Blue Hawaii

source: Blue Hawaii

Arguably the most successful of Elvis' movies. Chad Gates (Elvis) returns from the army to his beautiful hawaiian sweetheart (Joan Blackman). Angela Landsbury plays Chad's ditsy and domineering mother. She wants her son to take a position in his father's pineapple business. Chad decides to become a tourist guide. There is always time to party, sing and romance. The movie soundtrack still remains one of the biggest selling Presley albums. Fourteen songs featuring "Hawaiian Wedding Song", "Rock-a-Hula Baby" and the classic "Can't Help Falling In Love" support this light comedic musical.

A FUN PRESLEY FLICK From the opening title scene of one of the Hawaiian Islands to the end of this movie was just a nice relaxing fun film. Elvis Presley, playing Chad Gates, was a little wooden with his acting but I heard from a friend that the director just wanted Presley to play himself. Joan Blackman, playing Maile Duval, was just a lot of fun and a good actress. The scene where the motorcycle cop catches up to her on a highway in Hawaii and starts to bawl her out for speeding, like a number of times before, and then changes his mind when, his friend, Maile, tells him that her boyfriend is coming home from the Army, is charming. The motorcycle cop gives Maile an escort (including siren) to the airport to pick up Chad Gates. And when Chad Gates tries to make Maile jealous when Chad is getting off the plane, by kissing the stewardess, that was funny and charming. Another charming moment is when Chad and Maile are making out on the beach and a little Hawaiian boy comes up to them and asks them if he can play the game and when Chad tells the little boy he's too young, the little boy is persistent and asks Chad if he can play if he can get a little girl to play the game with him. My girlfriend especially likes the "music box" scene where Chad Gates, played by Elvis Presley, sings "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You" to Maile's grandmother. We own the DVD of Blue Hawaii and I use the scene selection to get to that scene and my girlfriend and I watch that chapter over and over again. Angela Landsbury, playing Chad Gate's mother is enjoyable and she's a good actress. Jennie Maxwell, playing Ellie Corbett was a thoroughly enjoyable over-sexed brat. My girlfriend always says, "What a brat!" when she sees Jennie Maxwell in this film. When Chad Gates gives Ellie Corbett a spanking on the beach at night, it's both funny and a little sexy, as far as I'm concerned. The spanking straightens Ellie out and she's more manageable the rest of the film. The scene where the teenage girls invade Chad Gate's room at night and drive him nuts and then, when the school teacher comes in and tries to get romantic with him, are hilarious! Since we purchased this DVD, my girlfriend and I have watched it a number of times and will watch it a lot more. We even took this DVD to the local hospital to let my girlfriend's mother watch it. My girlfriends mother just had major heart surgery and she has been to, and loves Hawaii and she's been to Graceland (Elvis' home). My girlfriend's mother, who is 82, was entranced by this movie and I'm sure it helped her recover from her operation. I'd rate this movie high because it's so enjoyable.

Out of the 3 films Elvis made which were set in Hawaii, this is far and away the best and ranks IMHO in the top 5 of all his films, second best in the 1960s behind only "Viva Las Vegas" which had the advantage of a better co-star. This film is a joy to watch, with lovely on-location photography and some of Elvis' better songs including his classic "Can't Help Falling in Love". The story is a sparse affair concerning Chad, a returned G.I. who wants to make his own way in life but whose overbearing mother (Angela Lansbury, great as usual) wants only to hear of him working in the family's pineapple business. Chad figures out a way to get a job with a tourist agency taking advantage of his knowledge of the islands, but a crisis involving one of his underage charges threatens to cut his new career short. The film itself is better than the average Elvis film, not so much because of any redeeming themes or ideas (i.e. "King Creole") but moreso because the script gives the characters witty dialog and the narrative exposition is just heavy enough to keep the audience interested without becoming absurdly dramatic. For example one line that always gets a laugh from an audience is when Chad is trying to convince the schoolteacher that he will be a good tour guide, and she asks him "Mr Gates, are you sure you can handle a teacher and 4 teenage girls?". Just the line itself gets a laugh. This movie has a lot of humor that works very well, it's not like you're sitting there saying "oh look at what Elvis is doing"; a lot of the comedy are situations that would be funny with any decent comedian. Here, as in just a few of his later films like "Follow that Dream", Elvis gets to show he has real ability and good timing for comedy. The narrative structure itself is fairly effective in terms of drawing the audience in -- always a tough job with a story that has so little action and drama. First we're presented with a fairly standard parents vs. kid dramatic story as described above, and then when we meet the tourists there is another important character, the teenage tease Ellie Corbett. She's a rich kid's daughter who feels unloved and is a bit of a JD if you know what I mean. She doesn't want to go see the pineapple farm, she doesn't want to learn to surf, and she doesn't want to attend a hookie-lau. The audience perhaps identifies with her in some sense, and the elements in the audience that want to resist the urge to enjoy this Hawaiian treat are overcome by way of Ms. Corbett's objections being gradually over-ruled. Also she represents a key in the narrative for Chad -- although she initially creates a romantic confusion between Chad and his girlfriend, eventually it's Chad's ability to reach out to her that proves his maturity and his ability at his job. This takes his character beyond the parent vs. child dichotomy and into the world of maturity, where we leave him.

