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Being Canadian, I don't know a helluva lot about The Alamo. I've always heard about it in passing - but never in detail. And frankly, I never bothered to look into the history. Similarly with Davy Crockett. I heard about him - but that's about it. So, I guess in a way I was almost looking forward to seeing The Alamo - if only to put these people and events in some sort of perspective.

The Alamo is the story of the people who sacrificed their lives in the name of freedom to save a small Texas fort (The Alamo) when it was under seige by an army of Mexicans. Among those who fought were two American legends whose names would only be further cemented in American lore for their participation. They include David Crockett (Billy Bob Thornton) and James Bowie (Jason Patric). There was also a guy named William Travis (Patrick Wilson) who I never heard of before - the man or the actor. So, these guys are trapped in their fort, surrounded by an army of Mexicans and there is no hope for survival. And a legend is born.

I won't go into any more detail. I guess a big percent of the population knows what happens (or what doesn't happen) but for those who don't I won't spoil it. I will say, however, that the movie was okay. It was certainly a lot better than I was initially led to believe based on critics reviews and the movie's poor performance at the box office.

For special features, this DVD offers a variety of extras that help understand the making of The Alamo including three decent featurettes. The first, titled "Return of the Legend: The Making of the Alamo" is your standard behind-the-scenes feature. It includes looks at the set, the costumes and props, the re-enactors and wranglers, firepower and the cameras. Running roughly 18 minutes, it's a brief, but informative look at how much work went into accurately realizing the legend. The second featurette, "Deep in the Heart of Texans" looks at not only the importance of filming in Texas, but the important role of the people in the movie originally from Texas, from director John Lee Hancock and actors such as Dennis Quaid and pretty much all of the extras/re-enactors from the film. The final featurette, titled "Walking in the Footsteps of Heroes" looks at historical facts relating to the major characters in the movie. The disc's special features also include five deleted scenes (with optional commentary) that mostly deal with Santa Ana (the Mexican leader).

Finally (and not advertised on the DVDs packaging) we get an audio commentary from by historians Alan Huffines and Stephen Hardin, both of whom served as consultants on the film. I have to give high grades here. If I had one complaint about the movie, it would be that it did not provide enough historical context. The audio commentary provided that, and in an interesting fashion. Who'd have thought a couple of historians could be so entertaining? It was also interesting to hear them point out historical innaccuracies in the film that were made for the sake of making the film more entertaining.

As I mentioned, I didn't really know a lot about The Alamo. And to tell the truth, the movie didn't really help. It was more an action piece than a historical drama - which is what I really wanted and expected. As an action peice, the movie is great, but for historical value, it is lacking. Thankfully, the DVD features provide that historical punch, highlighted by a truly interesting audio commentary.