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List Price: $14.98Price: $10.99You Save: $3.99 (27%)Dances with Wolves (Full Screen Theatrical Edition)
Actors: Kirk Baltz, Tantoo Cardinal, Maury Chaykin, Tom Everett, Wayne Grace
ASIN : B0001GF2H4
Sales Rank : 3778
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792860426
ISBN : 079286042X
UPC : 027616905734
Release Date : December 25, 2004
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 180
DescriptionA "truly spectacular" (The New York Times) film that combines action, romance and breathtaking adventure, Dances With Wolves is "a cinematic masterpiece" (American Movie Classics) that is nothing short of "a triumph" (Roger Ebert)!Sent to protect a US outpost on the desolate frontier, Lt. John Dunbar (Kevin Costner) finds himself alone in the vast wilderness. Befriending the very people he's sent to protect the outpost from, the Sioux Indians, Dunbar slowly comes to revere those he once feared. But when the encroaching US Army threatens to overrun the Sioux, he is forced to make a choiceone that will forever change his destiny and that of a proud and defiant nation. Amazon.com essential videoKevin Costner's 1990 epic won a bundle of Oscars for a moving, engrossing story of a white soldier (Costner) who singlehandedly mans a post in the 1870 Dakotas, and becomes a part of the Lakota Sioux community who live nearby. The film may not be a masterpiece, but it is far more than the sum of good intentions. The characters are strong, the development of relationships is both ambitious and careful, the love story between Costner and Mary McDonnell's character is captivating. Only the third-act portrait of white intruders as morons feels overbearing, but even that leads to a terribly moving conclusion. Costner's direction is assured, the balance of action and intimacy is perfect--what more could anyone want outside of an unqualified masterpiece? --Tom Keogh
Reviews for the Dances with Wolves (Full Screen Theatrical Edition)
List Price: $20.98Price: $15.99You Save: $4.99 (24%)How the West Was Won (Three-Disc Special Edition)
Actors: Rodopho (Rudy) Acosta, Mark Allen, Beulah Archuletta, Carroll Baker, Brigid Bazlen
ASIN : B0018O4RT2
Sales Rank : 4180
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Restored, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569799714
UPC : 012569799714
Release Date : December 09, 2008
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 164
DescriptionWith courage, sinew and conflict: that’s how the West was won. With three directors, five interlocked stories, some of movie history’s most legendary action scenes and a constellation of acting talent: that’s how How the West Was Won was filmed. Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart and John Wayne are among the big names in this big saga following a family’s move West through generations – marked by the spectacles of a heart-pounding raging river ride, a thunderous buffalo stampede and a bracing runaway train shootout. Via technological advances, this panoramic winner of three Academy Awards can now be seen with a resplendent, restored clarity eliminating its original "three- panel join lines" and in roof-raising Dolby 5.1 audio. Westward ho! Amazon.comThe first feature film to be photographed and projected in the panoramic three-camera Cinerama process, this epic Western is almost as expansive as the West itself, chronicling a pioneering family's triumphs and tragedies in numerous episodes spanning three generations and a half century of westward movement. Divided into five segments directed by veteran Hollywood filmmakers Henry Hathaway, George Marshall, and the legendary John Ford (and including uncredited sequences directed by Richard Thorpe), the film was one of the most ambitious ever made by the venerable MGM studio. Its stellar cast reads like a virtual who's who of Hollywood's biggest stars. Debbie Reynolds plays a sturdy survivor of many pioneering dangers, and the eventual widow of a gambler (Gregory Peck), who is later reunited with her nephew (George Peppard), a Civil War veteran and cavalryman who heads for San Francisco as the transcontinental railroad is being built. Many more characters and stories are woven throughout this epic film, which is dramatically uneven but totally engrossing with its stunning vistas and countless outdoor locations in Illinois, Kentucky, South Dakota, Monument Valley in Arizona, California, Colorado, and elsewhere. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the How the West Was Won (Three-Disc Special Edition)
List Price: $14.98Price: $13.49You Save: $1.49 (10%)The Searchers
Actors: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood
ASIN : 6304696566
Sales Rank : 5027
Director : John Ford
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Anamorphic, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786304696569
ISBN : 6304696566
UPC : 085391465126
Release Date : December 29, 1997
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 119
