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Post by Seguin on Apr 8, 2010 20:56:04 GMT -5
Definitely true for me, and also sparked my lifelong interest in history in general. It all started with the King of the Wild Frontier. Same here! I guess all the western movies I saw as a kid at the cinema and in TV helped a bit too, but yes, it started with King Of The Wild Frontier. The western movies and everything else came a bit later as a kid.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 8, 2010 22:37:51 GMT -5
+1. I doubt I'd have had much interest in Wayne's movie if Fess hadn't gotten me started. It all followed from that, and still is.
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Post by jesswald on Apr 9, 2010 15:15:20 GMT -5
I, for one, never got really interested in Wayne's movie. I resented Wayne, because he made the movie and made himself Davy Crockett, when everyone knew that Fess Parker was Davy Crockett. It was the Disney movie that got me into all this, and into American History. In the past few years I have written a series of very short plays on historical subjects, and probably none of them would have been written were it not for Parker's Crockett. Now it's come full circle, as I am preparing to write a playlet about Travis' "servant" Joe. While chances are nothing will come of it, I still feel bad that Fess Parker won't be around to see it if something does. Jesse Waldinger
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Post by fespar on Aug 16, 2010 16:20:38 GMT -5
Remember Fess Parker,August 16!The King is dead-Long live the King!
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Post by ajdrake4 on Aug 16, 2010 20:14:32 GMT -5
I can honestly say that my interest in the Alamo, and history in general goes back to Fess Parker in Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. Of course, I wasn't born when Disney first released the episodes, but in 1992, when I was about five years old, My dad bought a copy of the movie for me. There was a spell where I was watching it at least once a day, and I quickly owned my own toy rifle and coonskin cap. While my friends were into power rangers, I was going through a mini Crockett/ Alamo phase.
Since then, I've seen John Wayne's the Alamo, The Last Command, Texas, and the 2004 version, and I've read Texan Iliad, and Three Roads to the Alamo. I'm currently reading A Time to Stand. Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to visit the Alamo, but once I finish college, I plan to go. Thank you Fess Parker, you will be missed.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Aug 21, 2010 10:32:08 GMT -5
You're following a path that many of us have walked in our discovery of the Alamo. Welcome to to the forum.
Paul
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Post by ajdrake4 on Aug 21, 2010 16:08:54 GMT -5
Thanks! I was actually on the old forum for a while, I lost y'all when you moved, glad to find it again.
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Post by garyzaboly on Aug 22, 2010 13:38:08 GMT -5
It's terrific that Fess Parker's portrayal still has the power to "indoctrinate" new generations. Wade Dillon, another youngster, has said the same thing------that the Disney film got him interested in Davy Crockett and the Alamo. That's something that cannot always be said about many "old" films!
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Post by ajdrake4 on Aug 22, 2010 20:25:50 GMT -5
Yea, Fess Parker is still "Davy" Crockett to me. John Wayne's portrayal was still pretty good though, and I think Billy Bob Thornton was the best David Crockett. I think that Billy Bob Thornton gave the best portrayal of the historical Crockett, but when it comes to the larger than life legendary Davy, Fess Parker is still the best.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Aug 22, 2010 21:16:00 GMT -5
If you get a chance to see the full series again, take a closer look at Fess; he actually gives us a fairly good view of both sides of Crockett and, at times, how Crockett turned the mythical image on and off. His maiden speech in Congress is a good example. He's obviously putting it on and everyone seems to understand that; they're all in on the joke.
Allen
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Post by ajdrake4 on Aug 23, 2010 15:35:54 GMT -5
Yea, I remember that scene, Fess did a good job with the historical side of Crockett to, I guess I just picture Fess as the larger than life character because my introduction to him was the scene where he is trying to "grin down a bear" and Major Norton interrupts him.
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Post by billchemerka on Aug 23, 2010 22:44:48 GMT -5
Yea, I remember that scene, Fess did a good job with the historical side of Crockett to, I guess I just picture Fess as the larger than life character because my introduction to him was the scene where he is trying to "grin down a bear" and Major Norton interrupts him. Fess Parker appears for the first time during the so-called Norton interruption scene in the edited theatrical release: Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. He actually appeared for the first time in "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter" standing in the doorway of his log cabin home with his wife as George Russel, Zeke and another neighbor ride up. Note: The dialogue first delivered by Crockett to Maj. Norton was not what appeared in the revised script of Aug. 17, 1954 (Crockett's 168th birthday!). And the man in the bear suit didn't make the final print either. All the best.
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Post by garyzaboly on Aug 24, 2010 5:59:57 GMT -5
Yea, I remember that scene, Fess did a good job with the historical side of Crockett to, I guess I just picture Fess as the larger than life character because my introduction to him was the scene where he is trying to "grin down a bear" and Major Norton interrupts him. Fess Parker appears for the first time during the so-called Norton interruption scene in the edited theatrical release: Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier. He actually appeared for the first time in "Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter" standing in the doorway of his log cabin home with his wife as George Russel, Zeke and another neighbor ride up. Note: The dialogue first delivered by Crockett to Maj. Norton was not what appeared in the revised script of Aug. 17, 1954 (Crockett's 168th birthday!). And the man in the bear suit didn't make the final print either. All the best. I clearly remember first seeing DAVY CROCKETT, INDIAN FIGHTER, on its TV debut. I was a lad of 4, and to me there WAS a bear in that shrubbery, even though you never saw it!
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Post by George Mabry on Aug 24, 2010 6:51:09 GMT -5
John Wayne was John Wayne. It would defy nature for him to be anything else. Sure he had a lot of different jobs i.e., Texas Ranger, Navy Commander, Marine Sargent, Cowboy, Rancher etc., but he never stopped being John Wayne. And that is why we all rejected him in his role as Davy. John could have different jobs but he could never be a different person.
Fess was a different matter altogether. No one knew him when he showed up so he could be pretty much anyone he wanted to be. But once he became Davy, then he had John Wayne’s problem. I never accepted Fess as Daniel Boone. How could he be Boone when he was Crockett?
Billy Bob is much more slippery. Unlike the other two, he’s actually an actor. He can be different people and fool you at it. He's fooled me. In my mind, he's Crockett.
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Post by ajdrake4 on Aug 24, 2010 15:22:59 GMT -5
Thanks Bill. Yea, the version I own (and grew up with) was the theatrical release, Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. I did see the original TV episodes once, but I don't remember them that well. I would like to see them again.
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