Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier

A man hunts bear in Tennessee and nobody shoots better than he does. Davy Crockett is first a soldier in a war; he fights against native forces and at one point stops fighting and tries to make a treaty. Then he becomes a magistrate in his town. Then he is elected to Congress and goes to Washington. He does not get on with the politicians there; he opposes the land bill and leaves when it passes. He takes to the road. There is a place in Texas called the Alamo and a group of men are under siege there. Norman Foster directs. Fess Parker plays Davy Crockett and Buddy Ebsen plays his companion Georgie Russel. It is a Walt Disney production. The film was not in fact shot as a feature; three episodes made for Disney's television series were joined together and released to cinemas in colour. The broadcast of the series set off a craze in America; sales of coonskin caps went up and the song from it entered the charts. The narrative gives Crockett not as a historical person but as a legend, and does not hide that. Fess Parker was identified with this kind of part for years afterwards. The sections concerning native people carry the outlook of their period and sit uncomfortably today. The ending is not a victory; the Alamo section closes with a battle that is lost. Its limit is structure; you can tell it was joined from three episodes and the narrative jumps. Who it is for: viewers who like classic Disney and American frontier narratives. Who it is not for: it is episodic, the history turned into legend, and the outlook dated.