To any American of a certain age, there is no greater hero than Davy Crockett. I was there for the Crockett craze. I sang the song incessantly, begged my mother for the coonskin cap, cheered Davy and Georgie, booed Mike Fink, and watched in flabbergasted horror as my hero DIED at the Alamo! (Um, I hope that wasn't a surprise to anyone reading this).

47 years later, in a nostalgic moment, I rented the videotape of "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier." To my surprise, it was pretty darn good! I went back for the other one, "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates," which I fondly remembered from my childhood as the best movie ever made.

Then I started wondering why I was convinced that these things were movies, but other people insisted they were TV shows. A quick trip to the Internet provided the answer - all of us were right. Fess Parker made his debut as Davy Crockett on the brand new Disneyland TV show in the winter of 1954/1955. The first 3 episodes summed up the last 25 years of Crockett's life: "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter," "Davy Crockett Goes to Congress," and "Davy Crockett at the Alamo." All 3 shows were ludicrously over-produced by the standards of the time, with expensive location shots and full living color (at a time when no one had color TV). But that's the way Walt wanted it, so that's how they did it.

To everyone's surprise, even Walt, the shows launched a national craze. The tv trilogy was repackaged into a 90-minute movie for theatrical release. Then the Disney research team tackled the dead hero problem by delving into a stack of 19th century Crockett Almanacs for some tall tales about Davy and his nemesis, keelboatman Mike Fink. The first of the "legendary" episodes was "The Great Keelboat Race," followed by "Davy Crockett and the River Pirates." These two episodes were then packaged into a 2nd movie.

Here's a brief summary of the episodes. For more detail, read my Epinion reviews of the the two Davy Crockett movies.

EPISODE 1: we see Davy huntin' b'ar, trackin' Injuns, hooting like an owl, warbling like a Tennessee finch and ever so respectfully making his officious, incompetent commanding officer look like a fool. In his spare time he talks the great warrior Red Stick into shaking hands and calling off the Creek Uprising. The on-location shots in the Great Smoky Mountains are spectacular. This is the show that captivated the kids of America.

EPISODE 2: This one has improved considerably since I was 5 years old. Now it's pretty interesting. It's also the most historically accurate, although details are fictionalized and compressed. Davy uses first his fists and sharp-shooting abilities and later his native wit to overcome his lack of education and move up in the world. At first he finds himself in over his head in the halls of Congress and falls prey to flattering manipulators, but eventually his moral compass steers him through some difficult decisions.

EPISODE 3: The final act of our hero's life is the most somber of all the shows, and in my opinion the best. There's less horseplay and more conversation, and a bittersweet sense of destiny from the opening dialogue between Davy and Georgie on the riverboat to the claustrophobic stage set used for the final scenes in the Alamo. Being a hero isn't always fun, kids.

EPISODE 4-5: The real Davy Crockett actually bought a couple of riverboats once, hoping to make his fortune. Unfortunately, he didn't know what he was doing and ended up sinking both boats and getting fished out of the river, dripping wet and broke. Things work out much better in these "legendary" episodes, except that Jeff York steals every scene he's in as the brawling, bullying, bellowing Mike Fink. After Davy beats Mike in a keelboat race down the Mississippi, the two of them become friends and team up to take out a nest of nasty river pirates. These episodes are catnip for kids - pirates, slapstick fights (with the bully ultimately losing), songs that tell stories, treasure caves, explosions, and Mike Fink eating his hat *hee hee*

Assuming that you have a DVD player, the advantages of buying the "Treasures" collection rather than the two movies are obvious. Only about 10 minutes was cut from the "River" stories to fit them into a 90-minute movie, but almost an hour of the original Davy Crockett story was lost when the first 3 shows were crammed into one movie. Now you get all 250 minutes. And it's on DVD, for greater clarity and better sound.

Then, of course, there's the extras. Each episode is introduced by some guy named Leonard Maltins, who struck me as more annoying than insightful. But at least his comments are short. Then we get the full "Disneyland" episode, including not only Walt's original introduction at the beginning, but also the previews of "next week's show." The previews were a delightful surprise, running at least 3 minutes each. There is also a moderately interesting 19-minute interview with pop culture historian Paul F. Anderson discussing the Crockett craze, and a 17-minute interview with a 60-something Fess Parker, at home on his Napa Valley winery. The Parker interview was quite delightful, full of interesting tidbits about the shooting and promotion of the shows. To top it all off, the whole two-disk package comes in a really keen tin box with a 5x7 reproduction of a Davy Crockett movie poster, suitable for framing.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8