Best movies like Man Friday
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Englishman Robinson Crusoe, stranded alone on an island for years, is overjoyed to find a fellow man, a black islander whom he names Friday. But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of his own heritage and upbringing and is incapable of seeing Friday as anything other than a savage who needs Crusoe's brand of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday attempts to share his own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can never see him as anything but an inferior being. With that awareness, Friday sets out to turn the tables on Crusoe.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 115 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, captivating, realistic, biting, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like Man Friday (1975):
Similar in 85%
Lt. Robin Crusoe, U.S.N. (1966)
Plot Summary:
Lt. Robin Crusoe is a navy pilot who bails out of his plane after engine trouble. He reaches a deserted island paradise where he builds a house and begins to adjust to life. He is in for trouble however when a local girl is banished to the island by her father, who then comes after Crusoe.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: independent film, feel good, humorous, semi serious
Similar in 89%
Master of Dragonard Hill (1987)
Plot Summary:
In the 18th-century British Caribbean colony of St. Joseph's, decadent and hedonistic aristocrats rule with an iron fist and terrorize slaves and suspected criminals with a painful whip called the "dragonard.".
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 356
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 93 min
Plot tags: grindhouse, independent film, exciting, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, period drama
Similar in 82%
Welcome to the Jungle (2013)
Plot Summary:
A company retreat on a tropical island goes terribly awry.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Country: Puerto Rico, USA, UK
Duration: 95 min
Plot tags: not serious, humorous, witty, feel good, perverse, cult classic, offbeat, realistic, independent film, parody
Similar in 82%
Mr. Robinson (1976)
Plot Summary:
Robbie is a rich and wealthy man who is married to a woman called Magda. One day, they decide to go on holiday. Magda suggests via ferry, despite the fact that Robbie HATES sea travel. He suggests via airplane, but Magda has a fear of heights. During a routine emergency training exercise, Robbie accidentally takes it seriously. That night, a genuine emergency arises, but Robbie thinks it's just a drill. This foolish act leaves Magda no option but to leave the ship alone, making Robbie the only person aboard the ship when it sinks. Upon waking up, Robbie thinks everything is normal, but he soon discovers he is the one remaining person on board the entire ship, which is now at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. He escapes and arrives on a desert island, forced to live á la "Robinson Crusoe". Robbie must now survive until.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Romance
Country: Italy
Duration: 107 min
Plot tags: funny, humorous, light, entertaining
Similar in 77%
Miss Cast Away (2004)
Plot Summary:
A plane carrying beauty contestants crash lands on a deserted island. Captain Maximus Powers (Roberts) and co-pilot Mike Saunders (Schlatter) have to take care of their passengers, while avoiding the dangers of Jurassic Pork (a giant prehistoric pig) and a group of apes busy trying to relaunch Noah's Ark.
IMDB Rating: 2.2
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: parody, humorous, not serious, entertaining, captivating, grindhouse, offbeat, independent film
Similar in 77%
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1964)
Plot Summary:
Shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, Robinson Crusoe fills his time in either building a shelter for himself, or by reminiscing about the years he spent at sea and the adventures that led him to where he is. The months roll by and the hardships become easier, especially with his herd of wild goats, the ship's dog and a friendly parrot to keep him company. But one day he comes across a strange footprint - friend or foe?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 332
Genere: Adventure
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 85 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
Crusoe (2008)
Plot Summary:
Crusoe is a television adventure drama based loosely on the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. The series' 13 episodes aired on NBC during the first half of the 2008–2009 television season. It follows the adventures of Robinson Crusoe: a man who has been shipwrecked on an island for six years and is desperate to return home to his wife and children. His lone companion is Friday, a native whom Crusoe rescued and taught English.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA, UK, Canada, South Africa
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, baroque
Similar in 80%
Charlie's Country (2013)
Plot Summary:
Blackfella Charlie is getting older, and he's out of sorts. The intervention is making life more difficult on his remote community, what with the proper policing of whitefella laws that don't generally make much sense, and Charlie's kin and ken seeming more interested in going along with things than doing anything about it. So Charlie takes off, to live the old way, but in doing so sets off a chain of events in his life that has him return to his community chastened, and somewhat the wiser.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Australia
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: semi autobiographical, atmospheric, thought provoking, realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, political, anthropological, gloomy
Similar in 75%
Robinson Crusoe (2003)
Plot Summary:
The classical story of Robinson Crusoe, a man who is dragged to a desert island after a shipwreck.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: France, Canada, UK
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: humorous, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
Anything to Survive (1990)
Plot Summary:
A father and his children are caught by a storm whilst sailing in Alaska. When they get shipwrecked, things go from bad to worse.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 399
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: realistic, semi serious
Similar in 90%
Call of the Wild (1992)
Plot Summary:
A young boy heads off to the Yukon after hearing tales about the Gold Rush, and he forms an unwavering friendship with a heroic Alsatian dog called Buck.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 422
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic
Similar in 77%
Stranded (2002)
Plot Summary:
A retelling of the classic Swiss Family Robinson story.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 833
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: exciting, atmospheric, serious, captivating, period drama
Similar in 82%
The Aviator (1985)
Plot Summary:
A 1920s mail pilot and a rich man's daughter crash-land on a mountain full of hungry wolves.
