[D-G] Friday and the other island
Sylvie Ruelle
sylvieruelle at earthlink.net
Mon Dec 13 02:09:59 PST 2004
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074849/
In terms of "savage, barbarians, civilized man": this film was
suggested to me from this group
I am unable to identify a link with Foucault's three same terms above,
nor with Deleuze.
The story however makes one wonder.
Very pythonesque, 28 July 2004
Author: edd ward (ejwward at yahoo.co.uk) from london
"A satellite view of the earth is the first camera shot of this film
then it plunges down to the island on which Crusoe (O'Toole) is
stranded.A quick and direct start to a film. Every now and again I
expected John Cleese to be playing a piano on the beach.There is a
scene when the two characters are on a podium after racing, it's
straight out of Monty Python. There is definitely something about this
film even though there are some cringe worthy singing scenes that, I
think are a little ludicrous.It delves into religion, class,education,
race, the idea of money and the general cultural relativism that exists
between the proverbial "savage" and "civilized" man. Although people
have said that Crusoe is the fool in this version, I do tend to see
some sense in the things he does, like the need for money in order to
keep a work ethic and a civilized notion of transaction of
possessions.However his religious spin on everything is a little
monotonous and self deceiving. He is put into context of his origin
when some Brithish missionaries arrive on the island.He is actually not
that bad a fellow at all.
Friday (Rountree)is a bit of a hippy in this really and overly
idealistic.
Some where in the middle of the two characters is the sort of person
you could live on a desert island with!
I thought Crusoe's shooting himself was a wonderfully dark ending.
Man Overboard!, 4 August 2003
Author: col_rutherford from Victoria, Canada
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.
Interesting though overlong subversion of the Daniel Defoe novel., 7
July 2003
Author: Jonathon Dabell (barnabyrudge at hotmail.com) from Wakefield,
England
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.
THURSDAY'S CHILD COMMENTS ABOUT FRIDAY'S CHIDING COMMENTARY, 4 July
2003
Author: Minerva Breanne Meybridge (minerva at thursdayschild.org) from
Santa Monica, California
I have not seen this in a long while, and it has not been released on
VHS or DVD, but I remember it as in intelligent spoof of Robinson
Crusoe. It is the same old story we all know, but it is told from the
perspective of Friday, who, if I recall correctly, narrates the tale
like a hip soul brother from the 1970's replete with a Jamaican accent.
"Broter, lemme tell ya, iss da story o dis dumb wite mon, who doan know
his ahs from a coconut grove."
That's not exactly what he said, but it is the gist of how things are
told. Friday, Richard Roundtree, who had just finished three movies and
one television series as Shaft, is a wealth of oneupsmanship over the
not too bright Crusoe, played superbly by Peter O'Toole.
This is a must watch and a keeper. Write ABC Entertainment. Tell them
to get it out on DVD. I think that one of the problems with this film
is that AVCO Embassy Pictures, which produced it with ABC, went out of
business years ago.
A choice film.
Might is not always right, 8 April 2001
Author: (lora5588 at hotmail.com) from Canada
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."
Ms. Sylvie Ruelle
http://home.earthlink.net/~sylvieruelle
rw_artette_lc at yahoo.com
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