Hawaii (1966)

Simply Perfect

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Frustrating film that makes me hate Christianity! What a bunch of arrogant bastards! First of all I highly doubt very much of this film is truthful. I highly doubt the Hawaiians were this gullible! Second, these Hawaiian people were living happily for thousands of years and now you think you are better than them and want to convert them! I wish the people of Hawaii would fight and kill off these illegals alien intruders, or at least don't buy into their religions! As the character John WIppel says "you whites love Hawaii but despise it's people!" This so-called "religion" is just a rouse to steal the land, take the hot women, and pollute and ruin everything in their path!

I first saw this movie (in snatches) when I was about 10 years old. I was totally captivated by the love story, because I could really relate to Max Von Sydow's performance as the stern, lonely Puritan Minister Hale. I got his anguish, his conflicting feelings, and his total inability to share. When Mrs. Hale (a prim but fetching Julie Andrews) gives birth and he starts sobbing and admits that he loves her more than God, I felt it like a punch in the stomach.On the other hand, I couldn't help admiring the bold whaling captain played by Richard Harris too. When the minister falls in the water and the devilish whaler shouts, "shark! go get him, boy!" that really tickled my funny bone. I was ten years old, of course, but I totally understood what an amazing love triangle this was.Well, the other day I finally got this movie on videotape, and after nearly forty years I was really curious to see if it would live up to my memories. I have to admit that there are some very, very long dull patches in this movie. Richard Harris never really cuts loose. Julie Andrews keeps slipping away just when she most needs to shine! So much of the movie is like a costume party, or a drinking game. Guess which famous character actor will bop in next wearing whiskers and a frock coat? There's Lou Antonio -- he played Coco in Cool Hand Luke! There's John Cullum! There's Gene Hackman! There's Carroll O'Connor! All these guys have major, major stories that have nothing to do with Abner and Jerusha. And the love story totally gets lost for about two thirds of the movie.On the other hand, now that I'm grown up, I really appreciate what a classic American hero Abner Hale is, and how authentic Max Von Sydow makes him. You could teach a whole college course on American literature just with his influences! One moment he's Ahab, forging ahead with ruthless fury. Then he's Ephraim Cabot in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms, mixing Puritan rage with burning lust. Then he's the young doctor in Hawthorne's story The Birthmark, shutting out happiness and totally ignoring his angelic, suffering wife. And then at the very end (this is spoiler territory) he finally gets his act together -- and suddenly he's doing a letter-perfect Mr. Scrooge.It's amazing the way Hale's character evolves. When you watch him calling down God's wrath on the Hawaiians, it's almost dreamlike, like a silent film showing an Old Testament prophet. And you hate him so much. Yet at the end, when he *finally* gets how wise his wife really is, and how much she means to him, you want to stand up and cheer. And the fact that it's really too late only makes it more poignant.You can't really call this movie a masterpiece -- but it's much more than just another overblown dud.

Max von Sydow pops up in this story of missionaries who went to Hawaii in the 1820s. It is really the story of his wife, Jerusha, who pines away in the island paradise. Jerusha is played by Julie Andrews, whom I never really cared for, although she was highly regarded in the 1960s. Von Sydow took on a similar role in 1971 in The Emigrants, a film in which he again uproots his wife only to watch her disintegrate. A young Richard Harris is Jerusha's jilted lover. Themes are typical. We watch native Hawaiians suffer as a result of contact with Europeans. The film is a bit too long, but it is worthwhile. I rented it when I decided to go to Hawaii.

I was originally attracted to this film by the magnificent sets. I have always been fascinated by the islands of Hawaii, by their music, their women, their vegetation and would one day like to visit them ! Unfortunately, at present, that is a privilege reserved for very rich people ! I read and found most amusing and predictable some of the comments in IMDb about the film written by politically correct, holier-than-thou people, who are trying to pretend to be shocked by they way that missionaries from USA spread Christianity across the world, and of course making innumerable references to racism ! Of the Christian religion myself though far from devout, I have nothing but admiration for these missionaries who helped to spread our religion across the world in savage places and under conditions which cannot have been easy. Since time immemorial religions of all sorts have been spread across the world in this fashion, you have to show that your religion is better than the one already in place in order to convert the locals. So what's new. Obviously there are bound to be frictions and the film shows up this very well. But we see there were evil practices of incest and killing babies which the natives found normal but which Christianity tought them was wrong, fortunately !Von Sydow's character may come over as a little austere in some fields, but true religious talents sometimes require hard-headedness and not-always-popular stances. Julie Andrews comes across as milder and not so austere, but I question her religious integrity. She seems to put love for her husband more important than love for God which seems strange ( but will no doubt satisfy the anti-religion crowd !! )Away from the politics of the film, she music and shots are superb. I did find it a little overlong and the last half hour or so a little botched. I loved the performance of the Hawaian queen Malama, I thought she was superb !! The film has strenghthened my desire to know this people but unfortunately in Europe we don't see any of them. I suppose that the isolation of their islands precludes them from being able to travel easily.So all in all a reasonably good film. WHen I saw Dalton Trumbo ( subversive communist ) in the line-up, I did have some doubts prior to viewing but his views don't seem to have rubbed off too much on the film.