Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
39 Adventures of Power
66 Afterschool
73 Amreeka
49 Antichrist
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Big Fan
65 Black Dynamite
76 Bliss
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
76 Broken Embraces
70 Bronson
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
60 Collapse
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
53 Dare
50 Defamation
67 Departures
70 Earth Days
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
88 Fantastic Mr. Fox
31 Fix
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
xx From Mexico with Love
28 Gentlemen Broncos
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Horse Boy, The
74 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
26 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
43 Little Traitor, The
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
46 Love Hurts
84 Maid, The
45 Mammoth
75 Messenger, The
55 Missing Person, The
59 More Than a Game
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
48 New York, I Love You
66 No Impact Man
26 Oh My God
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
79 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73 Red Cliff
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
65 Skin
41 Splinterheads
42 Staten Island
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
58 Storm
82 Sun, The
49 Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73 That Evening Sun
61 Trucker
49 Turning Green
83 U2 3D
45 Uncertainty
67 Visual Acoustics
32 War on Kids
67 Way We Get By, The
65 Wedding Song, The
xx White on Rice
59 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74 Woman in Berlin, A
43 Women in Trouble
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Alamo, The

EMAILPRINT

Alamo, The reviews
47
5.7 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 35 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Adventure  |  Drama  |  War

Written by: Leslie Bohem
Stephen Gaghan
John Lee Hancock

Directed by: John Lee Hancock

Release Date:
Theatrical: April 9, 2004
DVD: September 28, 2004

Running Time: 137 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for sustained intense battle sequences

Starring Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson, Emilio Echevarría, Jordi Mollà, Laura Clifton, Leon Rippy, and Kevin Page

The dramatic true story of one of the most momentous battles in American history, this is the tale of a handful of men who stood up for their passion and ideals against an overwhelming force. (Touchstone Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

91

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

It's a well-crafted, intelligent, no-nonsense western epic that zips us through the famous siege and the birth of Texas with style, verve and impressive historical accuracy.

Read Full Review >
88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It somehow succeeds in taking those pop-culture brand names like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie and giving them human form.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Alamo buffs will be delighted, and everyone else will be treated to something that feels like Old Hollywood crossed with new sensibilities.

Read Full Review >
70

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Thoughtful and complex.

Read Full Review >
70

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Its egotistical, wishy-washy and otherwise flawed protagonists are no less heroic because they look -- and act -- like you and me. On the contrary, they are more so.

Read Full Review >
70

Time Richard Corliss

Politics aside, this is a handsome film with orange skies to die for, or under, and a lovely score by Carter Burwell. The picture has some ponderous and snooze-worthy stretches, but it attains a certain melancholic grandeur, with the actors and crew fighting as desperately as Crockett and Bowie to make the best of a fated adventure.

Read Full Review >
63

USA Today Mike Clark

Thornton is excellent and now seems genetically incapable of being anything less than great in any role he takes.

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Except for a handful of scenes, Hancock's film isn't good enough to be memorable. Neither is it bad enough to be entirely forgettable. It's just one of those compromised movies that makes one look forward to the director's cut.

Read Full Review >
63

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The real struggle in The Alamo is between historic revisionism and Hollywood notions of sacrifice, and it's not much of a contest: Hollywood wins, as it did in John Wayne's sprawling, factually spurious 1960 film.

Read Full Review >
60

Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky

The result is something that feels very much like an overachieving made-for-TV movie--a history lesson dolled up like an action movie, with the action relegated to the final third, and even then, the battle is over before it really begins.

Read Full Review >
60

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A respectable and at times an exciting film that should appeal to males of all ages, history buffs and -- yes, it's inevitable -- patriots.

Read Full Review >
60

Variety Todd McCarthy

Refreshingly revisionist in the sense that it takes a relatively clear-eyed view of the messy lives and equivocal circumstances of many of the key participants.

Read Full Review >
60

Film Threat Rick Kisonak

While the massacre is a wall-shaking and effective bit of high decibel drama, some of the movie's best moments come during the Texans' long brave wait for almost certain death.

Read Full Review >
58

Portland Oregonian Karen Karbo

Hancock's direction isn't flashy, and the pacing is a little curious...Still, he has the quiet chutzpah to suggest that a man can be both flawed and heroic, cowardly in his personal life and noble in his public one.

Read Full Review >
58

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Never harmonizes into a cinematic experience any more resonant than the average, manly, why-we-fight pic, or coalesces into a stirring cry for freedom.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Thornton lends gravity, focus and humor that are otherwise in short supply in this serious-minded but meandering, talky and action-deficient epic.

Read Full Review >
50

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Tries to be all things to all people and winds up a tedious muddle.

