Two Movies About the Alamo

The Second Battle of the Alamo may well be the most legendary battles in American history. Not surprisingly, the battle has long been fodder for motion pictures. The first such movie about the Battle of the Alamo was The Immortal Alamo, a silent film made in 1911 and now thought to be lost. Since that time there have been no less than eight movies about the battle and at least three portrayals of it on television (including the "Davy Crockett at the Alamo" episode of Disneyland). Perhaps what may be the two most famous movies about the Battle of the Alamo are both simply called The Alamo: the 1960 version directed by John Wayne and the 2004 version directed by John Lee Hancock.

That the Second Battle of the Alamo should be the subject of many movies and television adaptations should not be surprising. The battle itself has become the stuff of legends to the point that it is sometimes difficult to separate fact from fiction. As might be expected of any battle that has become legend, it has proven fodder for various revisionists. There have been those who have claimed that the Second Battle of the Alamo (not to mention the whole Texas Revolution) was another manifestation of the then current idea of Manifest Destiny (the idea that the United States was destined to expand from the Atlantic to the Pacific). There have also been those who have claimed that the Second Battle of the Alamo (not to mention the whole Texas Revolution) was a battle between pro-slavery Texians and anti-slavery Mexicans. The traditional legend has primarily been a Northern European American-centric one, in which Texians desiring freedom fought against the oppression of the dictator Antonio L&ocacute;pez de Santa Anna. In truth, neither the revisionist views of the battle nor the traditional legend of it are quite true.

It was in 1833 that Santa Anna was elected the president of Mexico. By 1833 he decided Mexico was not ready for democracy. He threw out the Constitution of 1812, disbanded the Congress of Mexico, and created a centralised government with power resting primarily in himself. In fact, the state of Coahuila y Tejas (what would become the current Mexican state of Coahuila and the current American state of Texas) was not the only one to rebel. Along with Coahuila, the states of Nuevo Leóon and Tamaulipas would secede from Mexico and form the Republic of the Rio Grande. The Yucatan, once a republic of its own, would secede from Mexico to once more become a republic as it had been earlier. As to the Texas Revolution, it was not simply a war between Northern European Americans in favour of democracy and a Mexican dictator. In truth, not only Texians (Northern European Americans who had settled in Coahuila y Tejas) but Tejanos (Mexicans living in Coahuila y Tejas) rebelled against the authoritarian rule of Santa Anna as well.

The contribution which many Tejanos made to the Texas Revolution were often ignored by the legend of the Battle of the Alamo in both the 19th and 20th Centuries. Not surprisingly, they were then also ignored in most of the movies. Indeed, this was particularly true of the 1960 version of The Alamo, released in 1960 and directed by John Wayne, but then this version of the battle is so historically inaccurate that it should is pretty much a work of fiction as opposed to an accurate portrayal of the battle.

As early as 1945 John Wayne had wanted to make a movie about the Second Battle of the Alamo. It was at that point that he hired James Edward Grant (who had previously written the movie Boom Town starring Clark Gable) to write the script and the two began research on the battle itself. The project ultimately fell through, as Republic Pictures chafed at the film's estimated $3 million budget. Wayne left the studio because of the disagreement, and the script was rewritten as the screenplay for The Last Command, another film about the Battle of the Alamo. It was because of his experience with Republic that Wayne decided to produce and direct the film himself. With his company Batjac producing the film, in 1956 Wayne signed a contract with United Artists to distribute it.

While John Wayne and James Edward Grant did considerable research into the battle, the resulting film would be extraordinarily inaccurate in its depiction of the battle. In fact, one of its biggest inaccuracies is also one of its simplest. Characters refer to the Alamo (and hence the city of San Antonio) as being on the Rio Grande, even though the river is 150 miles away! Other inaccuracies were made with regards to the characters. As Davy Crockett, John Wayne dressed in a coonskin cap and buckskins. While this image of Crockett is a popular one, he never dressed that way. Davy Crockett is not only portrayed a bit inaccurately, but so is Jim Bowie. The movie portrays Bowie's wife and children as having died of cholera not long before the battle began. In fact, his wife and children had died of cholera four years before the Battle of the Alamo. The film also makes no mention that Bowie was suffering from an undetermined disease at the time, perhaps typhoid fever, tuberculosis, or even lung cancer. For much of the battle Bowie was actually bed ridden. According to John Wayne's version of The Alamo, Bowie was bed ridden because he had been wounded during the siege.

Beyond inaccuracies with regards to the various characters, the 1960 version also takes liberties with the particulars of the battle itself. This should perhaps not be surprising, as the movie does not go into the reasons for the Texas Revolution, much less the Second Battle of the Alamo. One of the most glaring bits of inaccuracy with regards to the battle is the sheer number of cannons which Santa Anna's army direct upon the Alamo. The Alamo was an old Spanish mission built of adobe. Had that much artillery been fired upon it, the old mission would have been blown to bits. The film even gets the deaths of both Lieutenant William B. Travis (commander of the regular troops) and Davy Crockett wrong. The film portrays Travis as dying at the mission's gate in a sword battle with two Mexican soldiers. In truth he died early from a bullet wound, on the wall of the mission. As to Crockett, the film portrays him as being stabbed by Mexican lancers, then wandering into an powder magazine where he is blown up. While it is a matter of debate of how Crockett died (I will cover this in more detail when I discuss the 2004 version), it is fairly certain he did not blow himself up!

