ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

mail-2978 I first saw this film as a nine year old living in London back in 1955. This was at a matinée performance and the cinema was filled to the rafters with kids and we loved it. This was the era of the baby boomers and we youngsters had no shortage of friends to play with. After the film about thirty of us went to our local park and re-enacted scenes from it even forming two sides, Mexicans and Americans, for the attack on the Alamo, an old air raid shelter. But my most prominent memory is of the Davy Crockett hat my Dad made me. This was the 'must have' of 1955 for us kids and so many were made it led to a very sharp decline in the cat population. My dad also made me a very credible musket that I kept for years. Happy memories of a great movie and a great time to be young.

wuxmup I'm rating this review not as myself, today, but as the six-year old kid who watched it in three installments on TV's "Disneyland" show in 1954-55.First of all, it's the longer TV version you need to see. The version released to theaters is too condensed and moves much too quickly. But when it comes to Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen, anything is better than nothing.Parker played supporting roles in a few other movies and later played "Daniel Boone" on NBC for several seasons, but in "Davy Crockett" he delivered his best work by far - a wonderfully warm and believable portrayal of an idealized American hero. Parker's Davy fights for right - settlers' rights, Indians' rights, freedom from tyranny in Texas. His motto is "Be sure your right, then go ahead." Be *sure* you're right: that admits the possibility you could be dead wrong unless you think carefully about what you stand for. In fact, without reflection, you don't really know if it's the other guy who's right. The Disney Crockett's insistence on the unreliability of simple gut feelings may make him the most philosophical "western" hero on film. But when you're sure, you go ahead and do the right thing as you see it. You don't shrug your shoulders and measure personal inconvenience. Davy doesn't want to leave his family to fight Indians, but he does want to help protect settlers in Mississippi from a repeat of the Ft. Mims massacre (a genuine historical event). In this fantasy take on history, Davy ends the Creek War almost single handedly through a combination of physical courage, man-to-man fighting skills, and the kind of diplomacy that recognizes the common humanity of his adversaries. In Congress, Davy stands up to the System to defend the rights of Indians and white settlers alike in West Tennessee. At the Alamo, he sacrifices himself for Texas independence.Parker is far more appealing as Crockett than is John Wayne in ""The Alamo" a few years later, though I do agree with another reviewer who praises Billy Bob Thornton as being a little closer to the historical Crockett.This is one of Disney's greatest film achievements - almost certainly their finest live-action movie. I could go on, but you get the idea. If you're a kid of any age "from 8 to 80" you'll enjoy "Davy Crockett." If you're young enough, you may just come away with a new hero worthy of the name.

bkoganbing It took almost 50 years for films to get Davy Crockett right, when the latest Alamo film came out, Billy Bob Thornton came the closest to capturing the real Crockett. It's not Fess Parker by any means.But you ask any kid who was a baby boomer what his conception of Davy Crockett was you will inevitably find some 6 to 10 year old who back in the day insisted his parents get him a coonskin cap like Fess Parker wore on the Wonderful World of Disney. For better or worse its Fess Parker who is the image of the frontier scout who fought in the Creek War, went to Congress, and then died at the Alamo.Crockett's name is inevitably linked with the other legends of Texas who died in that mission in March of 1836. Of the group of them he was probably the best of the lot. He wasn't a compulsive womanizer like Travis, nor a land swindler/slave trader like Bowie.Davy Crockett was an ordinary fellow, Mr. Average Man, on the frontier who had a good record in the volunteer militia. Liked by his neighbors he got himself elected to local office and then, running as a supporter of Andrew Jackson, ran and won for Congress in 1826. Jackson himself, was the titular head of the Democratic political machine in Tennessee and at that time he had a lot of followers who competed for his favor. Crockett whatever else he was, never really learned the political game. He got outmaneuvered in the Jackson camp and eventually broke with Jackson when Jackson became president in 1828.Before he lost his seat in Congress for good in the 1834 off year elections, Crockett had drifted into the nascent Whig Party and was anti-Jackson. One issue that drove them apart was the Jacksonian Indian policy. Crockett fought the Indians, but felt we ought to respect treaty rights. Not a popular position to take on the frontier. He was an honest man.He drifted to Texas looking to pick up the pieces of his life after his political career ended in Tennessee. The part of the film devoted to that aspect was somewhat real, though Fess Parker was way to kind to Jackson here. In real life Crockett said some really nasty things about his former commander.Davy Crockett made Fess Parker although he could never escape the type casting. Eventually he gave in and became another coonskin hero Daniel Boone in a long running television series. The film also marked something of a comeback for Buddy Ebsen. Playing Georgie Russell, Crockett's sidekick, revived Ebsen's career. Ebsen eventually got two long running television series himself, The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones.Walt Disney couldn't let the Crockett mania go even with Davy getting killed at the Alamo so he produced Davy Crockett and the River Pirates the following year. By that time the Crockett mania died down and Disney and Parker went their separate ways. Don't look at this film and think you're seeing the real Davy Crockett. But for the kid in all of us who once pestered their parents for a coonskin cap, it sure takes you back.

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.