Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2004: Billy Bob Thornton in The Alamo

Billy Bob Thornton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Davy Crockett in The Alamo.

The Alamo seems like there is a good film trying to get out, which is supported by the production history where it sounds like earlier versions wanted a more complex and complete version of the history, that is sadly kept prisoner by the extremely standard mostly “print the legend” approach. 

The most substantial element of that version lies within Davy Crockett and Billy Bob Thornton’s portrayal of the character. As what Thornton and the film do, it very specifically seeks to break down the notions of the legend Davy as the “king of the wild frontier” and deal with him on more human terms. We are introduced to Davy as the politician and living legend where he’s literally at a function where someone is performing his “life story” for him. Thornton’s quite effective in managing to balance a combination of the politician taking the points with a certain smiling graciousness, yet within that smile denotes someone not entirely comfortable with the nature of the situation. After Davy loses his political seat he ends up going to Texas and joining forces at the Alamo, and honestly is a pivotal scene for Thornton’s whole performance as Davy twofold. One in his saying he got kicked out of the congress so might as well go to Texas, Thornton delivers that line very much like he’s running his PR campaign. It isn’t with the pride of a man trying to fight for freedom but entirely a man looking for some avenue to continue his career. Adding on top of that the moment where he is told that the full Mexican army is heading towards the Alamo, Thornton’s reaction and delivering of having thought there wasn’t much fighting, is with a glint of genuine fear and more than a bit of disbelief as we see guy potentially looking to score some political points now in the middle of a genuine war. 

Within the scheme of the film Thornton is consistently the most interesting aspect throughout the film as he creates a real complexity in the story of Davy within the scheme of the Alamo. Thornton does play the part as the “hero” rather what he manages to do is create a lot of different fascinating shades to the idea of the folk legend. Where Thornton is quite remarkable in finding moments of trying to live up to the name while also at others admitting to being far less than what is expected of him. You have the moments where people do speak of the legend of Davy, and I love the moment actually where Davy takes a pot shot at a Mexican soldier, where Thornton’s whole manner suddenly is very much playing the part of the legend briefly as a sort of morale boost to everyone around him, even playing off the near miss of the shot as having got caught in the wind with this certain not entirely false, but not entirely true confidence of someone doing his job of playing the part, while not entirely living up to the part. Contrasting that is when he speaks to Jim Bowie (Jason Patric), another man of legend whose stories apparently are true, unlike most of Davy’s. Thornton brings such a naturalistic realization of the slight embarrassment at needing to admit that he’s far from his legend particularly noting his lack of a Coonskin hat with a bit quiet humor, where he manages to hit the right note of sincerity of someone kind of caught in the middle of an idea he is partially responsible for but also is not. Thornton manages to find a nuance in it, not being someone who denies it, not being someone who lies about it either, finding the struggle to deal with the notion but not wanting to entirely destroy it either. 

Within the buildup towards the battle Thornton does the most out of any performer to add some genuine gravity to every moment and creates a journey which can follow with Davy in dealing with the challenges of the situation. Once more not choosing a single approach so easily, such as when after an initial skirmish Davy suggests burning down some buildings to prevent the Mexicans from using them as cover. Thornton's initial delivery is very much as the nonchalant hero as he notes he wanted to stretch his legs anyways. When actually in the action though Thornton does keep a sense of real urgency if not fear as he has to take on Mexican soldiers and even kills one. A moment where Thornton is great is the moment of shooting the man and his eyes realize the very real weight of killing a man in the moment. Following it with his particularly powerful delivery of asking what the man’s name was before the man dies, Thornton captures such a potent sense of real humanity within the moment that does not make it all a simple “killing the enemy” moment. Similarly we have a key moment when asked about his past exploits, and Thornton’s reactions are a combination of a certain humility though combined with a certain fear and even an understanding of his limits as a soldier. Thornton finding a poignancy in underplaying his exploits and more so emphasizing that his previous duties weren’t exactly of a great warrior. All except his speaking on a time where he was part of a raiding party where they killed natives in fire and the grease from the dead men cooked potatoes that their squad prepared to eat. Thornton’s quite effective because as he begins the story it is of the wise man sharing accomplishments however as it continues in each step there is a haunting shame that forms in his eyes and that even in his most unusual story it isn’t one of any kind of triumph. 

Thornton during the battle and build up scenes, really just brings a much needed weight in every moment, from even just trying to ease tensions by playing the violin, to later every single reactionary moment through the battle where you can feel every moment of loss most through him. Leading eventually to his final scene where I think you do see the most weakness of the film get in the way, as the more human idea of Crockett is pushed aside for his hero moment as he unleashes his disgust against General Santa Anna rather than ask for mercy. There was probably a way to reach this point, where we see Davy purposefully play up the notion of being the “legend” that could’ve been better realized, however I wouldn’t say on a writing side entirely builds up to it perfectly. Having said that, I think Thornton does more than an admirable job of not overplaying the moment, finding the needed venom in his delivery, the disdain in his eyes, and his “what the hell” moment of accepting his demise to make it work as well as he can. And while in a way I think it is his least interesting scene, as he more so becomes part of the rest of the film so to speak, he in no way gives a bad performance in the scene. Thornton’s work and the character of Crockett however is a testament to the potential of the film, because he does offer a complex and more subtle depiction of the historical figure. Given how good Thornton is here working with the imperfect material, I would say if the film had maybe stuck closer to these ideas, we might’ve had a truly great historical epic and I think Thornton could’ve gone even further in the role. Having said that, even existing in a flawed film, Thornton does his best to elevate what he has and is by the far the most worthwhile element of the film.