Alamo Bay

I lived in the Rockport-Fulton area, where parts of the movie was filmed, most of my life. I remember when the Vietnamese people began moving into the area, and the problems they had with some of the local citizens. This movie was pretty accurate about the feelings of some of the shrimpers, I am sorry to say. Ed Harris did a wonderful job of portraying the racist shrimper. He reminds me of a few people I knew in the area. Amy Madigan was also great portraying his former girlfriend. She had some tough decisions to make. This is a good movie with interesting characters and great acting. I think that the relationship between some of the Texas shrimpers and the Vietnamese shrimpers is portrayed pretty realistically.

This story of attacks on Vietnamese immigrants on the Texas coast was loosely based on real events from 1979-81. Shang Pierce (Ed Harris) is a Vietnam vet who hates all non-white people and gets particularly riled when Southeast Asian immigrants begin arriving in his town, and especially when one of them develops a relationship with his girlfriend, Glory (Amy Madigan). The situation gets tenser and tenser as the movie progresses.

Maybe "Alamo Bay" is not the greatest movie ever, but it certainly shows a part of Texas history (and indeed, US history) that unfortunately seems forgotten. Ed Harris looks like a typical redneck, with a short, wispy beard. It is the sort of movie that you should check out if you get a chance.

A French director telling the USA how screwed up their country is. It's always directors from outside who see more of the human damage on the USA citizens, like Wender's did in PARIS,TEXAS. But this film is uninvolving and not enough punch. Maybe I've been watching too many Oliver Stone movies. Only the brilliant acting saves it.

I really enjoy this movie. I am normally a Horror buff, but there is a great ambiance of the Texas Gulf created. Not to mention wonderful character development. The story is about a young Vietnamese man (Ho Nguyen) who comes to Texas after the war for work. He ends up hitching a ride and begins work shrimping on the Gulf Coast of Texas. He is taken in by the Shrimp business owner's daughter (Amy Madigan). Everything is going well until the pressures of the immigrants over fishing drives Shang (Ed Harris) to lead the Ku Klux Klan to drive out the Vietnamese. The drama continues in a very REAL display. You will be able to find a VHS copy on Amazon or Ebay. This movie SHOULD be released on DVD.

Notice the stereotypes this movie presents: Vietnamese as courteous, hardworking, church going honorable people. Vietnamese war vets: racist, womanizing drunks. This is one of many films that utterly demonizes Vietnam vets. Madigans character so admires the Vietnamese leader that she declares: "You have to be the last cowboy in Texas".

If you watch most Vietnam war flicks vets are usually (take your pick or all of the below) criminals, drug users or dealers, perverts, rapists, psychologically unbalance, racists. Yet statistics show that VV's are no more prone to this than the rest of the general population. Do not watch this crap.