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Please don't spend money on this.

Just perfect...

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Previous posters have covered the back history of this film...some inaccurately, by the way. First of all, the Bracketville set for this film is NOT the same one used by John Wayne five years later. And WHAT a difference a few hundred miles make! Bracketville is about two hours southwest of SA, and looks NOTHING like the actual location. San Antonio is not in the desert - it's green. The SA River is basically a ditch in its natural state, not a "majestic" waterway. SA is at the base of the Hill Country - small rolling hills, covered "lushly" with green live oak trees. Disney's more recent "The Alamo," while pretty bad, at least filmed in the proper terrain (albeit closer to Austin, than San Antonio).Interesting that the Alamo first appears an hour and fifteen minutes into this film. It plays a secondary role, in some aspects.(I wonder if the 1800s natives called the city "San Antone" as often as they do in this movie. It's not a phrase used today - it's likely to instigate derision if uttered by a tourista in 2009. It's akin to referring to "San Francisco" with the horrid "Frisco"...it doesn't play well with the citizens.) Not being an historian, I can't comment on the accuracy of the film - others have covered that aspect. I will say that Hunnicutt's version of Crockett is cartoonish, at best. Most of the "famous" moments play in an overly-dramatic way. I suppose that is inevitable.As an aside, the reasons that Ron Howard pulled out of directing the recent version of "The Alamo," are quite a story, on their own.Most historians agree that the novel, 'The Gates of the Alamo," is a great and accurate depiction.

Good casting was the hallmark of this version of the Alamo. Sterling Hayden did an excellent job of playing Jim Bowie. History has changed the projection of these indomidable heroes, but the movies wouldn't be quite as popular if they portrayed Jim Bowie as an adventurer running from the law, Travis as a divorced lawyer. But Davie Crocket always manages to emerge as a real life hero. This and most other versions of the Alamo overlooks the fact that the Mexican army had just finished putting down rebellions all over Texas and the Mexican government was very generous in awarding newcomers homesteads free for the taking. But then came the Taxation, hence the rebellions of Texicans and Mexicans. The story was entertaining and left us feeling like the Alamo defenders were truly heroes.

I found the movie to be lacking in some key areas. For a movie to be historically based, it should be factually historically based. Some parts of the movie, like the friendship between to key figures, and the cause of the death of James Bowie, were not factually based. One thing I was happy to note, though, was that Susanna Dickenson did really exist like the movie says. But, being a Texan, I was very disappointed in the movie itself.

Another in a long line of Alamo films, this one was no better than the others and they were pretty mundane. I bellowed when Davy Crockett entered the picture and it was none other than old Arthur Hunnicutt. His toothy, good natured "howdy boys" left me on the floor rolling. A prolific western maker, Sterling Hayden does his usual average job in a so-so movie.