Man From the Alamo [VHS]

Man From the Alamo [VHS]
by Budd Boetticher

Man From the Alamo [VHS]
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Product details

Actor: Chill Wills, Glenn Ford, Hugh O'Brian, Julie Adams, Victor Jory
Director: Budd Boetticher
Cinematographer: Russell Metty
Editor: Virgil W. Vogel
Producer: Aaron Rosenberg
Writer: D.D. Beauchamp
Writer: Niven Busch
Writer: Oliver Crawford
Writer: Steve Fisher
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 79 minutes
Release Date: 1995-08-29
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Man From the Alamo [VHS]

Movie Review: Groan
Summary: 2 Stars

Deserving of its obscurity, "The Man From the Alamo" (1953) is probably Director Budd Boetticher's weakest Western and Glenn Ford's weakest film. While not actually horrible it is not something to seek out for exciting entertainment or for a showcase of the talent of those two Hollywood immortals.

It's another of those lame historical fiction stories that would be at least tolerable if the names and places had been changed to protect the innocent. In fairness, the film would have been easier to take back in 1953, a couple of years before Fess Parker and later John Wayne told slightly less fictional Alamo stories and established lasting mental pictures of the event and the participants.

"The Man From the Alamo" is probably most noteworthy for its overuse (and misuse) of "day for night" filming. There are endless "day for night" scenes with many among the worst examples I have ever seen. One camp scene is so underexposed (to simulate nighttime darkness) that it's just five minutes of disembodied voices.
The scenes at the Alamo are lame sound-stage stuff.

Also amusing are the sequences of the wagon train traversing the same California valley in scene and scene (the high hills in the background and the dry valley just don't square with the alleged East Texas location).

While Boetticher was normally excellent at pacing, in "The Man From the Alamo" he dissipates the tension way to early and the film drags along to an unexciting (snore) ending. The wily renegades turn out to be totally inept cream-puffs and the viewer is left waiting for a tactical surprise that never happens.

The story opens with John Stroud (Glenn Ford) as part of the Alamo's garrison. We never meet General Santa Anna but there are brief scenes with Travis, Crockett, and Bowie. Stroud and his group draw lots to see which one will leave the Alamo to protect their ranches and families from a band of renegades. But he arrives too late and finds all the ranches have been burned and most of the families killed.

Since no one at the Alamo survives, Stroud is labeled a deserter and is about to be lynched in the first town he enters. But the renegades attack the town and Stroud infiltrates their merry little band led by Jess Wade (Richard Jory) so that he can get revenge.

There is not much challenging acting required although Neville Brand is quite effective as one of the Renegades. Hugh O'Brien gets a lot of mock fest moments as a kind of combo of George Custer and Kit Carson; complete with a tight buckskin costume.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Movie Review: Poor beginnings drag down an otherwise excellent B-Western
Summary: 3 Stars

The siege of the Alamo took place in early 1836 some 200 or so men defended the old crumbling adobe mission for 13 days against the might of the Mexican Army, apart from a small group of women and young children there were no known survivors. From a novel by Niven Busch and Oliver Crawford THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO (1953) is a B-Western directed by Bud Boetticher and starring Glenn Ford in the title role.

John Stroud (Ford) with a small group of locals from his home town secretly draw lots to decide which of them will leave the fort to protect their families. Stroud draws the black bean and prepares to leave the fort to the dismay of the other defenders. Riding hell-for-leather he arrives home too late, discovering from Carlos (sole surviving Mexican boy) that his family had been massacred by a band of renegades posing as Mexicans led by Jess Wade (Victor Jory). Taking Carlos into the nearest town of Franklin he leaves him in the care of Beth Anders (Julie Adams). A messenger from the Alamo Lt Tom Lamar (Hugh O'Brian) recognises Stroud and denounces him to the townsfolk. In an effort to infiltrate Wade's gang and with all the local townspeople against him Stroud gets himself thrown into jail, which is already occupied by Dawes (Neville Brand) a gang member. The townsfolk are busy packing and loading a wagon train to escape the expected arrival of the Mexican Army at this point they are attacked by Wade's gang who spring Dawes along with Stroud from jail. Later Stroud learns that the gang are planning to attack the town's wagon train having found out that the town's bankroll is onboard. He sets out to warn the wagon train of pending disaster and to help in organising its defence for the final showdown!

