Tagline: You will never forget.
The Alamo movie storyline. From director John Lee Hancock and Oscar- winning producers Mark Johnson and Ron Howard comes an epic motion picture event, the dramatic true story of one of the most momentous battles in American history. “The Alamo” is the tale of a handful of men who stood up for what they believed in and made the ultimate sacrifice against an overwhelming force.
In the spring of 1836, in the face of insurmountable odds, fewer than 200 ordinary men who believed in the future of Texas held the fort for 13 days against thousands of Mexican soldiers led by dictator General Antonio López de Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarria), ruler of Mexico.
Commanded by three men – the young, brash Lt. Col. William Travis (Patrick Wilson); the zealous, passionate James Bowie (Jason Patric); and the living legend David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) – the Texans would die for their beliefs, but their deeds at the Alamo would make history as General Sam Houston’s (Dennis Quaid) emotional rallying call for Texas independence. The film is written by Leslie Bohem and Oscar winner Stephen Gaghan and John Lee Hancock.
“I’m a Texas native, born and raised, and I’ve been visiting the Alamo and thinking about it since I was seven or eight years old,” says director John Lee Hancock, the director of Touchstone Pictures ‘ /Imagine Entertainment’s exciting new action epic, “The Alamo.” “We’d play Alamo in the backyard; we’d fight over who got to be Davy Crockett, who got to be Bowie. In a lot of ways, The Alamo is synonymous with my childhood… the opportunity to go back and revisit that as an adult,with an adult’s eyes and a new respect for what happened there, was one that I couldn’t resist.
“It’s a tough thing, to separate the mythology of the Alamo from the new facts that historians have learned, but I’ve tried to embrace them both,” Hancock continues. “Like everybody, I’m captivated by the larger-than-life place the Alamo has taken in the story of the building of America, but at the same time, we’ve made a real effort to show, to the best of our knowledge, what it was really like to be there.”
“One of the most distinctive things about this movie is that it’s a character study,” states Oscar- winning producer Mark Johnson. “The Alamo” marks the continuation of an association between Johnson and Hancock that began over a decade ago. “But, it’s a character study against a huge, epic background. It’s probably more character-driven than any previous version of the story. Beyond the siege and epic battle, it deals with a confluence of people who came together for different reasons, were actually fighting and defending the Alamo for different reasons. This heroism came from people who weren’t necessarily heroic characters. This convergence of events immortalized them forever.”
“I think that, as Americans, we’re drawn to underdogs, and these guys were the ultimate underdogs,” says Hancock. “When people decide to stay in a place even though it means certain death, it’s a heroic gesture.
“It’s also a story about second chances,” continues Hancock. “Many – most – of these men had been failures of one kind or another. The Alamo was a place where they got another chance at life, a chance to be reborn. I guess that they forgot that in order to be reborn, you have to die. Ultimately, these aren’t comic-book heroes; these are real guys, flawed guys, that still found something unexpected in themselves. I want the audience to feel their plight and ask themselves a question: `Would I have stayed?’
“There have been thirteen or fourteen Alamo movies and I’m sure each one has a cultural distinction based on the audience at the time,” the director continues. “It’s also been said of Wayne’s film that it’s important to the period because of the ideas he wanted to portray in terms of patriotism.”
The Alamo is a 2004 American war film about the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution. The film was directed by Texan John Lee Hancock, produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson, distributed by Touchstone Pictures, and starring Dennis Quaid as Sam Houston, Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett, and Jason Patric as Jim Bowie.
The screenplay is credited to Hancock, John Sayles, Stephen Gaghan, and Leslie Bohem. In contrast to the earlier 1960 film of the same name, the 2004 film attempts to depict the political points of view of both the Mexican and Texan sides; Santa Anna is a more prominent character. The film received mixed reviews by critics and was a massive box-office flop.
The Alamo (2004)
Directed by: John Lee Hancock
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarria, Marc Blucas, W. Earl Brown, Kevin Page, Laura Clifton, Jordi Mollà
Screenplay by: Stephen Gaghan
Production Design by: Michael Corenblith
Cinematography by: Dean Semler
Film Editing by: Eric L. Beason
Costume Design by: Daniel Orlandi
Set Decoration by: Carla Curry
Art Direction by: Lauren E. Polizzi, Dan Webster
Music by: Carter Burwell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sustained intense battle sequences.
Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures
Release Date: April 9, 2004
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