Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier

Plot synopsis:
=== Creek Indian Wars ===
Tennessee wilderness settlers Davy Crockett and best friend George "Georgie" Russell volunteer to fight with General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War. After a victorious battle, Crockett and Russell return home over the protestations of their superiors. Returning the next season, the pair find that the pursuing American forces have reached a stalemate chasing the remnant Creek forces through the swamps.
Georgie Russell is ambushed while scouting for the Native American positions, but Crockett is able to track the Creeks back to camp. In exchange for Russell's life, Crockett challenges Red Stick, the Creek tribe's remaining chief, to a tomahawk duel. Crockett emerges victorious but spares the life of Red Stick on condition he will sign the American peace treaty.
=== Off to Congress ===
Crockett and Russell leave home once again to scout virgin territory being opened for settlement. There the pair encounter a man named Big Foot who is running Charlie Two Shirts off their land and reselling it. After befriending a family of Creek refugees who have been forced from their homes, Crockett agrees to become magistrate for the area. Confronting Big Foot in hand-to-hand combat, Crockett eventually defeats his opponent and arrests him and his accomplices.
Not long after, Crockett receives a letter from his sister-in-law which relates that Polly, his wife, has died.
Crockett agrees to run for the state legislature when he learns of the unrivaled candidacy of Amos Thorpe, an unscrupulous politician in league with men trying to lay claim to Cherokee lands. Then at the request of Andrew Jackson, he runs for Congress. Handily elected, Crockett becomes a popular member of the House of Representatives and friend of Andrew Jackson, who has since become president of the United States.
Aware of Crockett's views of Native American rights, Jackson's underlings arrange for Crockett to take a speaking tour across the eastern part of the country during the introduction of a legislative bill to usurp Indian treaty lands. Hearing of the bill, Georgie Russell rides to Philadelphia to fetch Crockett. The pair arrive back in Washington, D.C. where Crockett makes an impassioned speech before the House of Representatives against the bill, aware that it will cost him his political career.
=== The Alamo ===
Crockett learns of the embattled Texans at the Alamo and decides to join them, with Georgie Russell reluctantly following. En route to San Antonio the pair are joined by a riverboat gambler named Thimblerig. Davy spots smoke signals from the Comanches when they enter Texas. Next, they see a bison stampede and watch a tribesman fall off his horse. Davy and Georgie nickname the Comanche "Busted Luck" due to his bad luck and that he speaks no English to give his real name, but neverless tags along with them. After reaching the Alamo, the Texan garrison successfully holds out against several attacks by General Santa Anna until being finally overrun by Mexican troops. After they successfully manage to scale the walls, the Mexicans overrun the Texans, killing all of them, including "Busted Luck", Colonel William Travis and Thimblerig, as well as Jim Bowie, who is sick in bed. Georgie is shot twice and is killed. Davy, the last survivor, fights valiantly on, taking down several Mexicans, though it is obvious he will get killed eventually. There are two other episodes in this series: Davy Crockett and the keelboat race and the other episode, Davy Crockett and the river pirates.

Tags: historical

Review:
My focus these days is Lewis and Clark but it was Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen who captured my imagination and have kept me dreamin' for nearly half a century.
Sure there were some Hollywood inaccuracies but the flavor, feeling and freedom of the eastern woodlands and the early frontiersmen were portrayed good enough to make me, and a lot of others, life-long Crockett admirers.
The life of Davy Crockett is told in this popular Disney television series that introduces Fess Parker as the resourceful backwoodsman from Tennessee.
The mid fifties television production of Walt Disney's "Davy Crockett" struck a nerve in the physic of American children.
Actors, Fess Parker, as Davy Crockett, and Buddy Ebson as his sidekick, Georgie Russell became popular with almost most every child in America, practically over night.
Fess Parker has been and always will be Davy Crockett, and even though George Russell was a ficticious character, he also did a super job.
Fess Parker's "Davey Crockett" provides an entertaining story of his Tennessee origins to his final act of courageous devotion at the Alamo.
I first saw this movie, over the 3 Sunday nights it ran on THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF COLOR, as The Disney show was then called, and fell head over heels with the character of Davy.
I was living in San Antonio, TX, at the time these 3 shorts came out, so I had my parents take me to the Alamo after the last installment and today I own a model 1816 Flintlock musket that was carried by a Mexican soldier in the second wave of the morning assault of March 6, 1836.
