User Reviews

SEGUIN was NOT shot in 1979, it was shot in the summer of 1980. It was the first time that an honest depiction of one aspect of the entire ALAMO saga was told TRUTHFULLY. If anyone knows how to get a copy on DVD or VHS please email me and let me know. This film was shot in 16mm and shown at several film festivals across the country. This film has significant cultural and historical value and should be shown in classrooms throughout the U.S. The cast alone makes this film well worth watching as so many of the players herein went on to have distinguished careers in film and television. Judy Irola's camera work is excellent and given the restrictions of budget and time I would have to say it's a miracle this film ever got made. This one is one to be enjoyed.

In 1979, Jesús Treviño wrote and directed the American Playhouse Drama Seguín which was broadcast nationally over PBS. The Associated Press described it as "a sensitive, faithfully reconstructed and beautifully filmed biography of a hero of the revolution in Texas in the mid-1830s who becomes a victim of racial and cultural prejudice." Seguin is the story of Juan Seguin, an unsung hero of the Texas Wars for Independence and one of the Mexican defenders of the Alamo. Don Erasmo Seguin, along with Stephen Austin, brought the first Anglo settlers to help develop the Mexican state of Texas. His son Juan came into conflict with his father because he sympathized with both Mexico and the American colonists' struggle for possession of Texas.

This sensitive film features evocative color cinematography and a good central performance by a Martinez and a cast including many of the most prominent young Hispanic American actors of their generation. Edward James Olmos plays a snarling and vicious Gen. Santa Anna.

Filmed as part of a proposed PBS series called La Historia, which never received additional funding, Seguin was shown at film festivals around the United States and in Spain. It was broadcast as part of the PBS "American Playhouse" series. It was filmed in 16mm on a 21-day schedule at a cost of $500,000 in Bracketville, Texas, on the sets John Wayne had used to film The Alamo (1960).