There are two reasons I chose Davy Crockett and the River Pirates (1956).  First, as a kid I watched the television series of which this film is a cut together combination of two episodes.  This is not unheard of with Disney, particularly in its early days.  Please, let it also be known that I am not eighty years old.  They used to show these when the Disney Channel first aired they needed content to fill the daily cycle of programming in the heady days of cable.  The Mouse has more stuff in its vault than you can imagine, which is partly how I came across this title on Disney+.  I stopped on it because recently my buddy and me who do Oh Man Disney on YouTube filmed a video where we ate at the Blue Bayou Restaurant in Disneyland.  It is in the New Orleans themed section of the park, and part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride floats by as you eat.  In our recording, you can hear Isaac and I argue about piracy in the Crescent City.  Since the description of today’s film also mentions that location, it seemed too good to pass.

After getting its cultural sensitivity warning out of the way, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates drops you in on the eponymous character (Fess Parker) and his friend, George “Georgie” Russell (Buddy Ebsen), completing a successful season of fur trapping.  They intend to take their hides down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez in Louisiana to collect their profits.  However, after an extended period of time in the woods, they do not wish to walk.  Instead, their aim is to go to the nearest settlement on the Ohio, find a keelboat, and hop aboard to float their way south.  Unfortunately, the first person they find for this task is Mike Fink (Jeff York), the self-proclaimed “king of the river.”  I do mean “self-proclaimed,” too, as he never tires of talking about his amazingness.  Such prodigious skill leads him to think little of the equally legendary Davy Crockett, wanting to charge the “king of the wild frontier” $1,000 for transport for Davy, Georgie, and their cargo.  Listen, folks, it is the early nineteenth century, and that is a lot of money even for a living legend.  Instead, Davy and Georgia turn to another keelboat captain, Captain Cobb (Clem Bevans).  Captain Cobb is willing, but he has no crew because most of the able-bodied men are either on Mike’s vessel, or are scared of the king of the river.  Despite this, Davy figures his reputation can bring him the required number of volunteers.  Feeling slightly threatened, Mike proposes a race to New Orleans, where it is reckoned that Davy and Georgie can also get more money for their furs.  If Mike wins, he gets Davy’s merchandise.  If Davy is victorious, Mike will eat his hat, you know, as you do.  The veritable cross-country competition commences, and the experience of Mike’s team helps them to lead most of the way.  Still, the more Captain Cobb patiently teaches the people Davy has brought aboard, the better they get at maneuvering the vessel downstream.  There are a number of shenanigans between the competitors along the way, but there are times in which they are forced to work together.  That is because along the route, at a place called Cave-In-Rock (original), there are a band of pirates led by Samuel Mason (Mort Mills) and the Harpe Brothers (Paul Newlan and Frank Richards).  One is called “Big,” and the other “Little,” but it does not really matter which is which.  The important part is that they send out their river raiders dressed as Native Americans.  When Mike’s boat gets a lead at one point, Davy’s group has to rescue their adversaries when they pull even.  After this, Davy elects to help a man marooned on an island in the middle of the stream.  Though it results in him falling behind, his generosity is repaid when the stranger alerts Davy to a shortcut to New Orleans.  Captain Cobb uses this to ultimately beat Mike to New Orleans.  Because Davy is the magnanimous guy that he is, he graciously builds Mike up in the wake of defeat, so much so that he offers Davy and Georgie a ride back north.  Upon dropping them off at a pre-arranged spot, they are captured by a Chickasaw hunting party.  When brought before Chief Black Eagle (George J. Lewis), he tells Davy that he plans on going to war against the whites.  This is because of the pirate activity, which is causing whites to become more violent with native peoples.  This makes no sense to Davy, and he believes that these thieves are not what they are leading people to think.  Thus, in order to prevent the breakout of war, Davy says he will find those responsible for these attacks.  Luckily, Mike has not gotten too far away in his keelboat.  Since Davy and Mike are now best friends, the king of the river agrees to help the king of the wild frontier.  They do so by using a derelict ship of similar size to Mike’s, and rigging it up to look like the vessel of a rich banker.  They then spread word that they have a load of gold in their hull, and float down the river to where the pirate base is located.  Once there, they spring their trap.  It ends with Davy and Georgie taking on the three leaders, and them blowing themselves up in their cavern where they are trying to hide their loot.  Once more, Davy and Mike part company, and that is the end of the movie.

The protagonist in Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is an interesting character to give a Catholic spin.  Crockett was a real person, and literally a living legend in his own day.  His exploits, true or not, are why we know about him.  He is the perfect example of somebody for whom it is literally hard to separate fact from fiction.  It is verifiable that he translated his fame into a somewhat successful political career, serving in the United States House of Representatives as a delegate from Tennessee.  This would suggest that he could promote himself well, which is not something usually associated with humility.  At the same time, he stood up for disenfranchised people, opposing President Andrew Jackson’s push to remove all native peoples east of the Mississippi River.  The Davy Crockett of fiction, be it the dime novels of the nineteenth century, or twentieth century celluloid, had this humbleness, content with letting others do the talking about him for him.  This is seemingly Georgie’s purpose for being in the movie.  Jesus was also not a self-promoter, relying on His disciples to tell him what others had to say about Him (Matthew 16:13-14).  I bring that example up simply as a more direct parallel between this aspect of Davy and Jesus.  The two are not really comparable, and there are numerous other accounts of Jesus’ humility.  The Guy did die for all our sins, after all.  Still, it illustrates the fact that true greatness seldom comes from a braggart.

The reason for the cultural sensitivity warning at the beginning of Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is because of the way native peoples are portrayed.  You may have noticed the name George J. Lewis as the fellow playing Chief Black Eagle?  He was actually Mexican by birth, which was, unfortunately, a common practice at one time in Hollywood for filling out Native American casts.  Finally, I was surprised they filmed it on location at Cave-In-Rock, Illinois.  Having been there a couple times, that was kind of neat to see.  In the end, none of these are a reason to watch this movie.