While the inaccuracies of the 1960 version of The Alamo are many (not the least of which is the introduction of fictional characters, such as Chill Willis's Beekeeper), the most glaring one may be that it almost entirely overlooks the contributions of Tejanos to the battle. One of the heroes of the Texas Revolution and a man present for a time at the Second Battle of the Alamo was Captain Juan Seguín. He survived the battle because, as an officer who could speak Spanish, he was appointed to seek reinforcements for the beleaguered men at the Alamo. Nor was Seguín alone, as there were other Tejanos who fought at the Alamo as well. Despite Juan Seguín's major role in the Second Battle of the Alamo, he appears only briefly in the 1960 version of the movie and plays no real role in the battle. Indeed, his character was even miscast. At the time of the Battle of the Alamo, Juan Seguín was only 29 years old, but in the film he was played by Joseph Calleia, who was then 63 years old!

It is difficult to say why the 1960 version of The Alamo departs so from history, even though Wayne and Grant did a great deal of research. It is most likely that the historical inaccuracy of The Alamo rests with John Wayne's own political beliefs. It is well known that Wayne, who was both a conservative and an anti-Communist, meant for his version of The Alamo to be a message film, one that would assert that American freedom had not been won without sacrifice. Unfortunately for Wayne, in some respects the Second Battle of the Alamo was a poor choice for him to deliver his message. While the Battle of the Alamo was fought for freedom, it was not a case of Americans fighting an authoritarian government for that freedom. Instead, it was a case of Texians (the largely Northern European Americans who settled in North Mexico) and Tejanos (the Mexicans who lived there) fighting for their freedom against an authoritarian government. What is more, the goal of the Texas Revolution was not for Texas to become part of the United States (although there were those who favoured that idea), but for it to become its own republic. This could well be why Wayne almost wholly omits the contribution that Tejanos made to the Texas Revolution and why he does not address the causes and reasons for the Texas Revolution and hence the Battle of the Alamo. Portrayed accurately, the Battle of the Alamo would not be a battle between Americans and a dictatorship, but a battle between people seeking to found their own nation (Texians and Tejanos) and a dictatorship. This would have been a serious obstacle to Wayne delivering the message he wanted to with the film.

John Wayne's version of The Alamo was both a critical and financial failure. This was probably not due to the film's historical inaccuracies (after all, Braveheart was both a critical and financial success, despite the fact that it is even more historically inaccurate that John Wayne's The Alamo), but due to more basic flaws in the film. The 1960 movie of The Alamo moves at a somewhat slow pace in the beginning, so much so that it may well have tested the patience of even audiences in the Sixties (who presumably had longer attention spans than those today). In not addressing the causes of the Texas Revolution or the reasons the Battle of the Alamo took place, the movie is saddled with the old Western cliché of "defending the fort against the enemy," with only a few references to "freedom" hinting at the more complex reasons behind the war. There are also times when the humour in the film seems to detract from it. While I don't think it is desirable that even a film such as one about the Battle of the Alamo have no humour whatsoever, at times The Alamo has too much (particularly in the form of Chill Willis). Another flaw with the film is the early passing romance Crockett has with "Flaca (played by Linda Cristal)." It is not enough that no such romance ever took place. It is wholly gratuitous and tends to drag down the film.

Despite its flaws, John Wayne's The Alamo is an entertaining movie over all. With a good cast, the performances are worth watching the movie alone. Laurence Harvey was perfectly cast as Lt. Colonel William Travis, who is both a bit of a dandy and a martinet. Richard Widmark's Jim Bowie is a bit of a shady character (which we know Bowie to have been historically) and a bit rough around edges. John Wayne's version of Crockett is a variation of his other characters of the time (he could almost be interchangeable with Sheriff Chance from Rio Bravo or Sam McCord from North to Alaska). The best performance may well be delivered by Richard Boone, who plays General Sam Houston. Boone's commanding presence makes him convincing as the general. The battle scenes themselves are well handled and exciting.

It would be around forty years before another major motion picture about the Second Battle of the Alamo was conceived. It was in the mid-Nineties that screenwriter Leslie Bohem met Randall Wallace, the screenwriter of Braveheart, at the Austin Film Festival. Wallace confessed to Bohem that he had visited the Alamo in San Antonio, but he had no plans to turn the story of the legendary battle into a screenplay (given how fast and loose Wallace played with history in Braveheart, this is probably a good thing). It occurred to Bohem that the time may be right for a new movie about the battle of the Alamo. He spent four years doing research on the battle.

Just as the politics of the time played a role in the creation of John Wayne's version of The Alamo, so too would the politics of the time give impetus to Bohem's new screenplay becoming a movie. Following the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Centre, Disney head Michael Eisner saw the new version of The Alamo as a means "...to capture the post-September 11 surge in patriotism." Sreenwriter and director John Sayles was brought in to rewrite Bohem's script. The script which emerged from Sayles would not be used in the end, as it was felt that it was much too long. Disney then hired Stephen Gaghan to do another rewrite.

