DALLAS, Apr 10, 2004/ FW/ --- Being from Texas, the movie, “The Alamo” is a must-see for me. And if you are just interested to know exactly what happened there during the fight for Texas independence, and why “The Alamo” always connotes bravery, then this is your chance to learn.

I know the story of the Alamo, learned from countless visits to San Antonio, TX every time we have someone visiting us. And seeing the defense of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto come alive on the screen was very moving for me because before that, it was only photos and historical documents.

Director John Lee Hancock, the producers and the scriptwriters stuck to the historical facts and continued the legend of Davey Crockett, which might be a little bit exaggerated, but Billy Bob Thornton was great in his portrayal of the western and folklore hero.

The movie is about 2 ½ hours, which is actually long already. The producers put in as much as they could. Travis’ character development, Bowie’s physical and emotional pain – all were there. There’s enough material about the Alamo to make a mini-series, so if serious historians find the movie lacking, call it time constraint. For me, it’s already an epic movie. But I have to disclose that the idea of a 10-episode, 2 hour per segment mini series is the way to go to tell the story of the Alamo.

The bonus on the movie is Dennis Quaid, whose portrayal of Sam Houston was superb except for the Texas accent. (It’s hard watching a movie about Texas and hear actors approximate the Texas twang.) Quaid captured the essence of the man and his brilliance as a military commander. But alas, the movie is not about Sam Houston. It’s about the Alamo, hence a lot of the characters of Sam Houston that made him very colorful and legendary was not in the movie.

The ending of the movie was also very appropriate. As the credits were being shown on the screen, the Texas state song was being played.

And since I saw the movie here in Dallas, the audience was very quiet; a respectful hush had fallen as everyone was leaving the theater, honoring the heroes of Texas.

It was like being at the Alamo itself, wherein a sign by the door says, “Hush my friend, brave men died here.”