The Alamo Page #6

...trying to take a wall

that can be demolished?

General Castrillon...

What are the lives of soldiers...

...but so many chickens?

And if they surrender?

They are pirates...

...not soldiers.

Take no prisoners.

There are rules governing -

I am governing!

And you, sir, understand...

...nothing of the difficulties that entails!

My mission...

...is to preserve the integrity

of the national territory.

Did we gain our independence only

to have our land stolen by bandits?

It stops here!

It must stop here!

If it does not, our grandchildren...

...and their grandchildren...

...will suffer the disgrace of begging for

crumbs from the Americans.

Without blood...

...without tears...

...there is no glory.

Agh!

! Viva Santa Anna!

! Viva Santa Anna!

Joe!

(Mexican soldiers yelling)

! Fuego!

(yelling)

Faster, Joe, faster.

(yelling)

Ready? Fire!

The line gun! Fire!

Reload!

Shots... fire!

Keep it comin'.

Plug 'em, boys, plug 'em!

Pass me up a rifle.

Ready? Fire!

Fire!

(soldier)! Ayudeme!! Ayudeme!

(soldier yelling in Spanish)

Fire!

Fire!

(shouts orders in Spanish)

! Fuego!

! Fuego!

Keep 'em off the walls!

Keep it comin'.

Fall back!

(men yelling)

(explosions)

Soy negro. No disparo.

(gunshot/man screams)

Soy negro. No disparo.

Soy negro. No disparo.

(man) Fire, boys! Fire!

Susanna!

(shouting in Spanish)

! Viva Mexico!

They're over the wall! Turn it around!

Fire!

! Viva Mexico!

! Viva Santa Anna!

(Alamo soldiers screaming)

Behind us!

(soldier) They're behind us, boys!

They're behind us!

- Kill as many as you can!

- Kill them! Kill them!

(Susanna screams and sobs)

Get down! Get down.

(groaning)

Micajah.

They've killed me, David. I...

I'm real sorry about all this.

(footsteps approaching)

(yelling)

(Mexican soldiers shouting)

If you wish to beg for your life...

...this would be the proper time.

Expliquele.

(translator) Throw yourself

on the mercy of His Excellency,

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Are you San-tanna?

I thought he'd be taller.

(whispers) Davy Crockett.

You tell the general

that I'm willing to discuss

the terms of surrender.

You tell him,

if he'll tell his men to lay their weapons

down and assemble peacefully,

I promise to take you all

to General Houston,

and I'll try my best

to save most of your lives.

That said, Sam's a might prickly.

So no promises.

Tell him.

Tell him!

Excelencia...

He says we should surrender.

Excelencia!

I beg you to spare his life.

I wanna warn you all...

I'm a screamer.

Aaarghhh!

(soldier) Burn it all!

(soldier #2) Burn this barn!

(soldier #3) Burn it down.

Don't leave nothin' for the Mexicans.

Move, move, move!

Houston is running for help.

We must move quickly to cut him off.

We are here.

Coronel Morales...

Take 1000 soldiers...

...and sweep south.

General Gaona...

Take 800 men and sweep north.

I will join you with 700 men.

Is it wise to separate our forces?

It's time to finish our task.

How far east do we have to run

before we're safe?

You keep retreating, we have to, too.

Gimme one good reason why

we don't just dig in right here and fight.

"Sir, the enemy are laughing you to scorn."

"You must fight them.

You must retreat no further."

"The country expects you to fight."

"The salvation of the country

depends on your doing so."

"Signed, David G Burnet, President."

Leave it.

Move on.

Keep advancing.

The man's spineless. How far do we intend

to follow this traitor away from battle?

It's time to fight, boys.

(Houston) Break camp.

We continue east.

They massacred our brothers,

and we're runnin'?

They have to pay.

If not now, you tell me when.

Break camp!

(man) Let's go.

(men shouting)

(Seguin) Sam, if we keep running,

you will lose your army.

20-odd years ago,

Napoleon returns from exile in Elba,

puts together an army

and moves east, swiftly,

before an alliance of nations can occur.

Wellington,

with fewer men, fewer armaments,

stays one step ahead of the French,

teasing them with his presence,

knowing that a large army

will have to splinter to keep up.

He moves and waits,

moves and waits

for Napoleon to make a mistake,

to fall into a scenario

that condemns him to defeat.

Wellington chooses the setting for victory

before it exists for him,

before he lays eyes on it.

It has an open battleground,

a sloping plain,

cover for encampment,

and an opportunity to flank the enemy.

The Mexican army is splintered,

and though they do not know it,

Santa Anna's troops

subsist on gasps of air and sips of hope.

I share Wellington's battleground vision,

though I do not know

the name of the place that I imagine.

I, sir, do not consider myself Wellington.

Santa Anna, however, does consider

himself to be the Napoleon of the West.

We shall move and wait

until he makes a mistake

and presents us with his own Waterloo.

(distant shouting of orders in Spanish)

Stay back, everybody. Stay back.

(Seguin) Bring him here.

Water!

Tranquilo. Tranquilo.

Water!

Escucha. Escucha.

Deaf captured a Mexican courier.

His letters tell us that Santa Anna's nearby

and separated from the rest of his army.

General...

We have reports of troop movement.

Houston is less than two miles away.

We will break camp

and chase the coward.

He's not running...

...he's on his way here.

(faint voices)

Left! Left, march!

Attention!

Back to back. Stay sharp.

(man) Bayonets!

Ready!

March!

March!

Do you have a name?

There is a bridge behind the Mexican line.

Send Deaf Smith and his men to burn it.

Captain Seguin.

You and your men shall guard the camp.

There could be confusion out there.

Men shooting any Mexican they see.

General, you ordered me to stay,

and I stayed.

But this is our fight, too.

You shall join Sherman on the left flank.

(man) Two blades per man!

Place these cards in your hats

so there is no confusion.

(man) Company, shoulder arms!

You will remember this battle,

remember each minute of it,

each second,

till the day that you die.

But that is for tomorrow, gentlemen!

For today,

remember the Alamo!

The hour is at hand!

(men cheering)

Form ranks!

Battalion, halt!

Fire!

Fire!

March!

Remember the Alamo!

Forward guns! Fight!

(soldier) Remember the Alamo!

! A la batalla, tejanos!

(man) Dig the plot, boys.

Kill them all!

(all shouting)

Santa Anna's army

was defeated in eighteen minutes.

- Let's kill him and be done with it.

- (men) Yeah!

I say we hang him from this very tree.

(men) Yeah! Hang him!

(man) Hang him!

No.

You'll settle for blood.

I want Texas.

In exchange for his life, Santa Anna

signed over all Mexican rights to Texas.

Juan Seguin kept his promise

to return to the Alamo.

He buried the remains

of his fellow defenders in San Antonio,

where they rest today.

(# Crockett's accompaniment

to "Degello")

Nine years after the fall of the Alamo,

Texas became the 28th state

of the United States.

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