Read Full Review >
50

LA Weekly Chuck Wilson

Pinned down and smelling death, the men grow into fully realized human beings, which makes for some fine performances, but doesn't exactly propel this epic, richly detailed film forward. The battle, when it finally comes, is brief, admirably non-gory and rather dull.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A professionally made movie, just not an essential one. There's little fresh or provocative here, and if you can't be shaken by this story, why bother?

Read Full Review >
50

ReelViews James Berardinelli

The good news first: The Alamo is probably the most historically accurate depiction yet to reach the screen of the famous siege. The bad news is that "historically accurate" does not necessarily translate into "dramatically successful."

Read Full Review >
50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

Turns into an edited-for-TV version of Sam Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch"--flat, bloodless, and utterly bereft of period grit.

Read Full Review >
50

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

It’s The Alamo, all right, but will anyone want to remember it?

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

Rousing? Sort of. Never before, one feels, have so few given so much for so much real estate.

Read Full Review >
50

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

Thank goodness for Davy Crockett; without him, the Alamo could have proven the blandest heroic siege in movie history.

Read Full Review >
50

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

The brave men who fought and perished at the Alamo believed fervently in their cause. For The Alamo to work, the audience must believe as well. That never really happens.

Read Full Review >
50

Newsweek David Ansen

Along the way, not just the storytelling but the original intention has gotten muddled. You leave The Alamo uncertain of what you're meant to feel: is this a celebration of patriotic sacrifice or an illustration of war's futility?

Read Full Review >
40

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

Deserves credit for beautiful sets and the obvious care that went into reconstructing the old town of San Antonio de Bexar, as well as for Thornton’s performance. Unfortunately, the stultifying dialogue and lack of real tension sink the film.

Read Full Review >
40

Slate David Edelstein

Thanks to Hancock's evasive storytelling, it's never clear why Houston moved so slowly or why so few Texians came to the Alamo's aid. The middle of the movie is pokey and unfocused--and, given the circumstances, bizarrely lacking in urgency.

Read Full Review >
40

Village Voice J. Hoberman

As directed by John Lee Hancock, it's dull, talky, and sometimes maudlin.

Read Full Review >
40

Empire Will Lawrence

In spite of two great performances, this is a muddled affair.

Read Full Review >
40

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

A misshapen semi-spectacle that seems to be simulating an epic, and getting away with it only occasionally.

40

Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis

Driven by different agendas, history and movies often tell two irreconcilable stories, which is why, despite some glints of talent, Hancock has given us yet another film and another Alamo to forget.

Read Full Review >
40

The New York Times A.O. Scott

Thornton's performance is lost in a film that is more of a schematic success than a dramatic one.

Read Full Review >
38

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

As Disney-fied as "Pinocchio," barely challenging the images Americans have treasured for 150 years.

Read Full Review >
38

Premiere Peter Debruge

The studio wimped out, and the result is a lesser production on every level: talent, script, content, and purpose.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Desson Thomson

These storied 13 days feel like the Hundred Years War.

Read Full Review >
25

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

There is so much that is wrong with The Alamo that it is easier to begin with what the movie gets right: Davy Crockett. As played by Billy Bob Thornton.

Read Full Review >
25

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

In short, it's dull, derivative, and as lifelike as a heap of historical figurines. Few will remember this Alamo for long.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.7 (out of 10) based on 35 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Pat S. gave it a1:
Worthless and weak, needed the original director (Ron Howard) and his cast of Gibson as Crockett and Crowe as Houston. To hell with"authenticity"-- vigor, gusto and glorious storytelling is what the real heroes (and audiences) deserve once and for all.

Louis's brother gave it a6:
Very good historical background, but needs more action.

David M. gave it a9:
Not as bad as critics make it out to be I have watched it 4 times and it gets me every time of what courage was shown by the defenders of this run down mission. I rate this among the best true story films ever made.

Wayne T. gave it a10:
Brilliant!!!

Charles W. gave it a9:
Excellent movie, exciting footage, excellent cast.

Chuck B. gave it an8:
More historically accurate but not as entertaining as Duke's film. Choppy due to last minute editing. Needs to be seen as intended. More pre Alamo & development of characters needed. Very good as presented, though.

Daniel E. gave it a10:
There’s not enough action for attention spans bred on Sesame Street and MTV, but for thoughtful adults there is plenty to enjoy here. Texians (American and European immigrants as well as native Tejanos) are fighting for what was promised and then taken away, while the Mexican government is trying to reign in what they consider to be ingrates and pirates. Principal characters are portrayed in a mature fashion as never before attempted, resulting in flawed humans who manage to emerge in a heroic light, even in this age of mass cynicism. Where’s the Director’s Cut?

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use