"American Playhouse" Seguin (1982)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

Writer:

Jesús Salvador Treviño (writer)

TV Series:

"American Playhouse" (1982)

Original Air Date:

26 January 1982

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Biography Episode | Soldier | Mexican American | 1800s | History Episode

Cast

Enrique Castillo
Henry Darrow	...	Don Erasmo
Danny De La Paz
Tex Hill	...	Jim Bowie
Dennis Lehane	...	Storekeeper
A Martinez	...	Juan Nepomuceno Seguin
Alma Martínez	...	Anastacia
Julio Medina
Edward James Olmos	...	Gen. Santa Anna
Lupe Ontiveros
Rose Portillo
Pepe Serna
León Singer
Robert Viharo	...	Stephen Austin

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

KCET

Plot summary

In 1979, Jesús Treviño wrote and directed the American Playhouse Drama Seguín which was broadcast nationally over PBS. The Associated Press described it as "a sensitive, faithfully reconstructed and beautifully filmed biography of a hero of the revolution in Texas in the mid-1830s who becomes a victim of racial and cultural prejudice." Seguin is the story of Juan Seguin, an unsung hero of the Texas Wars for Independence and one of the Mexican defenders of the Alamo. Don Erasmo Seguin, along with Stephen Austin, brought the first Anglo settlers to help develop the Mexican state of Texas. His son Juan came into conflict with his father because he sympathized with both Mexico and the American colonists' struggle for possession of Texas.

This sensitive film features evocative color cinematography and a good central performance by a Martinez and a cast including many of the most prominent young Hispanic American actors of their generation. Edward James Olmos plays a snarling and vicious Gen. Santa Anna.

Filmed as part of a proposed PBS series called La Historia, which never received additional funding, Seguin was shown at film festivals around the United States and in Spain. It was broadcast as part of the PBS "American Playhouse" series. It was filmed in 16mm on a 21-day schedule at a cost of $500,000 in Bracketville, Texas, on the sets John Wayne had used to film The Alamo (1960).