Behind the scenes of "Alamo: The Price of Freedom"

This was a difficulty that was faced by the crew of the IMAX version of the Alamo. WHAT?? You’ve never heard of this version?! Well sit back, boys and girls, because it’s time you learned about “Alamo:The Price of Freedom.”

In the Summer of 1988, I received a call from the location manager to the IMAX film (sponsored and paid for by Pace’s Picante Sauce and Luby’s Cafeteria). It seems that the crew was in desperate need of A.D.’s and my name came up (I had just finished Nadine (a great shoot) and Johnny Be Good (almost as bad as Chainsaw Massacre II - but that’s another story), so I packed my kit and headed down to Shahan’s Ranch in the cosmopolitan city of Bracketville, Texas - the last home of the famous Buffalo Soldiers. There I came upon the strangest situation in my film career - principle photography started in 4 days.

I had a little less than 96 hours to know the script, do the boards, hold the mandatory meetings and get everything approved by the director, Keith Merril (who is probably one of, if not the best, IMAX directors in existence). Fortunately, the crew was probably the best crew I had ever worked with and the cast was beyond belief. 700 reenactors were to play the parts of the Texians, Santa Anna’s Army and the local population of San Antonio de Bexar. On top of all of this, this was the first IMAX theatrical film ever done. And remember, because Mr. Wayne’s compass was out of whack, we had to shoot dawn for dusk and dusk for dawn to make sure the shadows were in the right place. We had six weeks to shoot the whole story and we did it.

Now IMAX is known for documentaries and travelogues. Here we were trying to tell a story with actors playing parts(and stay as historically accurate as possible). One major difficulty is that in regular movie making, you cover flaws with close-ups. Say an extra throws up in the scene (and it’s not in the script). You cover that part of the master shot with a close up of the protagonist or antagonist talking, or looking, or something. Well, a close up in IMAX is a frightening thing. Your pores are about 8 inches across and your teeth could be up to twenty feet long. Shooting in IMAX is a lot like proscenium staging. Everything counts, including the background, and you can’t go back for a cover shot. And here is where those reenactors shined.

I can’t heap enough praise on these men and women. They arrived with their (very authentic) costumes, weapons (including cannon), horses, gunpowder and tents. Yes, tents. They decided to treat this as an actual reenactment and lived in their tents in the boiling hot Southern Texan desert. It was an amazing site. I remember walking the set at dawn one day (prepping for a dusk shot). The Sun was still below the horizon and I could barely make out the tents and a few small fires left burning during the night when I heard bagpipes. That will throw shivers down your spine (or at least it did mine). One of the reenactors was waking the “troops” with bagpipes.

Casey Biggs played Travis. He became so choked up during his “cross this line” speech that we had to restart a number of times. Steve Sandor (Jim Bowie) found out that Bowie was dying from consumption and for the whole shoot, I thought the man (Sandor) was going to fall over and die on us. He didn’t even need the make up. Enrique Sandino (Santa Anna) was the ultimate cold-hearted general. Davy Crockett was played by Merril Connaly (John Connaly’s brother) and Don Swayze played James Bonham (yes, Patrick’s brother).

One of the problems an A.D.(Assistant Director) faces in shoots with large casts of extras is getting them into position for the next shot, especially when there are 700 of them. These reenactors would line up in formation and march to their next position. They were so good that they would get there before the camera arrived - and the camera was usually docked on a Chapman Crane. Many of these reenactors went on to perform in the movie “Glory.” I would work with them any day.

There were so many great memories with this film, the invasion of the crickets that literally blocked our “moon” (a set of HMI’s in a cloth cage hung on a crane), the attack of the B-52 bomber that stopped Santa Anna in his tracks, the “Alamo Wing” at the Del Rio hospital and “Skin” and “Bones” the hillbillies from the Adirondacks and their rattlesnake soup. As is probably evident from my writing, I loved working on this film. It was like I had imagined it to be when I was in film school up in Austin. The camaraderie, the spirit, the love of the story were all there. It definitely was not like a “Hollywood” film, where you spend a lot of time covering your butt and trying to avoid being shot at.

If you haven’t seen “Alamo:The Price of Freedom,” you have missed a lot. The power of Santa Anna, the dedication of the Texians (and this word includes the “pro-independence” Tejanos), and the horror of war are all strongly addressed in this film. I was so lucky to get the chance to work with these people and to this day, this film had remained the one of the high points of my life. It plays 8 times a day at the Alamo Auditorium in the Rivercenter in San Antonio. A 3d version will be released this September and I, for one, will be there.

Sjon Ueckert was the A.D. on Alamo:The Price of Freedom. Formerly a serviceman in Vietnam and a film commissioner for the state of New Mexico, Sjon currently wears many hats. He is a self-employed musician, a film scout, a location manager for feature films, and a freelance filmmaker.

The discussion continues at The Alamo Site Forums...