This is an historical epic that fans of accuracy have been a tad miffed about. It starts with the aftermath of The Alamo and General Sam Houston deciding to do tactical withdrawals. We get to meet the main players and they are all based on real historical persons - well mostly – as far as I was able to ascertain. We have Brandon Fraser playing a 'half breed' called Billy Anderson of the Texas Rangers and Ray Liotta putting in a very strong performance as Lorca – who goes Mexican killing mental after El Degüello was played by Santa Anna prior to the over running of the Alamo – meaning that no quarter would be given and indeed none was.
Then we have the political machinations of the 'gung ho' brigade who wanted to avenge their countryman and take on the Mexicans as soon as possible – versus the caution and strategy of Houston. We also have the Comanche's and their position in all of this – ostensibly from the war path loving young bucks. The makers also throw in a fair bit of love interest and plenty of action too. The guns are proper muzzle loaders too so they have tried to be authentic but some commentators have complained of the 'colour' of the speech as being a bit grand for some of these back woods type people. The plot follows all the way up to the final battle and beyond and leads nicely to the second season which is going to be about the Comanche wars.
Now I really enjoyed this but I was not seeing it as being a history lesson. It falls short in places but fine performances all round manage to keep it from being any where near a car crash. The one thing that is truly awful is the location filming; this was done in Mexico and so wildly misrepresents the topography where the conflict actually took place. So if you want a good period romp with a fair smattering of frontier action, then fill your boots, if you want a history lesson then you may want to avoid, and one last mention Kris Kristofferson plays Andrew Jackson albeit fleetingly and the music is quite good too.
Then we have the political machinations of the 'gung ho' brigade who wanted to avenge their countryman and take on the Mexicans as soon as possible – versus the caution and strategy of Houston. We also have the Comanche's and their position in all of this – ostensibly from the war path loving young bucks. The makers also throw in a fair bit of love interest and plenty of action too. The guns are proper muzzle loaders too so they have tried to be authentic but some commentators have complained of the 'colour' of the speech as being a bit grand for some of these back woods type people. The plot follows all the way up to the final battle and beyond and leads nicely to the second season which is going to be about the Comanche wars.
Now I really enjoyed this but I was not seeing it as being a history lesson. It falls short in places but fine performances all round manage to keep it from being any where near a car crash. The one thing that is truly awful is the location filming; this was done in Mexico and so wildly misrepresents the topography where the conflict actually took place. So if you want a good period romp with a fair smattering of frontier action, then fill your boots, if you want a history lesson then you may want to avoid, and one last mention Kris Kristofferson plays Andrew Jackson albeit fleetingly and the music is quite good too.