Combining the three original episodes of the ‘Davy Crockett’ mini-series into a feature-length film, this next movie is one that I have seen countless times. I grew up watching Davy Crockett’s adventures over and over again and have never tired of his story. For this project, I’m focusing on the story itself, including dialogue, character development, any subplots, how a story presents itself, the speed at which it moves, if it slows down unnecessarily, etc.
Update: In February 2022, I started a video version of the DFP on Tiktok. You can find the video below. Thoughts expressed in the video may be different than what are expressed in the blog post, due to the time difference in posting.
A Brief Summary
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier follows the adventures of David “Davy” Crockett and his best friend, George E. “Georgie” Russell from the swamplands of the Gulf Coast to the Nation’s Congress and finally to Texas for the Battle of the Alamo. Includes a fight with a bear, a shooting match and a Davy Crockett original song.
What works
- While the film does open with Davy Crockett’s journal, the set up for the film is more in line with that of Pecos Bill from Melody Time. The folk ballad, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” was the narrator for the film, introducing the title hero and beginning and connecting each section of the film.
- The film covers three important parts of Crockett’s life: The Indian War, Crockett’s time in Congress and the Battle of the Alamo. But it doesn’t just jump to and from each of the sections. The folk ballad verses connect each section, but there are minor hills for Crockett to climb before reaching the pinnacle moment for each section (except the first, he’s already a part of the war from the beginning of the film).
- I loved the dialogue from this film, not just the words but how they were spoken. It felt realistic, allowing me to stay within the storyline, rather than be forced out by a character breaking from their accent.
- There was this great power dynamic exhibited between Crockett & Major Norton during the Indian War (and continuing into Crockett’s time in Congress). For starters, Norton is a major, and Crockett is a volunteer under Norton’s command.
- It’s not that Norton’s a bad soldier, he just likes power. He doesn’t like being undermined, especially by a mere volunteer(no matter how qualified that volunteer is). Several moments throughout the Indian War section, Crockett is both visibly and verbally sharing his annoyance of Major Norton who causes more problems than good and is constantly out-shown by Crockett.
- Even when he returns during the 2nd section, he’s no better, in fact, he’s even sneakier about how he tries to maintain his power grab. Crockett, by this time, is even more powerful than Norton, being one of the most famous men from Tennessee. Norton, as Andrew Jackson’s “unofficial” campaign manager, wheedles his way back into Crockett’s life essentially to keep an eye on him as Jackson took to the White House for his presidency.
- There was an interesting moment during the first section. Crockett and the other volunteers were going to leave the Indian War to return to their families and get them all squared away for winter before returning to the battle. Major Norton tried to stop them, to maintain order within the camp. But they just continued on their way, with General Andrew Jackson saying “when they volunteer to fight, they fight. When they volunteer to go home, they go home!” Crockett didn’t need power, he was power. He doesn’t need to please his higher-ups, he just does the best job he can. Even if that job wasn’t the one he was ordered to do.
- Each section ends with a ‘final confrontation’, fitting with the original structure of three separate episodes: Red Stick, a Creek Indian Chief v. Crockett (Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter); Crockett v. the Indian Bill (Davy Crockett goes to Congress); Crockett v. Santa Anna’s army (Davy Crockett at the Alamo). Even in this connected version, it still worked really well having the three confrontations, with each building up Crockett’s character as the film went on, the stepping stones in his journey.
Honorable Mentions
- Thimblerig’s description of Texas: “A desolate desecrated desert, untouched by the hand of man and God alike.” I just love the alliteration of the first part of the sentence and then the dry humor with which he said his line.
- I’m pretty certain that the buffalo stampede and prairie dog footage came from The Vanishing Prairie. Nothing about or against that, I just became super familiar with that footage and thought it was cool to recognize where it (possibly/probably) came from.
Side Questions
- Did Charlie Two Shirts get a new deed to his land? His original paper was torn up by Big Foot so did he get a new one?
- What was the final result to Big Foot’s trial? Did he get jail time or just get kicked out of the county?
What I learned from watching this film
- At the beginning of the final section, Davy hands Russell the newspaper with their next location on it: Texas. Now on the face of it, this scene is fine. It introduces where they’re going (Texas) and why they’re going (to help maintain Texas’ independence). My problem was that Crockett acts different, almost weighed down by the decision. I don’t know if it’s because the scene takes place at night, but he gives that decision to go to Texas this air of foreboding…and then returns to his more upbeat, get-to-it self in the very next scene. Was it such a wrong decision, how the scene played out? Not at all, it was just a little too heavy. But then I thought more about it. Crockett was more solemn because he wasn’t sure if Russell would go with him. But once Russell agreed, he could breathe a little easier.
- I originally wrote the above paragraph for the “what may or may not work” section. I found that as I continued writing out my thoughts that I couldn’t include it in that section because while it stood out, it was more complex, or my reaction to it was more complex than a quick write-off would have been. While I’ve never had a conversation exactly as Crockett does in that scene, I have had conversations where I’ve felt as he did, nervous and worried about what the other person would say. And when the conversation goes better than I thought, then my attitude picks up as well. It’s become possibly the most familiar of scenes to me because I can actually relate to what’s going on. Kind of odd when I originally was a little negative towards the scene.
If you’ve seen Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, what are some of your thoughts? Share in the comments below!
Rewind to the beginning of the Disney Film Project
Skip back to the previous film with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Fast Forward to the next film with Lady and the Tramp
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