Yo, Viernes

Robinson Crusoe is an extremely important work of literature, being one of the very earliest novels ever written in the accepted "novel" form. However, it is also extraordinarily racist. To understand its racism, one has to consider the attitudes that prevailed at the time when the book was published. Were it written nowadays, it would probably be banned. Within its historical context, though, it is rightly hailed as a classic. The makers of this film have realised that there is a strong case to revise this essentially racist book, and have made encouragingly open-minded and thoughtful attempts to re-do the story for a multi-cultural audience.

Man Friday is a reasonably engrossing story of how Crusoe, shipwrecked for years on a barren desert island, befriends a savage and names him "Friday". As time goes by, Crusoe attempts to change Friday into a good, decent Christian, but is shown to be more irrational and ignorant than the supposed savage. In the end, Friday proves himself to have a far more wise, perceptive and knowledgable personality than Crusoe.

The film is hindered by a few mis-judgements. There was no need for the handful of songs that have somehow made it into the script. If those misplaced bouts of singing were removed, the end product would doubtless have been better. Also, the pacing is a bit erratic, and much time seems to be meaninglessly wasted over the course of the 115 minute duration. The point could've been made efficiently in 90 minutes, and audiences might have felt the moral of the story more sharply. However, all in all, this is a worthy film, well acted and thought-provoking throughout, and significant for its recognition that the source material needed to be revised.

I missed the start of this film on tv but managed to tune in to the story's events which appear to carry a strong social message based on prevalent ideas, prejudices and conflicts among people. It brings to mind the movie, Hawaii, in which the white man's ways and beliefs were supposed to transform the local inhabitants but as it turned out, the well-meaning visitors had much to learn from the island people's customs and beliefs. In a way it's a lesson for us all that we should respect cultural differences, customs and values. As the saying goes, There are many roads that lead to Rome. The episode of trying to spread their inventive wings and fly was great fun to watch and O'Toole's furry feet were a hilarious footnote to the scene. I regret some of the violence enacted but then those days were not always pleasant times. A happier ending would have been nice. On the other hand this film makes you stop and think. One can observe the conflict of intellect versus soul wisdom being played out. It's a film well worth seeing.

The late Richard Roundtree's last performance in 2024's "Thelma" motivated me to seek out this forgotten 1975 adventure dramedy directed by Jack Gold, a satirical take on Daniel Dafoe's "Robinson Crusoe". Actually the movie was based more specifically on a 1973 revisionist play by Adrian Mitchell who reinterpreted the classic tale from Friday's perspective with a then-contemporary mindset about civilization, race relations and genocide. It's as patently bizarre as it sounds, but Peter O'Toole and Roundtree inject a lot of brio into their predictably drawn roles. The always watchable O'Toole is particularly manic as Crusoe. Clearly in a move to diversify his career beyond Shaft, Roundtree is called on to say and do some humiliating things in his noble savage role wearing a loincloth for much of the film, but his commitment and natural charisma help overcome many of the plot holes like his immediate fluency in English and his defiantly off-key singing. There are scenes that will make you wince from over-the-top execution, but there are also entertaining moments like their athletic competition and one surprisingly provocative moment when Friday makes himself available to Crusoe out of sheer practicality. Filmed in Puerto Vallarta, the overlong film is visually rich but does sag from its methodical pacing.

Absent the Pandemic, this turns into a brilliant parody of post-George Floyd America and Anarcho-Capitalism. Meant to see it at age 32 and accidentally found it on YouTube, age 82. Yea, O'Toole's slightly hammy but not gratingly. I knew of Richard Roundtree only as the Blaxpolitation-era SHAFT.

Crusoe explaining money and wages to Friday might have been lifted from a Democratic Socialists of America introduction to Karl Marx's theory of indentured labor. The Hang Glider scene doesn't work and didn't then but otherwise MAN FRIDAY has aged itself into front page 2020 relevance.

This half-baked version of the brilliant novel "Robinson Crusoe," is ruined by shoddy production values, poor plotting and woeful dialogue. Peter O' Toole - one of the greatest actors of his generation - should have been offered a better film than "Man Friday." Richard Roundtree (a flash in the pan) was making poor film after poor film. There may be some good photography but that can only compensate for so much.