Davy Crockett: Indian Fighter

It's astounding that this particular "Disneyland" episode hasn't got any reviews yet, so I figured I'd write one. Why the lack of reviews is astounding? Well, for several reasons. For starters, this particular episode featured the catchy and instantly recognizable song 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier', which would become the theme song of all following Disney-made Davy Crockett episodes and movies.

Additionally, this was the first episode of a five-parter which was commissioned by Disney in an effort to both popularize American historical figures and at the same time make a buck out of them. If this strategy would prove successful, Crockett and others would also get their own section in Disneyland.

And popular they were. Over 300 million dollars worth of Davy Crockett merchandise was sold in just over a year, or 3 billion dollars in today's money. The franchise was successfully exported to Britain and mainland Europe. A French translation of the song topped the French charts for five consecutive weeks.

This and the following episodes were filmed in color at a ranch in California and a Native American reservation in North Carolina. Though originally broadcast in black-and-white, the color reels were restored a few years later and broadcast again after color TV was introduced.

I won't spoil the story, but it's pretty straightforward. Davy Crockett fights 'bars', helps fight rebellious Native Americans in the Creek War of 1813-1814 and at the same time helps create greater understanding of and respect for each other on both sides.

The script's fine, the acting's nothing to be ashamed of and the production values are great for 1950s television. Whether or not the episode (and the following four episodes in the five-parter) actually merited the Crockett craze which followed it, well, even Disney couldn't say: he later stated the whole craze left him dumbfounded and came as a total surprise.

This episode is full of paradoxes.

1. The series, intentionally or not, became a Cold War allegory, like most Westerns at the time. It portrayed Crockett as a champion of the American way, a crusader against the hostile "other", despite Crockett's insistence in the series that he isn't like the other white men.

2. Furthermore, the series promotes the idea of rugged individualism, while also working for a system that the Creek chief himself said lied to his people, in the belief that his own system is good and sensible. Crockett was indeed an emblem of "manifest destiny" and yet his own individualism put him at odds with Jackson as a politician.

3. As a result, Crockett places himself on the moral high ground by not killing the Creek chief, while moments before he killed a warrior whose knife he would have been quick enough to dodge. That said, that is true to Crockett's nature. The real Crockett, despite taking little pleasure in fighting the Creeks, nevertheless participated in a brutal massacre at Tallushatchee, burning down a house with forty six warriors and their families inside. Disney accurately captured Crockett's sanctimonousness.

This series is intriguing if you look at the context of the time in which it was made. America needed an icon, an emblem of "freedom" and "justice", even when none existed, either in the 1830s or the 1950s.