a success, and Wayne lost his personal investment. He sold his rights to United Artists, which had released it, and it made back its money. Critical response was mixed, from the New York Herald Tribunes four-star "a magnificent job... Visually and dramatically, The Alamo is top-flight" to Time magazine's "flat as Texas". At the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 52% from 21 reviews. The film is thought to have been denied awards because Academy voters were alienated by an overblown publicity campaign, particularly one Variety ad claiming that the film's cast was praying harder for Chill Wills to win his award than the defenders of the Alamo prayed for their lives before the battle. The ad, placed by Wills, reportedly angered Wayne, who took out an ad of his own deploring Wills's tastelessness. In response to Wills's ad, claiming that all the voters were his "Alamo Cousins", Groucho Marx took out a small ad which simply said "Dear Mr. Wills, I am delighted to be your cousin, but I voted for Sal Mineo" (Wills's rival nominee for Exodus). Wayne provided a clip of the film for use in How the West Was Won. Despite being anachronistic (How the West Was Won begins in 1839 and the Alamo fell in 1836), the clip occurs near the beginning of the second half of the film, as Spencer Tracy narrates the events that led up to the American Civil War. Awards and honors The Alamo was nominated for seven Academy Awards (winning for Best Sound). Its successful bid for several Oscar nominations over such films as Psycho (which received four nominations) and Spartacus (which received six) was largely due to intense lobbying by producer John Wayne. Chill Wills' campaign for the Best Supporting Actor award was considered tasteless by many, including Wayne, who publicly apologized for Wills. Wills took out an advertisement in The Hollywood Reporter claiming that "We of the Alamo cast are praying harder - than the real Texans prayed for their lives in the Alamo - for Chill Wills to win the Oscar". Wayne took out his own advertisement calling the claim "untrue and reprehensible" and that he was sure that Wills' "intentions were not as bad as his taste". Wills' publicity agent, W.S. "Bow-Wow" Wojciechowicz, accepted blame for the ill-advised effort, claiming that Wills had known nothing about it. Alternate versions The Alamo