11:15am PST – Alamo, The (1960) – Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie join the fight for Texas’ independence from Mexico. Cast: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, Frankie Avalon Dir: John Wayne C-203 mins, TV-14
John Wayne felt it was important enough to tell the story of the brave men of the Alamo that he nearly went bankrupt to fund this dream project he produced, directed, and starred it. This was something he willed into existence, forced into being using every ounce of juice he had as the biggest movie star in the world. Still, for the most part, he was out there on a limb, all on his own and it would take more than a decade of re-releases before the film would earn enough to call itself profitable. The film was popular enough, just too expensive. It was also nominated for 6 Oscars, including Best Picture.
“The Alamo” is not a great film, but it is a very, very good one — especially this version, Wayne’s longer cut. The Duke did a superb job directing the battle scenes, and everything leading up to the impressively staged climax is more hit than miss, but there are misses and a deliberate pace that may not be to everyone’s taste.
Because too many on the Left make a full time job of deconstructing and tearing down all that is good, the conventional wisdom that John Wayne was some kind of racist was so strong that for years my wife, who was born in Mexico, refused to watch this. Don’t get me wrong, she’s a proud, America-lovin’, Bush-votin’ right-wing extremist who jumped through all the hoops necessary to become a citizen and thinks those here illegally should be herded up and shipped back – but she can’t stand when movies portray Mexicans as greasy, gold-toothed alcoholics, which is what she was told to expect from Wayne.
Some years ago I finally convinced her to give it a look and of course she saw that the exact opposite is true. Wayne not only forgoes stereotypes, there’s a moment in the film when his characters stop to honor the brave men in Santa Ana’s army. It’s one of the stronger dramatic scenes and a display of the class and humanity that defined John Wayne.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.