Man of Conquest (1939) ⭐ 6.1 | History, War, Western (original) (raw)

As is often the case, Hollywood played fast and loose with the facts in this biopic. Often the true story just isn't interesting, or so the prevailing thinking was, so they'd change facts, omit others and try to tell a good story instead of good history. Unfortunately, with "Man of Conquest" it isn't even all that good a story.

The story begins in 1814 when Sam Houston joins the US Army to fight in the War of 1812. It then follows Houston from the governor of Tennessee to eventually landing in Texas where he successfully led an army to victory against the Mexicans.

There are so many problems with the history in the film, I don't want to spend all my review discussing all of them. However a few things the film got wrong include never mentioning that Houston was a congressman from Tennessee, never mentioning one of Houston's marriages, making him best buds with Andrew Jackson when in reality they clashed bitterly when Jackson ordered the Cherokee nation moved to Oklahoma, making it appear as if the war for Texas independence was fought over Indian attacks, and much more. The bottom line is that the writer of the film never seemed to care what facts were right and which ones were omitted.

While I am a big Richard Dix fan, I must say this is one of his more dull performances...mostly because the film is big on cheering for America, Texas and the like but terrible when it came to the actual lives of Houston and the rest. Overall, a forgettable film that SHOULD have been very exciting. Just read a wikipedia article on the man and you'll learn a lot more!