Robinson Crusoe on Mars

Pros: Adam West is not the star
Cons: Well, actually, Adam West in the lead mighta made it SO bad it was good....

The things I sit through for you people. I have to tell you now, you all owe me on this one big time. Robinson Crusoe on Mars is slow, boring, and so incredibly stupid I had to force myself to sit through to the end. This is about an astronaut ...

Pros: Good script and capable cast
Cons: Not a whole lot of basis in facts now is there

One of the more obscure science fiction films to come out of that genre’s heyday in the 1960s was this interesting little film, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s classic story about a man deserted on an island who learns to fend for himself to survive. In...

Pros: Interesting concept, good imagination, good cinematography
Cons: It's nothing earth shattering

Robinson Crusoe on Mars is not the kind of movie that classics are made from. It's like a big screen version of a 1960's Star Trek episode if for only slightly more expensive production values than your average William Shatner episode. Star Wars this is ...

Pros: Eerie effects, beautiful production, engrossing story.
Cons: Despite attempts at scientific accuracy, the film is marred by outlandish premises.

The New York Times describes it as "charming" and American Movie Channel opined that it might have influenced Stanley Kubrick's four years younger and monumental "2001: A Space Odyssey". It is reported that director Byron Haskin re-wrote the script in...

Pros: Well done and innovative for it's time.
Cons: Somewhat out-dated by science

This is a retelling of Daniel Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe" with a fantasy twist, complete with monkey (played by "Barney") and a "Man Friday", who is an alien and a runaway slave. The location scenes were shot in Death Valley,...

Pros: Intelligent, thoughtful, movie.
Cons: Will bore people who want action and violence.

"Robinson Crusoe On Mars" is an interesting movie; I'm sorry if that sounds like a lame comment, but that's the only adjective that fits. Of course, "interesting" can mean many things, but "interesting" for this movie...

Pros: Good story and Mars landscapes. EERIE!
Cons: Screams for pre-quel or sequel !!!

I re-lived this movie many times as a young child with Dad's old motorcycle helmet underneath the swing set playing Cmdr. Christopher "Kit" Draper,(with my dog filling in for the monkey role.) Alone on a alien world trying to fine the...

Pros: Fairly realistic sets and situations. Good acting by Paul Mantee.
Cons: Hard to find DVD.

I've probably seen this movie on TV 20 times, yet each time it plays on TV, I still make sure to set a reminder to watch it again. Sure, its not full of all the high-tech stuff you see in today's movies, but that's one of the things I like most about it. In many ways, its an honest, what-if? movie. The Death Valley scenery looks much like I would expect another planet to look. The survivors (Crusoe and a small monkey) battle the usual unfamiliar air, thirst and hunger. Crusoe also battles loneliness, one aspect of space travel that few sci-fi movies touch on. An escaped slave from an alien mine finds Crusoe. Their relationship moves from mistrust, to reliance, and then into friendship.

I'm still hoping to find a DVD or VHS of this movie, so if anyone knows where I could find one, pass the word, ok?