Ron Howard was brought in to direct the film. It would soon become apparent that Howard's vision for the film did not match that of what Disney. Ron Howard envisioned The Alamo as costing $125 million and as having an R rating. He also wanted to cast Russell Crowe in the role of Sam Houston. Disney wanted the film to cost only $50 million and to have only a PG-13 rating. Ron Howard soon left the project, and Crowe left as well. Disney then brought in John Lee Hancock to direct the movie. In some respects he had been a strange choice. Hancock had written a few screenplays (including A Perfect World, but he had only directed one movie, The Rookie, a Disney family comedy.

To Hancock's advantage was that he was a native Texan and would treat The Alamo with the reverence necessary to the movie. Indeed, like screenwriters Leslie Bohem and John Sayles before him, he realised the need for historical authenticity. He did a good deal of research on the battle itself. He also involved historians not only in the pre-production of the movie, but during the filming of the movie itself. During most days of a shooting, historians were right there on the set.

Initially Disney had set The Alamo to release on December 25, 2003. As it would turn out John Lee Hancock would need more time to finish the movie, so that its release was delayed until Easter weekend in April 2004. Unfortunately, the film would not do well at the box office, beaten by The Passion of the Christ, which had a resurgence in popularity (perhaps because of the Easter holiday).

The 2004 version of The Alamo would not only be much more historically accurate than the 1960 version, but it could possibly be the most historically accurate portrayal of the battle on film. Curiously, the film would be attacked by some critics for its authenticity. There were those who criticised the film for its portrayal of General Sam Houston as something of an alcoholic, even though this was well known even in his lifetime. There was also some controversy over having Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis desert his wife. This is also a historical fact. Travis deserted his wife, his son, and an unborn child in Alabama in 1831 and left for Texas. They were divorced on January 9, 1836 and his son was placed in the care of the Ayres family, as portrayed in the movie. Others complained that the inclusion of Tejano characters in the film, even Captain Juan Seguín, was out of political correctness. It would seem these critics simply did not know their history. Not only were Tejanos present at the Battle of the Alamo, but as an officer Captain Juan Seguín played a vital role in the battle. As the movie portrays, it was Captain Seguín who was sent out to seek reinforcements. When Captain Seguín returned to the Alamo after its fall to Santa Anna's forces, he arranged to have the dead buried with military honours. He also fought in the the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in which Texas won its independence.

While the 2004 version of The Alamo is for the most part historically accurate, it does depart from history in some respects. There is an anachronism when Davy Crockett plays the song "The MockingBird Quick-Step" on his fiddle; it would not be written until 1855. John Lee Hancock also moved the Alamo chapel forward about thirty to forty feet, although this was so that the chapel and the mission's interior could be seen all in one shot.

The 2004 version of The Alamo does have what may be two glaring departures from history, both of which it shares with the 1960 version. The first takes place during Travis's speech to the men, in which he informs them that reinforcements will not be coming and invites anyone to leave to do so. According to an often repeated legend, William B. Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, and asked all who wished to remain to cross it. This story was attested by Louis Moses Rose, a French veteran of the Napoleonic War and the only man to leave the Alamo. Even if one doubts the words of Rose, the tale of Travis drawing the line in the sand was also repeated by Susanna Dickinson, the wife of Captain Almaron Dickinson (the chief artillery officer during the battle) and one of the civilians who survived the siege. While it is possible that William B. Travis never did draw the line in the sand, given the reports of both Rose and Dickinson, it seems likely that he did. It must be pointed out that in John Wayne's version of The Alamo, Travis does not draw a line in the sand either (speaking simply as a movie buff, I must say it would have been a very dramatic way of making Travis's point). Regardless, both movies are accurate in that it is almost a certainty that at some point Travis would have informed the men of their dire situation.

Another possible departure from history is the death of Davy Crockett. While the 1960 version has Crockett blown up in a powder magazine, the 2004 version has Crockett captured and executed by Santa Anna. This is based on a claim made in the book La Rebellion de Texas—Manuscrito Inedito de 1836 por un Ofical de Santa Anna, purportedly the memoirs of Colonel José Enrique de la Pena (who served in Santa Anna's army), published by Jesus Sanchez Garza. It was first published in 1955 and translated into English in 1975. The book claims that seven men had survived the siege and were captured, among them Davy Crockett. These men were brought before Santa Anna. General Manuel Fernandez Castrillón attempted to intervene on the men's behalf, insisting their lives be spared. Santa Anna ignored Castrillón's plea and ordered Crockett executed regardless. Although many of Santa Anna's officers were outraged by this order, Davy Crockett was summarily killed. While there have been historians who have insisted that this is most likely how Crockett died, there is good reason to doubt that it is fact.

Indeed, many historians have pointed out that de la Pena's account was not published until 1955, or around 120 years after the battle took place. It was also self published, with no publisher or editor (much less historians) to examine whether or not it was authentic. Historian Bill Groneman has particularly expressed doubts to the manuscript's authenticity, finding it curious that it was published in 1955 as the Davy Crockett fad sparked by Disney's mini-series on the life of the frontiersman was at its height. Perhaps the biggest objection which can be made to de la Pena's account of Crockett's death is that it is the only one in which Crockett is said to have survived the Alamo and the only one in which he was executed.

