The Hawaiians (1970)

Strong and Moving!

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I have not read the books, so I have no idea how true the movie is to them. I also haven't seen "Hawaii", to which this is apparently a stand-alone sequel, so I can't make any comparisons. I did live in Hawaii during high school, and had quite a few lessons in state and native Hawaiian history - much more than the writers had, apparently.The Chinese casting was very good, and mostly Chinese. Unfortunately there were few if any Hawaiians involved, except a few extras. Queen Liliuokalani, for example, is played by a Jewish woman doing an accent that could best be described as "aristocratic Italian". There's a couple of white women with impressive spray tans at different points in the movie, both playing mixed racial characters as far as I could tell. The wife of the main character is played by a very white woman, yet is supposed to be one-quarter Hawaiian.The native Hawaiian movement to keep Hawaii as an independent monarchy is illustrated by the insanity of the main character's wife. Her desire to get in touch with her roots is intermingled with her portrayed hysteria and tenuous grip on reality. The natives she lives among for a while are apparently just as nuts, since they never appear to notice that she's unhinged. There's a brief condemnation of exploitative white businessmen by the Queen, which is itself immediately undercut when she irately orders the execution of one. This seems to be aimed at dismissing the lingering modern opposition to the forceful overthrowing of the Hawaiian government by the US government.So the general impression is of successful white American businessmen building the future state, versus various savage ethnic groups engaging in violence and spreading disease. The Chinese woman and her son gain some success and respect by embracing the American way, starting a business, and going to law school. And even that success is marred by the Chinese businesswoman promising to overcome by out-breeding the whites.The acting and scenery were excellent, but this movie is a eurocentric relic which should stayed buried.

I'm sure that what attracted Charlton Heston to sign on for The Hawaiians was the fact he'd be working with director Tom Gries with whom he had done Will Penny and Number One. Will Penny was Heston's favorite film. The Hawaiians would mark the third and final joint project the two men worked on.Heston plays the grandson of that New England sea captain Richard Harris from the film Hawaii and the James Michener book it is based on. He's every bit the hell raiser that grandfather was, but has an eye for business and does have a vision for Hawaii. Of course it's not the same vision as the native Hawaiians had or the same vision that Chinese and Japanese immigrants have. That in a nutshell is the history of Hawaii.The rest of the white characters are descendants from the characters in the first film. The added component are the characters of Mako and Tina Chen who immigrate to Hawaii from China and found a small dynasty of their own. Their story and that of Heston and his family entwine over several decades.One thing I will say about The Hawaiians that is most admirable. The Asian and Pacific Islander characters you see here are portrayed as three dimensional and with dignity. No fortune cookie stereotypes are to be found in The Hawaiians. I've always been of the opinion that you cannot make a bad film about Hawaii because the scenery is so beautiful. The Hawaiians is no exception and the film did get an Oscar nomination for costume design.Tina Chen does a remarkable job as the matriarchal head of her family after Mako dies of leprosy on the island of Molokai. In a patriarchal culture that was by no means an easy thing. Her performance is the best acting in The Hawaiians.The Hawaiians has an Edna Ferber like sweep in its plot and its subject. It's also sticking close to the facts in terms of Hawaiian history, a very worthy film to see.

