CS Daily Archive > Weekend Read > 04/09/04

History, Drama, and Three-Act Structure
Duke It Out at The Alamo

BY MATTHEW REYNOLDS

Historical legends Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie defend the famed Alamo from General Santa Anna and his troops, but their efforts -- and the film -- fall short.

The Alamo

Leslie Bohem and Stephen Gaghan and John Lee Hancock

In 1836, the United States was still figuring out its borders, and one place under heavy dispute was the territory of Texas. Even then, it had the reputation it enjoys today -- a place for big men with big attitudes and big hearts. After an attack by Mexican General Santa Ana, about two hundred Texans hole themselves up in the former mission known as the Alamo. After two weeks of sporadic cannon volleys, Santa Ana orders his troops to storm the fort at dawn, massacring everyone. But his siege backfires -- rather than causing U.S. forces to back down, it spurs them on. Gen. Sam Houston and his vengeful army fight back, led by his rallying cry, "Remember the Alamo."

Great movies are the result of a thousand great decisions, bad movies the result of a thousand bad decisions, and mediocre movies are . . . well, you get the picture. In other words, it's hard to find exactly what's wrong with this latest historical effort. While not as somber or as lyrical as Cold Mountain a few months ago, it's also not as fun and adventurous as the underrated Master And Commander.

Part of the problem is by design. As is the case with many historical events, the battle of the Alamo doesn't necessarily lend itself to three acts. Much like Touchstone's Pearl Harbor before it (or should that be the other way around?), the central focus of the picture is on a losing battle; the redemption -- and third act climax -- comes with events held afterward, in this case by entirely different characters than those we've been following. Another challenge facing the screenplay is the inherently static nature of the story -- our characters are stuck in one place.

What does work for the film, though, is its sense of history. Opening scenes in Washington, DC may be a little on the dull side, but they shed light on this often- overlooked segment of US history and geography. Some would say that this is supposed to be a movie, and not a history lesson. Those who have that mindset should stay away from historical movies.

Maybe we should give historical movies a bit of a break; especially this one, with its grand ramifications. (We sometimes forget that the lines on a map that don't represent rivers often represent blood.) We look back at the jingoistic movies of the past with a justifiably critical eye -- if anything, they tell us more about the time in which they were made than the event which they're trying to depict. If The Alamo is a bit frustrating because so much of it takes place in one location, with only a last-minute change of tempo and scope, we should take it out on history, not the film. There is only so much we should require our screenwriters to do. In this age of political correctness and historical revisionism, where we rightly demand the truth and not what we've come to call the Hollywood version of things, we can't have our cake and eat it too.

Decently executed and entertaining, what The Alamo lacks in pacing and flow it almost -- but not quite -- makes up for in scope and historical value.

The Alamo
Touchstone Pictures
Rated PG-13
137 min.

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Matthew Reynolds is a former journalist now working in feature film development. He is not responsible for items lost or stolen during the reading of this review.

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