If Davy Crockett did not get blown up in a powder magazine or executed, then how did he die? Ben, a former American slave and a cook in Santa Anna's army, maintained that he had seen Crockett's body surrounded by about sixteen dead bodies of Mexicans, one of whom had Crockett's knife in him. In a letter believed to be written by Lieutenant Colonel Travis's slave Joe, whom Travis had freed shortly before the battle's end, it is said that the "Honourable Davy Crockett died like a hero, surrounded by heaps of the enemy slain." Susanna Dickinson said that she saw the body of Davy Crockett between the chapel and the barracks. Francisco Ruiz, then mayor of San Antonio, attested that he had also seen the body of Davy Crockett. Perhaps the most damning evidence against Davy Crockett being executed can be found in an account by Santa Anna himself, in a report sent to Mexico City very shortly after the battle had ended and . Santa Anna tells how the fortress fell, and that among the dead were Travis, Bowie, and Crockett. No mention is made by Santa Anna that he had executed Davy Crockett. Given the sheer ego of General Antonio López de Santa Anna, it is almost certain that he would have boasted of the execution of a man who was even then a legend.

Despite the fact that there are those who accept the execution of Davy Crockett as genuine, it seems more likely that Davy Crockett died during the battle. In fact, if Joe and Ben's accounts are to be believed, the traditional legend of Crockett's death may well be true. The Honourable David Crockett died fighting to his last breath, resorting to his knife when firing Ol' Betsy became impractical, taking out a good number of the enemy in his final moments. It would then seem that the episode "Davy Crockett at the Alamo" of Disneyland is then a more accurate portrayal of his death than either the 1960 or the 2004 version of The Alamo!

Given that there are historians who do believe that the execution of Davy Crockett is reliable, the 2004 version of The Alamo can perhaps be forgiven for its portrayal of his death. Indeed, it must be pointed out that Hancock's version of The Alamo is one of the few to deal with the complex causes and reasons for the Texas Revolution, it is one of the first to deal with the strategies involved in the war, and it is also one of the first to prominently feature the Tejanos who fought against Santa Anna, particularly Capatain Juan Seguín. While the historical accuracy of the 2004 version of The Alamo meant that there would be less than flattering portrayals of some of those involved (Sam Houston as a drunk, Travis as deserting his wife), I do not think this in any way diminishes their status as heroes. Ultimately these were men who were in some ways very flawed, who ultimately chose to do the right thing even though it meant death. That they were not perfect does not take away from the heroism of what they accomplished.

The 2004 version of The Alamo opened to mixed reviews, much of it no doubt due to its insistence on an authentic and realistic telling of the story. My own thought is that The Alamo is indeed a good movie. It is one of the few times in which the men of the Second Battle of the Alamo are treated as human beings and not mere two dimensional characters. Played by Jason Patric, Jim Bowie is a man with a bit of an ego and one still haunted by the death of his wife and children. Played by Jason Patrick, Travis is a bit of a martinet, hindered to some degree by his inexperience, who becomes the commander needed in the battle. By far the best performance is given by Billy Bob Thornton as David Crockett. Thornton's Crockett is a man haunted by his reputation as something of a legend, and a man with no love for war (which is historically accurate) caught in the middle of what would become one of the most famous battles of all time. And while David Crockett realises that he cannot ride a streak of lightning or leap the Mississippi as Davy Crockett was said to do, he knows that in the end he must do what many ordinary men could not do.

In examining both the 1960 and the 2004 versions of The Alamo, it is curious that in some respects the 2004 version of The Alamo evoked more controversy than the 1960 version (at least in the portrayal of the battle). While the 1960 version of The Alamo received some very harsh reviews, very few of them attacked its wanton lack of historical authenticity. Ultimately, the only real controversy surrounding the 1960 version was caused by publicity agent W.S. Wojciechowicz's tasteless campaign for Chill Willis to win Oscar for the Best Supporting Actor. The 2004 version of The Alamo evoked a good deal of controversy, and not simply because of its portrayal of Davy Crockett's death (perhaps the most inauthentic thing in the movie). As mentioned above, many attacked it as being "politically correct" for including Tejanos in the battle, even though this is a historical fact. Others attacked it for the less than flattering views of some of the Alamo defenders, even though these less than flattering views were also based on historical fact. One can only guess that many critics preferred the Northern European American-centric version of the legend, in which the Alamo defenders are all paragons of virtue. I find that as sad, as to me the historical fact of the Battle of the Alamo is much more heroic than many of the retellings of the legend. I do hope this changes over time, and John Lee Hancock's version of The Alamo will be treated with the admiration and affection it deserves.

Regardless, the Second Battle of the Alamo still remains one of the most famous battles of all time. There have been many movies about the battle over the years, and there can be little doubt that there will be many more. One can only hope that the next movie based on the Battle of the Alamo not only strives to be entertaining, but also strives for historical accuracy. As enjoyable as John Wayne's version of The Alamo can be, I must admit I much prefer a more authentic version of the battle.

Film Writer Dick Berg and Richard Moore R.I.P.

