Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

Capitalizing on the popularity of the Davy Crockett phenomenon, Disney produced a story that had to take place at an earlier time. Mike Fink is a keel boater (boats that are pushed with poles), the best around. Georgie Russell (Buddy Ebsen) makes a bet with Fink, banking on the ingenuity of Crockett who has never pushed a keel boat. If they don't win the race, they will lose several month's work. The race is fun with Fink using every method he can to take away Davy and Georgie's chances of winning. The two manage to endure and the first half ends. What the heck. But what happens is an alliance among the three men. River pirates have been robbing the hard working people who depend on the waterway for their business. They must find a way to stop them for everyone's benefit. If this phenomenon had been in more recent times, we would have had a series, starring Fess Parker, that would have lasted a long time. It was a different time, obviously.

"Davy Crockett And The River Pirates" was originally produced for television and was broadcast on ABC as two episodes of the "Disneyland" series in 1955.

It is very easy to see why there was a Crockett phenomenon at the time. Fess Parker is perfect as Davy, and his sidekick, Georgie Russel, is played by Buddy Ebson, a few years before "Beverly Hillbillies". They play off of each other like a perfectly matched pair of shoes.

This film is wonderful and makes me wish that Disney had made more of them back in the 1950's. Unfortunately, however, the interest in Crockett was winding down by the time this one played in the theaters, and Disney used Fess Parker in other movies, like "Old Yeller" and "Westward Ho! The Wagons"

Still, this is a great film that is a lot of fun. The boats were later taken to Disneyland and utilized as the Mike Fink Keelboats ride.

-- One sidenote here: the keelboats were removed from Disneyland in 1996 following an accident that dumped a load of passengers into the water! --

As with most of the old Disney titles, I greatly recommend this film.

The second Davy Crockett movie made from episodes of Disney's "Disneyland" television series. The first part has Davy (Fess Parker) and his comic relief sidekick Georgie (Buddy Ebsen) in a keelboat race with blowhard Mike Fink who calls himself the "King of the River." The second part continues from the first and deals with Crockett fighting river pirates Samuel Mason and Big & Little Harpe. It's a fun movie with a lot of action and humor. Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen are both great. The rest of the cast includes Kenneth Tobey, Jeff York, Clem Bevans, and Mort Mills. It's a beautiful-looking movie, with lovely scenery and filmed with that wonderful old-school Disney polish. Some cute songs in it, too. In addition to Crockett, some of the other characters, like Mike Fink and the Harpe brothers, are based on real people. Obviously this is no documentary so don't expect a history lesson. It's a fun movie that should appeal to the kid in all (well, most) of us. Definitely worth a look.

Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen are back as Davy Crockett and his sidekick in another film culled from Disney's TV series. This time they encounter Mink Fink, King of the River captaining a boat on the Mississippi. They agree to race him to New Orleans, and then they team up with him to defeat pirates masquerading as Native Americans. This one is slightly superior to the original film mostly due to having a less episodic story.

Davy Crockett counted to infinity - twice.

If you found 'Davy Crocket: King of the Wild Frontier' a fun film, you probably liked it. 'Davy Crocket and the River Pirates' continues the fun and increases it as it flows more smoothly story wise then it's predecessor. It flows smoothly perhaps because there is a river in it, because rivers usually flow well if not roughly at times. Davy goes up against the King of the River Mink Fink in a race down the Ohio. I currently live near the Ohio river in Steubenville Ohio. It doesn't look as clean as it did back then, as everything looked cleaner back then if you take 50's films seriously.

After beating the tar out of each other, they take on the river pirates giving the Indians a bad name and beat the tar out of them. The action is more intense then the last time around, because it ignores the moral Mr. Smith dialogues in congress in favor of fists flying through the air. And the fight scenes believe you me, looks just as real as if Davy Crockett was fighting outside your local bar.

Davy Crocket is so suave and cool, basically because he just is and quite frankly he is humble about it which makes him more suave and cool. He doesn't brag or come up with wise cracks like some modern action heroes, he just goes and kicks butt wherever it is needed. Kinda of like Chuck Norris. But Davy has his own theme song, which they take time for in this production to sing as their going down the river. Mink Finch has his boys sing a song about him, but it never caught on in record sales.

The River Pirates deserves a place on your video library shelf, right next to the other Davy flick. Chances are they'll be on the same DVD, so you may have no choice in the matter.

What is the quickest way to mans heart? Davy Crockett's fist.