The movie was written by James Edward Grant and directed by John Wayne. It was shot largely on an extensive full-scale replica of the mission near Brackettville, Texas constructed for specifically for the movie. The set, now called Alamo Village, has since been used in over 100 other westerns, including depictions of the 1836 battle. Wayne had lobbied Republic, previously known mostly for B-grade westerns, to make a full-budget epic about the Battle of the Alamo. During production, Wayne's office was inside the reconstructed mission.
The film tells a highly romanticized, hagiographic version of events, in which the defenders are all portrayed as larger-than-life martyrs, and none of the Mexican characters is developed in depth. Critic Leonard Maltin has described the script as being "full of historical name-dropping and speechifying," but notes that the climactic battle scene is spectacular.
The film is thought to have been denied winning more awards than the one it got due to an overblown campaign that alienated Academy voters, including one Variety ad that stated, in effect, that the film's producers were praying as hard for Chill Wills to win his award as the defenders of the Alamo themselves prayed the night before the battle.
For several years, the Alamo Theater in San Antonio, Texas played The Alamo repeatedly.
In 2003, a second major studio film about the legendary battle was shot and scheduled for release initially in December2003 and then rescheduled for release in April2004. This remake was directed by native Texan John Lee Hancock, and produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, and Mark Johnson. Its script is credited to Hancock, John Sayles, Stephen Gaghan and Leslie Bohem. Its production budget was $95,000,000. Touchstone Pictures, a division of Buena Vista International, handled US distribution.
It was shot near Austin, Texas between January and June2003, mostly on a local property named Reimers Ranch. Here, what is reported to be the largest outdoor film set in history was built, comprising the entire Alamo mission and the nearby town of Bexar. The film's art direction devoted the greatest care to historical accuracy and verisimilitude; for instance, the mission's facade does not feature the well-known "hump" at the top, a detail that was actually added years after the battle during a restoration.
In contrast to the earlier 1960 film, the 2003 script makes an effort to depict the political points of view of both the Mexican and Texian sides. Santa Anna is featured as a much more prominent character.
The cast includes Billy Bob Thornton as a demythologized Crockett, Jason Patric as Bowie, stage actor Patrick Wilson as Travis, Dennis Quaid as Houston, Emilio Echevarría as Santa Anna, and Jordi Molla as Seguin.
The movie opened on Easter weekend to mostly middling reviews and a low box office turnout. In its first weekend, it was defeated in box office numbers by a resurgent The Passion of the Christ. It cost over $140 million USD to make and market the film but earned only $9.1 million USD in its first weekend. By its second month of release, the film had yet to muster $30 million USD in domestic earnings.
