The Man from the Alamo

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Budd Boetticher directs. Russell Metty behind the camera. Virgil W. Vogel cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 79-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 273 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by Budd Boetticher, shot by Russell Metty. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Virgil W. Vogel shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Glenn Ford and Julie Adams and Chill Wills carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "Out Of Texas' Bravest Hour... Came The Man They Called The Coward".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0046035 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 44 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Russell Metty

Editing

Virgil W. Vogel

Costume design

Bill Thomas

Makeup / hair

Joan St. Oegger

Runtime

79 min · 1h 19m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Man from the Alamo (1953) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

100% 🍅 Fresh

IMDB rating

6.4/10 · 2,381 votes

MPAA

Approved

US box office

$1,150,000

Also by

Budd Boetticher

• 
  A Guy, a Gal and a Pal

  1945 · ★ 9.0
• 
  The Fleet That Came to Stay

  1945 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Blades of the Musketeers

  1950 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Rifleman

  1958 · ★ 7.1
• 
  The Tall T

  1957 · ★ 7.0
• 
  Maverick

  1957 · ★ 7.0

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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

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Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2017-05-29
  ★ 7/10

  He's just an unlucky guy. As the war for Texas independence heightens, the Alamo has become a critical point of time buying interest. Fearing that their families will perish under the might of the marauding Mexican army, the men of the Alamo draw lots to see which one of them will flee the Alamo battle to steer their respective families out of harms way. John Stroud is the man faced with the task, but upon reaching his destinations he finds he's too late to save anyone. However, this is just the start of his worries as he finds he has been branded a coward for leaving the Alamo, where all have now perished! While his attempts to avenge the murder of his family are beset with problems at every turn. In truth, no great shakes in the Western genre here, and certainly not even close to being amongst the better work of director Budd Boetticher (The Tall T & Comanche Station) or Glenn Ford (The Big Heat & Blackboard Jungle). It's also not high on production value and doesn't have location vitality to give it an earthy sheen, it still, however, manages to be an entertaining piece putting an interesting offshoot to the Alamo legend. Glenn Ford is an ever watchable star and he manages to keep this picture afloat by putting a bit of cool bravado urgency into the role of John Stroud. With dashes of emotional fortitude, his relationship with the young, recently orphaned Carlos, gives the film its emotional weight, and when that sits alongside the usual array of shoot them up sequences it makes for good honest Western fare. Of the supporting cast, Chill Wills and Neville Brand put in some fine work, while there has been far far worse female leads in this genre than the radiant Julie Adams. Of Boetticher's direction? It's just about adequate, where working within the confines of the lot and the lowly budget origins, he manages to pull it through, but in truth probably himself cringed at some of the final night time sequences in the cut. He of course, a couple of years down the line, would go on to direct some of the best genre pieces on the market, so he owes the genre fan very little all told. So good and bad here folks, with the good far outweighing the technically bad deficiencies on offer. But come on now, if you can't enjoy Ford having a good old punch up on the brink of a waterfall? Well you're probably better off not watching a 50s "B" Western in the first place then. 6.5/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Universal International Pictures

  US

Key crew

• StuntsPolly Burson
• Stunt DoubleEvelyn Finley
• HairstylistJoan St. Oegger
• Assistant DirectorTom Shaw
• MusicFrank Skinner
• ProducerAaron Rosenberg
• EditorVirgil W. Vogel
• Makeup ArtistBud Westmore
• Art DirectionAlexander Golitzen
• Set DecorationRussell A. Gausman
• SoundLeslie I. Carey
• Set DecorationRuby R. Levitt
• Art DirectionEmrich Nicholson
• Costume DesignBill Thomas
• SoundCorson Jowett

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• alamo

Release history · US

When it landed

• Premiere1953-07-23NR· San Antonio, Texas
• Theatrical (limited)1953-08-07NR· Los Angeles, California
• Theatrical1953-08-21NR

Also known as

International titles

• Sangue Por SangueBR
• Der Mann aus AlamoDE
• Il traditore di Fort AlamoIT
• Der Mann von AlamoDE
• Le Bastion de la LibertéCA