Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955)

Simply Perfect

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

When I was 5 I absolutely loved this film. Davey Crockett was one of my idols next to Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Ninja Turtles as a kid. It was hard for you not to see me and not hear The Ballad of Davey Crockett now and again. However that was nearly 10 years ago and that is about the same amount of time it's been since I have seen it. I looked over it recently and I know now why I liked itso much now. The film is humorous at points, dramatic at others but the action can be cheesy. Also I didn't liketheir use of stock footage. 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.

I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized. In a letter following his defeat in the 1830 elections, as quoted in David Crockett: The Man and the Legend (1994) by James Atkins Shackford, p. 133 Made in the Studios at Disney, Wowed the Audience in the 50's. Showed in the Cinemas, Showed on TV It's just as fun watching it on DVD Davy, Davy Crockett, Having fun on the clean frontier.In watching 'The Far Pavilions' ( a film chronicling the journey of Lewis and Clark with the Absent Minded Professor and Moses )with my mother , she noted that everything looked so clean. The pioneers were clean, the Indians were clean and even the trees were clean. Film makers of the 50's researched and portrayed very accurately how clean the frontier really was. There was some supper strength cleaner they brought with them that eliminated all dirt and grim. I believe it was called a production assistant.The same research was used and portrayed in Davy Crocket. At some point in my life I saw 'Davy Crocket: King of the Wild Fronteer'. The only scene I remembered was Davy letting his best buddy George Russel kiss his beautiful wife, just because he saved his life. I don't know any friend of mine who would let me kiss their beautiful wife. The film may not be historically accurate or maybe it is. It is however a film full of fun and high adventure. Davy is a likable fella. Someone you would have a beer with if he drank beer. He is funny, smart, adventures, humble; bear wrestler, has a cool coon cap, a good congressman (seriously) and a good Christian. The film is a tad bit choppy in parts due to the film being put together from 3 episodes of the Disney TV series. The action is very Disney Esq, for the audience of the time period but still dishes that adventure out rousingly. The other cool thing is that instead of straight narration, a group of singers sings the glories of Davy Crockett as a map is shown of his travels. Indiana Jones may have a cool orchestra theme, but doesn't have a Ballad about his exploits with his name. Take that Dr. Jones. Davy Crockett deserves a place among the other movies in your book shelf. It's fun and gives you a brief glimpse into an American legend. It also reminds you how dirty the world has gotten since the 1800's.Pop, pop, pop! Bom, bom, bom! throughout the day. No time for memorandums now. Go ahead! Liberty and Independence forever. Last entry in his diary, (5 March 1836)

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. I now have in my den a flintlock Kentucky long rifle on one wall replete with arrowheads, powder horn, etc. and lots of Civil War (my other interest) books and just historical stuff in "my" room/retreat. Interestingly, I gave my co-worker (much younger than me) the Disney DVD to show his son. He gave it back to me stating he didn't want his son saying Injun or Redskin and wondered why the term "Native American" hadn't been dubbed in. I told him history was history and wasn't politically correct and that if the PC crowd had their way American history would indeed be revised. And by the by, I, as a person born in the USA was a "Native American". What a shame...am sure his son would have been enthralled!!! Watching those DVD's today brings my childhood rushing back to me and as I get older a keener sense of appreciation to Walt Disney and a gratitude to him for sparking my interest in our nation's history...thanks Walt!! And thanks Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen!!!

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 just want to assure those folks that Fess Parker was still working his magic years later.In the early eighties, when I was about nine years old, HBO or one of those channels ran the entire series. After we watched it, us kids around the neighborhood were piling up firewood behind our fences to make a sort of rampart upon which to stand while we defended the Alamo from old Santy' Anna. We didn't have the coonskin caps, but we did have active imaginations. Some of us even took it upon ourselves to learn more about the battle. Surely our teachers were mystified when, at that years history fair and contest, half of the boys entered carefully constructed miniatures of the battle, composed of Play-Do, pencils, and toy soldiers.I guess the show still had an impact on me later on when I was in the military. I learned from Fess Parker to make every shot count. When the time came, I did. I suspect quite a few of our nation's finest marksmen learned that from him as well.I won't go into the artistic or historic discrepancies of the film. Nor will I ramble on about politics in the so-called Age of Jackson, the causes of the Texan war for independence, or the speculations made about the death of David Crockett. This is a film for kids (regardless of age), and should be enjoyed as such. But one more thing has to be thrown in.On a late autumn night about six years ago I got the news that my grandfather had passed away. I went home and sat alone in the dark in my living room feeling that terrible numbness that we've all known at such times. I must have sat there a couple of hours before I found the TV control and hit the switch, mainly so there would be some light.On the screen were Fess Parker and Buddy Ebson, just beginning their adventure with the river pirates. For an hour or so I was able to smile a bit and feel a little of what I once had when I had first seen re-runs of that show twenty years before. Then I got some sleep and was able to wake up and face reality with a little more grit than I might otherwise have had.If Fess Parker ever reads this, I hope he knows how grateful I was, and am.