Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

History and Review Written By Michael J. Ruhland





























Michael's Movie Grade:B
Year Released: 1955


                                  History
On October, 27th 1954, the Disney company had started a weekly TV show called Disneyland. This show was created to promote Walt's new theme park also called Disneyland. This show would feature previous Disney films (sometimes clips and sometimes shown all the way through), both animated and live action, but it would also feature some new material as well. Each episode would center around one or more theme. These themes were based off of Disneyland's different areas. The theme could be Adventureland, Tomorrowland, Fantsyland, and where our subject for this post comes from Frontierland. On December 15, 1954 from Frontierland, came Davy Crockett. This story would be made up of three episodes and it is considered by some to be the first TV miniseries. Davy Crockett, took off like no one not even Walt, thought it would. Crockett and the actor who played him became household names, and every kid who was any kid needed a coonskin cap. Audiences were begging to see these episodes again, and so Walt came up with the idea of editing all three episodes into one theatrically released feature film called Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. He also made some prequel episodes for the Disneyland TV show.

The director for the episodes and the film was Norman Foster. Norman Foster was the director of various Mr. Motto films (staring Peter Lorre), and Charlie Chan films (starring Sydney Toler). Norman Foster would go on to direct the next Davy Crockett episodes, and film, and he would also direct Disney's Zorro TV series and the feature film edited from that show The Sign of Zorro. The writer for the film and TV episodes was Tom Blackburn, who also wrote the lyrics to the theme song. Tom Blackburn had written various western novels such as Tumbleweed with Spurs, Range War, and Broken Arrow Range. He had also written movie screenplays for various film westerns, and later scripts for western TV shows. Blackburn, would later write screenplays for the Disney films, Johnny Tremain, Westward Ho! the Wagon Train, and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (and of course the episodes those would be based off of. Fess Parker, who played Davy, would later appear in the Disney films, The Great Locomotive Chase, Old Yeller, The Light in the Forest, and of course Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. He would also star in (not for Disney), a TV series called Daniel Boone, which was obviously inspired by the success of his role as Davy. The role of Davy was originally going to go to actor Buddy Ebson, but Walt changed his mind when he saw Fess Parker in the 1954 film Them!. However Ebson would still play the role of George Russell, Davy's close friend here.

The premiere of the film was on May 25th 1955, six months after the first Davy Crockett episode of Disneyland. However despite this the film was still a big financial success. It show just how popular, Disney's version of Davy Crockett was. That so soon after they had just seen the same thing on TV. However this did bring something that the TV episodes didn't bring. The episodes were shot  shot in color, but aired in black and white. Because of this these episodes would be shown in color for the first time to the public. However this film ran only 93 minutes, while the original TV episodes put together ran 150 minutes, meaning of course that audiences would not get the whole story as told in the TV episodes.

Disney's version of  Davy Crockett was too successful to leave at just three TV episodes and one feature film. Walt stated that if he knew how popular the character would be Davy would have survived the Alamo. However more Davy Crockett episodes of Disneyland were still made, but they took place before the previous three, and these episodes were edited into another feature film to be called Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Disney's version of Davy, of course also had a big impact on the Frontierland portion of the Disneyland park.

Review

Very fun western adventure. This film has a lot to recommend. As a fan of country music, I must say that Tom Blackburn and George Burns songs are top notch, and really enhance the film. The acting is also top notch.This is especially true of Fess Parker's performance, which brings Davy himself to life. The look of this film is as great and vivid as you would expect from Disney. Most of all the film is just filled with fun.

On the downside you can really feel, the fact that parts of the TV episodes had been cut. Because of this the film seems quite rushed at times, and has alack of some needed quiet moments. You can just simply tell, that this film would have been better had more of scenes been left in.

Overall this is a great really fun film. While watching the original TV episodes would be better, that doesn't change the fact that this film is very enjoyable and well worth watching.

                                Film Credits
Director:Norman Foster

Writer: Tom Blackburn

Cast: Fess Parker (Davy Crockett), Buddy Ebson (George Marshall), Basil Ruysdael (Andrew Jackson), Hans Conried (Thimblerig), William Bakewell (Tobias Norton), Kenneth Tobey (Jim Bowie), Pat Hogan (Red Stick), Helene Stanley (Polly Crockett), Nick Cravat (Busted Luck), Don Megowan (William Travis), Mike Mazurki (Bigfoot Mason), Jeff Thompson (Charlie Two Shirts), Henry Joyner (Swaney), Campbell Brown (Bruno), Robert Booth (Congressman), Eugene Brindel (Billy Crockett), Benjamin Hornbuckle (Henderson), Jim Maddux (Congressman), Ray Whitetree (Johnny Crockett), Hal Youngblood (Speaker)

Producers: Walt Disney, Bill Walsh

Music: George Bruns, Edward H. Plumb

Songwriters: George Bruns, Tom Blackburn

Cinematographer: Charles P. Boyle

Art Director: Marvin Aubrey Davis

Editor: Chester W. Schaeffer

Set Decorators: Patrick Delany, Emile Kuri

Makeup Artist: Louis Phillipi

Production Manager: Henry Spitz

Assistant Director: James Judson Cox

Special Artwork Artists: Ken Anderson, Joshua Meador, Art Riley

Sound Department: Robert O. Cook, Ub Iwerks

Stunt Artist: Joe Canutt

Camera Operator: Harvey Gould

Costume Artist: Norman Martien

Script Supervisor: Dolores Rubin

                                      Resources Used
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047977/?ref_=nv_sr_2
http://www.thedisneyfilms.com/search/label/Davy%20Crockett%3A%20King%20of%20the%20Wild%20Frontier

-Michael J. Ruhland