Product DescriptionClassic western about a man on the trail of the indians who slaughtered his family. Studio: Turner Hm Entertainm Release Date: 03/29/2005 Starring: John Wayne Jeffrey Hunter Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Nr Amazon.com essential videoA favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.comA favorite film of some of the world's greatest filmmakers, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, John Ford's The Searchers has earned its place in the legacy of great American films for a variety of reasons. Perhaps most notably, it's the definitive role for John Wayne as an icon of the classic Western--the hero (or antihero) who must stand alone according to the unwritten code of the West. The story takes place in Texas in 1868; Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Confederate veteran who visits his brother and sister-in-law at their ranch and is horrified when they are killed by marauding Comanches. Ethan's search for a surviving niece (played by young Natalie Wood) becomes an all-consuming obsession. With the help of a family friend (Jeffrey Hunter) who is himself part Cherokee, Ethan hits the trail on a five-year quest for revenge. At the peak of his masterful talent, director Ford crafts this classic tale as an embittered examination of racism and blind hatred, provoking Wayne to give one of the best performances of his career. As with many of Ford's classic Westerns, The Searchers must contend with revisionism in its stereotypical treatment of "savage" Native Americans, and the film's visual beauty (the final shot is one of the great images in all of Western culture) is compromised by some uneven performances and stilted dialogue. Still, this is undeniably one of the greatest Westerns ever made. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Searchers
List Price: $14.98Price: $9.99You Save: $4.99 (33%)The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Actors: Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli
ASIN : 6304698798
Sales Rank : 5886
Director : Sergio Leone
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786304698792
ISBN : 6304698798
UPC : 027616672926
Release Date : December 28, 1998
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 161
DescriptionBy far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever mounted, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an engrossing actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Clint Eastwood returns as the "Man With No Name," this time teaming with two gunslingers (Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) to pursue a cache of $200,000and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way. From sun-drenched panoramas to bold,hard close-ups, exceptional camera work captures the beauty and cruelty of the barren landscape andthe hardened characters who stride unwaveringly through it. Forging a vibrant and yet detached style of action that had not been seen before, and has never been matched since, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly shatters the western mold in true Clint Eastwood style. Amazon.com essential videoClint Eastwood (the Man with No Name) is good, Lee Van Cleef (Angel Eyes Sentenza) is bad, and Eli Wallach (Tuco Benedito Pacifico Juan Maria Ramirez) is ugly in the final chapter of Sergio Leone's trilogy of spaghetti westerns (the first two were A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More). In this sweeping film, the characters form treacherous alliances in a ruthless quest for Confederate gold. Leone is sometimes underrated as a director, but the excellent resolution on this digital video disc should enhance appreciation of his considerable photographic talent and gorgeous widescreen compositions. Ennio Morricone's jokey score is justifiably famous.
Reviews for the The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
List Price: $12.98Price: $11.49You Save: $1.49 (11%)Wyatt Earp (Single Disc Edition)
Actors: Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, David Andrews, Linden Ashby
ASIN : B000E5N6LG
Sales Rank : 9473
Director : Lawrence Kasdan
Brand : Warner Brothers
Studio : Warner Home Video
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 0012569744929
UPC : 012569744929
Release Date : December 02, 2006
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Warner Home Video
Running Time : 191
DescriptionKevin Costner plays the most famous lawman ever to stride the Wild West. In a gritty, complex portrayal hailed as a "classic American performance" (Bob Campbell, Newhouse Newspapers), Academy Award winner Costner (Dances with Wolves, The Bodyguard) plays the man who became a myth in acclaimed director Lawrence Kasdan's (The Big Chill, Silverado) epic, action-filled saga. Gene Hackman, an Oscar winner for Unforgiven, as Wyatt's iron-willed father, and Dennis Quaid (The Big Easy, The Right Stuff) as Earp's deadly best friend Doc Holliday add power to this mammoth, hard-hitting Western. From Wichita to Dodge City to the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, Wyatt Earp is a thrilling journey of romance, adventure and desperate, heroic action. Amazon.comThis massive, in-depth study of the dark Western icon comes off with mixed results. Trying to capture the whole life, (warts and all) of the lawman-criminal-brother-fortune