Disneyland: Davy Crockett Goes to Congress (1955)

Member Rating:

The jewel in the crown of the TV anthology Disneyland's first season was the phenominally successful three-part miniseries Davy Crockett, an entertaining mixture of fact and legend surrounding fabled frontiersman Davy Crockett (Fess Parker). All three episodes were originally introduced with series host-producer Walt Disney reading a chapter from Davy Crockett's Journal, whereupon a series of semi-animated tableaux faded into the live-action portion of the program. In Episode Two, Davy hopes to live a peaceful life as a farmer with his wife Polly (Helene Stanley) and their kids, but his old pal Georgie Russell (Buddy Ebsen) convinces him to head to Tennessee in search of more "elbow room." After routing a local bully and crook named Big Foot Mason (Mike Mazurki), Davy is asked to run for office, but he refuses--until word arrives that his wife Polly has died. Now bereft of marital ties, Davy is elected to the Nashville Legislature, then goes on to Congress under the patronage of his old commanding officer (and current presidential candidate) Andrew Jackson (Basil Ruysdael). But when he realizes he's being used by Jackson as a cat's-paw to rob the Indians of their land, Davy quits politics in disgust and returns to the Great Outdoors. In 1955, the three Emmy-winning Davy Crockett episodes were re-edited and released as the theatrical feature Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi