Daniel Boone (TV Series) Mountain of the Dead (1964) User Reviews

The dead guard their Gold

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 1 April 2014]

DANIEL BOONE – Mountain of the Dead - 1964

This is the 11th episode of the long running 1964-70 series about the life of American frontiersman and explorer, Daniel Boone. The lead is played by Fess Parker. Also in the mix are Albert Salmi, Ed Ames, Patricia Blair, Veronica Cartwright and Darby Hinton.

In this episode Fess Parker is hired by several British types, Leslie Nielsen, Ed Peck and John McLiam. They want Parker to lead them to the site of a massacre, that had happened during the French and Indian War a decade before. Parker had been at the battle and had been one of the few to survive.

They tell Parker they are studying the battle for the Army. Parker agrees to the job even though he does not believe Nielsen. And Parker is right about there being an ulterior motive to the journey. It seems that one of the other survivors had buried an army payroll at the site during the fight. Nielsen and his bunch want to retrieve said payroll. Needless to say there is plenty of backstabbing, and killing going on among the British. The gold count turns out to somewhat less than expected and the bodies soon pile up.

A somewhat muddled story makes this episode a bit of a misfire.

Look close and you will see Jay (Tonto) Silverheels in a small role.

Not a Stephen Ambrose Battlefield Tour

[militarymuseu-88399 · 7/10 · 13 November 2023]

(Note: INSP appears to have removed Episode 1.10 from the "DB" rotation, which dealt with Daniel's attempt to aid an escaped slave. With the like absence of the similarly themed Episode 5.17, by this point I am convinced the network is engaging in a misguided attempt at cultural sensitivity. Time to call this out as ridiculous; no lasting social progress is going to be achieved by attempting to sanitize prime time TV produced generations ago.)

Daniel is dreaming about his past service (and he hasn't aged a day!) as a teamster at Braddock's defeat during the French and Indian War, when he witnessed a redcoat apparently burying something. Coincidentally a party of Britons with nefarious motives stop by his cabin the next day and ask for his guide services to the battlefield, ostensibly to survey it for historic purposes. Dan agrees, but the situation rapidly turns south.

Canadian Leslie Nielsen is the leader of the British party, exuding the sense of smiling treachery that would serve him well in numerous 1960's guest shots, and in turn provide him with a persona he could lucratively play against in "Airplane!" and other 1980's comedies. He is accompanied by John McLiam of "Rambo: First Blood" and Ed Peck of "Bullitt." For nostalgia's sake Jay Silverheels - forever Tonto of "The Lone Ranger" is along as a Shawnee chief. (Yes, DB's resident villain specialists are back for another week.)

DB gets back to a full helping of action-adventure this week with a rare flashback for the series to the French and Indian War. From that point on its a reversion to the "treacherous traveling companions" narrative that fueled so many 1960's Westerns, but this is the natural environment for the Boone character to thrive, and it always gets interesting when the prospect of Yadkin and Mingo showing up as a rescue party is left out there.

A strong though slightly mis-executed history component this hour, as follows:

* The 1755 Battle of the Monongahela was a real encounter of the French and Indian War. British General Edward Braddock was killed and much of his Anglo-colonial force was decimated in an abortive attempt to seize French Fort Duquesne (present-day Pittsburgh). Virginia militia officer George Washington was also present.

* The real Daniel Boone did serve as a teamster under Braddock, and first learned of Kentucky's potential from a fellow wagon driver.

* The British party heads toward the Ohio River to find the battlefield, but it was actually fought in Western Pennsylvania.

Plenty of action to keep the hour going, though the episode is much diminished by excessive use of night scenes and much filming in woodland shade, neither conducive to black and white TV. But Leslie Nielsen always carries well any production he shows up for.