ALAMO 2004 needed a better set up but ending was very good

Rating: 7/10 (14 June 2007)

I am glad this movie included the victorious BATTLE OF SAN JACINTO which occurred about 6 weeks after the siege of the Alamo. Amazing to see that 800 Texans defeated 1600 Mexicans in 18 MINUTES.
The battle at the Alamo was the prelude to that victory at San Jacinto over Santa Anna where his life was traded for Texas independence.
Other movies left this out and it's important in explaining how Texas split from Mexico to become the 28th state of the United States.
What this film did not clearly develop were the historical circumstances that led to the Alamo battle. Mexico had encouraged white settlements in the area and then decided otherwise. White Texians and Mexican Tejanos lived in relative peace together in the San Antonio area. They even fought together at the Alamo and at San Jacinto.
Included on the DVD is a deleted scene from the 2004 movie which showed Mexican General Cos and his defeated Mexican troops marching out of San Antonio after a battle that happened PRIOR to the Alamo. Cos had agreed to leave the settlements alone but Santa Anna broke that pledge. Those scenes should NOT have been deleted.
The beginning of Alamo 2004 is too murky. What this movie needed was a better set up and a voice-over narrative to more clearly explain what was going on.
HOW THE WEST WAS WON employed this technique and it used Spencer Tracy as the narrator. BEN-HUR used the technique as well. Both of those were historical fiction based on historical fact.
Both were enormously successful. This movie should have been as well.