The film also co-stars Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, and features: Frankie Avalon, Patrick Wayne, Linda Cristal, Joan O'Brien, Chill Wills, Joseph Calleia, Ken Curtis, Ruben Padilla as Santa Anna, and Richard Boone as Sam Houston.

The opposing Mexican forces, led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna are numerically stronger as well as better-armed and trained.

They maintain high hopes as they are told a strong force led by Colonel James Fannin is on its way to break the siege.

Crockett, Bowie and their men prepare to leave, but an inspired tribute by Travis convinces them to stay and fight to the end.

On the thirteenth day of the siege, Santa Anna's artillery bombards the Alamo, and the entire Mexican army sweeps forward, attacking on all sides.

Travis stubbornly defends his decisions as commander of the garrison against the suggestions of the other two - particularly Bowie with whom the most bitter conflict develops - as well as trying to maintain discipline among a force made up primarily of independently minded frontiersmen and settlers.

Despite their personal conflicts, all three learn to subordinate their differences, and in the end, bind themselves together in an act of bravery to defend the fort against inevitable defeat.

[3] He hired James Edward Grant as scriptwriter, and the two began researching the battle and preparing a draft script.

As the script neared completion, however, Wayne and Herbert Yates, the president of Republic Pictures, clashed over the proposed $3 million budget.

[9] The set was an extensive three-quarter-scale replica of the mission,[citation needed] and has been used in other Western films and television series,[4] including other depictions of the battle.

[4] Wayne was to have portrayed Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character.

[10] Wayne cast Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William Barrett Travis.

[12] John Wayne had made Rio Bravo (1959) with singer Ricky Nelson in a supporting role to attract teen audiences.

[19] Sammy Davis Jr. asked Wayne for the part of a slave, for he wanted to break out of performing song and dance.

[11] Wayne's mentor John Ford showed up uninvited and attempted to exert undue influence on the film.

[20] According to many people involved in the film, Wayne was an intelligent and gifted director despite a weakness for the long-winded dialogue of James Edward Grant, his favorite screenwriter.

[17] A bit player, LeJean Ethridge, died in a domestic dispute during filming, and Wayne was called to testify at an inquest.

The song was performed on the soundtrack album by The Brothers Four whose rendition reached #65 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart; it has been covered by many artists.

Another well known song from this film is "Ballad of the Alamo" (with Paul Francis Webster), which was performed on the soundtrack album by Marty Robbins.

[23] Frankie Avalon released a cover version as did the folk duo Bud & Travis whose rendition (with "The Green Leaves of Summer" on the flip side) reached #64 on the Billboard chart.

One particularly egregious scene has a courier character (played by Wayne’s son Patrick) report that Goliad’s Col. Fannin would not provide reinforcements, because his troops had “been massacred,” even though that event transpired over two weeks after the fall of the Alamo.

According to Roberts and Olson, "the script evokes parallels between Santa Anna's Mexico and Khruschchev's Soviet Union as well as Hitler's Germany.

[25] Many of the minor characters, at some point during the film, speak about freedom and/or death, and their sentiments may have reflected Wayne's own viewpoint.

[citation needed] Critical response was mixed, from the New York Herald Tribune's four-star "a magnificent job... Visually and dramatically, The Alamo is top-flight" to Time magazine's "flat as Texas".

The consensus summarizes: "John Wayne proves to be less compelling behind the camera than he is before it in The Alamo, a blustery dramatization of the fort's last stand that feels more like a first draft.

[32] Despite being anachronistic (How the West Was Won begins in 1839 and the Alamo fell in 1836), the clip occurs right before the second segment, The Plains, as Spencer Tracy narrates the events that led to the United States gaining large amounts of territory from the Mexican-American War.

[35] The Alamo premiered at its 70 mm roadshow length of 202 minutes, including overture, intermission, and exit music, but the negative was severely cut for wide release.

He and Alamo collector Ashley Ward discovered the last known surviving print of the 70 mm premiere version in Toronto,[37] in pristine condition.

MGM (UA's sister studio) used this print to make a digital video transfer of the roadshow version for VHS and LaserDisc release.

This garnered some publicity from KENS-TV in San Antonio, and attention from filmmakers such as: J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, Rian Johnson, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón and Alejandro González Iñárritu.