Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer ** (1956, Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr, Faron Young) – Classic Movie Review 13,406

The 1956 Western adventure film Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer is set in 1775 during the American War of Independence, and stars Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr and Faron Young.

Directors Albert C Gannaway and Ismael Rodriguez’s 1956 American historical Western adventure film Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer is set in 1775 during the American War of Independence, and stars Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr and Faron Young.

Daniel Boone and his family have to fight for survival when the settlement of Boonesborough, Kentucky, is besieged by both hostile Shawnee tribes and the British. The former movie Tarzan Bruce Bennett (billed as Herman Brix, his real name) is a boring frontiersman hero Daniel Boone, guiding a wagon train through Indian terrain, after smoking a pipe of peace with Shawnee chief Blackfish (Lon Chaney Jr).

Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer is a cheap B-movie, but rather well made in Mexico, standing in for Kentucky. It is the last US two-colour film (in Trucolor).

It was made by Albert C Gannaway Productions and released by Republic Pictures in the US on October 5, 1956 at the time of the Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier popularity.

Producer Albert C Gannaway composed the music for three songs for the film, with lyrics by Hal Levy: ‘Long Green Valley’ (sung by Faron Young), ‘Stand Firm in the Faith’ and ‘Dan’l Boone’.

Faron Young in Raiders of Old California (1957).

Faron Young (1932 –1996)

Faron Young (1932 –1996) was an American country producer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. He starred in four low-budget films in the mid-1950s: Hidden Guns, Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer, Raiders of Old California and Country Music Holiday.

The cast

The cast are Bruce Bennett as Daniel Boone, Lon Chaney Jr as Blackfish, Faron Young as Faron Callaway, Kem Dibbs as Simon Girty, Damian O’Flynn as Andy Callaway, Jacqueline Evans as Rebecca Boone, Nancy Rodman as Susannah Boone, Freddy Fernández as Israel Boone, Carol Kelly as Jamima Boone, Eduardo Noriega as Squire Boone, Fred Kohler Jr as Kenton, Gordon Mills as John Holder, Claudio Brook as James Boone, Joe Ainley as General Hamilton, and Lee Morgan as Smitty.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,406

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