John Wayne _ The Man Behind the Myth - Michael Munn [112]
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“I said to Duke, ‘If you shoot in Cinerama, you’re going to have to also shoot a version in CinemaScope,’ because only a few theatres in the world were equipped to show Cinerama. So you’d have to make a second version of the film shot in CinemaScope for general release, and then you had a film shot from a slightly different angle, and it would have the distortions, and, oh . . . I just had to talk him out of it.
“I said to Duke, ‘Look, Michael Todd created Todd-AO as his version of Cinerama.’ Todd-AO was meant to be a single-camera version of Cinerama, shot on 70mm film and intended to be shown on a big curved screen. Like Cinerama, the problem was that there were not enough theatres equipped with a big curved screen. But there were a lot of premier theatres with 70mm projectors, a big screen, and stereophonic sound, and any of them could show the film. Further, the 70mm negative could easily be transferred into ordinary 35mm anamorphic, or CinemaScope, prints. So we shot it in Todd-AO, and it was breathtaking. And thank God, Panavision refined the anamorphic process, so we didn’t lose quality when it was transferred to 35mm.”
Production costs quickly soared, with thousands of uniforms to be made, props to create, sets to build, and temporary housing erected for not only the principal actors and the supporting actors, but also for the two thousand extras. Before Wayne was able to roll a single foot of film, the United Artists money ran out.
Determined not to cut his losses and see his dream dissolve into a financial fiasco, he mortgaged everything he had—his house, Batjac, all the family cars, anything and everything of value, announcing, “I have everything I own in this picture, except my necktie.”
His desperate actions to keep the production solvent included persuading a consortium of Texas investors, which included wheeler-dealer Clint Murchison who would soon own the Dallas Cowboys, to invest in the film. The final cost of making The Alamo would come to $12 million.
Before principal photography began, Wayne decided to use the two thousand extras he had there to play the Mexican soldiers, and he filmed some of the opening shots of the final battle as the 21184_ch01.qxd 12/18/03 1:43 PM Page 210
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Mexicans begin to advance. Duke recalled, “For the beginning of the battle, when the Mexican army begins their advance, we had two thousand men who all had to begin moving at the same time, and to get it on film Bill Clothier had five Todd-AO cameras set up. He and I went to each camera to check the blocking of each shot, and we’d go over the fine details to make sure every cameraman knew what to do. He stayed in contact with each cameraman by walkie-talkie. I had various assistants among the extras to make sure their movements would be coordinated. It was like a military operation.
Then when I gave the cue, the cameras all began rolling and the extras began their advance. It was the most awesome sight.”
Finally, principal photography began in September 1959. Ken Curtis remembered, “Duke had a priest come on the set of the first day of filming to bless the production. I’m not sure why Duke decided to do that. I guess he felt making The Alamo was his kind of divine mission, and he might just as well get the good Lord on his side from the outset. It was actually an impressive moment when the priest said his prayer. If it were anyone but Duke, I would have said the prayer was a gimmick. But you didn’t get gimmicks with Duke—
especially not when it involved God.”
Filming began with everyone in high spirits. The cast, crew, and extras lived largely on thick Texas steak. Wayne told the press, “I hope that seeing the battle of the Alamo will remind Americans that liberty and freedom don’t come cheap. I hope our children will get a sense of our glorious past, and appreciate the struggle our ancestors made for the precious freedom we now