Bruce Bennett plays the title role in this tale of his attempt to establish a settlement at Boonesborough, Kentucky, in 1775.
His biggest concern is the Shawnee Indians under Chief Blackfish (Lon Chaney Jr.).
Already suspicious of the whites encroaching on their land, the Shawnee are being whipped into a frenzy by renegade Simon Girty (Kem Dibbs), who warns that they want to steal the Indians’ land.
After rescuing settlers bound for Boonsborough, Boone pleads for peace with Chief Blackfish.
He agrees, but only if Boone can first run a gauntlet of braves determined to do him harm.
He accomplishes that, but the peace talks are still threatened when the Shawnee delegation to the fort is attacked.
One of Blackfish’s sons is killed, another seriously wounded in an ambush planned by Girty, but made to look like it was the work of the whites from the fort.
Boone knows all to well what’s coming next: An all-out assault designed to wipe his small settlement off the face of Kentucky.
Bruce Bennett as Daniel Boone (right) meets with Chief Blackfish (Lon Chaney Jr.) and trouble maker Simon Girty (Kem Dibbs) in Daniel Boone Trail Blazer (1956)
Review:
A very-old fashioned seeming film, perhaps most notable today for the presence of Faron Young, a country music star dubbed the Hillbilly Heartthrob.
The marked the second of six films in which he’d appear. He plays the son of Andy Callaway, a man far less confident than Boone of Boonesborough’s chances of survival.
In that role, he gets to sing a song (“Long Green Valley”) and romance not one, but two of Boone’s daughters (Susannah and Jamima).
As for the film, it’s heavy on action. And if the twist at the end seems implausible, at least it’s pretty imaginative.
Rebecca Boone (Jacqueline Evans), Daniel (Bruce Bennet), Israel (Freddy Fernandez), Susannah (Nancy Rodman) and Faron Callaway (Faron Young) bid farewell to one of their own in Daniel Boone Trail Blazer (1956)
Directed by:
Albert C. Gannaway
Ismael Rodriguez
Cast:
Bruce Bennett … Daniel Boone
Lon Chaney Jr. … Blackfish
Faron Young … Faron Callaway
Kem Dibbs … Simon Girty
Damian O’Flynn … Andy Callaway
Jacqueline Evans … Rebecca Boone
Nancy Rodman … Susannah Boone
Freddy Fernandez … Israel Boone
Carol Kelly … Jamima Boone
Eduardo Noriega … Squire Boone
Fred Kohler Jr. … Kenton
Gordon Mills … John Holder
Claudio Brook … James Boone
Runtime: 75 min.
Songs: “Long, Green Valley,” “Daniel Boone,” “Stand Firm in the Faith”
Faron Young as Faron Calloway and friends on a wagon bound for Boonesboro in Daniel Boone Tral Blazer (1956)
Memorable lines:
Daniel Boone, admiring the open land and fort below from a ridge: “Even a man’s shadow can’t crowd him out here.”
Daniel Boone to Andy Callaway: “It’s up to us to keep the peace, Andy.”
Andy Callaway: “With a tomahawk in your back.”
Daniel: “It isn’t how you die, it’s what you live for.”
Simon Girty: “White man has silver tongue. It is sharp as the blade of a sword. Cuts easy through the truth, Blackfish.”
Bruce Bennett as Daniel Boone, fighting his way through the gauntlet in Daniel Boone Trail Blazer (1956)
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