Dick Berg
Television and movie writer Dick Berg passed on September 1 at the age of 87. The cause was a fall in his home.

Dick Berg was born on February 16, 1922 in New York City. He grew up in New Rochelle, New York. He attended Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Following graduation, Berg moved to Hollywood for a career in either acting or producing. He wound up as a dialogue coach for the stars of B-Westerns at Republic, including Roy Rogers.

Berg later moved to Westport, Connecticut where he operated a art supply shop called Poor Richard's Art Gallery and the Paint Bucket. In his spare time he started writing for television, eventually making sales to Robert Montgomery Presents and Kraft Television Theatre. Dick Berg would write episodes of such anthology series as Studio One, The Kaiser Aluminum Hour, Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and Suspicion. As television moved away from anthology series to TV shows with continuing characters, Berg wrote scripts for The Third Man, Johnny Staccato, Five Fingers, and Checkmate.

In 1961, with the series Checkmate, Berg became a television producer. In addition to Checkmate, he produced such shows as Firehouse and Key West. Berg also went into movie production, producing such movies as Counterpoint and House of Cards. He produced many, many TV movies, as well as mini-series, including The Martian Chronicles and Space.

Richard Moore
Richard Moore, cinematographer and co-founder of Panavision, passed on August 16 at the age of 83.

Richard Moore was born on October 4, 1925 in Jacksonville, Illinois. He attended the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he earned a degree in film. His first work was on travelogues and documentaries.

It was in 1953 that Richard Moore and Robert Gottschalk founded Panavision. The company had been founded to make the anamorphic projection lenses necessary for filming movies in such widescreen processes as Cinemascope. Their first lens, the Super Panatar, entered the market in 1954. Panavision would bring an important innovation to CinemaScope with the Auto Panatar camera lens for 35 mm. In the early days of Cinemascope, the lenses had one big problem with close-up shots--they tended to widen individuals' faces. The Auto Panatar was the first anamorphic projection lens which permitted close-ups in anamorphic photography which looked natural. The Auto Panatar insured Panavision's success.

Panavision also developed the widescreen process MGM Camera 65 for MGM. It was this process which was used on Ben Hur, How the West was Won, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, and a few other films. Eventually Panavision moved to manufacturing cameras. In 1972 they introduced the Panaflex, a hand held camera which could record both sight and sound quietly.

Richard Moore eventually left Panavision, supposedly because he tired of a desk job. He was a cameraman on the film Sex and the College Girl in 1964 and did the underwater filming on Thunderball. In 1965 he received his first credit as cinematographer on a film, on the movie Operation C.I.A.. He was also a cinematographer on the TV series Daktari. He would go on to serve as cinematographer on such films as The Wild Angels, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, The Stone Killer, and Annie. In 1979 he directed the film Circle of Iron.

A Yellow Submarine Remake?!

Recently Variety reported that Disney is planning a remake of the animated classic Yellow Submarine. The remake is to be directed by Robert Zemeckis and will utilise the motion capture technology utilised on his Beowulf to create a computer animated film. Currently, Disney is trying to get the rights to The Beatles' songs used in the original film.

Forrest Gump and Beowulf notwithstanding, I respect Robert Zemeckis as a filmmaker. He has directed some of my favourite films over the years, including Used Cars, the Back to the Future trilogy, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Despite my admiration for much of Zemeckis's oeuvre, I must say that I have this sick feeling at the pit of my stomach when I think of a Yellow Submarine. There are some films that simply should not be remade.

As a Beatles fan nearly since birth, I have fond memories of watching Yellow Submarine as a child. I remember that CBS showed on or around July 4 every year for many years. As an adult I must admit that my appreciation for the film grew even more. Quite simply, it is my favourite animated film of all time, even more than Disney's Pinocchio. I then have a very strong attachment to the film.

I am not alone in this. Yellow Submarine as come to be regarded as a classic by many people. And there's good reason for this. Yellow Submarine was in many ways a very ground breaking film. It was the first animated feature to have a rock soundtrack, and one of the earliest animated films inspired by pop art. Such is its reputation that, even though The Beatles' participation in the film was minimal at best (they did not even provide their own voices), that many Beatles fans count it among The Beatles' film. Quite simply, it is The Beatles' movie that is not a Beatles movie.

It is for that reason that I am concerned over any attempt to remake the film. Let's face it, the past twenty years have seen classic films remade with disastrous results, often by talented directors. Gus Van Sant's remake of Psycho was an utter travesty, even though he had directed such films as Drugstore Cowboy and My Private Idaho. Jonathan Demme had directed the Oscar winning Silence of the Lambs, but his version of The Manchurian Candidate was horrible. Even a director the level of Martin Scorsese could not improve upon a classic. While his result with Cape Fear were nearly as catastrophic as Van Sant or Demme's tries at remaking classic, it is still a far cry from the original.

Given my attachment to the film and the rather poor remakes of classics that have come out in the past two decades, I cannot help but dread any attempt to remake Yellow Submarine. In fact, I rather hope that Disney does not get the rights to the songs or that Apple Corps denies the studio the use of The Beatles' images. Let's face it, any remake of Yellow Submarine is going to have to feature The Beatles and their music. If it has neither, then it is bound to fail and I think Disney and Zemeckis realise that. I must say that this is one remake I definitely do not want to see made.