This film today, is quite forgotten because it never turns up on TV and is not widely available on video, and certainly not yet on DVD. Tis is a great pity as THE HAWAIIANS is an excellent and interesting stand alone sequel to the whopper epic of 1966 HAWAII - which was a 70mm release with Julie Andrews and Max Von Sydow (and even Bette Milder in a crowd scene). James Mitchener and his tales of the south seas books presented film makers with many opportunities for grand and spectacular South Pacific extravaganza dramas and even one enchanted musical. THE HAWAIIANS is basically the story of how Charlton Heston started the pineapple industry in Hawaii, with the help of hard working clever Chinese peasants, some of whom were brought into the plantation household for love and 'marriage' and even unfortunately, a spot of leprosy. While that might sound trite, and I am not making fun of it, it allows for 'ordinary' people to feature center screen in an epic way. Because this film is not about "major Euro characters" like in the first film, THE HAWAIIANS unjustly has been derailed and forgotten. But it is actually more interesting because it is about someone else other than religious zealots smashing idols and their sexually repressed wives ripping the corset off to run barefoot down the beach with the native teenagers.. So if you wish to see a truly glorious epic film about the people who actually did something to and for Hawaii (whether it ultimately good or bad) THE HAWAIIANS lives up to its title showcasing the real hard working people who lived and loved in Hawaii a century ago. I had the unforgettable experience of seeing both HAWAII and THE HAWAIIANS back to back as a double feature (7pm-midnight) in a Sydney Suburban cinema one freezing winter night lashed by a monster cyclonic thunderstorm. Here we were rugged to the chin in woolly everything straining to hear the soundtrack over the crashing din of the rain on the theater's enormous tin roof whilst looking at a spectacular cinema-scope vista of tropical sunny island drama. About an hour into the first film, the plaster ceiling sprang several serious leaks and a very grimy waterfall left of screen that was washing 55 years of dirt from above the curtains. The tubby manager and the broom kid were heard scurrying into the ceiling with empty tin ice cream bins. With hissed directions from Mr Tubby, the kid was clomping about on the beams, creaking and thudding, placing empty tins under the drizzle from the roof above. That plugged the leaks but instead started a hilarious symphony of 'pling' and 'plong' and 'plish' and 'klading' and 'sklosh' as the huge raindrops fell into the empty bins and began to fill them. It sounded like when somebody plays "eidelweiss' using a dozen glasses of water of varying amounts. This began to cause the entire audience of a dozen of us to laugh and look about. Suddenly something crashed and splashed from behind the screen as the kid went straight through a part of the ceiling long unseen. A massive puddle gushed from under the masking, across the stage to the footlights and waterfall-ed straight into the front aisle. The kid made his way out from behind the screen cringing, wet and meekly looking about. The audience erupted into rapturous applause. The kid took a bow and slipped straight offstage onto the soggy carpet and out of sight. What a night! Value and extras like that never happen in multiplexes today. Anyway, after we survived HAWAII, we all got a free hot chocolate, congratulated the manager and wet kid, and went back in, storm raging still, buckets sploshing away , ceiling straining, and let THE HAWAIIANS transport us to another world in another (warmer) age. Such was the professional cinematic expertise of this very good sequel. I have never looked at a pineapple in the same way ever again.

The Hawaiians was made from the middle third of Michener's novel Hawaii. Compared to the Julie Andrews - Max von Sydow movie Hawaii, made from the first third of the book, The Hawaiians is unpretentious, lowbrow, but much more entertaining. The plot of The Hawaiians revolves around two stories -- the rise to political and commercial power of second generation American immigrants, and the arrival in Hawaii of Chinese and Japanese immigrants.The story of the American immigrants' rise to power follows the life of Whip Hoxworth, played by Charlton Heston. He gains wealth by establishing the first pinepple plantation in Hawaii, then participates in the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy, which led to the islands becoming an American territory.The story of Chinese and Japanese immigration to Hawaii is told through the life of Char Nyuk Tsin, played by Tina Chen. She becomes the second wife of fellow immigrant Kee Mun Kee, who fails at almost everything he does. But through hard work and perseverence, Char Nyuk Tsin prospers and creates a better life for her children.This is not highbrow cinema. The acting is second rate, the script is second rate, everything about it is second rate. For example, the attempts by the Chinese-American actors to speak Chinese is almost laughable. They speak Mandarin with atrocious accents, even though the characters are supposed to be speaking either Hakka or Cantonese. But it doesn't really matter. This is the sort of movie to watch when you don't want to have to think hard. It's an enjoyable no-brainer, a pleasant diversion while eating popcorn.The Hawaiians enjoys a footnote in the history of the MPAA's movie rating system. When it came out in 1970, it earned a PG rating, despite having two scenes of female nudity. Japanese immigrant farm workers are shown enjoying a traditional communal bath, and one attractive young woman is shown topless for a short time. This created a mild controversy at the time, although the scene is about as sexy as a National Geographic pictorial.I have not been able to find The Hawaiians on tape or DVD. If anyone in the business can get it released, please do!