. Brown was among the first to publish scholarly histories of the state of Texas and the city of Dallas...
wrote and published the first history of the battle, a pamphlet called The Fall of the Alamo. He followed this in 1853 with a second pamphlet called Facts of the Alamo, Last Days of Crockett and Other Sketches of Texas. No copies of the pamphlets have survived. The next major treatment of the battle was Reuben Potter's The Fall of the Alamo, published in The Magazine of American History in 1878. Potter based his work on interviews with many of the survivors of the Battle of the Alamo. One of the most used secondary sources about the Alamo is Amelia W. Williams's doctoral dissertation, "Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders". Completed in 1931, it attempted to positively identify all of the Texians who died during the battle. Her list was used to choose the names carved into the cenotaph memorial in 1936. Several historians, including Thomas Ricks Lindley, Thomas Lloyd Miller, and Richard G. Santos, believe her list included men who had not died at the Alamo. Despite the errors in some of her work, Williams collect a large amount of information and her work serves as a starting point for many historians. The first full-length, non-fiction book covering the battle was not published until 1948, when John Myers Myers
John Myers Myers
John Myers Myers was an American writer, best known for his literary fantasy novel Silverlock.-Life:Myers was born in Northport, Long Island on January 11, 1906 to John Caldwell Myers and Alice MacCorry Myers and grew up in various places in New York, including New Paltz and NYC. He knew from the...
' The Alamo was released.
As the 19th century progressed, the battle began to appear as a plot device in many novels. In 1869, novelists Jeremiah Clemens
Jeremiah Clemens
Jeremiah Clemens was a U.S. senator and novelist from the state of Alabama. He was elected to fill the vacancy left by the death of Dixon Hall Lewis, and served from November 30, 1849 to March 3, 1853...
and Bernard Lile wrote fictionalized accounts of the battle. Novelist Amelia Barr produced her own fictional version, Remember the Alamo, in 1888. In her book, Alamo Images, Susan Pendergrast Schoelwer noted that in these early novels "the Alamo passages seem almost incidental to the main plot, included perhaps as a means of attracting interest and encouraging sales".
Art
The first artistic depiction of the battle came in 1838 in John Milton NilesJohn Milton Niles
John Milton Niles was a lawyer, editor, author and politician from Connecticut, serving in the United States Senate and as United States Postmaster General 1840 to 1841....
's History of South American and Mexico. In Schoelwer's opinion, the scenes "bore absolutely no resemblance to the original". These and other early paintings often depicted buildings that looked nothing like the Alamo and battles that occurred very differently than the 1836 battle at the Alamo. However, their presence and popularity increased the Alamo's fame and likely contributed to the early waves of tourism at the battle site.
Film
Gaston Méliès
Gaston Méliès was the brother of the more-famous French film director Georges Méliès. He also produced and directed a large number of early films in the United States....
directed The Immortal Alamo
The Immortal Alamo
The Immortal Alamo was an American silent film produced by Star Film Company, directed by Gaston Melies, and released on May 25, 1911. The Immortal Alamo is the earliest film version of the events surrounding the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. No known copies of the film exist today, and it is...
, which has since been lost. Through the next four decades several other movies were released, variously focusing on Davy Crocket, Almeron Dickinson, and Louis Rose. The Alamo achieved prominence on television in 1955 with Walt Disney's Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, which was largely based on myth. In the early 1950s John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
began developing a film based on the Battle of the Alamo. When he left his contract with Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
he was forced to leave behind a partial script. Republic Pictures had the script finished and developed into the 1955 movie The Last Command
The Last Command (1955 film)
The Last Command is a 1955 Trucolor film about Jim Bowie and the fall of the Alamo during the Texas War of Independence. Filmed by Republic Pictures, it was an unusually expensive undertaking for the low-budget studio.-Production:...
. Although the film had its historical inaccuracies, it was the most detailed of the films on the Texas Revolution. Wayne continued to develop an Alamo movie, resulting in the 1960 film The Alamo
The Alamo (1960 film)
The Alamo is a 1960 American historical epic released by United Artists. The film was directed by John Wayne, who also starred as Davy Crockett. The cast also includes Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B...
