Hollywood’s Alamo

I’m pretty sure that every body has heard of the Battle of the Alamo, and the Anglo Americans that defended it with their lives. What many people don’t know is that there were Tejanos who also gave their life’s along with the more famous heroes of the Alamo. In my humanities class I learned from a PBS video called Remember the Alamo of a man by the name of Jose Antonio Navarro who is one of the most well known Tejanos in history. Even Hollywood has made movies about this battle to give us, the viewers, a little glimpse of what it might have been like during this tragic event. Although the movies are very exciting, and makes learning about history a little more fun than reading it from a book. The movies don’t always tell everything that goes on in history, and leaves out much information that many people may find interesting. In the year 2004 director John Lee Hooker made a remake of the 1960 movie (The Alamo). In his version of this battle they don’t really mention any of the contribution that the Tejanos did. In this film it really only shows the Anglo side of the battle, and what they had a part in the battle. In the film they did show the Tejanos that fought with them, but didn’t really tell much about them. In the movie there was a scene where Sam Houston was the first to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, but in the PBS video it shows that Jose A. Navarro was the first to have signed the declaration. In the film the only Tejano that was really mention was Captain Seguin who carried a letter to Sam Houston, played by Dennis Quaid, from William Travis, Patrick Wilson, saying that the men at the Alamo needed help to defeat Santa Anna. Another thing about John Lee Hooker’s version of the Alamo is that there was no mention of Stephen F. Austin or how he tried to get settlers into the state of Texas. In most history books they all say that every one of Santa Anna’s soldiers was ruthless and brutal, but however in this film it showed some of he’s men scared. It also showed that not all of he’s men agreed with some of the things that he did during the battle. In this film Billy Bob Thornton portrayed Davy Crockett, a congress man from Tennessee, who was very well know for his hunting skills. Even though he is one of the heroes of the Alamo I didn’t really care that the movie made him seem as if was one of the most important people at the Alamo. Even though these movies have made the Battle of the Alamo famous over the years it still is a shame that not all of the men who gave their life are getting their recognition.