William Travis

edjavega: Why do you think Laurence Harvey looked like Travis? The last I heard, there was no contemporary portrait of Travis (at least none that survived) and the only thing like a portrait was a sort of crudely-done cartoonish pencil sketch which doesn't look much like Laurence Harvey to me. Has a hitherto-undiscovered likeness of Tarvis surfaced recently?

Wayne took painstaking methods to find as close to accurate historical facts as he could before his version was ever made. He once gave an interview where he said the writer read many survivor accounts and letters from the Alamo to write his script as close to fact as he could. There is no way to know for sure what actually went on inside those walls for that two weeks in 1836, but not one survivor ever saw nor is it ever mentioned in any letter that the line in the dirt really took place. The story began as a way to booster the battle cry 'Remember the Alamo!' just as the idea that Crockett was the last man alive and fought to his death.

The portrayal of Travis in most versions treat him as a very by the book commander who did what was necessary to keep his command together. Yes, he probably did lie but only until he knew no help would arrive and then he let the volunteers choose for themselves. That was the honorable thing to do and he did it. He most probably was an a**hole, but have you ever seen a commander that wasn't?

As for Crockett, many survivor reports say he was taken prisoner even though he fought strong till captured. The most recent version with Billy Bob portraying Crockett probably best shows how he died for real.

It is said that letters written and sent by Travis before the end did tell of an unsettled squabble between he and Bowie but the reason was not told. Whether they resolved the issue before the final battle will never be known.

Another lesser known film about the Alamo was the Republic Pictures film The Last Command with Sterling Hayden who played Bowie. In that version Travis is portrayed a little more subtle but still some what by the book. In that version Crockett blows himself up just as Wayne's Crockett did in his version. But the battle scenes are very well made in that film also.

Of all portrayals of Crockett, I think Billy Bob's is probably the most human and believable. Most people want Davey Crockett to be bigger than life as his legend was, but he was just a man who found himself in the wrong place at the right time to become that legend and a hero to generation after generation. I have to admit, as a boy I had my coonskin cap and my leather buckskin after becoming a Crockett follower from watching the Disney series about him. Yes, I was a Crockett groupie!

I think Harvey's portrayal of Travis was one dimentional... in the shortened version. Upon seeing the complete directors cut of the Alamo, I felt he put in an Academy Award winning performance.


When the legend becomes a fact... print the legend.

Agreed, Laurence Harvey was very good. Wayne wanted Clark Gable for the role, that would have been a bigger misfire than Gregory Peck. In my opinion though, Charlton Heston would have made a better Bowie than Richard Widmark.

And I did like 13 Days to Glory for what it was. Unfortunately, Brian Keith looked about as much like Davy Crockett as John Wayne did, and Jim Bowie would have been thirty-nine or forty whereas James Arness was in his sixties.

Does anyone know how tall Bowie was? Between 5`6 Alan Ladd and 6`7 James Arness, a person gets curious.