I went to a late showing of Matchstick Men yesterday. I should have asked my brother to come along, but I figured he'd probably prefer to go to something a little more fun. Plus it was late.
Anyway, the first thing that hit me was not the movie, but a preview for The Alamo. Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett. Uh…
Well, my first reaction was shock. “Wasn't that during the Mexican-American War? Hasn't history determined that we basically got into that war for all of the wrong reasons?” The theater was absolutely silent after the preview finished, so I figure I wasn't the only person thinking that.
However, now that I research things a bit, it turns out that my thinking was pretty much all wrong. The Alamo happened in 1836, ten years before the Mexican-American War. A year earlier, Texas had declared its independence from Mexico, forming the short-lived Republic of Texas. That country(!) was still involved in the Texas Revolution at the time of the Alamo siege.
But, back to the movie I actually saw, I thought Matchstick Men was pretty good, though a bit mind-bending toward the end. At the end of the movie, they skip forward in time and Alison Lohman (who played the 14 year old daughter) gets very dolled-up. Needless to say, I was glad to see that in real life, she's 23 (and will turn 24 this week).
Posted by mike at September 14, 2003 10:11 AM | Movies , War | TrackBack