# The Alamo (1960 film)

The Alamo is a 1960 film that tells the legendary true story of a small band of soldiers who sacrificed their lives in hopeless combat against a massive army in order to prevent a tyrant from smashing the new Republic of Texas.
    Directed by John Wayne. Written by James Edward Grant.

## Davy Crockett

* Republic. I like the sound of the word. It means people can live free, talk free, go or come, buy or sell, be drunk or sober, however they choose. Some words give you a feeling. 'Republic' is one of those words that makes me tight in the throat - the same tightness a man gets when his baby takes his first step or his first baby shaves and makes his first sound as a man. Some words can give you a feeling that makes your heart warm. 'Republic' is one of those words.
* I'm gonna tell you something, Flaca, and I want you to listen tight. May sound like I'm talkin' about me. But I'm not. I'm talkin' about you. As a matter of fact, I'm talkin' about all people everywhere. When I come down here to Texas, I was lookin' for somethin'. I didn't know what. Seems like you added up my life and I spent it all either stompin' other men or, in some cases, gettin' stomped. Had me some money and had me some medals. But none of it seemed a lifetime worth of the pain of the mother that bore me. It was like I was empty. Well, I'm not empty anymore. That's what's important, to feel useful in this old world, to hit a lick against what's wrong, or to say a word for what's right even though you get walloped for saying that word. Now I may sound like a Bible beater yelling up a revival at a river crossing camp meeting, but that don't change the truth none. There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around, but you're dead as a beaver hat.

## Jim Bowie

* I'd hate to say anything good about that long-winded jackanapes, but he does know the short way to start a war.

## Gen. Sam Houston

* Travis, I've never been able to like you. But you are one of the very few men I would trust with the life of Texas.
* I hope they remember. I hope Texas remembers.

## Dialogue

    Gen. Sam Houston: Where's Jim Bowie?
    Capt. James Butler Bonham: He's indisposed, sir.
    Gen. Sam Houston: Indisposed? By God if you mean drunk, you say drunk, sir!
    Capt. James Butler Bonham: He's drunk, sir!
    Bowies' man: What are we doing here. I volunteered to fight, not build no fort. Why are we building a fort?
    Col. Bowie: Because Houston told Travis, and Travis told m, and I'm tellin' you.
    Travis' man: Hey, Davy! Is it true that you and Mike Fink fought a three day fight on the Mississippi?
    Davy Crockett: That's just an example of the tall tales folks tell about me! Me and Mike fought all right, but we quit at dark. It wouldn't of been the third day until the next morning! [laughs and rides off]
    Col. Davy Crockett: Travis says Fannin's coming.
    Jim Bowie: Travis says! I wouldn't take Travis' word that night's dark and day's light!
    Smitty: So many times every day you stop and give thanks, but mostly I don't catch on what you're thanking the Lord for. I mean, there's nothing special.
    Parson: I give thanks for the time and for the place.
    Smitty: The time and the place, Parson?
    Parson: The time to live and the place to die. That's all any man gets. No more, no less.
    Tennesseean: We sure killed many brave men today.
    Thimblerig: Funny, I was proud of 'em. Even while I was killing 'em, I was proud of 'em. It speaks well for men that so many ain't afraid to die when they think right is on their side. It speaks well.

## Taglines

* The Mission That Became a Fortress, The Fortress That Became a Shrine
* They stood firing until they could stand no longer...156 MEN AGAINST A RAGING ARMY OF 7000!

## Cast

* John Wayne - Col. Davy Crockett
* Richard Widmark - Col. Jim Bowie
* Laurence Harvey - Col. William Travis
* Frankie Avalon - Smitty
* Patrick Wayne - Capt. James Butler Bonham
* Linda Cristal - Graciela Carmela Maria 'Flaca' de Lopez y Vejar
* Joan O'Brien - Mrs. Sue Dickinson
* Chill Wills - Beekeeper
* Joseph Calleia - Juan Seguin
* Ken Curtis - Capt. Almeron Dickinson
* Carlos Arruza - Lt. Reyes
* Jester Hairston - Jethro
* Veda Ann Borg - Blind Nell Robertson
* John Dierkes - Jocko Robertson
* Denver Pyle - Thimblerig
* Aissa Wayne - Lisa Dickinson
* Hank Worden - Parson
* William Henry - Dr. Sutherland
* Bill Daniel - Col. Neill
* Wesley Lau - Emil Sande
* Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams - Lt. 'Irish' Finn
* Olive Carey - Mrs. Dennison
* Ruben Padilla - Generalissimo Antonio Miguel Lopez de Santa Anna
* Richard Boone - General Sam Houston

## External links

* The Alamo quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* The Alamo at Rotten Tomatoes