The soldier; Eduardo Escalon's Great-Grandson furnished me written provenance from his Grandmother, who died in 1924, that her father had carried this particular rifle in the assault, and when he mustered out of the army after San Jacinto, he brought it with him when he emigrated to the US (Texas, of course), in 1838, and documents the history of the weapon during the battle, and it is in Fine shape for a rifle that's 179 years old and is still very accurate, though only for maybe 5- to 75 yards.
And the tie-in to this film is obvious, and yes, I sometimes sit with the rifle in my hands when I watch the now DVD that just came out and think about the history of the whole scene..
When we first saw this, it wasn't one film but three episodes on the weekly "Disneyland" TV program.Looking at it 50 years later was a bit disappointing, but I should have expected that.
You certainly don't see a lot of that today.The grammar is so bad in here with Davy (Fess Parker) and his buddy "George" (Buddy Ebsen) and the expressions so country-corn pone that you can't believe some of the things you hear!The best part for us old codgers might be that Davy Crockett theme song.
I'm not going to go through the story line, most of us are familiar with following Davy Crockett and his pal Georgie Russel as they tamed the Indian uprisings, through Congress and on to the Alamo in Texas.
I just bought and watched the movie on a DVD which also includes Davy Crockett and the River Pirates and a Chip & Dale cartoon.
Fess Parker is the only Davy Crockett to me.
As good as John Wayne was he was no Davy Crockett compared to Fess Parker.
Although Fess Parker certainly did some great film work other than Davy Crockett, he didn't stay with it and at one point seems to have dropped out of the movie/TV scene and went into business.
He was to be Davy Crockett until Walt Disney saw Fess Parker in "Them" and he was also to be the scarecrow in "The Wizard of OZ" until he became ill from the metallic makeup.
1st watched 9/23/2001 - 6 out of 10(Dir-Norman Foster): Simple yet BIG-hearted hero in Davy Crockett is represented here as doing many bigger than life things than dying as a martyr for the American old west at the Alamo but living on in the hearts of others.
Fess Parker displays this hero with much humor along with his partner played by Buddy Epsen which helps because we have a hard time believing all of the stories of grinning a bear down(or 'bar' according to Crockett) and fighting injuns with his bare hands and winning.
Light-hearted fare with wonderful character shown in the Davy Crockett legend should always be appealing to the American spirit..
Fess Parker was great in this film he is the perfect davy crockett.
Some enjoyable episodes of the Disney TV are blended together , dealing with Crockett life including Indian fights and The Alamo.
This is a vigorous handsome adventure about a determined and powerful figure in his days as an Indian fighter and his gallant stand in defense of the famous site , El Alamo , being packed with noisy action, thrills , colorful fun , and spectacular as well as tremendous battles .Another Disney splice of three episodes from the popular TV series chronicling the further adventures of our frontier man well played by Fess Paker who dons the regular coonskin cap as a virile Davy .
Here Davy Crockett meets adventures along with George Russell, Buddy Ebsen , fighting Indians who are threatening the peace during the bloody Creek Indian War under command of General Andrew Jackson , subsequently US President .
There they encounter the place really besieged and the tough Col. William Travis , Don Megowan, and the ill Col. Jim Bowie , Kenneth Tobey, stricken by fevers .Here Fess Parker gives a fine acting who became a national figure incarnating the great frontiersman, an intrepid explorer with a welcome wry wit, including legends and myths .
As it was a compilation of 3 episodes : Crockett Indian fighter, Crockett goes to congress and Davy at the Alamo .This series aired on ABC television Disneyland 1954-55.
It is followed by another compilation , a new blending that created the sequel " Davy Crocket and the river pirates" 1955 by Norman Foster with similar artistic and technical .And there is anotje cinematic rendition about this historical role " Davy Crockett Indian scout" 1950 by Lew Landers with George Montgomery , Ellen Drew , Noah Beery The film has a marvelous musical score by George Bruns , singer Bill Hayes had a top hit 1955 billboard with the song Ballad of Davy Crockett with music by Bruns and lyrics by Thomas Blackburn .
I've noticed most of the comments on this film have come from guys who saw "Davy Crockett" back in the fifties and sixties.
I'm rating this review not as myself, today, but as the six-year old kid who watched it in three installments on TV's "Disneyland" show in 1954-55.First of all, it's the longer TV version you need to see.
But when it comes to Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, anything is better than nothing.Parker played supporting roles in a few other movies and later played "Daniel Boone" on NBC for several seasons, but in "Davy Crockett" he delivered his best work by far - a wonderfully warm and believable portrayal of an idealized American hero.