IMDB Rating: 5.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: melancholic, inspirational, serious, realistic, clever, feel good, unusual plot structure, humorous, visually appealing, weird
Similar in 87%
Swept Away (1974)
Plot Summary:
Stranded and alone on a desert island during a cruise, a spoiled rich woman and a deckhand fall in love and make a date to reunite after their rescue. He is stood up.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Country: Italy
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: melancholic, harsh, talky, humorous, realistic, captivating, semi serious, sexy, biting, sexual
Similar in 88%
Only Decent People (2012)
Plot Summary:
David Samuels is from an intellectual Jewish family from the posh Amsterdam Old South, where he is often mistaken as Moroccan because of his dark hair. David is a remarkable man on a mission: to find a ghetto fabulous queen with great tits and thick buttocks. His parents and friends declare him mad, but David continues unabated. His search leads him to the Bijlmer, where, after some wild adventures he is left disappointed. Will David ever find his ideal woman - a large, dark sex goddess with booty and brains?.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Netherlands
Duration: 86 min
Plot tags: semi serious, humorous, realistic, melancholic, light, captivating, controversial, sex comedy
Similar in 90%
James' Journey to Jerusalem (2003)
Plot Summary:
During his journey to Jerusalem young James learns the meaning of being Israeli.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 593
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: thought provoking, humorous, realistic, semi serious, clever, contemplative, biting, suspense
Similar in 89%
Castaway (1986)
Plot Summary:
Middle-aged Gerald Kingsland advertises in a London paper for a female companion to spend a year with him on a desert island. The young Lucy Irving takes a chance on contacting him and after a couple of meetings they decide to go ahead. Once on the island things prove a lot less idyllic than in the movies, and gradually it becomes clear that it is Lucy who has the desire and the strength to try and see the year through.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 117 min
Plot tags: emotional, scenic, sexy, realistic, retro, grindhouse, atmospheric, serious, surprise ending, melancholic
Similar in 76%
Return to the Blue Lagoon (1991)
Plot Summary:
In this sequel to the 1980 classic, two children are stranded on a beautiful island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together and eventually become tanned teenagers in love.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 21000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: melancholic, realistic, serious, erotic, teen, romantic, sexy, feel good, sensual, sexual
Similar in 79%
Crusoe (1988)
Plot Summary:
Robinson Crusoe is shipwrecked and he finds himself all alone on a tropical island. With a few tools he manages to rescue from the wreck he has to learn to support himself until help arrives.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: independent film, sincere, atmospheric, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 81%
The Whale (2013)
Plot Summary:
Dramatic retelling of the fateful last voyage of the Nantucket whaleship Essex. When the Essex is attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in November 1820, her crew take to three fragile whalers. Alone in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the men must decide whether to head for the nearest islands - a thousand miles downwind to the west - or set out on an epic journey of almost three thousand miles to reach the South American mainland. Fear of cannibals forces them to choose South America. Almost three months later, the first whaler is rescued by another whaleship. Only three men are still alive. A week later the captain's whaler is also rescued, with just two men aboard. The third whaler is never found. This is a story of human endurance and what men in extremis will do to survive.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 531
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, suspense, scenic, intense, factual, realistic, stylized
Similar in 84%
The Old Man (2012)
Plot Summary:
This is a survival story - a Hemingway's 'Old Man and the Sea' as if written for our days.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 774
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Kazakhstan
Duration: 102 min
Plot tags: realistic, atmospheric, serious, captivating, suspense, psychological, tense
Similar in 81%
To Brave Alaska (1996)
Plot Summary:
A young couple and their dog struggle to survive in Alaska.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 588
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: uplifting, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, gloomy
