The Man from the Alamo (1953)

A-maz-ing

A Masterpiece!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

There is always something interesting and just a bit different in this Director's Movies. This one is no exception. It is replete with thought provoking ideas like cowardice, bigotry, loyalty, and other values only found in the better Westerns.This is an action filled Film with guns blazing, galloping Horses, Wagon Trains, bushwhackers, Mexican impersonators, fist-fights and all that is expected in this type of thing. But the difference here is the intelligence. The injection in a popular genre some things that rose above the material.Budd Boetticher, Anthony Mann, and sometimes John Ford and Howard Hawks always gave more than the raw material. This is a modest effort from one of the Greats with an OK cast and a Production that looks so much bigger than it was. That was Boetticher, he was always so much bigger and better than what he was allowed.

When I received a DVD from Netflix with this film and "The Cimarron Kid" on it, I wondered why I'd placed this disk on my queue. After all, I am not a huge fan of westerns and the films appeared pretty unremarkable. However, when I noticed both films were directed by Budd Boetticher, I remembered that THIS was why I'd put these films on my list many months earlier. Boetticher was a wonderful director who managed to make his westerns better than the norm--with stories that lack many of the usual clichés.This film is set during the war for Texas independence from Mexico in the mid-1830s. Soon after the film begins, you see a brief recreation of the Battle of the Alamo. Just before the compound is overrun, the commander has the married men draw lots--the one selected will sneak away from the fort and look after the families left behind. Glen Ford is the one chosen, but when he arrives home he learns that his family had been murdered. And, people begin to talk and think he was a coward since he left--though he was following orders. And, now that the battle is over, he's going to use all his energy tracking down the gang (dressed as Mexicans) responsible for his family's deaths. So, he infiltrates a gang...hoping to find out who is ultimately responsible.The film is helped by having some good support for Ford. Neville Brand (one of the scariest looking heavies in film history), Victor Jory, Hugh O'Brian and Chill Wills all are available to provide nice color and good old dependable acting. And, Boetticher at the helm sure didn't hurt, either. Together, they are able to take an okay story and make it a lot better than it should have been. While it's not as good as the Boetticher/Randolph Scott collaborations, it's quite good.By the way, they did NOT have revolvers and repeating rifles back then. The very first guns of these types were not yet available until AFTER this war and really were very rare until well into the Civil War. All too often, I have seen Hollywood mess up this detail--perhaps because it would be less exciting to see everyone stop to reload after each shot...and because reloading would take at least 30 seconds (and quite possibly more). But, unfortunately, that IS how they would have fought in the old days. And, by the way, the inexperienced women in the film managed to reload in about five seconds---something even the best soldiers never could have accomplished at the time!

Drawing straws (or in this case beans) Texas patriot Glenn Ford is picked to leave the Alamo in order to evacuate his and his neighbor's families, only to find them all dead at the hands of marauders and himself branded a coward.Starting with a fairly colorful, low-budget Alamo siege (shot on a sound-stage!), this is pretty compelling all the way, with an excellent, hard-boiled performance from Ford and nice direction from the great Budd Boetticher, one of the best unsung western filmmakers ever.This is almost as good as Boetticher's later collaborations with Randolph Scott. My only problem is that this wasn't shot in widescreen.As far as the supporting cast goes, Chill Wills is always fun to watch, while the incredibly beautiful Julie Adams is always fun to look at, and Neville Brand delivers some great, macho, swaggering villainy that easily overshadows the more subdued Victor Jory.On the other hand, I can't quite understand the Golden Globe win by Hugh O'Brian. He's okay, but slightly bland as Ford's main accuser.

By chance, June clouds threatening, I sat down and watched this entertaining western on a Saturday afternoon. An earlier commentator ended his praise for this film by noting that it is "an excellent western for a Saturday afternoon." And it was. The ethical dilemma of leaving a field of battle (in this case the Alamo)to try and save the lives of loved ones is a powerful theme. The repercussions to John Stroud, Ford's weary but stalwart character, are scorn, accusations of cowardice and worse. The best part of the film are the sweeping shots of the Texas plains. The movie is well-composed, capturing the majestic plains and hills with a strength of purpose that demands an emotional response. One of the early films of Jeanne Cooper, who is a favorite of mine.