| Alamo [1960] |  | Director: John Wayne
Actors: Richard Widmark, John Wayne, Richard Boone, Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne
Studio: MGM Entertainment
Category: Video
List Price: £12.99
Buy Used: £2.65
You Save: £10.34 (80%)
Used (6) Collectible (2) from £2.65
Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 13757
Format: Collector's Edition, Digital Sound, Hifi Sound, Pal, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 202
Discs: 1
EAN: 5024165031872
ASIN: B00004CMYH
Theatrical Release Date: October 24, 1960
Release Date: February 22, 1993
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: very good condition Sent within 1 working day by UK seller, available by email for queries.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Full length version, please! July 8, 2008
I have a short version of The Alamo on DVD and the full length version on VHS. I would be pleased to see them release the full length version on DVD - this would make it a five star film.
The Alamo is one of John Wayne's best.
 classic Afternoon watching June 21, 2008
Being a new fan oF John Wayne i have been watching some of his movies,Rio Grande,The Searchers,Rio Bravo etc etc i have just watched The Alamo it is a brilliant histroical/western movie.John Wayne plays same character he allways does this time as David Crocket enough action to keep you entertained the film runs at 2 hours 34 minutes all though there are 3 hour and 13 minute versions out there but i think if it had gone on much longer it wouldnt have been the classic it is.The dvd has a 40 minute documentry on there quite strange for a mgm one disc dvd.
 Heavily cut version of John Wayne's heartfelt epic December 12, 2007
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
With the exception of the recent Billy Bob Thornton retelling of the tale, few epics have had quite as bad a press as John Wayne's The Alamo. If it is not the masterpiece Wayne set out to make, it is also certainly not the disaster it is often painted. Even financially the film eventually turned a very healthy profit, although the staggered nature of its roadshow release meant that it didn't do so quickly enough to save Wayne from having to sell his share in the picture he had invested so much in.
Very much a personal crusade, he raised the $12m budget partially from a trio of Texas millionaires and from his own pocket. The set and surrounding village were actually built three years before shooting, ostensibly so that vegetation could grow naturally around it, though problems raising the budget seem more likely. Nonetheless, the film's much-trumpeted great pains to look authentic extends to the casting, enhanced by some of the great faces in the supporting cast, not least of them the irreplaceable Hank Worden, replacing Old Mose Harper's desire for a rockin' chair for 'the time to live and a place to die' in one of his best performances as the Parson. Laurence Harvey, a man reputedly in life as innately impossible to like as his character in The Manchurian Candidate, carries the dramatic element as Travis more than efficiently, while Wayne and Widmark give perfect demonstrations of fleshing out a part through star quality as Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie.
Along with 55 Days at Peking, this was the biggest of the siege epics of the sixties (Zulu, Khartoum, The War Lord), recounting a somewhat romanticised version of the iconic battle that saw some 185 men hold off 7000 Mexican soldiers for thirteen days. Very much a populist epic, it is broadly entertaining but with a quiet dignity at its heart, and while there is sentiment, it is pure and honest enough not to seem desperately manipulative. Wayne's direction is a strong point, with a good visual eye that owes nothing to John Ford (who had less to do with the film than is commonly believed and nothing to do with the truly spectacular battle scenes) and a surprising generosity to friend and foe alike.
There are many moments of pure visual poetry, too - a rider galloping through a stream, defeated Mexican troops reflected in a muddy pond while their women carry away the bodies of their loved ones and the astonishing finale where the screen is packed to bursting with thousands of extras. The cavalry sequences in particular are strikingly well handled, with a healthy respect for the horses (unlike many sixties epics, none were hurt or killed). True, it sure is a long time a-comin', but if there's a more spectacular battle scene on film this side of Bondarchuk's Waterloo, I've not seen it.
Unfortunately, the DVD is something of a travesty. Facing personal bankruptcy, two weeks after the film opened Wayne asked his producer son Michael to cut the film to get in more shows to improve its cash flow - the film was popular, but at nearly three-and-a-half hours was limited to only two shows a day at a handful of theatres. No prizes for guessing which version MGM/UA have chosen to release. Although the uncut version was available on video and laser disc, the company's rationale for releasing the cut version to DVD was that since there were no foreign language soundtracks surviving for the uncut version and they were committed to releasing multiple-language versions, the cut version was preferable to subtitling the film for foreign languages. To add insult to injury, even the hour-long documentary produced for the laserdisc release has been cut back to 40 minutes to paper over any mention of the restored version!
As a result, some half an hour of footage is now missing once again not much more than a decade after it was restored. Even the Overture, Intermission, Entr'acte and Exit Music from Dimitri Tiomkin's superb score have been lost. The only positive is that the widescreen transfer at least makes the most of Wayne and cinematographer William Clothier's careful Scope compositions - and films like this are what Scope is all about.
As for what you're missing, much of the extra running time was taken up by slightly extended scenes, such as Travis' explaining why he knows "I am better than that rabble" that he commands, crucial to understanding his character. Nonetheless, there are several 'new' scenes, the more significant additions including: more of Bowie's opening scene and various bridging scenes enlarging on his conflict with Travis; the death of the profiteer Emil when he tries to stop Crockett taking the gunpowder from the church and a subsequent love scene between Crockett and Flacca; nearly a full reel after the Intermission where Bowie decides to leave the Alamo but is dissuaded by Patrick Wayne reluctantly lying about the number of reinforcements on their way; Scotty's patrol discovering the cattle and coming off badly at the hands of some pursuing Mexican Lancers and Dragoons; and the death of Parson and Crockett's quietly effective prayer.
Even if to some the film still felt too long at 203 minutes (and frankly, it do), none of these scenes should have been the ones to be cut, and their restoration helped the film flow more smoothly than the shorter version. Worse, it's not an isolated incident - MGM/UA meted out similar treatment to the restored version of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World on DVD, while some other titles like The Dogs of War and F*I*S*T are available in two different cuts on either side of the Atlantic.
The film's reputation may limit its appeal to Wayne's fans and the epic collector, but it's a fine film that deserves better treatment on DVD than it received.
Years Of Enjoyment March 13, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Any movie that can still entertain me after all these years has to be worth five stars. I know it isn't a "Great" movie in the strict sense of the term, but it is action-packed, and boasts a stellar cast that includes John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey, and Richard Boone. It used to thrill me as a kid, and even now I consider it to contain action sequences that are as good as any in any other Western made before or since.
My only criticism is that this dvd features the standard version of the film that runs for a mere 154 minutes. If you are a purist, then try to get hold of the restored VHS "Director's Cut" that includes over half-an-hour of footage that hasn't been seen since 1960.
 So Disappointed! March 8, 2006
1 out of 8 found this review helpful
I have always loved to watch John Wayne in films but this one was appalling. I understand it was directed and produced by John Wayne but he may be a star in acting but his producing and directing skills were nonsence. For instance, when Travis falls down and dies, lots of men rush past him and to not get his hand stamped on, he moves the position from straight out to near his chest (even though he is dead!) The acting from all parts was very wooden and amateurish. Many films were made in the 1960's and were brilliantly done so there was no excuse for this shambles. I would not recommend it.
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