Thanks to the efforts of John Wayne and the legend of Davy Crockett, many are familiar with the bare facts of the Alamo - how, in 1836, a handful of Texans mounted a suicidal defence of a former mission against the Mexican army. It's a crucial episode in US history and part of the national psyche, but it would be hard to divine exactly why from this lengthy account. Heavy on character and light on exposition, this reduces events to a mass of buckskin fringes and big knives. The big-name cast is a draw, with Dennis Quaid effective as the oft-sozzled General Sam Houston (who would go on to avenge the Alamo, defeating the Mexican commander Santa Anna and securing the independence of Texas) and Billy Bob Thornton charming as backwoods hero Crockett. Without the political and historical context, however, this is simply a story of apparently misguided courage in the face of adversity.

Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.