Robinson Crusoe is a 1997 American adventure survival drama film directed by Rod Hardy and George T. Miller, and starring Pierce Brosnan in the titular role, based on Daniel Defoe's 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe. Plot The film opens to a fictionalized Daniel Defoe being offered to read a castaway's autobiography. He grudgingly obliges and begins to get engrossed in the narrative. Robinson Crusoe (Pierce Brosnan) is a Scottish gentleman with experience in the Royal Navy and the British army. He accidentally kills his lifelong friend Patrick (Damian Lewis) in a duel over his childhood love Mary. Patrick's brothers arrive and threaten Crusoe, but his page manages to buy time for an escape. Fleeing back to Mary, Crusoe subsequently ends up leaving for a year so that Mary can attempt to smooth over relations with Patrick's family. Crusoe joins the merchant marine transporting assorted cargoes between ports in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic oceans. He chronicles the ship's journeys at the behest of the captain until a typhoon shipwrecks him near the coast of New Guinea. On his first day ashore on the island he buries other crew members who had washed up on the surrounding beaches. The next day he heads to the ship, which has beached itself on a reef. He salvages tools, supplies and weapons from the ship. Crusoe also frees the captain's corgi Skipper from a supply room. Crusoe begins to acclimate himself to the island while hoping for a passing European ship. One day a ship finally appears, but Crusoe notices it too late to be rescued. Crusoe resolves to acclimate himself to the island and moves inland, building a shelter and growing food. One day he hears ominous drums and human voices. Investigating the noises he finds a tribe from a nearby island making human sacrifices. After two prisoners have been sacrificed Crusoe intervenes by firing his weapon, which allows the third prisoner (played by William Takaku) to escape. Later he meets the escaped native and attempts to befriend him. Cultural and language barriers prevent him from communicating before they are attacked by a group of the tribesmen. He witnesses the native cut out the heart of a defeated enemy and calls him a savage heathen before fleeing to his shelter and preparing a defence. Days later Crusoe falls into a snare laid by the native. Crusoe communicates the danger and potency of his firearms