Western Weekends - Davy Crockett and the River Pirates

After Davy Crockett's success on TV and cinema, Disney were inspired to make a couple more episodes. Despite the fact that the series and the film ended with most of the characters getting killed at the Alamo and Davy making a last stand in what TV Tropes refers to as a "Bolivian Army Ending" (a reference to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Anyway, they decided to make a prequel consisting of two more episodes which also had a theatrical release in 1956 under the title Davy Crockett and the River Pirates. Unlike the first film, which loosely followed Crockett's life as a frontiersman and politician with a highly romanticised element, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates is entirely fictional. Even the opening theme song explicitly states this.

In the first story, Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race, Crockett and Russell are looking for a market to trade pelts and encounter a blowhard keelboat captain named Mike Fink. Not wanting to pay an extortionate sum for passage to New Orleans on Fink's boat, the pair try and acquire their own boat and crew. When Fink learns of this, he gets Russell drunk and tricks him into challenging him to a keelboat race to New Orleans. The rest of the story follows our heroes as they learn about boating and try to win the race while overcoming numerous obstacles and Fink's dirty tricks.

In the second story, Davy Crockett and the River Pirates, Crockett and Russell are abducted by Chickasaws who are preparing to go to war with the local settlers following a massacre. They deduce that a gang of river pirates have been masquerading as Native Americans, prompting reprisals from settlers. Hoping to avert a war, the pair team up with Fink and his crew to bring down the pirates.

Overall, the film isn't too bad. There are two decent adventures, and both Fess Parker and Buddy Ebsen continue to give off good performances as Crockett and Russell. However, the true star of the show is Jeff York as Mike Fink. He is delightfully over-the-top, and so fun to watch. Yes, he starts out as the antagonist, but he later becomes a staunch ally of Crockett, which means he can keep stealing the show. He's similar to Falstaff, with his bawdiness serving as a foil to the more upright Crockett.

While the miniseries is hard to find, both Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier and Davy Crockett and the River Pirates are available on Disney+. I think they're both worth a watch.