Two for Texas

The pacing of this thing is pretty languid, but by-and-large, it's an entertaining history lesson. The action -- particularly the final battle scene -- is a pleasant surprise.

CONS: A few shenanigans with the historical facts, but nothing too glaring. Some suspicious time compression at the Alamo. (And Bowie's knife wasn't looted? Hmm...) Oh, and I think Tom Skerrit, although talented, was a questionable choice for the mythic (and 6'6") Sam Houston.

PROS: The rest of the cast -- the two principals were thoroughly believable. ACTUAL Texas shooting locales. Practical ("real") SFX: when a cannonball takes out a tree, it's a real tree taken apart by real explosives. And best of all, Irene Bedard in her physical prime.

While "Two for Texas" is more "outdoorsy" and more "1830's" than the usual TV movie, it still suffers from that form's limitations. It seems a bit tame and tepid and lacks the sweep and energy needed to elevate it above the routine. However, most aspects of the production are competently done and a couple are excuses are found to have Scott Bairstow bare his chest so there are some visual rewards to be found along the way.

To the average viewer, Two for Texas is an entertaining movie, but for those who know Texas history, it is a disappointing attempt at a docudrama. It does not accurately depict the facts and events of the Texas Revolution (aka, Texas War of Independence). Several of the historical events have been either modified or depicted out of sequence in an effort to enhance the story, but instead, leave one with a false impression of how things actually transpired. It was disturbing to me to watch this flagrantly flawed film that could have depicted events more accurately had the writers, producers, and directors cared enough to produce an accurate accounting of historical events.

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.

Kris Kristofferson and Scott Bairstow play a pair of escaped convicts from a Louisiana chain gang in Two For Texas. When an unexpected chance at escape comes they take it and in the process walk into history in 1836.

These two with a Tawanka Indian woman who was a prisoner of some Choctaws played by Irene Bedard where Kristofferson and Bairstow take refuge after their escape go to Texas because of Sam Houston's promise of 640 acres to those who will fight for Texas freedom. As it turns out Kristofferson knows one of Texas's most prominent freedom fighters, Jim Bowie who is played by Peter Coyote.

This is hardly a historical docudrama, it's a historical novel. But Kristofferson, Bairstow and the rest of the cast do graphically portray genuine frontier characters. Tom Skerritt gives a nice portrayal of Sam Houston one of my favorite historical characters.

Western fans should like this one.