Alamo movie filled with 'fairy tales'(Group says new film destroys memory of American heroes)

Alamo movie filled with 'fairy tales' Group says new film destroys memory of American heroes

A new movie set to open this weekend entitled "The Alamo" is filled with revisionist history and political correctness, claims a pro-military nonprofit organization.

In a statement, Freedom Alliance slammed Michael Eisner and Walt Disney Pictures, the film's maker, for rewriting history in the movie, which is scheduled to open April 9.

"The movie reads more like a Disney fairy tale and promotes a politically correct revisionist agenda aimed at destroying a traditional American hero," said B. Forrest Clayton, a Freedom Alliance visiting fellow.

Clayton says he obtained a screenplay of the film and found it to be "full of inaccuracies." He says Davy Crockett is portrayed as a "frightened wanderer" who wanted to escape "over the wall" in the dark of night during the historic battle, but felt paralyzed and trapped by his own underserved heroic reputation.

An unofficial website for the film calls it "a tale of a handful of men who stood up for their passion and ideals against an overwhelming force.

"In the spring of 1836, in the face of insurmountable odds, fewer than 200 ordinary men who believed in the future of Texas held the fort for 13 days against thousands of Mexican soldiers led by dictator Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna."

Freedom Alliance says the film has Crockett captured, bound and executed on his knees after the battle was over, "even though the historical evidence shows that he was killed fighting, in the thick of combat, during the battle."

The group cites several historical witnesses who backed up the story of a heroic Crockett.

Said the group's statement: "The movie makers ignored these witnesses that corroborated Crockett's heroic death in combat and based his capture and execution in the film on a suspect portion of Jose Enrique De La Pena's supposed diary/memoir which handwriting expert Charles Hamilton proved was a forgery by John Laflin, aka John Lafitte, a prominent American forger of papers on American pirates and frontier heroes."

Disney also is criticized for portraying Gen. Sam Houston as a "venereal-diseased drunkard" and Col. William Barret Travis, commander of Texan forces at the Alamo, as a "deadbeat dad and serial adulterer."

In addition, says the group, Col. James Bowie, the Alamo defender famous for his knife-fighting skills, is portrayed as a land-swindling slave trader. The film reportedly has Crockett participating in a My Lai-style massacre in the Creek Indian War.

Freedom Alliance says in contrast, Manuel Castrillon, a Mexican general who attacked the Alamo, is portrayed as a "flawless, noble and brave hero."

"Heroes such as Davy Crockett must be vigorously defended by all patriotic Americans in the culture war. They represent Western culture. To sit back and allow them to be desecrated is an injustice to American students and a recipe for disaster for the future of the country," concluded Clayton.

"'Alamo' is expected to deal with many of the historical complexities – including the Mexican point of view – that were glossed over in John Wayne's 1960 film," Variety reported. "Alamo heroes William Barret Travis' serial marital infidelities, Jim Bowie's slave trading and Davy Crockett's overall political incorrectness will also be addressed."

Richard Bruce Winders, curator of the Alamo museum, said moviegoers who expect a close remake of the John Wayne "Alamo" film will be disappointed. He says the new movie is more accurate and calls the 1960 classic film "real bad history."

"It's hard to believe that Hollywood would do a movie where there was so much historical information in it," he told the Associated Press. "If you're expecting a remake of John Wayne's movie, you're going to be pretty much surprised by what you'll see."

The movie is directed by John Lee Hancock. It stars Billy Bob Thornton, Dennis Quaid, Emilio Echevarría, Patrick Wilson and Jason Patric.

Crockett didn't much like his role in the Creek Indian War and that's no secret. Calling it a My Lai massacre is propagandistic in itself, but Crockett didn't care for it much.

I've seen a quote somewhere from his diaries that mentions a Creek village being "shot down like dogs." The Disney version of the Creek War was no doubt rather bowdlerized.

I can also believe that Ron Howard oversteered, swinging the pendulum ridiculously far the opposite way.

Do not let little Texans see this PC hit piece on the gallant defenders of the Alamo. Learning of their courage has inspired hundreds of Medal of Honor winners from Texas in the wars the US has fought for freedom. This is just another attempt by Follyweird to weaken patriotism and love of liberty.

That's the point I'm making. This Mexican soldier's diary has been proven to be a forgery. Questions were immediate asked when this diary "appeared". One was: "Would this Mexican Captain have have known who David Crockett was?" Most historians have concluded it was a fake. And like I said, Susanna Dickinson swore she saw Crockett's body lying next to the picket fence between the church and the two story barracks. This is the spot Travis had assigned him.

For them to put this bogus crap in the movie is unforgiveable.

houston and crockett are men to be admired. bowie was no doubt very brave but he was a con artist--he kept selling land that he didn't own. he also illegally imported slaves. these activites were NOT legal. owning slaves was legal, but the slave trade had been outlawed, and selling land he didn't own was just plain crooked.

I went and saw this movie tonight, and while it doesn't totally suck, it isn't very good either. My biggest complaint isn't really that this movie is PC, although there was more of that than I would have liked. Before you get all worked up about Crockett being executed after the battle, you should realize that when asked if he wants to beg for his life, he offers to allow the Mexicans to surrender to him and mocks Santa Anna's stature. His death is in know way cowardly. The movie also doesn't give any impression that he surrendered, it is obvious that he is wounded, and the assumption is that Santa Anna ordered his men to take him alive.

My problem with this movie is that whoever shot the final battle needs to go have a long talk with Peter Jackson and learn how to film a battle scene. Watching this movie you would wonder if there even was a battle, it lasts like 10 minutes out of a more than 2 hour movie. Whatever you do, you don't show Davy Crockett, the Lion of the West, club one guy with his rifle and then fade to the next scene. You either show him die in battle, rifle swinging, or if you insist on having him captured you show him kill a damn lot of the enemy first. I think the biggest problem with this movie was that Disney wanted a PG-13 rating. The Alamo just can't be done properly if you have to censor the violence of the final battle.

Thank you LonghornFreeper.

I did quite alot of studying on the Alamo and even was lucky to be stationed close enough to visit and read the many books there at the book store.

Crockett was seen many places. Although Mrs. Dickinson saw him dead near the wooden fence, Joe, Travis's Slave, says he fell carrying ammunition to the north wall. Another source has Santa Ana asking were was Crockett's body and was told that his body was found in a small fort or building outside the Alamo.

I have tried to put all that together and came up with this scenario: He might have been wounded when Joe saw him. There were reports of Mexican Calvary killing many defenders as they tried to escape over the south wall and the wooden fence which Crockett defended and which took alot of the enemy lives. If this building outside was a refuge reached by Crockett and some of his men, he might have fought on until being captured there. Then taken to the front of the main chapel, which was adjacent to where the wooden fence was and executed there. Then Mrs. Dickenson might have been seen him there.

Oh well thats how I would have made the movie - Ole Davy kickin ass from one end of the Alamo to the other.

God Bless ya Davy.

Ditto that .......I can get lied to for free by watching the noooooze !

Too bad they did that to a chunk of history. I was looking forward to seeing the flick as you stated.

Oh well.....Stay safe !

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