Similar in 78%
Wolf Totem (2015)
Plot Summary:
In 1969, a young Beijing student, Chen Zhen, is sent to live among the nomadic herdsmen of Inner Mongolia. Caught between the advance of civilization from the south and the nomads' traditional enemies - the marauding wolves - to the north; humans and animals, residents and invaders alike, struggle to find their true place in the world.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: China, France
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: exciting, touching, captivating, serious, realistic, suspenseful, stylized, thought provoking, dramatic, historical drama
Similar in 76%
Robinson Crusoe (1997)
Plot Summary:
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, psychotronic, independent film, freeze frame, baroque
Similar in 81%
Follow the River (1995)
Plot Summary:
Mary Ingles is pregnant when she and her two sons are captured from their homestead in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains by Shawnee Indians. Her husband, Will, narrowly escapes death during the attack. Impressed by her grace under the pressure of captivity, Wildcat, the Shawnee chief, confers special privileges on Mary and her children, eventually proposing that Mary become his mate. Surprised by her attraction to the handsome brave, Mary nonetheless opts to remain faithful to Will and engineers a plan for her escape. Separated from her children, Mary joins another female settler, and together they embark on a harrowing homeward trek. Her odyssey comes full circle more than a decade later when she is finally reunited with her long-lost children.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 494
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 91 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, realistic, suspenseful, epic
Similar in 85%
Lord of the Flies (1990)
Plot Summary:
Stranded on an island, a group of schoolboys degenerate into savagery.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: psychological, rough, captivating, brutal, scenic, depressing, apocalyptic, psychological thriller, touching, epic
Similar in 89%
Flight 29 Down (2005)
Plot Summary:
Flight 29 Down is a television series about a group of teenagers who are stranded on an island. It was produced by Discovery Kids. The show was created by Stan Rogow and D. J. MacHale. The executive producers are Rogow, MacHale, Shauna Shapiro Jackson, and Gina & Rann Watumull. The first two seasons aired on Discovery Kids. The "third season" of the series, which started filming February 5, 2007, was produced as a four-part film, instead of the episodic format of the first two seasons. A promo debuted for Flight 29 Down: The Movie during the second season finale. The show was filmed in O'ahu, Hawaii.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 21 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, entertaining
Similar in 82%
Lord of the Flies (1963)
Plot Summary:
Amidst a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of schoolboys crash lands on a deserted island. With no adult survivors, the boys are forced to fend for themselves. At first they cooperate, but when the they split into two separate camps -- one led by the pragmatic Ralph and the other by militaristic Jack -- their society falls into disarray, leading to a disturbing examination of human nature and a chilling conclusion.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, disturbing, black and white, atmospheric, rough, thought provoking, stylized, bleak, psychological thriller, philosophical
Similar in 90%
Courage (2009)
Plot Summary:
Jason Priestley (TV's "Beverly Hills, 90210") and Andrea Roth star in this inspirational adventure story about courage, love and the power of family. Aspiring author Robert (Priestly) organizes a quick getaway with his wife and daughter designed to rebuild their estranged relationship with his daughter, but when a powerful storm hits they are forced to make a crash landing on the ominously named Bear Island. With Robert seriously injured and no way to reach the mainland, the three castaways find that they must rely on their faith -- and each other -- to survive the ordeal.
IMDB Rating: 4.7
IMDB Votes: 284
Genere: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 96 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, realistic, captivating, suspenseful
Similar in 87%
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
Plot Summary:
A cargo plane goes down in a sandstorm in the Sahara with less than a dozen men on board. One of the passengers is an airplane designer who comes up with the idea of ripping off the undamaged wing and using it as the basis for an airplane they will build to escape before their food and water run out.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: suspense, harsh, serious, captivating, exciting, bleak, suspenseful, psychological, retro, action adventure