New Book: John Wayne's Alamo

[duke]

Hi

I have just published John Wayne's Alamo which may be accessed here.  It contains four chapters which summarize the Texas Revolutionary War and examines how Alamo movies have contributed to the Myth of the Alamo. These include the 1960 and 2004 ones, as well as others like The Last Command.

It may be viewed and sampled on Amazon, just follow the link.

USA:  www.amazon.com/John-Waynes-Alamo-Christopher-Smallbone-ebook/dp/B00HP1BGK0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389093692&sr=1-2&keywords=John+Wayne%27s+Alamo

UK:  www.amazon.co.uk/John-Waynes-Alamo-Christopher-Smallbone-ebook/dp/B00HP1BGK0/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389096306&sr=1-2&keywords=John+Wayne%27s+Alamo

One correspondent observed: "I'm impressed by the comprehensiveness of your reading in the Alamo literature (both history and film), and I wish you luck with the book -- not many people would have dared to try to cover so much territory."


Hope you enjoy reading it

[loucapitano]

I congratulate Mr. Duke Smallbone on his effort to de-mytha-lize the efforts of John Wayne and others to bring the Alamo saga to the screen. I enjoyed the three chapter sample and look forward to reading the rest.
John Wayne was a straightforward man whom I think led with his heart first. Once he took an emotional interest in something, nothing was going to shake it, that unfortunately included facts. So, as John Ford so brazenly stated, "when legend conflicts with facts, print the legend." As an armchair historian, that comment should rankle me, but I've been around long enough to believe there's room for both scholarship and legend. They can co-exist, as long as they don't create conflict between those who want to be informed and those who simply want entertainment.
Good job!!
Lou from Long Island

[duke]

hi Lou

Thanks for that, as I'm sure you know, the quote is from the superb film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. I have a review of this on the Movie Review Query Engine. It was one of the best Ford and Wayne collaborations I reckon.probably only topped by The Searchers, although this was a very different movie.

www.mrqe.com/movie_reviews/the-man-who-shot-liberty-valance-m100062250

I wonder if you would consider posting your comments on my book on Amazon,by copy and paste, as so far no-one has posted a comment.

cheers

Chris

[Bill Yowell]

I am one of many of my generation who view John Wayne as a great American hero, however with the passion he supposedly held for the "Alamo Story", I still find it hard to believe his blatant disregard for and misrepresentation of known facts known at that time about the siege. The hokey scenes like the birthday party, and the feather balancing contest I guess were there for "entertainment", and I can live with that, but the scenes like Bowie receiving a letter about his wife and kids having died, and Bonham re-entering the Alamo to announce that Fannin wasn't coming because they were ambushed and annihilated, and others, make no sense to me. To me in the grand scheme of things, what I choose to remember about that particular movie, is that wonderful musical score. In regard to the book coming out, I will certainly purchase it and look forward to reading it to gain any insight as to what "The Duke" was thinking.

[duke]

Bill

Yes I totally agree, the score was composed by Dimitri Tiomkin who had recently worked on a film starring Duke – he had composed the music for Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo in 1959. The trumpet theme in The Alamo, "El Degüello", said to indicate that Santa Ana gave the order that no quarter was to be given, was very similar to that played during the opening of Rio Bravo. Tiomkin’s music reputedly inspired the masterful work of Ennio Morricone for Sergio Leone. Morricone recalled that director Sergio Leone asked him to write ‘Dimitri Tiomkin music’ for A Fistful of Dollars.

Chris