hunter, director Lawrence Kasdan gains points for sheer scale, giving us a rich epic painted in dark colors with gritty settings. But the visual poetry and extensive foreshadowing ruin the dramatic drive. Some scenes have as much impact as stalker movies; you're just waiting for someone to get knocked off. As Earp, Kevin Costner is not afraid to look rumpled and play colorlessly (as in The Bodyguard), but it saps the energy of this 3-hour-plus film. The only relief is Dennis Quaid as a droll Doc Holiday, a much more engaging character. New faces Linden Ashby and Joanna Going (as an Earp brother and a lover, respectively) are solid finds, though the remainder of the female cast is barely given anything to do. Best is the first half, with Costner, as hip as he was in his Silverado days, going through a series of ups and downs until he accidentally finds his profession. Great set design (Ida Random) utilizes dozens of similar settings that always look distinctive. Recommended to fans of the star and the genre, but the story never justifies its length. --Doug Thomas
Reviews for the Wyatt Earp (Single Disc Edition)
![Broken Trail [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51IWGEgKC5L._SL160_.jpg)
List Price: $28.95Price: $16.99You Save: $11.96 (41%)Broken Trail [Blu-ray]
Actors: Todd Allen, James Russo, Greta Scacchi, Rusty Schwimmer, Robert Duvall
ASIN : B0016OLXN2
Sales Rank : 6578
Director : Walter Hill
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Binding : Blu-ray
EAN : 0043396263598
UPC : 043396263598
Release Date : December 10, 2008
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 184
Product DescriptionTop-rated miniseries! Set in 1897, Print Ritter and his estranged nephew Tom Harte become the reluctant guardians of five abused and abandoned Chinese girls. Ritter and Harte's attempts to care for the girls are complicated by their responsibility to deliver a herd of horses while avoiding a group of bitter rivals intent on kidnapping the girls for their own purposes. Amazon.comThe lives of two stoic cowboys and five abused Chinese women become intertwined in Walter Hill's sprawling miniseries Broken Trail. Print Ritter (Academy Award winner Robert Duvall) and his nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church, Sideways) agree to deliver a herd of 500 horses from Oregon to Wyoming. Along the way, they rescue the young women--most of them still just girls--who're being transported to a brothel to have their virginity auctioned off. When the madam sees she is about to lose the girls, she screams at Tom, "What about my property?" He shouts back, "That's the price of being a capitalist, lady." Unable to overcome the language barrier, Print assigns numbers to the girls. Number 3, Sun Foy (Gwendoline Yeo, Desperate Housewives) is the most fearless and perceptive of them. Though the others don't want to be called Number 4--an unlucky numeral in their homeland--Ye Fung (Olivia Cheng), the most tragic of the group, doesn't care. Targeted for her beauty, she finds herself unable to overcome the trauma. The number suits her, in her mind. Along the way, Print and Tom rescue Nola Johns (Greta Scacchi), the proverbial hooker with the heat of gold, who was forced into prostitution after her husband died. The cinematography is gorgeous as the camera sweeps over the lush landscape (the Canadian Rockies subbing in for wild West of the late 1800s) and Hill does a formidable job of pacing this 3-hour drama with just the right balance of dialogue and action. For Duvall, Broken Trail is the last piece to his Western trilogy, which started with the miniseries Lonesome Dove followed by the feature film Open Range. He is instantly likeable as a father figure and the viewer never doubts that his intention for the girls is honorable. As for Haden Church, he has never been as appealing as he is in this role. Gruff and flawed, he softens when he exchanges shy glances with Sun Foy. The trek is long and hard and the unlikely band of travelers will face much hardship. If not as satisfying as the rich, detailed Lonesome Dove, Broken Trail makes up for it with a wonderful storyline and some fine acting by all involved. As for the conclusion, it may surprise some viewers who are expecting a more traditional version of the happy ending. --Jae-Ha Kim
Reviews for the Broken Trail [Blu-ray]
List Price: $14.98Price: $10.99You Save: $3.99 (27%)Heaven's Gate
Actors: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif
ASIN : 0792843584
Sales Rank : 5163
Director : Michael Cimino
Brand : TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780792843580
ISBN : 0792843584
UPC : 027616837127
Release Date : December 29, 2000
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 1 to 2 days
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 219
