John Wayne Fading Away

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2014 In this Dec. 4, 2014 photo, a replica of the Alamo built for John Wayne’s 1960 movie “The Alamo,” is framed by arches at the movie set in Brackettville, Texas. Time and Mother Nature are threatening to dismantle the Alamo. Not the original, but the replica 18th Century Spanish mission and Old West movie set Wayne built for his Oscar- nominated movie and that for decades was a tourist mecca and film production site. (Right) A restroom fashioned to blend with the set built for John Wayne’s 1960 movie “The Alamo” is grown over by weeds in Brackettville, Texas. — AP photos Texas movie set used by John Wayne fading away ime and Mother Nature are threatening to dismantle the Alamo. Not the original, but Tthe replica 18th-century Spanish mission and Old West movie set John Wayne built for his Oscar- nominated 1960 movie and that for decades was a tourist mecca and film production site. “It’s not just something that represents history to a movie set - it is now history for sure,” says Rich Curilla, the one-man curator and custodian of the now-closed Alamo Village. Alamo Village, a 400- acre plot of land about 120 miles west of San Antonio, was carved out of a large ranch in the late 1950s for Wayne’s directorial debut. Starring Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Wayne as Davy Crockett, “The Alamo” had an estimated $12 million budget, huge for its time. The 4-foot-thick Alamo facade was modeled off a 1936 map of the historic building - drawn up for the Texas centennial that year - and set construc- tion took nearly two years. Unlike the real Alamo, which is dwarfed by taller buildings in the heart of San Antonio, the view from Wayne’s Alamo offered a panorama of iconic Texas and Western images. “To Hollywood, a movie set is just a means to an end,” said Curilla, a film and Alamo historian who spent his summers in college during the late 1960s at the site and began working there full-time in 1988. “I think Wayne was cognizant of building a Rich Curilla walks past a replica of the San Fernando Cathedral, built for John Wayne’s 1960 movie “The Alamo,” in Brackettville, Texas. — AP monument and not just a movie set.” In its heyday, primarily is used for cattle grazing and hunting. In Wayne’s Alamo hosted Jimmy Stewart, Dean recent years, a large crack has developed on the Martin, Raquel Welch and even Willie Nelson. It’s front of the Alamo facade. A tree grows inside. where James Arness reprised his famous Matt Other walls and structures that have been replaced Dillon role in a “Gunsmoke” TV movie. or redone are failing. In all, nearly 40 major film and TV productions, At the main entrance to the ranch, only an plus hundreds of commercials, documentaries and abandoned ticket booth and a weathered sign music videos were shot at Alamo Village. And musi- telling visitors they’re entering the world’s largest cal shows, comedy skits and staged gunfights drew outdoor movie set hint at its storied past. hundreds of tourists daily. “It was magical,” said “The weather and elements are taking a toll on Penny Loewen, who was 18 in 1979 when she it,” Texas Film Commission Director Heather Page arrived from tiny St. Francisville, Illinois. She stayed said. “I think it would be disappointing to lose for three years, getting paid $350 a month to sing something like that.” and perform six days a week, 11 hours a day. Corpus Christi businessman David Jones, 74, “We would do just about anything,” the 55- envisions saving Alamo Village as a Texas version year-old retired Nashville songwriter who of Old Tucson, a thriving Old West theme park in remained involved with movie productions for 20 southern Arizona. Jones, who describes himself as years said. “That was the most fun I ever had in my a lifelong friend of the former owners, says he’s life.” Business at Alamo Village began to wane in close to raising the $8 million he believes is neces- the 1980s when traffic along the main east-west sary to buy the property and ready it for visitors. route through South Texas shifted north with com- The remote location won’t be a deterrent, Jones pletion of Interstate 10. It closed to the public after says, noting that Big Bend National Park, some 200 the last remaining owner died in 2009 and the miles to the west, typically draws more than Part of the set for John Wayne’s 1960 movie “The Alamo” still stands in Brackettville, property was divided among heirs. The land now 300,000 visitors a year. —AP Texas. — AP.

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