I read something surprising recently: that John Wayne (who originally just wanted to direct the movie and not act in it) wanted Clark Gable to play Col. Travis and Richard Widmark to play Crockett. I've also read that Wayne toyed with the idea of playing Travis, apparently because he was used to playing The Leader in most of his movies. I guess the Duke wasn't really aware that Travis was a young man at the time of his death.
shareYeah, Gable would have been too old. I've never heard about Wayne wanting to play Travis, just the cameo role as Sam Houston.
The alternate casting choice I would have loved to have seen is Charlton Heston as Jim Bowie. Widmark seemed miscast and disinterested in the role.
I'd have preferred Heston in a cameo as Houston, who was sort of the Moses of Texas. (Not to be confused with Moses Austin.) I've often thought Kirk Douglas would have made a good Bowie. The same general hair-color, plus in the standard portrait of Bowie, he looks like he has a chin-dimple. Douglas and Wayne seem to have had good on-camera chemistry in the movies they did together.
shareSonny Tufts wanted to play Bowie.
share This is a pretty bad movie. I don't know if it would have better if it was taken a bit more seriously by Wayne.
The casting as was talked about, didn't seem right (to say the least). You can tell Duke had his favorites, but it was done very much in the sense of the John.Ford players some of whom I saw in the film. Who was responsible for L.HARVEY who knows. He wasn't terrible but kind of inexplicable.