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Simply Perfect

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

'Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier' may not be a masterpiece, and there are better Disney live-action films and Disney films overall. It is a however impossible to dislike film and it was easy to see why anything to do with Davy Crockett was such a phenomenon in the 50s.The same goes for its sequel 'Davy Crockett and the River Pirates'. Sequels don't always match their predecessors and even more rarely even better, with numerous examples of vastly inferior (polar opposite in quality) ones. 'Davy Crockett and the River Pirates' is every bit as good, with two improvements over its predecessors, it is not quite as episodic (while still feeling like a film of two halves) and it flows a little.It is not perfect. The dialogue is even sillier and more childish in places than in 'Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier', and a couple of the action sequences in the second half are still exaggerated and more cartoonish than epic.As hoped though, 'Davy Crockett and the River Pirates' has a lot to like and is very difficult to hate. It is a good-looking film, with gorgeously epic scenery and evocative production design that looks like a lot of care and homework went into it, all handsomely filmed. The music is rousing, especially the timeless theme song that is one of Disney's and childhood's best and most memorable theme songs.There is some endearingly-good natured dialogue, and as said the story is eventful and often exciting. A lot happens, especially in the first half, and never does it lull. The characters are a lot of fun, with a charismatic and likable hero in Davy Crockett, and direction is breezy and bright.Fess Parker is jovial, charismatic and immensely likable in the title role and Buddy Ebsen counteracts with him very nicely. The acting may not be "great" but hardly bad, more than competent. A splendidly hammy Jeff York stands out in support.Overall, a very enjoyable sequel with a huge amount of appeal. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates starts off with the credits at the beginning of the movie, so you know you are in for an old fashioned adventure.Set in the 1800's, the dialog is based on the way words were spoken back then, so it might be a little hard for youngsters to maintain focused, I know it took me a little while to get used to the talk. Other than that, this movie is a fast moving fun story.Davy sets out on a journey to sell some fur caps, and along the way comes into contact with pirates, Indians and many more fun situations.The viewer can tell many of the scenes have been shot in a studio with the background added in, especially water scenes, but this shouldn't hinder any person's watching of the movie.

This was the second of two Disney Crockett theatrical features, edited from a pair of Disneyland TV episodes during that show's second season. The first three Crockett stories, run during the first season and then later released theatrically as a mini-epic, were all at least in part based on Crockett's life, as the opening image - his journal allowing us to slip inside - makes clear. The follow-ups were based on the famed Almanacks that appeared after Crockett's death in 1836, and so are right filmed in a much broader style, visually suggesting a tall tale rather than a fact based adventure. In the first half, Davy (Fess Parker) and pal Georgie (Buddy Ebsen) engage in a legendary keel boat race with Mike Fink (Jeff York). Lots of good natured action-fun. In the second part, they join forces to eradicate the wicked river pirates who not only prey on innocent passersby but blame their wicked deeds on the innocent Indians. That allows for a highly effective message, much like that in the first film, whereby Crockett becomes a spokesman for Indians' rights. As always in Disney, the entertainment qualities are balanced with an attempt to educate the audience on the greatness of ethnic diversity. Some fifty years after its release, this is still a delight.

"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.