Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

Release Date: July 18, 1956

Watch Date: March 4, 2023

"A rip roaring adventure with Davy Crockett, legendary 'King of the Wild Frontier' and his trusty companion George as they had downriver to New Orleans! The two encounter dangerous rapids, treacherous river pirates and excitement at every turn. Combining the grand tradition of adventure with the greatest folk hero of them all, DAVY CROCKETT AND THE RIVER PIRATES is one ride you'll want to take again and again!"

    Davy Crockett was a real person. I'm not going to go on a rant about it again. Especially because this movie is not about Davy Crockett, the real life historical figure, they make that very clear from the get go - this is just another addition to the myth of Davy Crockett. Something the actual historical figure would have hated, but I digress.

    This is another racist movie, again towards the indigenous population of America. Let me say this: a major plot point of this film is that white men are dressing up as indigenous men to rob people. This plot point is told to us by white men dressed up as indigenous men. One of them is literally red. Actually, physically red. It's bad.

    Otherwise, this is just a fun romp down a river, another two episodes from a television show that the first film inspired after being so difficult. When one has a super successful movie, you make television shows about it- a technique Disney hasn't stopped if you look at all the Marvel and Star Wars series. Unfortunately, this attempt by this movie to inspire further shows did not end up as successful as their first attempt, and so our cycle of show inspired movie inspired show ends here.

    Fun or not, River Pirates does not have the same staying power as King of the Wild Frontier, though it is a better movie because, I think, the episodes they spliced together were written with the idea that they would be turned into a film in the future, unlike the first two. There was some emotional impact in King though, some attempt at telling a more important story, of having a message that means something. This is just a race down the river and then beating up some bad guys. But Bob enjoyed it more because it had the feel of a traditional movie, and it is a more fun kids movie.

    Now there's nothing wrong with a movie being a kids movie, but it's still not really a remarkable kids movie. There's better wild west movies for kids. But if you want something light, and you can look past some pretty rough racism, there's definitely worse movies you could grab.