fomlife777 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)

jmaher9008 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!!!

padutchland-1 There is something great about a movie that can cause an entire generation to let loose its imagination with pure adventure. Oh sure, there will always be those few dunderheads who will complain about the killing of Indians and Mexican soldiers. However, as much as they would like to change it, history is history regardless of results. There have always been, and will always be, clashes and wars between various peoples throughout the world. Both the white man and the black man fought and killed Indians and all manner of nationalities all the way from the East and throughout the history of the American West. Then there will also be those who will complain about early day special effects and stunts. Well hey, that's why they were early day and that is how show business people learned to improve movies and technology over the years. So get over it and just enjoy the movie. 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. The picture on this DVD is absolutely beautiful, it looks like it was made yesterday instead of 1954. My nine year old grandson came in when it was just starting. He began watching and sat all the way through and loved it. So it stands the test of time. I haven't seen it for quite some years and it took me back to the days when we knew who the good guys were and who the bad guys were. Not like many movies today where the distinction is a blur and bad guys are made to look like good guys. No wonder so many kids are confused, but that's another subject. I actually picked up on a couple of bloopers I hadn't noticed in younger years. In the scene where Davy is about to fight Red Stick and an Indian offers him the choice of a sharp hatchet or a blunt stone ax, the weapons magically switch hands from when the Indian is seen from the front and from the back. Also, at the Alamo when Davy shoots the two Mexican soldiers working the cannon using Betsy his single shot musket, he does it quickly as if he had two barrels or a breach-loader. So quick there was no time to reload. Allow me to focus on some of the actors in the movie. Fess Parker is the only Davy Crockett to me. In fact, so much so, that when I saw John Wayne playing him in the first Alamo, it was hard to believe he could be Davy. 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. Maybe he figured it was hard to top his fame as Davy or maybe he just figured to go out on top. What is noteworthy is that Buddy Ebsen, who played the second part as the side kick, actually did much more in film. He was one heck of a dancer in his younger days if you've seen him in Shirley Temple's Captain January and others. He gained fame also as Jed Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones on TV. 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. Regardless, he did well for himself. Fess also did well in business and has owned a winery for some years in California. A big thanks to Fess and Buddy for a job well done! Other actors in the movie were Mike Mazurki as Bigfoot who was a wrestler before movies and usually played a tough guy, even back in an early Dick Tracy. Hans Conried was Thimblerig and a familiar face in many TV and movies including Uncle Tonoose in TVs Make Room for Daddy and the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Peter Pan. Jim Bowie was played by Kenneth Tobey whom I remember in his own TV show in the 50's show titled Whirlybirds. Most of the other actors did not appear to go on to bigger and better film work. One can watch this over and over and never tire of it. So grab your musket and coon-skin cap and enjoy!

elskootero 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. He was so honest and good to my 5 year old mind and now, 50 (50!?!?!?) years later, I still admire the man and all he stood for. 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.