Davy Crockett And The River Pirates!

Unlike its predecessor the movie Davy Crockett and the River Pirates only examines one Crockett adventure, but one that pits him and his steady ally Russell (Buddy Ebsen) against riverboat legend Mike Fink. Fess Parker puts on the coonskin cap one more time as Davy and we have here a uproarious and light-hearted adventure which nonetheless deals a bit in death.

Davy and Russell have furs to trade and need to get down the Mississippi to a port which will offer good bargain. To that end they seek a boat and happen on Mike Fink who has a mighty opinion of himself and who has a hearty and roughneck crew.

They don't sail with him but rather find another boat with Captain Cobb and the two race down the river New Orleans. The danger is not just between them but comes from a gang of cutthroats who are pretending to be Indians to raid boats as they pass a bogus inn.

There are lots of hijinks, but having told Crockett's whole story in bried in the first movie the focus in time in this one is offbeat a bit. Nonetheless we have a entertaining broad adventure with good natures and bad and as much action as any movie goer could wish to see. I wonder if Disney had some scheme for Crockett to meet other of the American myths in later flicks, it is a dandy notion.

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King Of The Wild Frontier!

I'm too young myself to remember the coonskin cap craze initiated by the release of Walt Disney's Davy Crockett King of the Wild Frontier, but from what I gather it must've been mighty indeed, an early indicator of the enormous power of the "Baby Boom" generation as they began their rule of the modern marketplace. The movie holds up quite well I think, or maybe I just enjoy its old-fashioned glamour too much.

Fess Parker I first met as Daniel Boone when he took his coonskin cap to my native Kentucky and rocked the NBC airwaves for several seasons. He and his amigo Mingo (Ed Ames as a Cherokee) held sway. My first taste of color television was watching an episode and I still remember the green trees swaying slightly in the breeze, no less green than those actual Kentucky trees right outside my window, but somehow more evocative.

The movie Davy Crockett "documents" his life so to speak, using the lyrics of song to transport the viewer from episode to episode as Davy and his friend Russell battle Indians in Florida as part of Andrew Jackson's cadre, and later as a family man. Turns out he wasn't much of a husband or father, since he mostly abandons them for what might be good reasons, but after his wife passes and he's not around, we never see any reference to his two sons again. It's not part of the legend but its a smear on his character for sure.

In addition to fighting Indians, Davy stands up for them in Congress, or at least that's the myth. And we follow him on his final excursion into Texas to land ultimately at the Alamo. I've always liked the way the movie never shows Crockett actually die, but gives us a final image of him swinging away against impossible odds.

This movie is light and entertaining and of course no one thinks it's really the life of a full-fledged man, but it's the yarn of a myth of a man who represents that yearning in most folks to push out beyond the limits of what the world gives them. It's a thrilling little ride, not at all unlike something you'd find at Disneyland, and it's a ride you want to ride more than once.

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And Tall As A Mountain Was He!

I just learned this morning that Fess Parker has passed away. Another of my cultural heroes has left this mortal plane alas.

I grew up on the TV show Daniel Boone. It was perhaps the single favorite TV show for my family. We gathered around weekly to see the exploits of the great hero and family man. Being a Kentuckian, Daniel Boone is certainly the most famous man closely associated with the state. And the TV show was great entertainment. It was the first TV show I ever saw in living color. I vividly remember watching it after Dad and Mom came home with the big console color TV set, the green trees and bright blue sky were astounding.

But the show's success was largely due to the incredibly popular Fess Parker, an actor who was able to fairly gleam from out of the small tube. He came across as a pleasant but tough and reliable fellow, a man to admire and to emulate. A warrior and a husband and a father and a citizen. Talk about role models, this guy was it.

I chanced on the Davy Crockett stuff from Disney later, and I like it a lot. But it will always be Daniel Boone who comes to mind first when I think of Fess Parker.


Or maybe it's that delightful small scene he has in the movie THEM where he plays a hapless pilot who is ensconced in a sanitarium because his story that giant ants knocked his plane out of the air is too fantastic to be believed. Despite the fact the heroes of the story believe him, they leave instructions that poor old Fess be kept confined so the story won't leak out. I always think of poor Fess in that sanitarium and I can only hope that after the giant ants are defeated someone remembered to call and get him released.


Fess Parker was one of my heroes. I'm sad to hear the news.

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