Lt. Robin Crusoe U.S.N. (1966)

A U.S. Navy pilot (Dick Van Dyke) ejects himself from his jet aircraft over the Pacific ocean during an emergency and eventually finds himself on a desert island. His only companion is a chimpanzee but it isn't long before he discovers the runaway daughter (Nancy Kwan, who deserves better than this) of a tribal chief (Akim Tamiroff). Directed by Byron Paul, this anemic Disney live action comedy must have seemed dated even in 1966. It might have worked in, say, 1943 with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour in the Van Dyke and Kwan roles and certainly, it would have been funnier and better written. The movie's rear projection shots are awful. Was Disney too cheap to fly the actors to an actual island location? The film's treatment of the indigenous Pacific islanders is embarrassingly stereotypical though it tries to redeem itself with a feminist angle when Van Dyke tells the native women they have rights and leads them into battle with the men. I definitely could have done without the chimp's antics which are supposed to be "cute". Am I the only one who's never found chimp antics fun? Even in the Tarzan movies, Cheetah bored me stiff. Anyway, if you're a fan of Van Dyke's mugging, you might be amused.