James A. Michener's Texas (also called Texas) is a 1994 ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 television movie directed by Richard Lang and starring Patrick Duffy

Patrick Duffy

Patrick George Duffy is an American character actor of stage and film. He is best known for his role on the CBS television drama Dallas, where he played Bobby Ewing from 1978 to 1985 and from 1986 to 1991, Duffy returns to reprise his role as Bobby in a new up-to-date Dallas currently scheduled to...

 as Stephen Austin

Stephen F. Austin

Stephen Fuller Austin was born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri. He was known as the Father of Texas, led the second, but first legal and ultimately successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States. The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County,...

, Stacy Keach

Stacy Keach

Stacy Keach is an American actor and narrator. He is most famous for his dramatic roles; however, he has done narration work in educational programming on PBS and the Discovery Channel, as well as some comedy and musical...

 as Sam Houston

Sam Houston

Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...

, Chelsea Field

Chelsea Field

Chelsea Field is an American actress. She played Teela in the 1987 film adaptation of Masters of the Universe. In a break from tradition and He-Man canon, she portrayed Teela as a brunette character wearing a full costume with pants and sleeves.- Personal life :Field has been married to actor...

 as Maddie Quimper, Rick Schroder

Rick Schroder

Richard Bartlett "Rick" Schroder, Jr. is an American actor and film director.He debuted in the 1979 hit film The Champ, going on to become a child star on the sitcom Silver Spoons...

 as Otto McNab, Grant Show

Grant Show

Grant Alan Show is an American actor best known for his role on Melrose Place as Jake Hanson, which he played from 1992 to 1997.-Early life:...

 as William Travis

William B. Travis

William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...

, David Keith

David Keith

David Lemuel Keith is an American actor and director. He received Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actor and New Star of the Year – Actor for his performance in An Officer and a Gentleman.-Career:...

 as Jim Bowie

Jim Bowie

James "Jim" Bowie , a 19th-century American pioneer, slave trader, land speculator, and soldier, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo...

, John Schneider

John Schneider (television actor)

John Richard Schneider III is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his portrayal of Bo Duke in the 1980s American television series The Dukes of Hazzard, and as Jonathan Kent on Smallville, a 2001 television adaptation of Superman.Alongside his acting career, Schneider performed as a...

 as Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett

David "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...

, María Conchita Alonso

Maria Conchita Alonso

María Conchita Alonso , better known as María Conchita, is a Venezuelan Grammy Award-nominated singer and actress.- Early life :...

 as Lucia, and Benjamin Bratt

Benjamin Bratt

Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...

 as Benito Garza. The film is narrated by Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...

.

Adapted from the historical fiction novel Texas

Texas (novel)

Texas is a novel by James A. Michener based on the history of the Lone Star State. Characters include real and fictional characters, explorers , Spanish and German Texan settlers, ranchers, oil men, aristocrats, Chicanos, and others, all based on extensive historical research.Although Michener...

by James A. Michener

James A. Michener

James Albert Michener was an American author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories...

, it includes only the section of the book related to Texas Independence and the Battle of San Jacinto

Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen...

. The novel is more wide ranging, starting with Spanish

Spanish people

The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....

 explorer Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer of the New World, one of four survivors of the Narváez expedition...

 and ends in the modern day.

Plot

The year is 1821. The vast, unsettled territory that will one day be known as Texas still belongs to Mexico. But the forces that will shape the future of this sprawling land have already been set in motion. It begins with Mexico's infamous and brutal General Santa Anna and explodes into an armed revolt waged by such legendary names as the fiery and headstrong Sam Houston, Stephen Austin, the Father of Texas and the immortal heroes of the Alamo: Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Set against the thrilling backdrop of America's turbulent frontier, Texas weaves a dazzling, epic tapestry of conflict romance and adventure. It's the story of an inspiring fight for freedom and statehood - and of the soldiers, settlers, outlaws and empire-builders caught up in their young homeland's stormy quest to fulfill its extraordinary destiny!

External links

• Texas (1994) at Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes
  Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...