The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory (1987) (TV)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writers:

Lon Tinkle (book)
Clyde Ware (writer) ...

Release Date:

26 January 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War | Western

Plot:

The story of the famed siege of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution, in which a small band of soldiers...

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Siege | Alamo | Rebellion | Sam Houston

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy.

Cast

James Arness	...	Jim Bowie
Brian Keith	...	Col. Davy Crockett
Alec Baldwin	...	Col. William Barrett Travis
David Ogden Stiers	...	Col. Black
Jim Metzler	...	Maj. James Bonham
Tom Schanley	...	Pvt. Danny Cloud
Fernando Allende	...	Col. Alamonte (Santa Anna's nephew)
Kathleen York	...	Mrs. Susannah Dickinson
Isela Vega	...	Senora Cos
Raul Julia	...	Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana
Gene Evans	...	McGregor
Michael Wren	...	Juan Seguin
Jon Lindstrom	...	Capt. Almeron Dickinson
Hinton Battle	...	Joe (Travis' servant)
David Sheiner	...	Luis

Runtime:

140 min | Australia:167 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:PG | Iceland:12

Filming Locations:

Alamo Village - Highway 674, Brackettville, Texas, USA

Company:

Finnegan/Pinchuk Productions

Trivia:

Final film appearance of Lorne Greene.

Quotes:

Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: History teaches us, gentlemen, that great generals remain generals by never underestimating their opposition.

Movie Connections:

Features The Last Command (1955)

Slow, cheap, lame and boring. Other than that . . .

Burt Kennedy used to be a very good director, but you'd never know it by this lumbering mess. Not only does this film look cheap, it IS cheap--most of the battle scenes are lifted from the far superior "The Last Command" from 1955, and that footage, shot 32 years previously, looks more contemporary than anything in this picture. The few action scenes that were actually shot for this movie are disorganized, confused and incompetent, looking just as shoddy as the rest of the picture. This has the look and feel of a bad student film (and the budget didn't seem to be a whole lot more). It moves like molasses, the acting for the most part is either over-the-top ham or under-the-top comatose--although Raul Julia comes off better than most of the rest of the cast--and it's chock full of annoying historical inaccuracies. On top of that, it's WAY too long. If you're going to make a boring film, do it in an hour or so and get it over with--don't stretch it out over three hours, like this one does. If you want to see a good movie about the Alamo, check out John Wayne's 1960 version, or even the 1955 film from which this movie stole its action scenes. Hard to believe it took six producers to make a movie this lousy. Skip it.