Alamo Bay (1985)

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I've always loved the movies and low budget's are my favorite. As the thirty-three yr old niece of the Shrimper, whose murder, this film is looooosely based on I found watching it brought back extremely painful and frightful memories. Were this movie not based on my Uncle's cruel and thoughtless murder, I would most likely not give it a second thought. Being that he was "written" and "portrayed" as a violent, dim witted, red neck and bitter Vietnam soldier turned shrimper is a slap in the face to his entire family that had to deal with the untimely murder of a Son, Father, Brother, Uncle and friend, and the outrageous miscarriage of justice that followed in it's wake. Indeed there is a True story out there. Unfortunately, in our rush to sympathize with the poor newcomers to our shores, it has never been "Truly" told. My Uncle was indeed a Vet, but did not serve in Vietnam, he also was a Charter Fishing Captain, he was in a long marriage to a loving and supporting wife, he was father of three children and yes a crabber. After approaching the law on several occasions for help after harassment by Vietnamese Refugees, and not getting any help, he was shot in the chest and again in the back as he fled his armed murderers. He was UnArmed. In a Mock Murder Trial, the Van Nguyen brothers, the murderers, were acquitted on self-defense. Even though they openly admitted leaving the scene of the eventual crime to go home and get their rifles to Kill my uncle. How convenient for President Carter. Maille, Arlsen as well as Marie Shriver (liberal democrat who contributed to the making of this film) should all be shamed and ashamed. An American was murdered in his own town by Wards of the Federal Gov't! I do not recommend this film for viewing or for DVD. Enough blood money has been made off my Uncle's innocence.

I really enjoy this movie. I am normally a Horror buff, but there is a great ambiance of the Texas Gulf created. Not to mention wonderful character development. The story is about a young Vietnamese man (Ho Nguyen) who comes to Texas after the war for work. He ends up hitching a ride and begins work shrimping on the Gulf Coast of Texas. He is taken in by the Shrimp business owner's daughter (Amy Madigan). Everything is going well until the pressures of the immigrants over fishing drives Shang (Ed Harris) to lead the Ku Klux Klan to drive out the Vietnamese. The drama continues in a very REAL display. You will be able to find a VHS copy on Amazon or Ebay. This movie SHOULD be released on DVD.

This story of attacks on Vietnamese immigrants on the Texas coast was loosely based on real events from 1979-81. Shang Pierce (Ed Harris) is a Vietnam vet who hates all non-white people and gets particularly riled when Southeast Asian immigrants begin arriving in his town, and especially when one of them develops a relationship with his girlfriend, Glory (Amy Madigan). The situation gets tenser and tenser as the movie progresses.Maybe "Alamo Bay" is not the greatest movie ever, but it certainly shows a part of Texas history (and indeed, US history) that unfortunately seems forgotten. Ed Harris looks like a typical redneck, with a short, wispy beard. It is the sort of movie that you should check out if you get a chance.

A French director telling the USA how screwed up their country is. It's always directors from outside who see more of the human damage on the USA citizens, like Wender's did in PARIS,TEXAS. But this film is uninvolving and not enough punch. Maybe I've been watching too many Oliver Stone movies. Only the brilliant acting saves it.