Actor Ed Reimers and Music Producer Jim Dickinson R.I.P.

Ed Reimers

Ed Reimers, actor and television announcer, passed on August 16, at the age of 96.

Ed Reimers was born Edwin Reimers in Moline, Illinois on October 26, 1912. He started his career in radio in the Thirties, working as an announcer for several stations. During World War II Reimers served in the Marines. He was responsible for setting up radio communications and broadcasting to American troops.

Following World War II, Reimers went into television, becoming an announcer at KTTV in Los Angeles, California in the Fifties. He also worked in the movies as well. He was an announcer in Hard, Fast, and Beautiful (released in 1951) and played a prosecuting attorney in One the Loose (released the same year). Reimers would go onto work as a narrator on the nationally broadcast television shows Thunderbolt the Wondercolt and Crusader. In 1956 he was briefly the announcer of the game show Do You Trust Your Wife.

The year 1957 was a bit of a turning point in Ed Reimers' career. That year he guest starred on The Millionaire and Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre. It was also in 1957 that Ed Reimers first started doing commercials for Allstate Insurance. Reimers was the announcer for Allstate commercials on both radio and on television, appearing in print ads as well. In the television commercials, Reimers would cup his hands at the end of the advert and intone the company's slogan, "You're in good hands with Allstate." He served as the announcer on Allstate commercials for 22 years.

In the late Fifties Ed Reimers served as the announcer for the TV series M Squad and the various Warner Brothers shows, including Maverick and Cheyenne. In the Sixties Reimers appeared in the movies Sergeant Dead Head and The Loved One. He also guest starred on The Munsters as an announcer and on Star Trek in the episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" as Admiral Fitzpatrick. In 1971 he appeared as an announcer in the Disney movies The Barefoot Executive and The Million Dollar Duck. Reimer also narrated industrial films for Lockheed Missiles & Space Company and Aerojet-General Corporation. Besides commercials for Allstate, he also served as the announcer on commercials for Crest toothpaste and Skippy peanut butter.

Ed Reimers was one of the great television announcers. Many people have probably heard his strong, yet mellifluous voice several times over and not even realised it. It was Reimers who provided the opening for Maverick and Cheyenne that began, "From the entertainment capital of the world, this is a Warner Brothers television presentation..." He did a number of different commercials over the years. While Reimers rarely acted, when he did he also gave a good performance. While many people might not recognise his name, it seems rather likely they would recognise his voice.

Jim Dickinson

Music producer, pianist, and singer Jim Dickinson passed on August 15 at the age of 67. He had just had triple bypass heart surgery.

Jim Dickinson was born on November 21, 1941 in Little Rock, Arkansas, although he grew up in Chicago. It was there that he learned to play piano. He attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas before transferring to Memphis State University. He had intended of becoming a history teacher, but still kept music as a hobby. After his wife saw him perform shows with Memphis blues legends, she suggested he focus solely on music. He performed with The Jester on their song "Cadillac Man" in 1966, playing piano and singing lead even though he was not a member of the band. With fellow Memphians Sammy Creason, Charlie Freeman, Tommy McClure, and Michael Utley he formed The Dixie Flyers. The Dixie Flyers worked as session musicians, performing back up for various artists on Atlantic Records. Jim Dickinson played piano on The Rolling Stones song "Wild Horses" and with The Dixie Flyers performed on Aretha Franklin's album Spirit in the Dark. In 1972 he released his first solo album, Dixie Fried.

In the mid Seventies Dickinson moved into music production. He served as the producer on legendary power pop band Big Star's album, Third, in 1974. In 1979 he co-produced Alex Chilton's album Like Flies on Sherbert with Chilton himself. Dickinson produced the 1987 Replacements album Pleased to Meet Me, the 1990 Mojo Nixon album Otis, the 1999 Willy DeVille album Horse of a Different Colour, and many others.

Jim Dickinson also composed the scores for the movies Running Fence and Stranded in Canton. He was a musician on the scores of such films as The Long Riders, Southern Comfort, and Black Snake Moan.

In 1986 Jim Dickinson released his first album with Mudboy And The Neutrons, Known Felons in Drag. Together they would release two more albums. Starting in 1997 with A Thousand Footprints in the Sand, Dickinson released four more solo albums. His last album, Killers from Space, was released in 2007.

Over the years Jim Dickinson worked with legends ranging from The Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan to Ry Cooder. While most of his work was as a session musician and a producer, he would prove to have a lasting influence, particularly on indie artists. His work with Big Star and Alex Chilton solo alone would have a huge impact on indie rock. Although not well known to the public, he would have influence that reached further than many better known musicians.

Songwriter Ellie Greenwich R.I.P.

Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes and either co-wrote or wrote other classic rock songs, passed this past Wednesday, August 26, at the age of 68. The cause was a heart attack, preceded by a bout with pneumonia.

Ellie Greenwich was born Eleanor Greenwich on Oct. 23, 1940 in Brooklyn. When the family was 11 they moved to Levittown. Musically talented at a young age, she was composing songs by the time she was thirteen. In high school she formed The Jivettes with two friends. They performed at hospitals, schools and charity benefits in the Long Island area. Her mother even arranged a meeting with Archie Bleyer, president of Cadence Records. Breyer advised her to continue writing songs, but to finish school.

