Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier (1955)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Norman Foster

Writer:

Thomas W. Blackburn (writer)

Release Date:

25 May 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Family | Western | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

NOW...on the MOTION PICTURE SCREEN!

Plot Keywords:

Companion | Frontier | Alamo | Lost Cause | James Bowie

Cast

Fess Parker	...	Davy Crockett (archive footage)
Buddy Ebsen	...	George Russel (archive footage)
Basil Ruysdael	...	Gen. / President Andrew Jackson (archive footage)
Hans Conried	...	Thimblerig (archive footage)
William Bakewell	...	Maj. Tobias Norton (archive footage)
Kenneth Tobey	...	Col. Jim Bowie (archive footage) (as Ken Tobey)
Pat Hogan	...	Chief Red Stick (archive footage)
Helene Stanley	...	Polly Crockett (archive footage)
Nick Cravat	...	Busted Luck (archive footage)
Don Megowan	...	Col. William Travis (archive footage)
Mike Mazurki	...	Bigfoot Mason (archive footage)
Jeff Thompson	...	Charlie Two Shirts (archive footage)
Henry Joyner	...	Swaney (archive footage)
Campbell Brown	...	Bruno (Bigfoot henchman) (archive footage) (as Colonel Campbell Brown)

Runtime:

93 min | USA:150 min (TV version) (3 parts)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Australia:G | USA:G (re-rating) (1978) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1992) | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Great Smoky Mountains National Park - 107 Park Headquarters Road, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA

Company:

Walt Disney Productions

Trivia:

Buddy Ebsen was going to play Davy Crockett until Walt Disney saw Fess Parker in Them! (1954). When he saw Parker, he said, "That's my Davy Crockett!"

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As the camera scans across the river from where Andy Jackson is camped near the beginning of the film, a modern house can be seen for a second or two.

Quotes:

Davy Crockett: I'm half-horse, half-alligator and a little attached with snapping turtle. I've got the fastest horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in Texas. My father can lick any man in Kentucky... and I can lick my father. I can hug a bear too close for comfort and eat any man alive opposed to Andy Jackson.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Age of Believing: The Disney Live Action Classics (2008) (TV)

Exceptional film and very factual for its day.

I first saw this film in 3 half hour segments over a 3 week period in 1956 and have seen it so often I can almost recite the dialogue. 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. I reccommend this film highly, and its so much nicer to see at one time.