This film begins in 1836 where two convicts by the names of "Hugh Allison" (Kris Kristofferson) and "Son Holland" (Scott Bairstow) are forced to work on a chain gang in the Louisiana swamps. To add to their misery the prison is run by two French brothers named "Alcide Landry" (Tom Schuster) and "Emile Landry" (Victor Rivers) who are extremely sadistic and have made life especially difficult for Son Holland who constantly questions their authority. As luck would have it, an accident occurs one day which allows both Hugh and Son to escape but in doing so Hugh kills Alcide Landry which results in Emile organizing a manhunt to exact his revenge. So with no other alternative both Hugh and Son head out to join "Sam Houston" (Tom Skerritt) in Texas to fight for independence against "Santa Anna" (Marco Rodriguez) and his Mexican army. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that, while this was an entertaining movie for the most part, it totally lacked historical accuracy. For starters, although "Jim Bowie" (played by Peter Coyote) did in fact fight and die in the Alamo, his body was burned immediately after the battle. In addition to that, "Susannah Dickinson" (Karey Green) was magnanimously given safe transport by General Santa Anna and not left to fend for herself as depicted here. As far as the characters in the film were concerned, while I typically like the acting of Tom Skerritt, I have to admit that this was not one of his better performances. Be that as it may, in spite of these flaws the movie was sufficient for the time spent and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.
