Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is a 1955 historical adventure film based on the life of legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett. The film stars Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, was directed by Norman Foster, and was produced by Walt Disney. Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is recut, theatrically-released compilation of the first three episodes of Disney’s Davy Crockett miniseries, which was part of his Disneyland anthology series.
Director: Norman Foster
Production Company: Walt Disney Productions
Distributor: Buena Vista Film Distribution Company
Cast: Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, Basil Ruysdael, Don Megowan
US Box Office: $5,375,000 ($107,200,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Technicolor
Genre: Family Adventure
Release Date: May 25, 1955
Plot Summary: Davy Crockett (Fess Parker) and his best friend George Russell (Buddy Ebsen) are two Tennessee Frontiersmen during the early nineteenth century. The focuses on three areas of Crockett’s life: his military service on the frontier during the War of 1812, his political career as a member of Congress, and his last stand defending the Alamo in 1836.
Production: In 1954, Walt Disney started working on an hour-long anthology television series for ABC’s television network. At the time, ABC and Disney’s movie studio were owned by the same company. ABC executives knew that Disney’s films were extremely popular with children and wanted him to promote their network, in exchange for helping him build his Disneyland park in Anaheim, California.
Walt Disney wanted to use the anthology series to highlight American historical heroes, so he decided to create a three episode miniseries about the life of legendary 19th century frontiersman, Davy Crockett. The three episodes were: “Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter”, “Davy Crockett Goes to Congress”, and “Davy Crockett at the Alamo” and they each focused on different events in Crockett’s life. Disney originally had planned to cast Buddy Ebsen as Crockett, but he changed his mind when he saw Fess Parker’s performance in Them! (1954). Disney realized that Parker was perfect for the role of Davy Crockett and cast him in the series. Disney cast Ebsen as George Russell, a fictional character created for the series as Crockett’s best friend who records Crockett’s adventures. The series was directed by Norman Foster, who also co-wrote it alongside Thomas W Blackburn.
Davy Crockett was mostly shot on location. The scenes set on the Tennessee frontier were primarily shot at the Qualla Indian Reserve in North Carolina and at the Great Smokey Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Some of the frontier scenes were also shot at the Janss Conejo Ranch in California, much closer to Hollywood. The scene set at Andrew Jackson’s home was actually shot at Jackson’s real life house, “The Hermitage”, in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Davy Crockett miniseries aired on ABC from December of 1954 to February of 1955, and was incredibly popular with audiences. The entire Disneyland anthology series averaged twelve million views per episode and was the sixth most popular show of the 1954-1955 season. The Davy Crockett episodes were popular enough that Walt Disney decided to re-edit them together into a movie that could be theatrically released. The miniseries was shot in color, but it was broadcast on ABC in black & white (as most television sets didn’t display color at the time). Fortunately, the movie was able to be shown in its original color format, as theaters did not have the same limitation as television.
Fun Facts and Trivia: The song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” from the show and the film has the distinction of being the only song to have three different versions charted on the Billboard Top 10 at the same time. From March to April, singer and actor Bill Hayes’ version was ranked number one. Versions of the song sung by Tennessee Ernie Ford and Fess Parker himself also charted at the same time.
That same year as Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier, Republic Pictures released their own film featuring Davy Crockett, The Last Command (1955), which was also in color. The Last Command was focused primarily the Battle of the Alamo and featured Jim Bowie as the main character, rather than Crockett. The Last Command was not as successful as King of the Wild Frontier and it has been mostly forgotten. Fess Parker, Don Megowan (William B Travis), and Kenneth Tobey (Jim Bowie) later appeared together in Disney’s film The Great Locomotive Chase (1956).
Reception: Canadian film critic Clyde Gilmour of Maclean’s Magazine gave Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier a positive review. He noted that although the film was intended for kids, adults would also find it entertaining. While the film has largely been forgotten today, it has received some positive reviews. For example, Steve Crum of the Kansas City Kansan gave the film a perfect rating and thought that it was still fun and exciting more than forty years after it was released.
Though it was not a huge box office hit, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier was a success. The movie made a profit for Disney, and the merchandise related to the show and film was even more profitable. By the end of 1955, $300 million worth of Davy Crockett merchandise (primarily coonskin caps and bubblegum cards) had been sold! Given the popularity of Crockett, Walt Disney filmed two more episodes about Crockett for his anthology series. The two episodes serve as an “interquel” to the movie, and are a fictional story about Crockett traveling along the Mississippi River. In 1956 Disney recut these two episodes into the theatrical movie Davy Crockett and the River Pirates.
Why You Should See It: Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier is a fun and generally likeable adventure film. Parker and Ebsen are both likeable in their roles, and Ebsen is really funny. As the film was intended for younger audiences, it’s generally light-hearted, but it still has a few good dramatic moments. Even though it was originally filmed as episodes of a television series, King of the Wild Frontier is remarkably high quality for a television production, has good cinematography, and was clearly not a cheap production. The story would have been stronger if the film wasn’t segmented, but it’s good enough for what it is. Overall, the film is a good-hearted and exciting tribute to American hero Davy Crockett.