, starring Wayne as Davy Crockett. Although screenwriter James Edward Grant
James Edward Grant
James Edward Grant was an American short story writer and screenwriter who contributed to more than fifty films between 1935 and 1971....
claimed to have done extensive historical research, according to Todish "there is not a single scene in The Alamo which corresponds to an historically verifiable incident", and historians J. Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle
Lon Tinkle
Julien Lon Tinkle was a historian, author, book critic, and professor who specialized in the history of Texas. Tinkle spent most of his life in Dallas, Texas , where he graduated from and later taught at Southern Methodist University. In 1942 he became a book editor and critic for the Dallas...
demanded that their names be removed from the credits as historical advisors. The movie was banned in Mexico. The set built for the movie, Alamo Village
Alamo Village
Alamo Village is a movie set and tourist attraction north of Brackettville, Texas, United States. It was the first movie location built in Texas, originally constructed for and best known as the setting for The Alamo , directed by John Wayne and starring Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey and...
, includes a replica of the Alamo Mission and the city of San Antonio and is still used as an active movie set.
As the 150th anniversary of the battle approached in the 1980s, several additional movies were made about the Alamo, including the made-for-television movie The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory
The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory
The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory is a made-for-TV film starring Brian Keith as Davy Crockett, James Arness as James Bowie, Alec Baldwin as Col. Travis, Raul Julia as Santa Anna, and a single scene cameo by Lorne Greene as Sam Houston...
, which Nofi
Albert Nofi
Albert A. Nofi , is an American military historian, defense analyst, and designer of board and computer wargaming systems.A native of Brooklyn, he attended New York City public schools, graduating from the Boys' High School in 1961...
regards as the most historically accurate of all Alamo films. The movie Todish calls "the best theatrical film ever made about the Alamo" was also filmed in the 1980s. Filmed in IMAX format using historical reenactors instead of professional actors, Alamo ... The Price of Freedom is shown only in San Antonio, with several viewings per day at a theater near the Alamo. It runs only 45 minutes but has "an attention to detail and intensity that are remarkable". In 2004 another film, also called The Alamo
The Alamo (2004 film)
The Alamo is a 2004 American war film about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. The film was directed by Texan John Lee Hancock, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson, and distributed by Touchstone Pictures....
, was released. Described by CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
as possibly "the most character-driven of all the movies made on the subject", the movie starred Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton
Billy Bob Thornton is an American actor, screenwriter, director and musician. Thornton gained early recognition as a cast member on the CBS sitcom Hearts Afire and in several early 1990s films including On Deadly Ground and Tombstone...
as Crockett, Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
as Sam Houston, and Jason Patric
Jason Patric
Jason Patric is an American film, television and stage actor. He may be best-known for his roles in the films The Lost Boys, Sleepers, Your Friends & Neighbors, Narc, The Losers and Speed 2: Cruise Control. His father was actor/playwright Jason Miller...
as Bowie. However, the film, with its revisionist viewpoint of the siege and the reasons for it, was one of the year's biggest box office failures. In Peewee's Big Adventure, Peewee Herman's stolen bike's location was said to in the basement of the Alamo by a fortune teller, but on a tour of the structure, he is told by the tour guide that Alamo has no basement.
Music
A number of songwriters have also been inspired by the Battle of the Alamo. Tennessee Ernie Ford'sTennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" spent 16 weeks on the country music charts, peaking at number 4 in 1955. Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins
Martin David Robinson , known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
recorded a version of the song "The Ballad of the Alamo" in 1960 which spent 13 weeks on the pop charts, peaking at number 34. "Remember the Alamo
Remember the Alamo (song)
"Remember the Alamo" is a song written by Texan folk singer and songwriter Jane Bowers. Bowers details the last days of 180 soldiers at the Alamo and names several famous figures who fought at the Alamo, including Mexican general Santa Anna and Texans: Jim Bowie, William Barrett Travis and Davy...
", written by Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
folk
American folk music
American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...
singer and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
Jane Bowers
Jane Bowers
Jane Bowers was a Texas folk singer and songwriter best known for her composition "Remember the Alamo". Many of her songs were primarily recorded by The Kingston Trio.-Selected songs:...
, was recorded by The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and Nick Reynolds...
, Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
, Tex Ritter
Tex Ritter
Woodward Maurice Ritter , better known as Tex Ritter, was an American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting...
, Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
and others.