Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.

Infobox Film
name = Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N.


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director = Byron Paul
producer = Ron W. Miller
Bill Walsh
Walt Disney (uncredited)
writer = Daniel Defoe (novel)
Walt Disney (story)
Don DaGradi
Bill Walsh
narrator =
starring = Dick Van Dyke
Nancy Kwan
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor =
released = July 29, 1966
runtime =
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
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website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0060640

"Lt. Robin Crusoe USN" is a 1966 comedy film released and scripted by Walt DisneyZibart, Eve : "Today in History Disney", Emmis Books, 2006, ISBN 1-578060-276-9] . The film stars Dick Van Dyke as a U.S. Navy pilot who becomes a castaway on a tropical island.

The film was based on Daniel Defoe's classic novel "Robinson Crusoe". The US Navy cooperated in the film by allowing the producers to film on the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63). Walt Disney arranged the world premiere of the film to be shown on the ship to its crew. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060640/usercomments]

Plot Summary

While flying a routine mission for the U.S. Navy, Lieutenant Robin Crusoe is alarmed to see the fire warning light illuminate in his cockpit. He ejects from his F-8 Crusader jet fighter and parachutes into the ocean.

For several days and nights, Crusoe drifts on the ocean in an emergency life raft. Enduring shark attacks, loss of his provisions, and dehydration, he awakes to find that his raft has beached on a desert island.

Crusoe builds a shelter for himself, fashions new clothing out of available materials, and begins to scout the island, whereupon discovers an abandoned Japanese submarine that has been beached. Scouring the submarine, Crusoe finds much needed provisions along with an array of incendiary devices, tools, and bric-a-brac. Traveling deeper into the sub, he discovers an astrochimp living in the captain's quarters. Stamped on the chimp's pants is the name "Floyd".

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 notes out to sea.

Examining a footprint in a sand trap of the new golf course, Crusoe suspects that they are not alone on the island. Soon after, Crusoe encounters a beautiful island girl, played by Nancy Kwan, whom he names Wednesday. Wednesday recounts that due her unwillingness to marry the man her chieftain father, Tanamashu, has chosen for her, Tanamashu plans to human sacrifice her and her sisters to the island's immense effigy, Kaboona, who Tanamashu pretends to communicate with.

Coerced into helping the bevy of beautiful island women, Crusoe attempts to drilling the women for combat and makes preparations inside of the Kaboona idol.

On the day Tanamashu arrives to the island, Crusoe hides inside Kaboona and using a sound system he has rigged up, denounces Tanamashu in a booming voice. Spraying Tanamashu and his warriors with a fire extinguisher, a flame thrower and a water hose from out of the idol's mouth, Tanamashu and his men cower in fear. But when Floyd turns on the water pressure too high, the pressure pushes Crusoe out of the statue and he is exposed.

Eventually, after a whole series of slapstick humour, Crusoe and Tanamashu made peace and sat together at a banquet. Just when it was hinted that Crusoe would be married to Wednesday, he was "rescued" by the Navy, but Floyd stole all the limelight.

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The story was scripted by Walter Disney under the pseudonym "Retlaw Yensid", which is his name spelled backwards.

External links

*imdb title|0060640

Notes