bkoganbing I will fully admit to prejudice as far as Houston: The Legend Of Texas is concerned. Sam Houston is one of my favorite characters from American history. To do full justice to his life and all the events of it and all history that he was part of would require a mini-series. Maybe someone will do one some fine day.But for now this film will do insofar as the years of 1829 to 1836 are concerned. This is as scrupulously accurate account of Houston's life as we're likely to get being that his years with the Cherokee and his scandalous divorce are concerned. Especially the latter since Eliza Allen destroyed all her correspondence and Houston never spoke publicly of the split between them.Sam Elliott plays Sam Houston and he completely fills my conception of the role. Lean and rangy Elliott has the requisite background and skills to bring the character of Houston to life. The women in his life up to that point are played by Claudia Christian as Eliza Allen and Devon Ericson as Cherokee princess Tiana Rogers.Rogers by the way was of the same family that later gave us Will Rogers, a noted Cherokee himself. She was Houston's common law wife and sad to say he deserted her as he reinvents himself for a political comeback in Texas. Though he was one of the few frontier characters who respected and fought for American Indians, he knew that was a minority opinion. Though he stood up to Andrew Jackson himself on the subject, when Houston went to Texas he never saw Rogers again.Jackson by the way is played by G.D. Spradlin who steps into a place occupied by Lionel Barrymore and Charlton Heston as our screen image of the 7th president. His part is brief, but memorable.Of course the battle of San Jacinto is the highlight of the film, again recreated with scrupulous accuracy. With that the Republic of Texas is secure and Houston is elected its first president. But even after this there is still so much more to the Houston story. Knowing that you wish the film wasn't ending.As for his personal life, it was on a visit to Alabama while Texas was a Republic that Sam Houston met Margaret Lea, a southern belle from a rich plantation family who was a generation and a half younger than him, but whom he married. They had a whole bunch of kids so his personal life was fulfilled eventually. But that was a few years after the action of this film ended.This is a well crafted look at one of our greatest Americans and I highly recommend it for all audiences, for children of all ages, especially if they reside in the Lone Star State.

Robert J. Maxwell Sam Elliot is one tough pecan in this movie. He snarls, shouts, is shot off his horse (twice), and defies all dissenters whether superiors or subordinates. His is the only memorable face or performance. The names of some of the other characters are familiar from other sources -- Bowie, Travis, and Crockett and Deaf (pronounced "deef", as in the peanut butter) Smith -- but the actors are background whether than figures in this inexpensively made film. (Katherine Ross does what amounts to an uncredited cameo.)I can't comment on the historical accuracy of the story but it seemed convincing enough to a complete outsider. Well, not complete. I once saw Sam Houston's signature on the register of an inn in Monterey, now converted to a museum. I also had something of a problem keeping the movement of the various forces straight. When Houston orders a certain bridge to be "cut down" I only know that this will hinder any possible retreat of his own men because one of his staff tells him so. I don't know where the bridge is, or where Santa Ana is in relation to it.But I suspect the battle scenes are at least as realistic as in John Wayne's "Alamo." In the Wayne movie all of the usual conventions of the old-fashioned Western are adhered to. (One of our men can kill five of theirs, etc.) Here, at least, the viewer learns what scholars have known for years from diaries kept by ordinary Mexican soldiers that happened to surface after the battles. Not all the Texicans fought to the last man at the Alamo. Some surrendered and were executed, including possibly Davey Crockett. And the wounded were bayoneted to death by the victorious Mexicans. It was a hard war. Early on, when one of Houston's staff reveals that he paroled several hundred Mexican soldiers with a promise never to fight against Texans again (it was a common practice at the time), Houston chews him out and declares they'll be back again behind Santa Ana. We presume that what Houston is saying is that the Mexican prisoners should have been executed. At the final battle of San Jacincto, Houston's forces defeat Santa Ana's and take hundreds of prisoners, but we see plenty more fleeing Mexicans being deliberately shot and bayoneted, including an unarmed teen-aged drummer boy. As Robert E. Lee was supposed to have said at Frederickburg, a quarter of a century later, it is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we might come to love it. Fewer John Wayne's dying heroic deaths and more harmless teen-agers deliberately executed might remind us a bit more accurately of what war was (and is) all about.

frankfob Cheesy, badly done TV movie shot on the cheap about Sam Houston. Listlessly acted--except by Sam Elliott in the title role, whose performance consists mostly of shouting at the top of his lungs--sloppily written, wretchedly directed, cheap-looking junk has no atmosphere, no sense of history, no suspense, no drama, no nothing. The action scenes, especially the battle of San Jacinto, are clumsily set up and badly shot. The supporting cast has a few well known character actors, such as Bo Hopkins and Ned Romero, but consists mostly of unknowns, and judging by their performances here, they should stay unknowns. The 1939 Richard Dix film "Man of Conquest," also about Houston and the battle of San Jacinto, is vastly more entertaining and professionally done. If you want to watch a film about Sam Houston, check out that one and leave this one to gather dust on the shelf, where it belongs.

12Charlie Just saw it again last night on t.v. This is a fantastic film. Very well done by all involved. Then again, how can one not like a Sam Elliott western? he is one of the best western stars we have and we need to get him back in the saddle again to churn out some more.