Yellowbird77
This show was written and produced before anyone thought of including historical accuracy in film. Take season 6 episode 6 which I tripped into on TV this afternoon. It purports that Boone; an American Patriot, was friendly towards the British who are portrayed as nice people. In those days the British army were bloodthirsty. And the British army was allied with the native Americans against the Patriots. The Indians lost and so did the British. America was born. Every since then we have forgiven each and every group that ever tries to destroy our nation and then we go on to portray them as friends all along. Wow. The production quality, costumes, dialog; all are just awful. I am taking into account the years which this ran. I am 66 years old and saw this sometimes in my youth but thought back then it was stupid.
MovieBuffMarine
I just recently started watching the re-runs on the Retro Television Network. While I know it's mostly fiction, this is family entertainment at its finest. Again, while fiction, this show gets you interested in an American icon. I found myself looking up Daniel Boone on the net. My daughter even got interested and did a little report on Boone (not from material in the show, but she went to her school library and started reading about him)! A shame I only knew of this show's existence recently, and as I got into the show, I was saddened to hear of Fess Parker's passing just three days ago.Shows like this are gone as with Mr. Parker. But re-runs and DVD and Blue-ray have made it possible for future generations to appreciate this fine show for family entertainment.
szanity
I loved this show as a kid and I remember it being on the air all of my childhood. It is full of historical inaccuracies but the fictional relationship between Daniel and Mingo, his half-English, half-Indian friend, makes up for it. Mingo was a unique character. I am watching the DVD's now of the first and second seasons and it's like going home again. The color episodes feature some really nice footage of authentic mountains and streams as you find them in Kentucky. This is a good series to share with young kids. They are not likely to see anything like it on TV again. I'm glad to see that many people agree and have managed to get Daniel Boone out on DVD. Let's hope the remaining seasons are to follow.
wmarkley
The "Daniel Boone" series is uneven in its qualities, but overall its a good program. Fess Parker presents a stoic, humble and admirable Daniel Boone, who fights for fair play. Blood and gore is kept to a minimum, but there is still plenty of adventure and suspense. The acting by lesser characters is sometimes poor, especially in some of the middle and later episodes, but Parker, Ed Ames, Patricia Blair and Dallas McKennon keep things good. And the show is meant to be fun. While it often presents a moral, it doesn't have the dreary, preachy quality that so many shows from the '70s onwards have.There are historical inaccuracies, such as Eastern Woodland Indians living in teepees rather than wigwams, Whites not always wearing the costumes of the time, a mixed-up chronology, and Daniel having the ability to quickly dash off from Kentucky to the eastern colonies almost at will. And some episodes with historical figures such as Lafayette, Aaron Burr, Beaumarchais and Patrick Henry are fictionalized. On the other hand, the show preserves some of the spirit of the frontier and the period, which is not often seen these days. Also, the real Daniel Boone was a humane, honorable man who was highly respected by many Indians and Whites of his day, as he is portrayed in the series.Its very striking how different "Daniel Boone" is compared with current-day movies and TV shows. In "Daniel Boone," Daniel and his half-breed friend Mingo are definitely heroes. Mingo, who was taken to England as a boy and educated at Oxford, has a deep love for classical European literature, music and philosophy. The goodness of the American Revolutionary cause is assumed. While some of the enemy British soldiers and Indians are treacherous, several of them are also shown as being decent and honorable. Daniel and many of his friends believe in and fight for freedom, private property, law and civilization. Some of the white frontiersmen are bad, but some are good, and many are just trying to find a better life in Kentucky for their families.If "Daniel Boone" was produced by the politically-correct and supposedly "open-minded, enlightened" Hollywood people of today, Daniel would be a psychologically-conflicted man, continually fighting his rapacious urges that stem from his white culture. Mingo would decide to go completely native and would be continually ashamed of his British education. Daniel's Indian enemies would be shown as wholly noble and innocent, and they would never commit any atrocities unless in retaliation for worse ones done by the Whites. The American Revolutionaries would get their only legitimate ideas from the Indians. And the worst villains of all would be the English, since in today's Hollywood the pre-Socialist English are considered the world's worst villains ever. Anyone who has closely studied history knows that these politically-correct stereotypes are far from the truth, but its shocking how prevalent they are today.Therefore, with its flaws, "Daniel Boone" still presents entertaining stories, admirable characters, and some of the fighting spirit and concern for fair play of the past, and that's enough for it to earn good marks with me.
