Drawing straws (or in this case beans) Texas patriot Glenn Ford is picked to leave the Alamo in order to evacuate his and his neighbor's families, only to find them all dead at the hands of marauders and himself branded a coward.
Starting with a fairly colorful, low-budget Alamo siege (shot on a sound-stage!), this is pretty compelling all the way, with an excellent, hard-boiled performance from Ford and nice direction from the great Budd Boetticher, one of the best unsung western filmmakers ever.
This is almost as good as Boetticher's later collaborations with Randolph Scott. My only problem is that this wasn't shot in widescreen.
As far as the supporting cast goes, Chill Wills is always fun to watch, while the incredibly beautiful Julie Adams is always fun to look at, and Neville Brand delivers some great, macho, swaggering villainy that easily overshadows the more subdued Victor Jory.
On the other hand, I can't quite understand the Golden Globe win by Hugh O'Brian. He's okay, but slightly bland as Ford's main accuser.
Starting with a fairly colorful, low-budget Alamo siege (shot on a sound-stage!), this is pretty compelling all the way, with an excellent, hard-boiled performance from Ford and nice direction from the great Budd Boetticher, one of the best unsung western filmmakers ever.
This is almost as good as Boetticher's later collaborations with Randolph Scott. My only problem is that this wasn't shot in widescreen.
As far as the supporting cast goes, Chill Wills is always fun to watch, while the incredibly beautiful Julie Adams is always fun to look at, and Neville Brand delivers some great, macho, swaggering villainy that easily overshadows the more subdued Victor Jory.
On the other hand, I can't quite understand the Golden Globe win by Hugh O'Brian. He's okay, but slightly bland as Ford's main accuser.