Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel, The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, has served as foundational text for countless adaptations across various media. This Italian-American co-production sexploitation comedy offers a unique take on the castaway narrative, prioritizing ribald humor and suggestive encounters as its main theme.
The film was written by US-based Sheldon Silverstein and Italian based Dick Randall, known for exploitation and genre films. The directors Ken Dixon, III and Fabio Piccioni (used pseudonym Guido Zurli) usually worked under aliases, which was not uncommon given the censorship and stigma of working on exploitation films. Shooting took place in European locales, including Corsica, Fogliano, Latina, in the Province of Latina, Italy (specifically around the lake and its borders), and at the Cascate di Monte Gelato in Mazzano Romano, near Rome, Italy.
The plot is light. The tagline is "shipwrecked on an island full of buxom amazons". Filmmakers in this genre frequently appropriated well-known literary works, historical figures, or popular myths. The established name recognition provided a degree of advanced marketability while the erotic adventures title promised light-hearted, risqué entertainment. The castaway premise serves as a backdrop for lots of nudity, mostly female breasts, and light sexual situations with overtly comedic interactions between Crusoe and the island's female inhabitants - and it delivers what is promised.
The cast are actors with varying degrees of recognition, blending performers known from American television with stalwarts of European genre and exploitation cinema.
Lawrence Casey as Robinson Crusoe.
Bruno Piergentili as Friday.
Eva Carson as Saturday.
Malisa Longo as Sunday (well-established in Italian genre cinema, appearing in numerous Gialli, Poliziotteschi, and other erotic filmmaker’s movies throughout the 1970s).
Eva Maria Gabriel as Monday.
Natasha Neal as Tuesday.
Barbara Lay as Wednesday.
Ulla La as Thursday.
Colette Descombes, Lina Romay (prominent Spanish actress, frequent collaborator of director Jess Franco), Paola Maiolini, Kim Ray, Alison Swaisland, and Patricia Herrera as Island Girls.
The technical aspects: The US release is typically listed at 78 minutes while an Italian version is noted as 82 minutes long. The 81-minute version is in 4:3 full screen and a shorter 70-minute cut is in 2.35:1 widescreen. The original theatrical aspect ratio is cited as 2.35 : 1 achieved through the TechniScope cinematographic process. TechniScope was a 35 mm film format that used a 2-perforation negative pull-down per frame instead of the standard 4-perforation. The use of TechniScope for this film aligns with the budget-conscious approaches typical of exploitation productions. Home video releases have also appeared in 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, reflecting transfers from different source materials. The Italian censorship visa #68699 was delivered on July 13, 1976.
The Erotic Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was released under several alternative titles. These include Never on Friday, Die Sex-Abenteuer des Robinson Crusoe, and Erotic Africa. It was referenced in the 2022 production The Worst Movies of All Time and the perceived "badness" is a badge of honor for sexploitation films.