Ellie Greenwich attended Queens College in Flushing. She had intended to become a teacher, but her talent for song writing led her in a different direction. It was while she was at Queens College that she recorded her first song for RCA Records. The song was "'Silly Isn't It," recording under the pseudonym "Ellie Gaye." After one of her professors criticised her for writing pop music, she transferred to Hofstra University in Hemptead, New York. It was while she was there that she met fellow song writer and future collaborator Jeff Barry, whom she would later marry. Greenwich graduated from there with a Bachelor's degree in English.

It was not long after she graduated that Greenwich had an appointment in the famous Brill Building with Trio Music, the music publishing company founded by song writing legends Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. After the meeting, she had a contract with the company. Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry recorded a few singles as The Raindrops. They would only have a little success. They had a hit with "The Kind Of Boy You Can't Forget," and recorded the original version of "Hanky Panky (later a hit for Tommy James & the Shondells). Both with others, individually, and together, Greenwich and Barry would find much more success writing for others. Greenwich's first major hit would be the song "This Is It," co-written by Doc Pomus and Tony Powers, and recorded by Jay and the Americans.

It was while at Trio Music that Ellie Greenwich met Phil Spector. In fact, he had produced some of her early hits, such as "Today I Met the Boy I’m Gonna Marry" by Darlene Love and "Why Do Lovers Break Each Others' Heart" by Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans. With Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry produced some of their best work. In the period of 1963 and 1964 they composed "Da Doo Ron Ron (performed by The Crystals)," "Then He Kissed Me (also performed by The Crystals), and "Chapel of Love (performed by The Dixie Cups).

What may have been Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry'sthree greatest songs were also recorded during this period. Produced by Phil Spector, "Be My Baby" would be the biggest hit The Ronettes would ever have, and is now considered one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Also produced by Phil Spector, "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" would become with time the best known song ever performed by Darlene Love. It is now considered by many to be the greatest rock Christmas song of all time. Co-written by George Morton, who co-wrote with Greenwich and Barry, "Leader of the Pack" became The Shangri-Las' biggest hit and perhaps the best known teen death song of all time. Greenwich and Barry would also compose such songs as "Do Wah Diddy Diddy (performed by Manfred Mann)," "I've Got a Dream (recorded by The Moody Blues)," "River Deep - Mountain High (performed by Ike and Tina Turner)," and many others.

During this period Ellie Greenwich also worked as an arranger and producer. In this capacity she would eventually work with such performers as Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra. She is credited with discovering Neil Diamond, and produced many of his early hits.

In 1965 Greenwich and Barry divorced, although they continued to work together. That year would be a turning point for Greenwich in other ways. The early Sixties had seen the rise of singer songwriters in the United States, such as Bob Dylan. By 1964 the British Invasion, led by The Beatles, was well underway. Most of the British bands also wrote their own songs. Between the American singer-songwriters and the British Invasion, the song writers of the Brill Building took a serious blow. Greenwich would still compose hits, but they were far fewer than in previous years.

In 1967 she formed Pineywood Music with Mike Rashkow. For the next many years Greenwich and Rashkow wrote songs for Dusty Springfield, The Other Voices, and many others. Greenwich also recorded her own solo album, Ellie Greenwich Composes, Produces and Sings. Greenwich's collaboration with Rashkow ended in 1971. She would later collaborate with composers such as Ellen Foley and Jeff Kent, as well as Cyndi Lauper.

A look at Ellie Greenwich's musicography shows that she was without a doubt one of the greatest song writers of all time. It is not simply that she wrote many hits, but that she composed some of the best known songs of the rock era: "Be My Baby," "Leader of the Pack," "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," "Then He Kissed Me," and many others. I must confess that she co-wrote two of my favourite songs of all time, "Be My Baby" and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)." "Be My Baby" would probably rank in my top ten favourite songs of all time (one of the few songs not composed by The Beatles, The Who, or The Rolling Stones). "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" is my favourite Yuletide song of all time. Few song writers boast the number of legendary songs that Greenwich had written.

The Late Great Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne, crime writer and investigative journalist, passed this Wednesday, August 26, at the age of 83. The cause was bladder cancer.

Dominick Dunne was born on October 29, 1925 in Hartford, Connecticut. He attended Kingswood School and Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. It was when he was a senior in high school that he was draughted in the United States Army. During World War II he fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he earned the Bronze Star. He also fought in the Battle of Metz. Following the war he attended Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. There he was part of a group (including Stephen Sondheim) started a theatre.

Following his graduation from Williams College in 1949, Dunne moved to New York where he became the stage manager for shows ranging from Howdy Doody to Robert Montgomery Presents. By 1954 he was working as an assistant director on Producer's Showcase. It was in 1957 that he moved to Los Angeles to work on Playhouse 90. By 1959 he was the executive producer of Adventures in Paradise. In the 1970's he was vice president of Four Star Television, and produced films including The Boys in the Band, Panic in Needle Park, and Play It as It Lays.