Description"Richly textured and visually compelling" (The Hollywood Reporter), this lavish, epic Western retells the true story of Wyoming's infamous Johnson County Wara brutal conflict during which wealthy cattlemen, backed by the U.S. government, hired mercenaries to murder 125 immigrant settlers. From the incredible beauty of the magnificent landscapes to the explosive violence of the bloody battle itself, Heaven's Gate combines breathtaking cinematography, Oscar(r)-nominated* Art Direction and memorable performances by Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert and Jeff Bridges in a spectacular, panoramic and ultimately haunting look at the reverse side of the American dream. Amazon.comNot many movies can take credit for bringing about the demise of a movie studio--but Michael Cimino's ego-driven, overblown Western is one of them. These days, its $40 million budget would barely cover the cost of an Adam Sandler film--but in 1981, it virtually put United Artists out of business. Cimino, fresh from an Oscar for The Deer Hunter, spent months assembling this ultimately gorgeous and confusing story of the Johnson County cattle wars of 1881, with a cast that included Kris Kristofferson, Jeff Bridges, John Hurt, Christopher Walken, Isabelle Huppert, and many more. Almost four hours in its original form, the film was cut to less than three for an abortive commercial release, then restored for video. Anyway you look at it, this is a mess better viewed as a curiosity than anything else. --Marshall Fine
Reviews for the Heaven's Gate
Price: $19.98The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (2-Disc Collector's Edition)
Actors: Eli Wallach, Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè, Luigi Pistilli
ASIN : 6301971272
Sales Rank : 13346
Director : Sergio Leone
Brand : LEONE,SERGIO
Studio : MGM (Video & DVD)
Region Code : 1
Format : AC-3, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, HiFi Sound, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9786301971270
ISBN : 6301971272
UPC : 027616078537
Release Date : December 05, 2007
Publisher : MGM (Video & DVD)
Manufacturer : MGM (Video & DVD)
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : MGM (Video & DVD)
Running Time : 179
DescriptionBy far the most ambitious, unflinchingly graphic and stylistically influential western ever mounted, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is an engrossing actioner shot through with a volatile mix of myth and realism. Clint Eastwood returns as the "Man With No Name," this time teaming with two gunslingers (Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef) to pursue a cache of $200,000and letting no one, not even warring factions in a civil war, stand in their way. From sun-drenched panoramas to bold,hard close-ups, exceptional camera work captures the beauty and cruelty of the barren landscape andthe hardened characters who stride unwaveringly through it. Forging a vibrant and yet detached style of action that had not been seen before, and has never been matched since, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly shatters the western mold in true Clint Eastwood style. Amazon.com essential video If you think of A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More as the tasty appetizers in Sergio Leone's celebrated "Dollars" trilogy of Italian "Spaghetti" Westerns, then The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly is a lavish full-course feast. Readily identified by the popular themes of its innovative score by Ennio Morricone (one of the bestselling soundtracks of all time), this cinematic milestone eclipsed its influential predecessors with a $1.2 million budget (considered extravagant in the mid-1960s), greater production values to accommodate Leone's epic vision of greed and betrayal, and a three-hour running time for its wide-ranging plot about the titular trio of mercenaries ("Good" Blondie played by rising star Clint Eastwood, "Bad" Angel Eyes played by Lee Van Cleef, and "Ugly" Tuco played by Eli Wallach) in a ruthless Civil War-era quest for $200,000 worth of buried Confederate gold. Virtually all of Leone's stylistic attributes can be found here in full fruition, from the constant inclusion of Roman Catholic iconography to a climactic circular shoot-out, along with Leone's trademark use of surreal landscapes, brilliant widescreen compositions and extreme close-ups of actors so intimate that they burn into the viewer's memory. And while some Leone fans may favor the more scaled-down action of For a Few Dollars More or the masterful grandiosity of Once Upon a Time in the West, it was The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that cemented Leone's reputation as a world-class director with a singular vision. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Good, the Bad & the Ugly (2-Disc Collector's Edition)
List Price: $14.94Price: $10.99You Save: $3.95 (26%)Geronimo - An American Legend
Actors: Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Wes Studi, Matt Damon
ASIN : 0767817672
Sales Rank : 8801
Director : Walter Hill
Brand : Sony
Studio : Sony Pictures
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780767817677
ISBN : 0767817672
UPC : 043396587090
Release Date : December 17, 1998
Publisher : Sony Pictures
Manufacturer : Sony Pictures
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Sony Pictures
Running Time : 115
