Product Details

• Actors: Glenn Ford, Julie Adams, Chill Wills, Hugh O'Brian, Victor Jory
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: August 29, 1995
• Run Time: 80 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303534988
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #298,438 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Movie for western and Alamo fans, January 18, 2003

By 

T O'Brien (Chicago, Il United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Man From the Alamo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

While not a great movie, The Man From the Alamo is still an interesting flick to watch. Glenn Ford stars as John Stroud, the man who left the Alamo to go and protect the families of the other defenders of the mission. Obviously this doesn't sit well with Texans who brand him a coward. This is not the most accurate Alamo movie(they seem to be fighting in a big box) but this wasn't meant to be an Alamo movie. Stroud's involvement in the battle is only a jumping off-point for the rest of the movie. Co-starring Chill Wills and Julie Adams. Not the most accurate film, but still very entertaining.

3.0 out of 5 stars Poor beginnings drag down an otherwise excellent B-Western, June 15, 2007

By 

Robert J. Evered - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Man from the Alamo [Region 2] (DVD)

The siege of the Alamo took place in early 1836 some 200 or so men defended the old crumbling adobe mission for 13 days against the might of the Mexican Army, apart from a small group of women and young children there were no known survivors. From a novel by Niven Busch and Oliver Crawford THE MAN FROM THE ALAMO (1953) is a B-Western directed by Bud Boetticher and starring Glenn Ford in the title role.

John Stroud (Ford) with a small group of locals from his home town secretly draw lots to decide which of them will leave the fort to protect their families. Stroud draws the black bean and prepares to leave the fort to the dismay of the other defenders. Riding hell-for-leather he arrives home too late, discovering from Carlos (sole surviving Mexican boy) that his family had been massacred by a band of renegades posing as Mexicans led by Jess Wade (Victor Jory). Taking Carlos into the nearest town of Franklin he leaves him in the care of Beth Anders (Julie Adams). A messenger from the Alamo Lt Tom Lamar (Hugh O'Brian) recognises Stroud and denounces him to the townsfolk. In an effort to infiltrate Wade's gang and with all the local townspeople against him Stroud gets himself thrown into jail, which is already occupied by Dawes (Neville Brand) a gang member. The townsfolk are busy packing and loading a wagon train to escape the expected arrival of the Mexican Army at this point they are attacked by Wade's gang who spring Dawes along with Stroud from jail. Later Stroud learns that the gang are planning to attack the town's wagon train having found out that the town's bankroll is onboard. He sets out to warn the wagon train of pending disaster and to help in organising its defence for the final showdown!

This is really a film of two parts first the scenes at the Alamo which presumably due to budget restraints are all low key and unworthy of this momentous event in American history. The second and by far the largest part, starts from the moment Stroud leaves the fort and moves into more normal B-Western territory. Boettcher has the excellent Glenn Ford portraying the stoic hero who had reluctantly left his comrades (as it turned out) to die at the Alamo, leaving Stroud a man alone against all the odds to clear his name and his conscience a theme Boetticher would return to in a series of seven superior B-Westerns with Randolph Scott 1956 - 1960. Others elsewhere have complained about historical inaccuracies in this film with the use of six guns in 1836 some years before they were introduced, although there is plenty of evidence of mussel-loading going on with muskets, ably demonstrated by the womenfolk defended the wagons in the final scenes.

1953 was fine year for Westerns. The Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Male 1953 went to Hugh O'Brian for this film and other work. Finally a word about Chill Wills who played a crusty one-armed town elder, seven years later he appeared in John Wayne's big budget film THE ALAMO (1960) for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role!

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hollywood gets it all wrong again!, October 29, 2001

By 

Joseph A. Aycock (rome, georgia USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Man From the Alamo [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is probably the most inaccurate Alamo movie ever made. To begin with, all the defenders are huddled inside the Alamo chapel (the rest of the fort doesn't exist in this version) surrounded by Santa Ana's army, when the desperate need for a messenger presents itself. The Indians are on the warpath and someone has to warn the settlers along the Pecos. Glen Ford reluctantly is convinced to undertake the mission, promising to return as soon as everyone has been warned. The results are, of course, that Ford fails in his mission AND fails to return to the Alamo in time, thus being branded a traitor and a coward. All this takes place in the first part of the movie, and the rest of the story is Ford convincing everyone that he really isn't a dirty low-down varmint for going off and leaving Davy, Jim, and all the rest to die without him. Typical B western but look very closely and you will notice that ALL THE ALAMO DEFENDERS ARE CARRYING SIX-SHOT REVOLVERS. No wonder Santa Ana's losses were so heavy. Way to go, Hollywood!