The Martins and the Coys

A Walt Disney Cartoon.

THE MARTINS AND THE COYS carry on their senseless, bloody feud until only one member of each family is left alive.

Originally a segment of MAKE MINE MUSIC (1946), this Disney short is perhaps deservedly obscure today, as it is a serious lack of good taste & common sense to continue the stereotyping of Appalachian 'mountain men' as lazy, drunken, thieving & murderous. The historical basis for the plot is the infamous Hatfield-McCoy Feud which livened up portions of the West Virginia - Kentucky border in the late 1800's. The King's Men provide the singing narration with the requisite amount of twang.

Walt Disney (1901-1966) was always intrigued by pictures & drawings. As a lad in Marceline, Missouri, he sketched farm animals on scraps of paper; later, as an ambulance driver in France during the First World War, he drew comic figures on the sides of his vehicle. Back in Kansas City, along with artist Ub Iwerks, Walt developed a primitive animation studio that provided animated commercials and tiny cartoons for the local movie theaters. Always the innovator, his ALICE IN CARTOONLAND series broke ground in placing a live figure in a cartoon universe. Business reversals sent Disney & Iwerks to Hollywood in 1923, where Walt's older brother Roy became his lifelong business manager & counselor. When a mildly successful series with Oswald The Lucky Rabbit was snatched away by the distributor, the character of Mickey Mouse sprung into Walt's imagination, ensuring Disney's immortality. The happy arrival of sound technology made Mickey's screen debut, STEAMBOAT WILLIE (1928), a tremendous audience success with its use of synchronized music. The SILLY SYMPHONIES soon appeared, and Walt's growing crew of marvelously talented animators were quickly conquering new territory with full color, illusions of depth and radical advancements in personality development, an arena in which Walt's genius was unbeatable. Mickey's feisty, naughty behavior had captured millions of fans, but he was soon to be joined by other animated companions: temperamental Donald Duck, intellectually-challenged Goofy and energetic Pluto. All this was in preparation for Walt's grandest dream - feature length animated films. Against a storm of naysayers, Walt persevered and over the next decades delighted children of all ages with the adventures of Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi & Peter Pan. Walt never forgot that his fortunes were all started by a mouse, or that childlike simplicity of message and lots of hard work always pay off.

Originally part of the movie Make Mine Music, this cartoon was released later on its own as a theatrical short. The plot is about a feud between two mountain families, the Martins and the Coys (stand-ins for the Hatfields and McCoys). Eventually a boy from one side and a girl from the other fall in love. It's narrated through song by the King's Men group. It's a fun, lively cartoon with a cute ending. Unfortunately, it's also a cartoon that has become a victim of politically correct censorship due to it being full of guns and possibly (though not most likely) its depictions of Appalachian people. Censorship is the weapon of cowards and it seems everybody's armed these days. Hopefully you can look past the ignorance of Disney and the crybabies who complain about these things, find this fine old cartoon, and enjoy it in the spirit it was created in.

This is my favorite segment from the Disney feature "Make Mine Music." I remember seeing that movie (or at least part of it since it was a school night)on the Disney Channel about three years ago. Disney released this feature on video for the first time ever in the spring of 2000. One time, I was looking at reviews on "Make Mine Music" and the people who bought the video or DVD were upset because one segment had been deleted. It was this one. I'm glad I never bought a copy of MMM. Disney did it again. They censored a classic work of art like this just to please some pathetic do-gooders. It's a classic ballad about two feuding hillbilly families who kill each other off (which is definitely why those PC #@#%$% censored it)and their descendants Grace Martin and Henry Coy fall in love and marry. At the end, however, the feud is carried on. As much as I hate to defend the Disney Company, I will say that Disney does not want to censor their works and would probably like to show them in their complete forms. They only do it because they're tired of getting complaints from do-gooders. Censorship is not the answer. Giving MMM a PG-rating would be better.

Featured in "Make Mine Music", this is an enormously entertaining and delightful short. It mayn't be to everyone's tastes, it may be rather obscure to some people and true it does stereotype the Appalachian mountain men. However, I love the short for its entertainment value. It is really funny and truly great if given a chance.

The animation is fluid and colourful, and the music rollicking. If you like shorts with rollicking and country-sounding music, I also recommend "Pecos Bill" which appeared in "Melody Time". Also the vocals are fabulous. "The Martins and the Coys" has so many funny moments I really cannot decide which was my favourite. Overall, I loved this short for the entertainment value. 10/10 Bethany Cox