Product DescriptionStudi gives a stunning performance as the fearless warrior who was the last indian leader to surrender to the white man. Betrayed by the armys legendary indian fighter general george crook geronimo leads a small band of warriors in escape. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 04/22/2008 Starring: Robert Duvall Gene Hackman Run time: 115 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Walter Hill Amazon.comWalter Hill's revisionist take on the American cavalry's campaign to capture renegade Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo (Wes Studi) is, like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a dark tale that both celebrates and critiques myths of the American West. Despite its title, Geronimo is really about the American cavalry officers who undertake the responsibility of recapturing the warrior, in particular the young narrator Lt. Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric), a Civil War hero who respects the great Geronimo and brokers a treaty with the Chiricahua, only to see it collapse when the army kills the tribal medicine man. Gene Hackman plays Gen. George Crook, the proud but sympathetic officer charged with bringing in the renegades who take to hills after the killing. Robert Duvall, the tough, racist army scout and Indian fighter Charlie Sieber, practically steals the picture with his cagey, underplayed performance. More complex and complicated than most Westerns, this is a Walter Hill film through and through: lean, ironic, beautiful to look at (it was shot on location against the astounding landscape of southeastern Utah), and driven by a wonderful Ry Cooder score. Don't confuse this with the 1993 TNT cable film by the same name; it confounded many viewers at the time of its release and may have been at least partially responsible for its box-office disappointment. --Sean Axmaker
Reviews for the Geronimo - An American Legend
List Price: $14.99Price: $11.49You Save: $3.5 (23%)The Alamo (Widescreen Edition)
Actors: Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Emilio Echevarría, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson
ASIN : B0002DRDBY
Sales Rank : 6107
Director : John Lee Hancock
Studio : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Region Code : 1
Format : Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Binding : DVD
EAN : 9780788849244
ISBN : 0788849247
UPC : 786936229035
Release Date : December 28, 2004
Publisher : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Manufacturer : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Availability : Usually ships in 24 hours
Label : Buena Vista Home Entertainment
Running Time : 137
DescriptionFrom the studio that brought you PEARL HARBOR ... Academy Award(R) winner Billy Bob Thornton (SLING BLADE, Best Adapted Screenplay, 1996; BAD SANTA), Dennis Quaid (THE ROOKIE), and Jason Patric (RUSH) team up for the acclaimed action epic about one of the most important events in American history! It's the heroic tale of the 200 brave men who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom defending a small Texas fort for 13 days against an entire army! Commanded by three men -- Lt. Col. William Travis (Patrick Wilson), James Bowie (Patric), and David Crockett (Thornton) -- their against-all-odds courage at the Alamo would forever live on as a rallying cry for liberty and independence! Amazon.comDespite a troubled production history including a switch in directors, budget overruns, and delayed release dates, The Alamo turned out to be a remarkably intelligent mini-epic of corrective historical biography. Dispensing with the grandiose myth-making of previous films on this subject (including John Wayne's gung-ho 1960 version), this well-written film breathes new, credibly dimensional life into the stodgy legends of Davy Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton), Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), and Lt. Col. William Travis (Patrick Wilson), who fought with 185 Anglo-"Texican" settlers (some historians claim their numbers were closer to 250) during the bloody 13-day siege by 5,000 Mexican soldiers at the titular San Antonio mission-turned-fortress in 1836. While Gen. Sam Houston (Dennis Quaid) anguishes over military strategy and reluctantly withholds much-needed support, the Alamo defenders face the unbeatable multitudes commanded by Mexican Gen. Santa Anna (Emilio Echevarria), and the screenplay (on which John Sayles was an early contributor, when Ron Howard was slated to direct) allows the central heroes to reveal a richer, more substantial humanity beneath their mythic reputations. Tackling his biggest production to date, director John Lee Hancock (who previously worked with Quaid on The Rookie) reportedly shot 100 hours of footage, so it's almost miraculous that this 135-minute battle drama is so evenly balanced in telling its oft-told tale. Thornton was deservedly singled out for his fine performance, and Dean Semler's cinematography is Oscar-worthy throughout. Of course, any film about the Alamo necessarily includes speculative history, and this one's no exception, but it's got a ring of truth that previous versions conspicuously lacked. --Jeff Shannon
Reviews for the The Alamo (Widescreen Edition)
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