Houston: The Legend of Texas (1986)

Absolutely Fantastic

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I will fully admit to prejudice as far as Houston: The Legend Of Texas is concerned. Sam Houston is one of my favorite characters from American history. To do full justice to his life and all the events of it and all history that he was part of would require a mini-series. Maybe someone will do one some fine day.But for now this film will do insofar as the years of 1829 to 1836 are concerned. This is as scrupulously accurate account of Houston's life as we're likely to get being that his years with the Cherokee and his scandalous divorce are concerned. Especially the latter since Eliza Allen destroyed all her correspondence and Houston never spoke publicly of the split between them.Sam Elliott plays Sam Houston and he completely fills my conception of the role. Lean and rangy Elliott has the requisite background and skills to bring the character of Houston to life. The women in his life up to that point are played by Claudia Christian as Eliza Allen and Devon Ericson as Cherokee princess Tiana Rogers.Rogers by the way was of the same family that later gave us Will Rogers, a noted Cherokee himself. She was Houston's common law wife and sad to say he deserted her as he reinvents himself for a political comeback in Texas. Though he was one of the few frontier characters who respected and fought for American Indians, he knew that was a minority opinion. Though he stood up to Andrew Jackson himself on the subject, when Houston went to Texas he never saw Rogers again.Jackson by the way is played by G.D. Spradlin who steps into a place occupied by Lionel Barrymore and Charlton Heston as our screen image of the 7th president. His part is brief, but memorable.Of course the battle of San Jacinto is the highlight of the film, again recreated with scrupulous accuracy. With that the Republic of Texas is secure and Houston is elected its first president. But even after this there is still so much more to the Houston story. Knowing that you wish the film wasn't ending.As for his personal life, it was on a visit to Alabama while Texas was a Republic that Sam Houston met Margaret Lea, a southern belle from a rich plantation family who was a generation and a half younger than him, but whom he married. They had a whole bunch of kids so his personal life was fulfilled eventually. But that was a few years after the action of this film ended.This is a well crafted look at one of our greatest Americans and I highly recommend it for all audiences, for children of all ages, especially if they reside in the Lone Star State.

Sometimes even before HBO,a TV movie was made worth seeing.Not the huge budget to give the subject was it deserves,but for its time,1986 it's really quite good.Sam Elliott as Sam Houston is the focus and the scope of the story that is almost as broad as the USA itself.So some will be disappointed at the short,quick overview of many very important details.There is so very much to tell. And like many TV movies it starts so very slow that only the power of Elliott's screen presence keeps you interested.Surly someone will one day make a true picture of the father of Texas.He deserves it,booze,women and all.For remember this,he was a head of state,governor of two states and a congressman and senator from different states,Who else in our country has that pedigree?? How much is fact,or fiction,I don't know,however I would like to know about his dream for a Indian nation in Texas before he ever went there.If Honest Abe is getting a new look this year,I believe Houston should get one two.For all its flaws and unevenness,this film temps you to learn more about this crazy character and very unique figure in our history.REMAKE !!!!

Saw this over the weekend. The story of the founding of the Republic of Texas (the Battle of the Alamo, the Battle of San Jacinto) and all the real people who were involved is extremely dramatic in itself. Therefore, no matter how it is treated, it is always going to look "over the top"; in the light of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, that "drama" will seem hokey. But Sam Elliott deserves an acknowledgement of at least trying to portray Sam Houston was an actual human being (Houston was a true statesman- one who looked at the future consequences); Sam Elliott did the same sort of "humanizing" for Wild Bill Hickock, another person who can easily be overdone because that was how he was. Katharine Ross did well as Mrs. Dickinson, the woman who was buried with the sobriquet: The Only Survivor of the Alamo. Maybe someday, people will also know the importance of Emily Morgan (the real Yellow Rose of Texas). Factually, this was a correct filmplay, not as bloody as it could have been. Somewhat cheesy, but all-in-all, not too bad.

Sam Houston will always be remembered as the man who annexed the US to Texas and changed everything. Told with respect for the Mexican view, Gone to Texas does more than hint President Jackson's resolve to get Texas one way or another and his tasking of Sam Houston to the project to relieve both whites and Indians in the American East of coping with Sam. The legend of San Jacinto is told in the traditional fashion , but there's more than a hint that Houston had General Gaines' US troops for the task. But it's still a pleasure to revisit young America bursting with enthusiasm albeit at Mexico's expense. G.D. Spradlin played President Andrew Jackson as he is remembered the last of the demi-Gods. I think even the Raven would have liked Sam Elliott in his part. Bo Hopkins was an excellent choice for Colonel Sidney Sherman, cool arrogant and deadly. COMPARABLE FILMS: ONE MAN's HERO, The Alamo