Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Justina The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

MartinHafer When I received a DVD from Netflix with this film and "The Cimarron Kid" on it, I wondered why I'd placed this disk on my queue. After all, I am not a huge fan of westerns and the films appeared pretty unremarkable. However, when I noticed both films were directed by Budd Boetticher, I remembered that THIS was why I'd put these films on my list many months earlier. Boetticher was a wonderful director who managed to make his westerns better than the norm--with stories that lack many of the usual clichés.This film is set during the war for Texas independence from Mexico in the mid-1830s. Soon after the film begins, you see a brief recreation of the Battle of the Alamo. Just before the compound is overrun, the commander has the married men draw lots--the one selected will sneak away from the fort and look after the families left behind. Glen Ford is the one chosen, but when he arrives home he learns that his family had been murdered. And, people begin to talk and think he was a coward since he left--though he was following orders. And, now that the battle is over, he's going to use all his energy tracking down the gang (dressed as Mexicans) responsible for his family's deaths. So, he infiltrates a gang...hoping to find out who is ultimately responsible.The film is helped by having some good support for Ford. Neville Brand (one of the scariest looking heavies in film history), Victor Jory, Hugh O'Brian and Chill Wills all are available to provide nice color and good old dependable acting. And, Boetticher at the helm sure didn't hurt, either. Together, they are able to take an okay story and make it a lot better than it should have been. While it's not as good as the Boetticher/Randolph Scott collaborations, it's quite good.By the way, they did NOT have revolvers and repeating rifles back then. The very first guns of these types were not yet available until AFTER this war and really were very rare until well into the Civil War. All too often, I have seen Hollywood mess up this detail--perhaps because it would be less exciting to see everyone stop to reload after each shot...and because reloading would take at least 30 seconds (and quite possibly more). But, unfortunately, that IS how they would have fought in the old days. And, by the way, the inexperienced women in the film managed to reload in about five seconds---something even the best soldiers never could have accomplished at the time!

FightingWesterner 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.

bkoganbing Glenn Ford plays the title role in The Man From The Alamo which probably should be better titled The Man Who Left The Alamo. Don't worry, Glenn had good and sufficient cause for doing so.Ford is one of the men who was there at the mission fort at San Antonio De Bexar when word is received of some renegade Texans raiding some of ranches up where Ford and his family have settled. He and three others draw lots to see who goes out of The Alamo to check on their families. Ford gets the short straw and when William B. Travis played by Arthur Space draws his famous line in the sand, Ford is the only one who opts out of the fight.Of course when Ford arrives he finds his and the other families dead at the hands of renegade Victory Jory and his band who are in league with Santa Anna. After that it's a struggle to clear his good name and alert others to the dangers of Jory's band.The Man From The Alamo is a short, but action packed western. Budd Boetticher got good performances out of his cast which besides those mentioned include Julie Adams. Hugh O'Brian, Neville Brand, and Chill Wills who as we all know was in John Wayne's blockbuster film on the same subject.The film is very similar to a lot of the westerns that Boetticher did with Randolph Scott and I wouldn't be surprised if the film wasn't created with Randy in mind originally for the lead. If it was, Glenn Ford was more than adequate in the part.Western fans and other fans will not be disappointed.

funkyfry Glenn Ford plays the only survivor of the Alamo -- not a very popular man in Texas. Of course, the story gives him a good excuse -- he drew lots with some other Alamo soldiers to see who would go west to defend their homes from Texan bandits hired by the Mexicans, but the families were already dead when he gets there -- but nobody wants to believe him, except one lovely woman on the wagon train he sets out to defend. Only problem is his strategy of siding with the bandits to get into their confidence puts him in a nearly impossible situation.A well-made film, with convincing action and gritty characters. Unlike other Boetticher westerns, here the scale of the film is "epic" as the future of the West hangs in the balance. Ford makes a surprisingly good substitute for Randolph Scott or John Wayne.