This is really a film of two parts first the scenes at the Alamo which presumably due to budget restraints are all low key and unworthy of this momentous event in American history. The second and by far the largest part, starts from the moment Stroud leaves the fort and moves into more normal B-Western territory. Boettcher has the excellent Glenn Ford portraying the stoic hero who had reluctantly left his comrades (as it turned out) to die at the Alamo, leaving Stroud a man alone against all the odds to clear his name and his conscience a theme Boetticher would return to in a series of seven superior B-Westerns with Randolph Scott 1956 - 1960. Others elsewhere have complained about historical inaccuracies in this film with the use of six guns in 1836 some years before they were introduced, although there is plenty of evidence of mussel-loading going on with muskets, ably demonstrated by the womenfolk defended the wagons in the final scenes.

1953 was fine year for Westerns. The Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Male 1953 went to Hugh O'Brian for this film and other work. Finally a word about Chill Wills who played a crusty one-armed town elder, seven years later he appeared in John Wayne's big budget film THE ALAMO (1960) for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role!


Movie Review: I'LL DO IT MY WAY. PERIOD.
Summary: 3 Stars

Budd Boetticher was responsible for a few great westerns such as Seven Men From Now (Special Collector's Edition) or Comanche Station in the fifties and is considered as a director with a style or even an author in Europe. However, THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO, shot in 1953, is not one of his best efforts as though some of the themes handled later by Budd Boetticher are already present in this film.

The main problem of THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO is precisely The Alamo and its battle. The production design of the fort is rather laughable and the actors who play such heroic characters as Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Colonel Travis are, to be nice, wrongly casted. Incidentally, during an interview he gave some 15 years later, Budd Boetticher only remembered the comic side of THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO. These first twenty minutes literally shoot down the film. The second part, focused on the character played by Glenn Ford, is far more interesting with its non-stop action. Ford is a taciturn man who doesn't care what people think of him. He knows he's right and that's enough for him. Vengeance is his only motto, he doesn't have time to take care of his reputation, good or bad.

A DVD zone Boetticher fans only.

Movie Review: Great Glenn Ford Western
Summary: 4 Stars

While many reviewers criticize the accuracy of the portrayal of the Alamo battle, this is a great film that deals with the hardships endured by a man who does the right thing even though it causes him to be exposed to hardship and ridicule.

Ford plays John Stroud, a freedom fighter at the Alamo, and one of a group of men whose families are threatened by Yankee renegades who fight with the Mexicans in exchange for land. Knowing that this bunch of renegades is getting ready to attack their homes, they have a drawing to see who will leave the Alamo to protect their families. The loser will undoubtedly be branded a coward. Ford loses the draw and leaves, only to find his wife and son already dead at the hands of the renegades.

He proceeds to infiltrate and track down the gang. Regardless of the possible inaccuracies about the battle (and who can say for sure because no video or pictures were taken), this is a great film with great performance by Ford, Victor Jory, and ably supported by Julie Adams and Chill Wills

Movie Review: Another STINKEROO!
Summary: 1 Stars

You'd really have to be desperate to waste time on this one. One of the worst Alamo films of all time, unless you count THIRTEEN DAYS TO GLORY. (Gaaaggghhh) Historical accuracy is just not there! Decent acting, absent. Believeable plot, dead on arrival.
I've heard of B-grade Westerns, but this one doesn't even come close. If you are a glutton for punishment, go for it. Just don't operate heavy machinery after watching this bilge, you'll be too mind numbed.
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