Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier | |
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Directed by | Norman Foster |
Written by | Tom Blackburn |
Produced by | Bill Walsh |
Starring | Fess Parker Buddy Ebsen |
Cinematography | Charles P. Boyle |
Edited by | Chester W. Schaeffer |
Music by |
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Production company | |
Distributed by | Buena Vista Film Distribution Co., Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 93 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,150,000 (US) [1] |
Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is a 1955 American Western film produced by Walt Disney Productions. It is an edited and recut compilation of the first three episodes of the Davy Crockett television miniseries. The episodes used were Davy Crockett Indian Fighter, Davy Crockett Goes to Congress, and Davy Crockett at the Alamo. The film stars Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. [2]
A prequel, titled Davy Crockett and the River Pirates , was released on July 18, 1956.
Two Tennessee wilderness settlers, Davy Crockett and his best friend George Russell (son of Captain William Russell and Agness H. Mccollough), volunteer to fight with General Andrew Jackson and Major Tobias Norton in the Creek War (1813-1814). They return home after a successful battle, to make sure their families have enough provisions for the winter, rejoining a short time later to find the Americans at a stalemate against the Creeks, with Jackson having gone to New Orleans. Against Norton's orders, Crockett and Russell scout for Creek positions, and Russell is captured.
Crockett tracks the Creeks to their camp, where he challenges the remaining Creek chief, Red Stick, to a tomahawk duel for Russell's life. Crockett wins, but agrees to spare Red Stick's life in exchange for his signing the American peace treaty.
Crockett and Russell head west to scout virgin territory being opened for settlement, planning to send for Davy's family once a cabin has been built. They acquire a claim after beating Bigfoot Mason in a shooting contest. They learn that Mason is running Native Americans off their land in order to resell it, and befriend a family of Cherokee refugees Mason has victimized. Crockett offers to become the magistrate for the area. Crockett defeats Mason in hand-to-hand combat before arresting him and his surviving accomplice (the other one having been shot dead when he tried to shoot Crockett).
Crockett is convinced to run for the state legislature against Amos Thorpe, a corrupt politician in league with men trying to claim Cherokee lands, who is running unopposed. He then receives a letter from his sister-in-law telling him that his wife has died of a fever. Crockett wins the election handily and becomes a popular member of the Tennessee General Assembly. He reunites with Norton and Andrew Jackson, who is running for President of the United States and convinces him to run for the United States House of Representatives.
After he enters Congress, Norton, trying to pass a bill to usurp Native American treaty lands, has Crockett embark on a speaking tour across the eastern United States to distract him, but Russell learns of the bill and brings Crockett back to Washington to argue against it. Crockett tears the bill in half before leaving, ending his political career.
Crockett decides to join the Battle of the Alamo (1836), joined by George Russell. While traveling to San Antonio, they are joined by Thimblerig, a riverboat gambler, and Busted Luck, a Comanche tribesman. Reaching the Alamo, they join its defense, though Colonel James Bowie confides that their supplies are dangerously low. Russell manages to slip through the enemy lines to try to bring back help, only to return empty-handed. The Texan garrison withstands several attacks from Mexican troops before being overcome. George Russell, Thimblerig, Busted Luck, Travis, and a bedridden Colonel Bowie are all killed, leaving Crockett the sole defender standing. Crockett is last seen swinging his rifle against the encroaching Mexicans; the scene then fades to a shot of the Lone Star Flag and Crockett's journal closing on its last entry "March 6, 1836 - Liberty and Independence Forever!", accompanied by a reprise of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".
Most footage was shot in Tennessee and Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, California. [3] [4] [5]
The three segments comprising the film, which originally aired on Walt Disney's Disneyland , were popular enough for Walt Disney to release them theatrically. The film remains Disney's most successful television film project, inspiring two prequel episodes for the television series which were later released in theaters as Davy Crockett and the River Pirates .[ citation needed ]
David Crockett was an American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is often referred to in popular culture as the "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution.
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. was an American film and television actor best known for his portrayals of the title characters in the Walt Disney television miniseries Davy Crockett and the television series Daniel Boone.
The Alamo: 13 Days to Glory is a 1987 American Western television miniseries later edited into a feature film about the 1836 Battle of the Alamo written and directed by Burt Kennedy, starring James Arness as James Bowie, Brian Keith as Davy Crockett, Alec Baldwin as William Barrett Travis, Raul Julia as Antonio López de Santa Anna, and featuring a single scene cameo by Lorne Greene as Sam Houston. Unlike most other films about the Alamo — the most prominent other exception being the 1955 film The Last Command — it focuses on Bowie as the main character rather than Crockett.
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"The Ballad of Davy Crockett" is a song with music by George Bruns and lyrics by Thomas W. Blackburn. It was introduced on ABC's television series Disneyland, in the premiere episode of October 27, 1954.
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Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is a 1956 American Western film produced by Walt Disney Productions. A prequel to Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, it was thought of as a means to salvage revenue from the blunder of Disney killing off the Davy Crockett character too soon within the three program arc ending in the Alamo massacre, greatly diminishing the value that could've been derived from what surprisingly had exploded into a worldwide phenomenon. The feature film is an edited, repurposed and recut compilation of the last two episodes of the Davy Crockett television miniseries. Episodes from the miniseries with footage from the film include: Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. The film stars Fess Parker as Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as Crockett's amiable sidekick.
Edward Holcomb Plumb was a film composer and orchestrator best known for his work at Walt Disney Studios. He served as musical director of Fantasia and orchestrated and co-composed the score for Bambi, and orchestrated and expanded the film's main composer Frank Churchill's menacing but simple three-note theme.
Davy Crockett was a five-part serial which aired on ABC from 1954–55 in one-hour episodes, on the Disneyland series. The series starred Fess Parker as real-life frontiersman Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as his friend, George Russell. The first three and last two episodes were respectively edited into the theatrical films Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956). This series and film are known for the catchy theme song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett".
Pat Hogan was an American actor. He mostly played Native Americans over the course of his career. He portrayed Chief Red Stick in the film Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955).
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David "Davy" Crockett was a 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician, who died at the Battle of the Alamo.