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Rescue From Gilligan's Island (1978)

DVD Cover (Westlake Entertainment Reissue)
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Overall Rating 53%
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Connections: Gilligan's Island

When a decaying Russian satellite crashes on the island, the Professor uses a key component for a barometer. With that device, he learns that a massive wave is going to swamp the island. In desperation, the castaways lash their huts together into one structure in order to have any chance to ride the disaster out. --TMDb
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Review by Chad
Added: May 3, 2010
Who doesn't love Gilligan's Island? I think that just about everyone grew up with the show, either back when it was in syndication or in reruns, and it's just one of those shows that holds up decade after decade thanks to the lovable characters and - to a much lesser extent - the zany storylines that the writers came up with. Oddly enough, the show ran for just three seasons, and then poof... it was gone. There was no big finale and there was no grand send-off: the show was just finished.

Ten years later, it was decided that bringing the show back might be a good idea, so a couple of guys (including Sherwood Schwartz) came up with the idea of rebooting the show by way of a TV movie. The idea was that they'd reunite most of the old cast, put them back on that familiar island, throw down a monumental event to make this a must-see movie, and that would kick off at least another season or two of the show. It didn't quite work that way, but we did get a fairly enjoyable movie out of the deal.

I'm sure that everyone knows the basic concept that drove the television show along, but for the unfortunate children in the audience, it centered around seven people who go out on a three-hour boat tour, only to run into some extremely bad weather which leaves them shipwrecked on a remote island. In almost every episode, the castaways - bumbling deckhand Gilligan (Bob Denver), Skipper Jonas Grumby (Alan Hale Jr.), billionaire Thurston Howell III (Jim Backus) and his wife Lovey (Natalie Schafer), movie starlet Ginger (played by Judith Baldwin in this movie after original actress Tina Louise demanded too much money), farm girl Mary Ann (Dawn Wells), and the Professor (Russell Johnson) - would try to find a way to leave the island, and their attempts were usually thwarted thanks to a screw-up on Gilligan's part.

The movie starts out just like another episode of the show, with Gilligan discovering a strange metal disc in the lagoon that he brings back to the professor. Our scientist buddy reveals that the disc is made of an alloy that he has never seen before, and he immediately puts it to good use by building a barometer around it. This barometer reveals that a huge storm is headed their way, and said storm will be bringing a massive tsunami along with it. The castaways lash their crude huts together to ride out the storm, and they are eventually washed out to sea where they are discovered by the Coast Guard.

Yes, they have finally been rescued... but once they get back to civilization, they realize that a lot of things have changed in the fifteen years that they've been stranded on that island, and they start to think that they had it better there. As if the culture shock wasn't enough, we find out that that disc was created by the Soviets, who send a pair of bumbling henchman - Dimitri (Vincent Schiavelli) and Ivan (Art LaFleur) - to reclaim it from Gilligan, who now wears it as a necklace for good luck.

On the positive side, it was great to see the gang back together again. Those actors just have a natural chemistry with one another, and seeing them back on the island after ten years must have been a treat for those fans as it certainly put a smile on my face today. The storyline driving the movie wasn't exactly an example of stellar writing, but then, the show was never really about strong writing in the first place. It did seem a little "bigger" than the average episode, what with the castaways making it back to civilization, so the film did work in that regard even though the end result of this major twist did fall a little flat.

The main problem I had was the way that this big revelation was handled. You've got seven castaways who have been on an island for fifteen years, you've got a show that fans had enjoyed for four years, and there were countless ways that this could have been handled. What did we get? Not much, honestly. Skipper gets a letter from his insurance company telling him that he needs confirmation that the accident wasn't his fault from all of the other people who were aboard the ship, and that leads to him revisiting his former island buddies and discovering that they're not exactly happy with their new lives. Professor is being bombarded by requests for public appearances and has no time for his science research, Ginger discovers that the movie industry now focuses on nudity and profanity instead of good old-fashioned love stories, so on and so forth down the list. Save for the Russian henchman (the less said about them the better), that's really it for the story.

As for the acting, the originals were as good here as they were in the show - you can take that as you will. I'll freely admit that most of them aren't the best "legitimate" actors, but as mentioned, their chemistry together more than makes up for that. The only real bummer is that Tina Louise wouldn't reprise her role and was replaced with Judith Baldwin instead. Baldwin, to be polite, was downright horrible in her role. I understand that they couldn't get Louise, but they really should have found someone a little more talented to replace her as Baldwin just wasn't cutting it.

Overall, even though it has a handful of problems, Rescue from Gilligan's Island is a fairly enjoyable film for fans of the show. Bringing the cast back together and placing them in a familiar setting was really all that one needed to do to make an entertaining movie, and even though their return to civilization wasn't handled as well as I had hoped for, it still wasn't a horrible way to spend an afternoon. 7/10.
Nirrad #1: Nirrad - added May 3, 2010 at 9:57pm
I loved this as a kid. I remember TBS showing commercials for the movie and I couldn't wait to see it. Had it taped and everything. I would love to see it again, especially that recently I've been trying to get the seasons on DVD.
Ginose #2: Ginose - added May 3, 2010 at 10:43pm
I just watched this one a few months ago: Un-fucking-bearable.
I couldn't stand it, all the characters were re-animated corpses (in their execution) and it honestly felt like NONE of the actors wanted anything to do with this project. Not to mention I found it boring as hell. Love the series, as damn near everyone does, hated this to death.
1.9/10
Chad #3: Chad - added May 4, 2010 at 11:43am
it honestly felt like NONE of the actors wanted anything to do with this project
I totally did not feel that - with the exception of Ginger (as mentioned), everyone was on top of their game. You can fault the actors for their style of acting if you so choose, but doing that would be damning the original series as they were no better and no worse here.
Ginose #4: Ginose - added May 5, 2010 at 12:37am
Well, I agree to disagree.
With the ever-so slight exception of Bob Denver (I give his performance a "just barely"), none of he characters seemed to have any of the energy or charisma that they had in the series, particularly lacking in the Professor and Skipper, who I just felt bad for.
You COULD try to argue that this was all because of the characters inability to readjust ot the hardships brought on by their long-speration from society, but we'd both know that that had little to no impact on anything that takes place in this movie...
I just can't agree... I love the series too much to agree.
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