Fort Alamo (2004 film)

Mexican soldiers rummage around Alamo Fort, literally littered with corpses. The messenger brings terrible news of the extermination of the defenders of the fort to the commander of the Texas army, Sam Houston . The general recalls the events a year ago ...

In the theater, before the play about Davy Crockett, Houston is campaigning for Americans to relocate to Texas , guaranteeing each immigrant a square mile of land. His proposal is carried away by David Crockett himself, who appeared in the theater.

In San Felipe, a tumultuous meeting of the interim government of Texas. The meeting participants, encouraged by recent victories, speak out for a raid on Matamoros. Houston claims that this is insanity, but he is reproached for having opposed the siege of Behar. He proposes the creation of a Texas army and government recognized by all nations, but members vote for his removal. Colonel Bowie, who had just begun the stabbing with Grant, stops appearing . ^[1]

Lt. Col. Travis , having settled affairs with a divorce, appears in the hastily fortified Alamo and takes command of the departing Colonel Neil . Bowie leads a detachment of volunteers, friction begins between him and Travis. David Crockett arrives in Bejar; he does not yet know that an army is moving towards the city under the command of Mexican President General Santa Anne . On the road, merciless Santa Anna orders the execution of captured rebels in front of their families.

At the party, there is a clash between Travis and Bowie, the volunteers refuse to obey Travis. Crockett refuses to take a single command. The next day, a Mexican army appears in the hills, the Texans hastily moving to Fort Alamo. Travis, with a shot from a gun, disrupts the negotiations between Bowie and General Castrillon , who proposed unconditional surrender on behalf of Santa Anna. Enraged, Santa Anna orders to raise the banner with the inscription "Death to traitors." The siege begins, regular shelling in the evenings, but the Texans do not lose heart and take to flight the Mexican detachment. Crockett accompanies the Mexican orchestra playing the Degüello marching violin, his shot pierces the Santa Anna’s epaulette, the Texas gunners sweep away the prominent Mexican redoubts.

Seguin brings Travis's letter to Houston, but Houston, like Colonel Fannin, is not about to release Alamo. Travis announces to the garrison that there will be no reinforcements, but those who do not want to surrender will sell their lives dearly. In the evening, the besieged write letters to relatives, Santa Anna explains to the commanders the plan for the night assault on the fort . To the objections of General Castrillon that heavy weapons will arrive tomorrow with which you can turn the walls of the fort into ruins and that there are laws on the treatment of prisoners, Santa Anna squeamishly replies that the lives of soldiers are not more valuable than the lives of chickens, and if the Texans surrender, then will be considered robbers ^[2] , they will not take anyone prisoner.

Rows of Mexican soldiers quietly approach the walls of the fort. Texas timepieces are stabbed in a dream, but Crockett wakes up to sound the alarm. The general assault on the fortress begins. Texans shoot back on the walls, volleys of their guns mow the ranks of the assault, but there are more and more Mexican soldiers, they climb walls, burst into holes, cut through window openings. Travis is shot in the head, his slave Joe drops his weapon and shouts out a pre-rehearsed phrase: “I am a slave. Not a Rebel! ” Mexicans take wall after wall and turn their captured cannons against the defenders of the fort, who are retreating into the buildings. Soldiers burst into sick Bowie's room and stab him with bayonets. A wave of attackers sweeps over a bunch of the last defenders at the entrance to the church with Crockett.

The next morning, the captured Crockett declares, in response to the translator’s offer, to ask Santa Anna for mercy: “I am ready to discuss the conditions of surrender. Lay down your arms and I will take you to Houston, but I can’t guarantee your life - Sam is very hot-tempered . ” At the signal of an enraged Santa Anna, the guards stab the bound Crockett.

Having received terrible news, Houston does not stop retreating. He believes that conceit will fail the pompous "Napoleon of the West" ^[3] , who, like Napoleon, will make a mistake ^[4] by dividing his forces. And so the battlefield is found . In broad daylight, a wave of Texans literally sweeps away Mexicans who are not ready for battle, bursting into their camp. The massacre begins. Houston is in the thick of the battle and gets a leg wound. He spares the captive Santa Anna, who is about to be hanged, with the words: "You want revenge, but I want Texas . "

It was originally intended to make a film at Imagine Entertainment with Ron Howard in the director's chair and Brian Grazer as a producer. Russell Crowe was scheduled for the role of Sam Houston , Ethan Hawke - for the role of William Travis , and Billy Bob Thornton would be David Crockett . But in the future financial and creative disagreements arose between Imagine Entertainment and Disney , and Howard demanded to raise the budget to $ 200 million. As a result, Disney rejected the Imagine proposal and Howard, Grazer, Crowe and Hawke left the project. And Disney reached an agreement with John Lee Hancock , reducing the budget to $ 95 million. Thornton is the only one left from the original team.

The film was shot in the vicinity of Austin (Texas) , in the period from January to June 2003, mainly on the territory of the Rymers Ranch. The construction of the tape was focused on historical accuracy and plausibility of details, for example, on the facade of the mission there is no easily recognizable “hump” today, which was completed later during the restoration of the complex of buildings after the battle.

After filming and editing, the film was prepared for release in December 2003, but subsequently this date shifted to April 2004 .

The scene in which the captive Davy Crockett was stabbed with bayonets caused a wave of controversy and criticism among historians and battle researchers. ^[5] Traditional and generally accepted version - Crockett died in battle by the death of a hero. The authors of the film in this episode relied on the memoirs of Mexican officer Jose Enrique de la Peña , who fought on the Mexican side in this battle.

The tape suffered a box office failure , from the moment it was screened during the Easter holidays, it was harassed by mediocre reviews in the press and low attendance. On the very first weekend, it became clear that the work of Mel Gibson , “ Passion of Christ ”, which was simultaneously released, simply did not leave a chance for “Alamo”. Of the $ 140 million that went into the production and promotion of the film, only $ 9.1 million returned on the first weekend. By the second month of movie rental, fees on the domestic market have still not reached $ 30 million. Total fees, including international, amounted to less than $ 26 million. ^[6]

• Alamo Sentry: The Popular Culture of The Alamo (inaccessible link) . Date of treatment March 23, 2009. Archived October 16, 2017.
• Review on the site "video guide.ru"