The townsfolk in Helena are in a desperate situation. The bank has been robbed; the sheriff has been shot.
And word has it that the pirates of the Mississippi aren’t done yet. They’re trying to stir up an Indian war and prod the Cheyenne into helping their mission.
James Lively, whose lover died at the hands of the pirates, reluctantly accepts the sheriff’s badge to help out, then deputizes old friend Tom Quincy (Brad Harris).
But he’s going to have his hands full because Capt. Alan Kelly (Horst Frank), leader of the pirates, has convinced the Cheyenne that their chief is being held captive on the river boat Van Buren.
In truth, he’s returning from a successful peace council in Washington. And the only reason Kelly wants an attack on the riverboat is because it’s carrying $40,000 in gold.
Meanwhile, spunky bartender’s daughter Evelyn (Sabine Sinjen) has taken a liking to the new sheriff and has no intention of being shipped off to New Orleans for safety’s sake by her guardian, Uncle Jonathan, the bar owner and mayor of Helena.
That said, her attempts to help the good sheriff merely make his job more complicated.
Hansjorg Felmy as Sheriff James Lively in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963).
Horst Frank as Capt. Allan Kelly with Evelyn (Sabine Sinjen) as his captive in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963).
Review:
Another of the German Westerns from the 1960s featuring a large cast, an implausible plot, but plenty of action.
In this one, the action includes an Indian attack on a grounded river boat and an assault on Helena by the pirates, disguised as cavalry troopers.
Tony Kendall plays Cheyenne Chief Black Eagle, who thinks his old friend Lively has betrayed him. Barbara Simon is his sister Wichita (Wic-hi-ta), who has a special way of dealing with white lovers who betray her.
The cast also includes Dorothee Parker as Georgia, sister to one of Kelly’s men. She’s willing to be used to distract Lively, until she learns the truth about her brother’s death.
Oh, and of course there’s a mastermind behind the pirates’ thievery. No one in Helena is quite sure who that is.
Tony Kendall as Black Eagle, the Cheyenne chief in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963).
Dan Vadis as Bud Blackfoot with Barbara Simon as Wichita in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963).
Directed by:
Jurgen Roland
as John Roland
Cast:
Hansjorg Felmy … Sheriff James Lively
Sabine Sinjen … Evelyn
Horst Frank … Capt. Alan Kelly
Brad Harris .. Tom Quincy
Dorothee Parker … Georgia
Karl Lieffen … Doc Monrove
Tony Kendall … Black Eagle
Luigi Batzella … Squire Dayton
as Paolo Solvay
Barbara Simon … Wichita
Jeannette Batti … Mrs. Bridelford
Dan Vadis … Bud Blackfood
Sona Jerin … Mary
Danilo Turk … Uncle Jonathan
Runtime: 101 min.
aka:
Die Flußpiraten vom Mississippi
Agguato sul grande fiume
River Pirates of the Mississippi
Music: Willy Mattes
Luigi Batzella (Paolo Solvay) as Squire Dayton in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
Brad Harris as Tom Quincey with Hansjorg Felmy as Sheriff James Lively in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
Memorable lines:
Capt. Kelly to one of his men: “Nice children believe in fairy tales, Saunders.”
Evelyn, after being scolded for firing a Winchester indoors: “Everything that might be amusing is forbidden. All because I’m still a little bit too young and I’ve grown up a little bit too fast.” Then she heads off to practice her skill with a pistol.
Horst Frank as Capt. Allan Kelly with Dorothee Parker as Georgia in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
Sabine Sinjen as Evelyn with Hanjorg Felmy as Sheriff James Lively in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
Blackfoot, one of Kelly’s men, of Helena: “Why don’t you burn it to the ground?”
Capt. Kelly: “I don’t need a pile of ashes, you fool. What I need is a port on the Mississippi.”
Georgia: “What I am to do, sheriff? I can’t leave my husband unburied in a region of savages. You can’t ask me to do that.”
Barbara Simon as Wichita with her dead father, Old Buffalo, in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
Horst Frank as Capt. Allan Kelly is about to turn on someone in Pirates of the Mississippi (1963)
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