L'île du maître

This is one of those films with an intriguing concept that is ruined by poor execution. "Man Friday" is a revisionist take on the classic novel "Robinson Crusoe" told from the point of view of the castaway Englishman Crusoe's (Peter O'Toole) native companion/servant Friday (Richard Roundtree). Adapted from a stage play, this is basically a two-hander carried by O'Toole and Roundtree's performances. The duo's evolving relationship is obviously a metaphor for racism, slavery, colonialism, and capitalism. That part of the film works well, with Crusoe's more "civilized" Christian and English ways revealed as irrational and unnatural. The problem is that the filmmakers add all sorts of other nonsense, perhaps to broaden the film's appeal. Friday often breaks into his "native" songs, but he sings the lyrics in English and the music sounds too contemporary. There is a comical talking parrot. Worst of all is a sequence where Crusoe and Friday try to escape from the island by inventing all sorts of silly flying machines, with accompanying sound effects borrowed from an old "Roadrunner" cartoon. There are also some plotting problems. Crusoe is not properly introduced and Friday goes from being terrified of Crusoe to amiably calling him "master" way too quickly. Since director Jack Gold can't decide if this is a serious drama or a musical-comedy-adventure, it doesn't succeed as either.

4 out of 10.

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.

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 wasn't expecting much when I decided to take a look at this underrated film, one of Peter O'Toole's forgotten works. Well, I think it's great. The ideological consistency of this reinterpretation is definitely more welcome than a "classic" adaptation of Defoe's novel.

What strikes me is the movie's relevance after all these years. It's amazing how little has changed from those days, when racism and slavery were widely accepted as "normality". I mean, the laws have changed of course, manners have improved - we live in the era of "political correctness" and all - but in terms of how we FEEL about the Other, nothing has changed, unfortunately. Robinson Crusoe is in fact the typical Englishman. This deep rooted idea of superiority still exists today, even if it doesn't manifest itself in the same ways."Man Friday" makes a powerful statement about human nature, about man's failure to communicate, to understand and respect others.

Various themes are explored, like religion, sexuality, freedom, xenophobia, capitalism, multiculturalism, moral relativism and so on. The movie succeeds in making some good points, sometimes with a great sense of humor, and sometimes with a tragic feel. Crusoe's relationship with Friday, its development and psychological implications are very interesting.

Peter O'Toole is splendid as the nasty and arrogant Englishman, while being sympathetic to some extent due to his human frailty. Not even those funny-looking furry boots and outfits can diminish his aristocratic elegance, and it's a pleasure to listen to his beautifully spoken phrase. O'Toole's Crusoe has the tragic aura of a Shakespearean hero, and this superb performance is the movie's highlight. Roundtree also does a very good job.

The absence of a remastered DVD transfer must be the only reason why "Man Friday" remains basically unknown, and that's a shame.

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.