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Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964)
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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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01.21.10
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I love this movie. An exploratory spacecraft with two astronauts, Draper and McCready (Adam West) and a monkey onboard is in orbit around Mars when a planetoid is on a collision course. They avert it but get pulled into orbit. So one astronaut, Christopher Draper, takes a pod to the surface so the other can pull the ship back into space. After he does this he escapes in another pod.
Draper's pod is damaged in the landing, as is most of his reserve oxygen. He starts walking and encounters extremes in temperatures. The Martian air is breathable for short amounts of time, though he needs a booster from his oxygen supply every hour or so. He also finds shelter and a way to make fire. A certain type of rock burns--and he finds out a byproduct of this is that they emit oxygen so he's able to refill his tanks.
Although his captain is dead he does find the monkey, Mona, alive. She leads him to an underground supply of fresh water, which also have these edible tuber-like plants. He is even able to make clothing out of the tough material, which comes in handy later on.
His biggest surprise is that he sees another space ship, not from earth. They are mining something on the planet and are using slave-labor. He rescues one of the slaves, who he names Friday (Vic Lundin). At first Draper doesn't trust him and acts like an asshole towards his new companion, but over time they help each other and learn each other's language. But Friday has these bracelets on him which tell the aliens where he's at. While Draper tries to saw these off they flee and make their way to the martian canals. They make way to the polar ice caps, where there should be plenty of water and air.
Although this movie was made nearly half a century ago it holds up well over time and the effects, particularly of the Martian landscape and those alien ships, are very cool.
This is my favorite Robinson Crusoe movie. Recommended.
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Rating: 10.0 out of 10.0 - 2 votes cast total
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