The Alamo (1960 film) of the former Alamo Mission. The set was an extensive three quarter-scale replica of the mission, and has since been used in 100 other westerns, including other depictions of the battle. It took more than two years to construct. Wayne was to have portrayed Sam Houston, a bit part that would have let him focus on his first major directing effort, but investors insisted he play a leading character. He took on the role of Davy Crockett, handing the part of Houston to Richard Boone. Wayne cast Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie and Laurence Harvey as William Barrett Travis. Harvey
Legacy of the Battle of the Alamo covering the battle was not published until 1948, when John Myers Myers' "The Alamo" was released. Since then, a litany of books have followed, most notably Walter Lord's seminal work in 1961, "A Time to Stand". As the 19th century progressed, the battle began to appear as a plot device in many novels and plays. In 1869, novelists Jeremiah Clemens and Bernard Lile wrote fictionalized accounts of the battle. Novelist Amelia Barr produced her own fictional version, "Remember the Alamo", in 1888. In her book, "Alamo Images", Susan Pendergrast Schoelwer noted that in these early novels "the Alamo passages seem