The Last Command (1955)

Very best movie i ever watch

Just so...so bad

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Much has been said about the apparent argument between Republic Pictures owner Herbert J. Yates and John Wayne over the filming of a story based on the siege of the Alamo. Evidently Yates didn't see Wayne as Davy Crockett and the two never agreed on the film.Republic's version centers around the character of Jim Bowie (Sterling Hayden) and the days leading up to the famous battle. President Santa Anna (J.Carroll Naish) has become a ruthless ruler of Mexico and of Texas. The Texicans are pushing for self government but are being denied their independence.On his way to his Mexican home, Bowie is taken to Santa Ana by force even though the two men had become friends while fighting together for Mexican independence. Bowie learns that his family has succumbed to a plague. Bowie negotiates the release of Texas patriot Stephen Austin (Otto Kruger) while there.Bowie rides around aimlessly following his family's death trying to make sense of all of the political problems. Eventually, he decides to side with the Texicans. He joins together with Colonel William Travis (Richard Carlson) and Davy Crockett (Arthur Hunnicutt) to mount a defence against Santa Anna and his army at an old mission known as the Alamo. They expect to receive reinforcements from Sam Houston (Hugh Sanders) but they never come. Santa Anna attacks the Alamo and............................Republic Pictures was a minor studio but did excel in making westerns. There are many who consider this version of the Alamo to be as good or better than John Wayne version, which is twice as long, and was filmed five years later. You can decide.Sterling Hayden makes a strong hero in Bowie. His knife fight with Mike Radin (Ernest Borgnine, just on the verge of stardom) is a highlight of the picture. Anna Maria Alberghetti was being groomed for stardom by Republic and plays the female lead Consuela who has her eye on the much older Bowie. Ben Cooper plays Jeb Lacey who is in love with Consuela. Others in the large cast includes John Russell, Virginia Grey, Jim Davis, Slim Pickens, Eduard Franz, Russell Simpson, Roy Roberts, Morris Ankrum, Charlie Stevens and Harry Woods.The battle scenes as directed by Frank Lloyd are spectacular and well choreographed. Each of the principles gets to perish in a heroic fashion. Max Steiner's score adds to the excitement.Whether or not Yates made his version of the story to spite Wayne, we'll never know.

This film is different from the John Wayne film "The Alamo" because instead of focusing on action, "The Last Command" focuses on the causes of the War for Texan Independence that led up to the Alamo. Because of this, the movie puts a context for the rebellion--something that wasn't all too clear in Wayne's huge epic. While not all the reasons are explored (there were Texans who wanted to bring slavery into the territory--something Mexican law did not allow), the dictatorial policies of President Santa Ana were explored. History does record that Santa Ana was a rather inept leader and he sure did do a lot to encourage the revolution--not just in Texas but in other Mexican states.Sterling Hayden plays James Bowie--the man who popularized a knife now known after him and one of the leaders at the Alamo. Unlike what I expected, Bowie was played as a very even-tempered man--a man who was initially unsure which side he was on in the war. Slowly, Bowie sees Santa Ana's excesses as justification for independence and I appreciated how he wasn't played as some macho hot-head. As far as the historical accuracy of the film, it's not easy to do a film on the life of Bowie, as there really isn't a huge amount of information about the man. Oddly, however, what history does record about Bowie is generally not discussed in the film--such as the deaths of his wife and children in the years preceding the Battle of the Alamo. But, there are no major historical flaws, either--a plus.Earlier I mentioned John Wayne's film, "The Alamo". While I think the Wayne film is better than most give it credit for, it is very odd that he sank so much energy and cash into making this film just five years after "The Last Command". And, both films are nearly equal in quality--though "The Last Command" cost a small fraction of the 1960 film and was a bit less long-winded--giving much more bang for the buck. "The Alamo" is better showing the grandness of the battle. It had a lot of extras playing Mexican soldiers, while "The Last Command" clearly only had a hundred or so extras dressed in Mexican uniforms in order to save money! But, "The Last Command" is also clearly better when it comes to portraying individuals and the reasons for the war--making it a much more personal and enjoyable film for me. The only part of the film I really disliked was the macho bull crap fight between Hayden and Ernest Borgnine near the beginning of the film--wow did that come off as stupid!

It doesn't seem possible that an Alamo movie could be worse than John Wayne's great bomb, but this movie is. Sterling Hayden may be the only believable actor and just barely. The supposed 'friendship' between Bowie and Santa Anna?! But one of a host of trite disasters. Only good for a late night laugh and just barely. The physical lay out of the Alamo is not realistic, but the death of the "Big Three" is better than Wayne's version--although similar. It's too bad because the story of the Alamo deserved a better treatment. This script shows that it was hacked out when Wayne turned down the movie. Too bad Republic pictures didn't fold before this turkey flew or flopped!

Amoung alot of historians and reenactors, this is the best Alamo film ever made. It was very well done, acted, and directed. An all around great job by all! Alamo: Price of Freedom is the most accurate film ever made, but this film is considered the best by far!