The Seventies saw Dunne descend into alcoholism to the point that it all but ended his career in Hollywood. It was in 1979, then, that he wrote his first book The Winners, based on his own experiences in Hollywood. While The Winners received over all bad reviews, it was the beginning of a successful new career for Dunne. It was his editor, the legendary Michael Korda at Simon & Schuster, who advised Dunne to take a different path. Namely, Korda pointed out that people loved to read about rich and powerful involved in crime. The resulting book from this advice was The Two Mrs. Grenvilles, which became a best seller.

It was also at this time that tragedy would make another change in his career. Dunne's daughter, Dominique Dunne, was murdered by her boyfriend on November 4, 2002. At the suggestion of Tina brown, then editor of Vanity Fair, Dunne kept a journal during the trial of his daughter's murderer. The journal would become the basis for the article Justice: A Father's Account of the Trial of His Daughter's Killer," published in Vanity Fair in 1984. Dunne then signed a long term contract with Vanity Fair to write articles on true crime. What is more, Dunne became a dogged champion of the victims of violent crime. He would cover some very high profile trials, including the Claus von B¨low trial, the Menendez brothers trial, and the O. J. Simpson murder trial.

Dunne continued to write fiction, including People Like Us, An Inconvenient Woman, and A Season in Purgatory, in which he skewered high society. The last trial he covered was ironically the O. J. Simpson armed robbery trial. Against his doctor's orders (Dunne was already suffering from cancer), he insisted on covering the trial.

Whether it was his non-fiction articles on real life crimes or his novels, Dominick Dunne was one of the best writers of our time. By his own admission, Dunne's coverage of criminal trials was not balanced--he always came down on the side of the victim. It was because of this, however, that he was such a great crime reporter. Dunne would report details of trials often ignored by others. Dunne was a master of observation when it came to the personalities involved in the trials he covered.

Dunne also paid attention to details in his fiction, to the point that his novels read almost as if they could have been real life crimes. Indeed, most of his novels were inspired by real life cases. The Two Mrs. Grenvilles was loosely based on the murder of Billy Woodward in 1955. A Season in Purgatory was based on the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. As in his nonfiction, Dunne's sympathies were with the victims in his novels.

Dominick Dunne was unique among modern writers. He not only wrote novels, but he reported on actual criminal cases. And he did so with a flair and an attention to detail that very few others have ever done. He was well known for his hard work in his career. He would often show up at trials early and often stayed late. Dedicated to his career, Dunne was one of the greatest crime novelists and reporters of our time.

Virginia Davis, Alice in Early Disney Shorts, R.I.P.

Virginia Davis, who worked in Walt Disney's revolutionary series of shorts known as The Alice Comedies, passed on August 15, 2009 at the age of 90.

Virginia Davis was born on December 31, 1918 in Kansas City, Missouri. She had started dancing and acting lessons when she was all of two years old. It was in 1923 that Walt Disney conceived of a series of shorts in which a live action, little girl would react with animated characters in an animated world. Walt Disney found the actress he wanted to play the little girl when he saw an advert for Warneker's Bread in a local cinema. Virginia Davis, then only four years old, was cast as Alice in the first of the series of shorts, "Alice's Wonderland." It would be one of the earliest films to combine live action with animation.

Sadly, "Alice's Wonderland" would not be released theatrically. Disney's Laugh-O-Gram Studio went bankrupt not long after "Alice's Wonderland" had been completed. Disney then moved from Kansas City to Los Angeles, California. He set about pitching his idea for a series of "Alice" shorts to various distributors, showing them "Alice's Wonderland." He had at last found a distributor in Winkler Pictures, ran by Margaret J. Winkler and her fiancé Charles Mintz. Disney then convinced Virginia Davis's family to move from Missouri to California so that she could star in more Alice Comedies.

Davis appeared in the first sixteen Alice Comedies. The series centred on Alice, who would somehow enter a cartoon world through various means (being hit on the head, going to sleep and dreaming, et. al.) at the beginning of each cartoon. Alice would have adventures in various settings, ranging from a Wild West show to Africa. She was also occasionally in danger, sometimes threatened by villains much as heroines in serials of the time were. Eventually Virginia Davis outgrew the role, whereupon she was succeeded by Margie Gay.

After leaving the Alice Comedies, Virginia Davis continued to act both in stage and on film. She appeared in the film The Greater Glory (AKA The Viennese Medley (1926). In the Thirties and Forties she appeared in such films as Three on a Match, Week-End in Havana, and Footlight Serenade. Her last film appearance was in The Harvey Girls. Davis would work for Disney again, working in the studio's ink-and-paint department and even providing uncredited voices for Pinocchio.

Virginia Davis attended the New York School of Interior Design. She worked as an interior decorator and later as decorating editor for Living for Young Homemakers. In the early Sixties she became a real estate agent.

Virginia Davis was Disney's first star pre-dating Mickey Mouse by five years. It was her charm and energy which largely powered the Alice Comedies and made them a success in their day. That success would allow Disney to move onto other projects, including the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit shorts (a character whom Disney would lose to Charles Mintz) and still later the Mickey Mouse shorts. In many respects, then, Walt Disney Productions owed its existence largely to Virginia Davis. Her name does not come up often when discussing child stars of the silent era, but there is every reason it should.