Secrets of the Pirate's Inn

I may or may not have seen Secrets of Pirates' Inn when it originally aired back in 1969 - I can't remember. My family watched the Disney show on Sunday nights (at least I remember it being Sunday night), so the chances that I saw it in 1969 are fairly high. However, even if I didn't, that doesn't affect the sense of nostalgia that filled me as I watched Secrets of Pirates' Inn a couple of days ago. It really took me back to my childhood - a time when kids played outside until dark, we looked for adventure in the wooded areas around the house, and dreamed of a mystery like the one the kids in this movie experienced. My friends and I would have jumped at the chance to go on a real treasure hunt, searching for pirate gold!

Getting back to the movie, Secrets of Pirates' Inn plays something like a toned-down version of The Goonies. Three average kids meet a sea captain who has inherited an old pirate haunt that may hide treasure. The kids agree to help the old man search for the gold. But someone else in town is also looking for the treasure. Can the kids help solve the clues, navigate the secret passages, and uncover the treasure first?

It's all great fun in that innocent sort of 60s Disney way. There's danger, but you know it's nothing that will cause any real harm to anyone. There's some drama and tension, but you know that in the end it will all be resolved in our heroes favor. The bad guys aren't all that bad and are easily apprehended. And the treasure is easy enough to find that you wonder why it wasn't found years ago. But, like I said, it's all fun.

I want to give a special mention to Ed Begley as Irish sea captain Dennis McCarthy. What a great and genuine performance!

1st real full length movie I ever watched as a kid. Fun adventure kid movie searching for pirate treasure with a crusty old man they meet. Excellent plot, everyone bands together scavenger hunting for the next clue. This was the movie before there was a Goonies movie. Couldn't wait unit part 2 & 3 aired the next week on the Disney Sunday evening show. Drove my parents crazy rushing them home so I wouldn't miss any of it. Secret of Strawberry cove was next with the same kids, kid scary fun to watch. Had all my friends over with popcorn to watch. The best movie I watched as a kid. Of all the remake flops they are doing now days, this would be refreshingly new for kids today. Also enjoyed the Tom, Huck & Becky Thatcher adventure series too. Watching these movies on the internet is small, poor quality, and a waste not being on the big screen.

This Walt Disney Wonderful World Of Color presentation is your usual Disney fare about adventurous kids, in this case seeking buried treasure in the Louisiana bayou. Looking at I had a feeling that this might have been originally meant as a feature film, then split in two for the TV program and then reunited again for a feature film for release in Europe which is what happened. The halves don't don't neatly segment as they usually do in Disney features.

Jimmy Bracken and Patrick Creamer are the boys and Annie McEveety is Bracken's tag along and tomboy sister. Trying to avoid her the boys take refuge in what they think is an abandoned house. But instead the three find Ed Begley living there.

Begley inherited the house from his late brother and also inherited the legend of late brother who firmly believed that Jean Lafitte hid some loot there and he was going to find it. He and the kids start looking but someone else is looking as well, therein lies the tale.

Secrets Of Pirates Inn is not your best or worst Disney kid feature. It's fairly run of the mill of its type. The kids are appealing, Ed Begley is scene stealing from them and Paul Fix as a grumpy tenant gets in an inning or two.

Kids should like it.

"Secrets of the Pirate's Inn" follows three young kids who help an old Irish sea captain find a hidden treasure with a mysterious foe on their tails. This movie is surprisingly very entertaining to watch and from what I know, many people can recall seeing it as children back in '69 and the memories they have of watching it. Remember when movies could just be fun and exciting and not have to do with race and sex? ME EITHER! I wish we could just go back to the good ol' days of film. The movie is available on YouTube, so you should definitely give it a watch. It's a shame this film isn't available on DVD because I'd totally buy it!

With an elder retired sea captain at the helm of the Inn, these youngsters begin an adventure of finding a world full of life, treasure, and danger outside the confines of their parents' home. As a child, I was glued to the TV for this one. As an adult, I see now what I was finding in this story. A timeless pirate story with a lot of heart, along with children who actually talk and behave as ordinary children might while in the middle of an extra-ordinary treasure hunt. This film is a classic that predates all recent pirate films, it is the "Shane" of the childhood pirate drama. Suggestion to Disney: Re-release this in DVD form for the current generation.