It's Film Strip Friday! Davy Crockett & the River Pirates

It’s Film Strip Friday!

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

Release Date December 14^th, 1955

            

SYNOPSIS:

Davy Crockett (Fess Parker) and his sidekick Georgie compete against boastful Mike Fink ("King of the River") in a boat race to New Orleans. Later, Davy and Georgie, allied with Fink, battle a group of river pirates trying to pass themselves off as Native Americans.

FUN FACTS:

Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is a 1955 live-action Walt Disney adventure film starring Fess Parker as Davy Crockett. It was shot in Cave-In-Rock, Illinois. This film acts as a prequel to 1955's Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and is an edited compilation of the fourth and fifth stories featuring the Disney television series Davy Crockett:

• Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race (first broadcast November 16, 1955)
• Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (first broadcast December 14, 1955)

Plot

Keelboat Race

Davy Crockett and George "Georgie" Russel are loaded with pelts as they make their way to the Mississippi River after a successful season of trapping and hunting in Kentucky. There they encounter Mike Fink, a blowhard keelboat captain who refuses to take them downriver, unless they pay a ridiculously high fee. That evening, Fink gets Georgie drunk and convinces him to keelboat race down the Mississippi with the season's pelts as wager.

Crockett uses his notoriety to put together a crew and the race begins. Overcoming numerous obstacles along with Fink's dirty tricks, Crockett wins the race but amiably waives his claim on Fink's share of the wager. In gratitude, Fink challenges Crockett and Russel in a keelboat race to New Orleans, Louisiana.

River Pirates

Along the way, the men pick up a traveling minstrel named Colonel Plug who unknown to them is in league with local river bandits. On their way to get horses from friendly Chickasaw tribesmen, Crockett and Russel are kidnapped by a group of Chickasaws because white men have been murdering members of their tribe. Both Crockett and Fink discover that the river pirates led by Samuel Mason and the Harpe brothers are masquerading as Native Americans as they loot passing boats from a riverside Cave-In-Rock.

Crockett and Russel find their way into the lair, and in the ensuing battle several kegs of gunpowder are exploded, sealing the cave. The victorious heroes escape unscathed with the subdued villains in tow.

Cast

• Fess Parker as Davy Crockett
• Buddy Ebsen as George "Georgie" Russel
• Jeff York as Mike Fink
• Kenneth Tobey as Jocko
• Clem Bevans as Captain Cobb
• Irvin Ashkenazy as Moose
• Mort Mills as Samuel Mason
• Paul Newlan as Big Harpe
• Frank Richards as Little Harpe
• Hank Worden as Fiddler
• Dick Crockett as Ben
• Troy Melton as Hank
• Douglass Dumbrille as Saloon owner (uncredited)
• Walter Catlett as Colonel Plug
• William Bakewell as Keelboat Race Master of Ceremonies (uncredited cameo)
• William Fawcett as Old Timer with Livestock (uncredited)
• George J. Lewis as Chief Black Eagle (uncredited)
• Mike Mazurki as Unnamed character (uncredited)

Songs

• "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" – Lyrics by Tom Blackburn, Music by George Bruns, sung by The Wellingtons
• "King of the River" – Lyrics by Tom Blackburn, Music by George Bruns, sung by Jeff York
• "Yaller, Yaller Gold" – Lyrics by Tom Blackburn, Music by George Bruns, sung by Walter Catlett and The Wellingtons

http://disney.go.com/disneyinsider/history/movies

http://en.wikipedia.org