The Disney Crockett's insistence on the unreliability of simple gut feelings may make him the most philosophical "western" hero on film.
In Congress, Davy stands up to the System to defend the rights of Indians and white settlers alike in West Tennessee.
At the Alamo, he sacrifices himself for Texas independence.Parker is far more appealing as Crockett than is John Wayne in ""The Alamo" a few years later, though I do agree with another reviewer who praises Billy Bob Thornton as being a little closer to the historical Crockett.This is one of Disney's greatest film achievements - almost certainly their finest live-action movie.
If you're a kid of any age "from 8 to 80" you'll enjoy "Davy Crockett." If you're young enough, you may just come away with a new hero worthy of the name..
It took almost 50 years for films to get Davy Crockett right, when the latest Alamo film came out, Billy Bob Thornton came the closest to capturing the real Crockett.
It's not Fess Parker by any means.But you ask any kid who was a baby boomer what his conception of Davy Crockett was you will inevitably find some 6 to 10 year old who back in the day insisted his parents get him a coonskin cap like Fess Parker wore on the Wonderful World of Disney.
For better or worse its Fess Parker who is the image of the frontier scout who fought in the Creek War, went to Congress, and then died at the Alamo.Crockett's name is inevitably linked with the other legends of Texas who died in that mission in March of 1836.
He wasn't a compulsive womanizer like Travis, nor a land swindler/slave trader like Bowie.Davy Crockett was an ordinary fellow, Mr. Average Man, on the frontier who had a good record in the volunteer militia.
The part of the film devoted to that aspect was somewhat real, though Fess Parker was way to kind to Jackson here.
In real life Crockett said some really nasty things about his former commander.Davy Crockett made Fess Parker although he could never escape the type casting.
Ebsen eventually got two long running television series himself, The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones.Walt Disney couldn't let the Crockett mania go even with Davy getting killed at the Alamo so he produced Davy Crockett and the River Pirates the following year.
By that time the Crockett mania died down and Disney and Parker went their separate ways.
Don't look at this film and think you're seeing the real Davy Crockett.
After the film about thirty of us went to our local park and re-enacted scenes from it even forming two sides, Mexicans and Americans, for the attack on the Alamo, an old air raid shelter.
If you weren't around in the 50's, the Davy Crockett fad was huge - Everybody under the age of 10 was into it, with coonskin cap and other frontier paraphernalia.
It seemed a very innocent time in the life of American society."Davy Crockett, King Of The Wild Frontier" is quintessential family entertainment.
Fess Parker makes a fine Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen is even better as his sidekick, George Russel.
I have bought and watched this Crockett series many times (and anything else that Mr Parker was ever in.
This is a must watch for fans of Fess Parker as well as Buddy Ebsen and of Davy Crockett the man himself.
Disney's Davy Crockett.
Watching Disney's Davy Crockett at the impressionable, ripe old age of seven in 1954 started me on a lifelong love affair with American History.
The only scene I remembered was Davy letting his best buddy George Russel kiss his beautiful wife, just because he saved his life.
Davy Crockett deserves a place among the other movies in your book shelf.
I'm far too young to have experienced the Davy Crockett craze that kids in the '50s got to experience.
Usually these were Disney movies and among the ones I have the most distinct and pleasant memories of is Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.
It's a beautiful-looking movie, filmed on location with that wonderful Disney polish.
Review of Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier.
Although the acting was at times not great Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsenm were great together and it remains my favourite all time film despite all the movies since then to 2012.
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is a classic slice of Americana.
Due to it being basically three episodes of the series rolled into one film, 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier's' episodic nature is inevitable but it doesn't hurt the film that much, the middle third may not be quite as exciting as the outer two but not in a bad way.Some of the exaggerated action sequences may come over as a bit silly and childish now and the dialogue (with some hilariously bad grammar) even more so.
However, 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier' has a huge amount to like and is impossible to dislike, a lot happens and very rarely does it lull.It is a good-looking film, with gorgeously epic scenery and evocative production design that looks like a lot of care and homework went into it, all handsomely filmed.
The characters are a lot of fun, with a charismatic and likable hero in Davy Crockett, and direction is breezy and bright.Fess Parker is jovial, charismatic and immensely likable in the title role and Buddy Ebsen counteracts with him very nicely.
The acting may not be "great" but hardly bad, more than competent.On the whole, an impossible to dislike film and with a lot of good things.
