Messing With Texas

By Ellin Martens

Dennis Quaid remembers the Alamo. "I used to play the Battle of San Jacinto as a kid," says the Houston-born star, above center, with Spanish actor JORDI MOLLA, right. Quaid, with the aid of some happenin' muttonchops and the largest standing movie set in North America (50-plus acres), plays General Sam Houston in The Alamo, due out Christmas Day. Directed by fellow Texan John Lee Hancock, who teamed up with Quaid in 2002's The Rookie, this account of the Lone Star State's battle for independence from Mexico shares little with the 1960 John Wayne film of the same name. It depicts the Mexicans' view of events and the faults of heroes like Houston, forcing Quaid to relearn his Texas history. Not that he minded. "This was like being a kid again," Quaid says, "only they gave you really great toys to play with."