''Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N.'' is a 1966 American comedy film released and scripted by Walt Disney,Zibart, Eve : "Today in History Disney", Emmis Books, 2006, and starring

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

as a U.S. Navy pilot who becomes a

castaway A castaway is a person who is cast adrift or ashore. While the situation usually happens after a shipwreck, some people voluntarily stay behind on a deserted island, either to evade captors or the world in general. A person may also be left a ...

on a tropical island. Some filming took place in San Diego, while a majority of the film was shot on Kauai, Hawaii. The story was loosely based on

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

's classic 1719 novel '' Robinson Crusoe''. It was Walt Disney's idea to make the adaptation, and this is the only film in which he received a story credit (as "Retlaw Yensid", which is Walt's name spelled backwards).

Plot

While flying a routine mission for the U.S. Navy from his aircraft carrier, an emergency causes Lieutenant Robin "Rob" Crusoe (Van Dyke) to eject from his F-8 Crusader into the ocean. Crusoe drifts on the ocean in an emergency life raft for several days and nights until landing on an uninhabited island. He builds a shelter for himself, fashions new clothing out of available materials, and begins to scout the island, discovering an abandoned Japanese

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

from World War II. Scouring the submarine, Crusoe also discovers a NASA chimpanzee astronaut named Floyd, played by Dinky. Using tools and blueprints found in the submarine, Crusoe and Floyd construct a Japanese pavilion, a golf course, and a mail delivery system for sending bottles containing missives to his fiancee out to sea. Soon after, the castaway discovers that the island is not entirely uninhabited when he encounters a beautiful island girl ( Nancy Kwan), whom he names Wednesday. Wednesday recounts that due to her unwillingness to marry, her chieftain father, Tanamashuhi (

Akim Tamiroff Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff, russian: Аким Михайлович Тамиров (born Hovakim Tamiryants; October 29, 1899 – September 17, 1972) was an Armenian-American actor of film, stage, and television. One of the premier character act ...

), plans to

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

her and her sisters to Kaboona, an immense

effigy An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

on the island with whom he pretends to communicate. The day Tanamashu arrives on the island, Crusoe uses paraphernalia from the submarine to combat him, culminating in the destruction of the Kaboona statue. After the battle, Crusoe and Tanamashu make peace. But when Crusoe makes it known that he does not wish to marry Wednesday, he is forced to flee to avoid her wrath. Pursued by a mob of irate island women, he is spotted by a U.S. Navy helicopter and he and Floyd narrowly escape with their lives. Large crowds turn out for their arrival on an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

deck, but Floyd steals all the limelight.

Cast

as Lt. Robin Crusoe * Nancy Kwan as Wednesday *

as Tanamashu *

Arthur Malet Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

as Umbrella Man * Tyler McVey as Captain * Peter Renaday as Pilot * Peter Duryea as Co-Pilot * John Dennis as Crew Chief * Nancy Hsueh as Native Girl 1 * Victoria Young as Native Girl 2 * Yvonne Ribuca as Native Girl 3 * Bebe Louie as Native Girl 4 * Lucia Valero as Native Girl 5 * Richard Deacon as Survival Manual Narrator (voice only, uncredited)

Production

Cameraman Robert King Baggot (son of

King Baggott King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

) died of injuries received during the filming.

Release

''Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.'' had its world premiere on June 25, 1966. Because the U.S. Navy cooperated by allowing the producers to film on the

USS ''Kitty Hawk'', Walt Disney arranged a special world premiere aboard the ship in San Diego, simultaneously with the USS ''Constellation'' docked in the South China Sea. Disney regulars

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series, in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent ...

and

Annette Funicello Annette Joanne Funicello (October 22, 1942 – April 8, 2013) was an American actress and singer. Funicello began her professional career as a child performer at the age of twelve. She was one of the most popular Mouseketeers on the orig ...

were among those transported by air to San Diego for the premiere. The film began its theatrical run in Los Angeles four days later on June 29. It was paired with the live-action short ''Run, Appaloosa, Run!''

Home media

In 1986, the film had its first home video release on VHS. On April 12, 2005, it was released on DVD.

Reviews

Upon its initial release, critics gave it lukewarm reviews. However, likely because of Dick Van Dyke's popularity, the film proved to be a financial hit grossing over $22 million at the box office, earning $7.5 million in domestic theatrical rentals. It was re-released to theaters in 1974. Howard Thompson of '' The New York Times'' wrote, "It's neither funny nor new and the picture is recommended, with reservations, only for the very, very young and for television fans who think Mr. Van Dyke can do no wrong."Thompson, Howard (July 14, 1966). "Local Houses Offer a Disney Twin Bill". '' The New York Times''. 28. '' Variety'' called the film "one of Walt Disney's slighter entries. Intended as a wacky modern-day simulation of the Daniel Defoe classic, it might have borne up in reduced running-time but in its present far-overlength 115 minutes misses as sustained entertainment." Kevin Thomas of the '' Los Angeles Times'' wrote that "sophisticated parents might want to stay away," but Dick Van Dyke was "both ingratiating and funny" in the title role.

Richard L. Coe Richard Livingston Coe (New York City, November 8, 1914 – Washington, D.C., November 12, 1995) was a theater and cinema critic for The Washington Post for more than forty years. Coe became known as one of the most influential theater critics outsi ...

of '' The Washington Post'' called it a "cheerfully foolish comedy" and concluded, "For sheer comic ease ... Van Dyke is without peer and if 'Robin Crusoe' is no world shaker, it still has Van Dyke." TV Guide gave the movie 1 out of 5 stars, stating "Robinson Crusoe update is wholly contrived and not really creative." Leonard Maltin's home video guide gave it the lowest possible rating of BOMB and said it had "virtually nothing of merit to recommend."

References

External links

* * * * {{Robinson Crusoe 1966 films 1960s adventure comedy films American adventure comedy films Walt Disney Pictures films Films about castaways Films based on Robinson Crusoe Films shot in Hawaii Films shot in San Diego Military humor in film Films about the United States Navy Films set in Oceania Films set on islands Films produced by Walt Disney Films produced by Bill Walsh (producer) Films produced by Ron W. Miller 1966 comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films