If it was so hallowed why have so many forgotten about it by letting every ILLEGAL mexican cross the border and trash our country?
Posted on 05/02/2003 10:17:01 AM PDT by Gladwin
Heroes. Every nation, in every time, seems to need them. Some heroes who often were regarded harshly in their lifetime – e.g., George Washington – gained luster in later years. Others, hailed in their day, have fared less well with the passage of time.
Cases in point: William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, whom history reviles for his part in stripping our western plains of bison. U.S. Grant betrayed a weakness for whiskey, Charles A. Lindbergh for the appeal of Naziism.
One hero whose halo remained fairly fixed has been Davy Crockett, the 19th century frontiersman who's revered among 189 brave souls lost at the Alamo nearly two centuries ago. Crockett's life and times became the stuff of legend, nurtured in gung-ho style by John Wayne and TV's onetime serial star, Fess Parker.
Who can forget the jingle "Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier?" Or the man's perceived martyrdom in the cause of freedom.
But soon the bloom may be off even this rose. The Walt Disney Co. is filming a new version of the Alamo story. It promises to be radically different from all that have gone before – and doubtless displeasing to Daughters of the Republic of Texas, whose own depiction of this event dominates the historic shrine in downtown San Antonio.
"People worldwide remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds," the Daughters' guide there proclaims, " A place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. The Alamo remains hallowed ground, the shrine of Texas liberty."
Correct, sure enough, about the overwhelming odds – fewer than 200 Texas rebels defending the place against a 5,000-man Mexican army. But Disney's planned Christmas release is expected to raise questions about the nature of that "sacrifice for freedom."
Though himself a Texan, Producer John Lee Hancock intends asking, whose freedom? Nowhere in the Alamo's proffered literature would a tourist learn that some of its defenders on that fateful March day in 1836 may have fought for the right to own slaves – a practice then, as now, prohibited in Mexico.
But a chief concern for Daughters of the Texas Republic is what Disney's version may do to the reputation of Col. Crockett. Tentative scripts have weighed several different theories concerning the hero's death. In one of these, Crockett seeks to surrender the garrison by pretending to grovel before Mexican Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna.
Will they dare outrage the Daughters with such revisionism as this? "I don't like the word 'surrender,' " warned Kathleen Milan Carter, who chairs the organization's Alamo Committee.
If the Daughters hoped Disney would call the whole thing off, it's too late for that. The studio has invested a considerable amount in erecting a 40-acre set at Dripping Springs, southwest of Austin. Recreated there are the original Alamo mission and parts of San Antonio itself as a bustling town of 4,000 (and named Bexar) at the time of the historic battle.
Legend's Crockett has remained unsullied through earlier stage, film and TV ventures depicting him as a nationalistic and assuredly non-groveling warrior. In contrast to John Wayne's Crockett of 1960 (Wayne's "Alamo" earned seven Academy Award nominations) Disney will give us a frightened wanderer in the person of one Billy Bob Thornton. Crockett becomes a quasi-mental case striving to live up to his reputation for deeds perhaps never performed.
Oh my. And that's not all. Daughters of the Texas Republic could be equally offended by the studio's portrayal of their revered Sam Houston as a notoriously heavy drinker. And some will doubtless quibble over the insertion of a character named Juan Seguin. Although no one by that name is listed among the real-life Alamo defenders, Juan Seguin in the Disney script doesn't give a darn for Texas independence (horrors!) but longs to live under a Mexican democratic constitution.
In addition to what might seem a commendable commitment to historic truth, there is a sound commercial reason for casting Crockett and, indeed, the Alamo story itself in – er, a fresh light. Disney knows that budget-busting epics like this cannot "cut the nut" in U.S. distribution alone. If appealing to foreign audiences in Mexico and elsewhere, it is no longer smart to present major historical events as seen through American eyes alone.
A throwback, this, to Hollywood's recent "Pearl Harbor," in which the version shown in Japan deleted the term "Japs," as well as Admiral Halsey's reference to them as "bastards."
Hmmm. And just how will our war in Iraq be sweetened for film-goers among the minarets?
but longs to live under a Mexican democratic constitution.
Then he should have been fighting Santa Ana, who had overthrown the Mexican democratic constitution.
Never let them forget - Texas wasn't the only province of Mexico that rebelled against Santa Ana's coup, it was simply the only one to win.
Billy Bob Thornton?
Someone in Disney has been hitting the juice awfully hard.
Cases in point: U.S. Grant betrayed a weakness for whiskey...
This left wing idiot typically doesn't know any history. A case in point: Grant's supposed drinking problem was a much bigger issue initially during the Civil War, than it was in History. Grant's performance in the field put a stop to stories of drunkeness.
"Find out what whiskey he drinks and send all of my generals a case, if it will get the same results". - Lincoln in reply to comments about General Grant's drinking problems
I doubt 'history' has discovered that the Nazis held any appeal for Lindbergh; the worst that can be said of him is that he didn't see anything in them worth going to war over (few did, isolationism was the majority position almost up to Pearl Harbor), and that he was profoundly bothered by the spiritual damage he feared a needless war would do to America.
Lets all hold our breath for the candid Disney movie about MLK's communist connections and womanizing.
If it was so hallowed why have so many forgotten about it by letting every ILLEGAL mexican cross the border and trash our country?
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