In one episode he fought the Indians, the next he went to Congress, and, of course, died at the Alamo, fighting the Mexicans.
(Who would have ever connected Kenneth Tobey, who portrayed Jim Bowie, with a Disney movie, or Helene Stanley, who played the small role of Davy's wife Polly, since she was a lady who did often play not-so-nice girls?) Basil Ruysdael performed well the role of the then pre-president Andrew Jackson, and in these his pre-"Beverley Hillbillies" days, Buddy Ebsen was excellent as Crockett's sometimes-comical sidekick George Russell, and the large Don MacGowan was convincing as Colonel Travis the second-in-command to Bowie.
Nobody else could have played Crockett as well as did the large Fess Parker; Crockett was a sometimes-rough man, but always good-hearted and honest.
The movie followed well the man's life, all the way from his resolving the Creek Indian wars in 1814, to Davy's term in Congress where the man with butchered English expressed himself articulately and bravely his negative feeling about the Indian Bill when expansion was on everyone's minds, then to the battle at the Alamo in 1836.
This was the classic Davy Crockett film by Walt Disney, an astonishing world success at the time, almost creating a cult lasting until the 60s, with an overwhelmingly realistic Alamo finale (end of siege today March 6th 1836 with all heroes fallen), inspired the mammoth "Alamo" film 5 years later with a bleak John Wayne in comparison with Fess Parker, while the great performance of that film was Richard Widmark as Colonel Jim Bowie.
The Disney production was above all extremely well and carefully written originally for television, with such a success that is was turned into a major film, and Fess Parker's impersonation of the very simple and common but totally straight-forward frontier man is perfectly convincing, even and especially his appearances in congress.
The music adds to the charm of the sincerity of the film, it's only one tune all along, with the exception of the more lyrical, intimate and unforgettable "Farewell to the Mountains" in the Alamo pause of fighting; but at one time the Davy Crockett song even masquerades in an arrangement for string quartet.
"Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier" may have been the first made for television production to be deemed worthy of a theatrical release.
Walt Disney was shrewd enough to have filmed the production in color, as well as to have given the movie strong enough production values so that the end results certainly don't look like a typical television production at the time.
It's certainly not perfect - the movie feels very episodic due to the editing of three TV episodes together, some depictions of Native Americans don't feel very PC, and the character of Davy Crockett in some aspects feels kind of thin.
However over all the movie was pretty good.I suggest re watching it for those who watched it as a kid and eventhose who haven't seen it will enjoy it if they are up for watching a classic from Disney that isn't a cartoon..
In the early 1800s, fearless frontiersman Fess Parker (as David "Davy" Crockett) fights and kills a bear.
He begins to stand up for the Native Americans' right to a portion of land; he wants "Red" and "White Man" to respect each other's way of life...His fighting skills and ability to see both sides in a conflict leads Parker to politics.
Finally, Parker, joins the battle for the Texas Alamo...Quickly capitalizing on the "Davy Crockett" craze, producer Walt Disney commissioned this feature film edit from three episodes of his "Disneyland" television program.
"Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier" is not factual.
However, the story gets an honorable pardon for acknowledging the fact when Parker dismisses, as fiction, a contemporary pamphlet purported to record "folk hero" Davy's adventures.***** Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (5/25/55) Norman Foster ~ Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, Basil Ruysdael, William Bakewell.
Many historic Texan figures are brought into this part of the saga that eventually leads to the massacre at the Alamo for all.*Special Stars- Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, Hans Conried, Kenneth Tobey, Nick Cravat, Mike Mazurki.*Theme- Honesty will win out every time.*Based on- Crockett, Red Stick, President Jackson, and Travis & Bowie are legendary tales of history.*Trivia/location/goofs- Look for obvious continuity changes of Davey Crockett's coonskin hat in many fight and battle scenes.
This film is features more violence in the fights and battles than the usual Disney productions.
Also the film ends with the obvious heroic moral to the actions of the series heroes at the Alamo end.*Emotion- Rather well made movie and thoroughly enjoyable especially for those who lived through this era of Disney TV history in the first ABC network series.
The 'Davey Crockett' fan mania was huge in America due to the popularity of Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen with this TV show.
This film is what made coonskin hats so popular with the 'under 10 years old' set..
Davy Crockett saves the day during the Creek Indian War, runs for Congress and dies at the Alamo (spoiler!) in this "film" compiled from three episodes of the TV series.