After visiting the Alamo and gaining a historical background on its events I have decided to view the 1960 film The Alamo. Although the movie was very entertaining and humorous there were many historical errors. I believe that there was no need to change characteristics in the people or the way events happened, this is already a very interesting part of history.
The most noticeable error is with Jim Bowie, the movie depicts him being lively and party like[i]. In reality Jim Bowie was very sick during the battle of the Alamo. The movie shows him being hit by a cannon during battle but in reality at that time Jim Bowie was so sick he would be lying in bed. The movie claims that Jim Bowie lived in Texas but the truth is he had a home in Kentucky. Jim Bowie and Travis show heavy conflict between each other in the film but historically they did not fight with each other much at all. It also displays Bowie’s slave to be named Jethro but historical documents show that Bowie’s slave was really named Sam. Throughout the film Bowie is being represented as a drunk, however there is little evidence to support that he acted that way. Bowie also seems to be an acclaimed knife fighter, but history actually shows that he only fought with a knife once or twice before.
During his time Davy Crockett was an excellent man, however the movie seems to exaggerate his heroism. Historically its unknown if Crockett’s had a female friend at the Alamo. The movie shows that Crockett fell into the events of the Alamo while he was hunting and drinking but the truth is Crockett rallied up the Tennessee volunteers with him to travel to the Alamo to help fight, they knew of the battle. The situation of the Santa Anna letter which was actually fake never happened at all. Also Crockett’s death was fabricated, he never exploded an ammo storage, infact there is evidence showing that Crockett was captured and then executed.
Travis was smart and knew what was going on but its unlikely he shoved it in everybody’s face as the movie shows. The movie states that nobody came in response to Travis’s call for help but historically 32 men from Gonzales did come to help defend. Also Travis was not shot in the chest, he was actually shot in the head.
Captain Seguin in the movie was portrayed as a common Mexican, but the truth is he was of a very high status and well known. It also makes him appear to be much older than he really was during the events of the Alamo.
Navarro was also displayed to be a regular civilian but the truth is he was the first to sign the Texas declaration of independence[ii].
The scene where the people of the Alamo were running from Santa Anna is fake, Santa Anna allowed all the women and children of the Alamo to leave before any battle started. The wall climbing siege event did not happen during daylight, it was really during the early morning darkness.
The Tejano’s of the Alamo are represented as poor people but the truth is many of them prospered in the economy of the Alamo. The Tejano’s in the movie did not seem to be involved in the battle but historically all of them fought. Also, the Tejano women are shown to be no more than bar lurkers waiting for a white man.
The building of the Alamo itself is also misrepresented in this movie. Its shown to be a very secluded area when in fact it was just across the river from San Antonio de Bexar. The event of Bonham delivering the message that the Alamo has fallen did not really happen for 3-5 weeks.
The movie gets the main events right. The battle did last for 13 days, giving Sam Houston enough time to build up a force to defeat Santa Anna. The 1960 film The Alamo was fun to watch but its not recommended to be seen for much historical reference.
[i] The Alamo. Dir. John Wayne. Perf. John Wayne, Richard Wildmark, Laurence Harvey. DVD. MGM, 1960.
[ii] Tijernia, Andres. "Under the Mexican Flag." Tejano Journey os (1996).
