The Alamo

Cinephile deep dive

The take

John Wayne directs. William H. Clothier behind the camera. Dimitri Tiomkin scores. Stuart Gilmore cuts. A long sit — settle in. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1At 202 minutes, this is a three-hour-plus commitment — longer than 95% of films ever made.
• 2Earned back only 66% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 366 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
• 5217+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 6Directed by John Wayne, shot by William H. Clothier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 7Original score by Dimitri Tiomkin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 8Editor Stuart Gilmore shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 9John Wayne and Richard Widmark and Laurence Harvey carry the top of the cast.
• 10Marketing tagline: "The Mission That Became a Fortress! The Fortress That Became a Shrine!".
• 11IMDB entry: tt0053580 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 12Classified under 9 themes, including "texas", "assault", "based on true story", "tennessee".

The technical file

Cinematography

William H. Clothier

Original score

Dimitri Tiomkin

Editing

Stuart Gilmore

Costume design

Frank Beetson Jr.

Makeup / hair

Web Overlander

Sound

Roger Heman Sr.

Runtime

202 min · 3h 22m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$12,000,000

Box office

$7,900,000

Return

66% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Alamo (1960) ↗

Also by

John Wayne

• 
  The Green Berets

  1968 · ★ 5.7

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  THE ALAMO (1960) | Davy Crockett Meets Jim Bowie | MGM

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  THE ALAMO (1960) | The Night Raid Scene | MGM

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  THE ALAMO (1960) | The Short Way to Start a War | MGM

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  THE ALAMO (1960) | Battle Scene | MGM

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Official Trailer

  Trailer · Official
• 

  ▶
  John Landis on THE ALAMO

  Featurette

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2019-01-10
  ★ 5/10

  For what seems like 13 hours the film misses classic genre status. For 13 days these brave men hold the fort... The Alamo is not the film it should be, even after the 2004 remake (a great film that takes a reflective and thoughtful stance) we find ourselves still waiting for a blood pumping and stirring take on the folklore tale of what happened at the small missionary known as The Alamo. It's San Antonio, 1836 and General Santa Anna is marching his mighty armies into the contested territory of Texas, all that stands in his way is a small band of heroes, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and their trusty men who are led by the inexperienced William Travis. They must buy time in order for General Sam Houston to get an army together in which to crush Santa Anna's imposing forces. There really is no simpler way of putting it other than to say that The Alamo is an overlong misfire. Various cuts have been made to try and create an epic classic out of what was actually filmed, but neither of the cuts can succeed in making it the flowing genre piece it could have been. John Wayne directs and clearly cared about the project (with his own cash invested that was to be expected), but rumours have persisted that Cliff Lyons had to take up directing duties later in the picture, it's not hard to see why if that was the case, but various sources do poo poo this rumour, and is mostly believed to be Wayne's own work throughout the film. Wayne (having learnt from his mentor John Ford) had a great vision for the picture, and the scope is rather impressive, the recreation of The Alamo building in particular is first rate, whilst the formations of Santa Anna's armies finally rouse the picture out of its slumber. However, the high points in the picture are few and far between, the acting leaves a lot to be desired, with Wayne himself unable to let the Crockett character be anything other than the John Wayne show. Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie steadily holds his own and manages to eek out a bit of bravado interplay with Wayne and Laurence Harvey (William Travers), but outside of that there is not much to write home about. The final third just about saves the film from being a stinker, with the Academy Award for best sound richly deserved, but sadly The Alamo remains to this day a plodding dinosaur that bores when it really should be igniting the spirit. 5/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Batjac Productions

  US

• TH

  The Alamo Company

Key crew

• CastingFrank Leyva
• EditorStuart Gilmore
• Art DirectionAlfred Ybarra
• ProducerJohn Wayne
• Property MasterJoe LaBella
• Sound RecordistFred Hynes
• Sound RecordistGordon Sawyer
• Assistant CameraRobert Rhea
• Assistant DirectorRobert E. Relyea
• Assistant DirectorRobert Saunders
• Costume DesignFrank Beetson Jr.
• Costume DesignAnn Peck
• Set DecorationVictor A. Gangelin
• Special EffectsLee Zavitz
• Unit ManagerTom Andre
• Makeup SupervisorWeb Overlander
• HairstylistFae M. Smith
• SoundJack Solomon
• Sound EditorDon Hall
• Music EditorRobert Tracy
• Production ManagerNate H. Edwards
• Second Unit DirectorCliff Lyons
• Producer's AssistantMichael Wayne
• Associate ProducerJames Edward Grant

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• texas
• assault
• based on true story
• tennessee
• battlefield
• alamo
• usa history
• davy crockett
• jim bowie

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1960-10-24NR

Also known as

International titles

• O ÁlamoBR
• ΆλαμοGR
• El ÁlamoES