Fairly weak outing for Elvis Presley, here playing a soldier returning home to Honolulu and fighting with his parents over the direction of his life (seems EP wants to be a guide for tourists, but his folks would rather have him go into the family business--pineapples!). Angela Lansbury, as Elvis' rock 'n-roll-hating mother, is always an asset but doesn't have much of a character to play; she's forgettable this time, as is Joan Blackman, one of Presley's dullest on-screen love-interests. The star himself looks bored, and most of his songs here are mediocre. Very popular in 1961, mostly with Presley-fans who were celebrating his own return from service, also with viewers who never got to Hawaii themselves. ** from ****

'Blue Hawaii' is one of those films which didn't really represent Elvis at his best; in fact, this one makes me cringe whenever I think about it. Yes - it does have some great songs; the title track, 'Can't Help Falling in Love With You' (does he really have to sing this to an old lady rather than his girl?), 'Aloha Oe', and 'Hawaiian Wedding Song'. It also has the awful 'Ito Eats'. Although Elvis himself is ok, Angela Lansbury is truly terrible as his mother - nowhere near old enough in real life - all that cooing for 'a bit of sugar for your momma'. Joan Blackman is the love interest - she's quite sparky and isn't a bad leading lady. Oh, and Jenny Maxwell (a tragic girl in real life who was shot dead in 1981) gets to play a stroppy student who gets spanked by Elvis. Seeing this movie once is probably enough. Save your money and see 'King Creole', 'Loving You', or 'Jailhouse Rock' instead.

There is something about Elvis in Hawaii that makes so much sense to me. The fact that several of his movies were made there is not surprising at all. I enjoyed this one very much - he has some great chemistry w/his co-stars and Angela Lansbury gets to overact as his possessive Mother. All in all, I liked the movie very much and who can resist hearing the King sing "Can't Help Falling in Love With You" on more time?

Elvis Presley was a hugely influential performer with one of the most distinctive singing voices of anybody. He embarked on a film career consisting of 33 films from 1956 to 1969, films that did well at the box-office but mostly panned critically (especially his later films) and while he was a highly charismatic performer he was never considered a great actor. While not one of the top three Elvis films, those being 'King Creole', 'Flaming Star' and 'Jailhouse Rock', 'Blue Hawaii' is one of his better overall films. It's proof that his early films were actually pretty good, but unfortunately it was one of his last good ones when the formula started here wore increasingly thin and further suffered from looking less appealing and even the quality of the soundtracks and Elvis' acting wavering significantly. 'Blue Hawaii' could have been better. The formulaic story has occasional draggy spots due to the content not quite being enough to sustain the running time. While most of the soundtrack is great, there is a big difference between the best songs and the weakest, with a couple of songs that don't feel necessary, feel thrown in for the sake of it and are neither catchy or beautiful, particularly "Ito Eats" and "Splicin' Sand". The supporting cast is variable, annoying Jenny Maxwell and dull John Archer coming off worst. However, Elvis looks natural and is very charismatic, as well as vocally and performance-wise being very much in prime. Personally thought Joan Blackman was appealing, likewise with her chemistry with Elvis, but Roland Winters and particularly Angela Lansbury fare best in support. Visually, 'Blue Hawaii' is one of the most beautiful-looking Elvis films, along with 'King Creole' and 'Flaming Star'. It's beautifully shot and Hawaii entrances more than it ever has on film. Norman Taurog directs assuredly in by far one of his better outings with Elvis (there were 9 and the first two, the other two being 'GI Blues', are the best). Most of the soundtrack is simply great, the highlight being the sublime "Can't Help Falling in Love", one of Elvis' most famous songs and it is impossible to not understand why. "No More", "Rock-a-Hula Baby", "Hawaiian Sunset" and "Hawaiian Wedding Song" are honourable mentions. The script is witty and there is enough of the story that amuses and charms. In conclusion, good Elvis film, one of his better ones without being among his very best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Elvis is a G.I. returning home to the Hawaiian islands after a 2 year stint in the service, but remains a kid at heart who doesn't want to grow up. His parents would love him to work a sensible job at his father's pineapple business (!) but all Presley wants to do is have a good time, so he becomes a tour guide (ho-hum). G.I. BLUES was fun and, when we consider all Presley's films in production order, it worked well as a romantic comedy on its own. But BLUE HAWAII was really the film that would take Elvis into a silly direction for most of his future movies in the '60s. He doesn't seem as interested as he was in previous roles, and now we also get a heaping helping of corny twangy throwaway Hawaiian songs from "the King", with embarrassing titles like "Ito Eats". One saving grace music-wise is his featured classic tune "Can't Help Falling in Love", but unfortunately it's an abbreviated version and is sung to an old lady. Angela Lansbury puts in a good effort as Presley's flighty mom, but it doesn't help matters any. I do, in fact, enjoy some of Elvis' later goofy 1960s fun flicks for what they are, but this one was just too standard and aimless. ** out of ****

Drama, as many of my college English instructors have said, is dependent on conflict, of which there are several types: conflict with society; conflict with another person; and conflict with oneself. In that case, is there a better example of drama than "Blue Hawaii"? Chad, played by Elvis Presley, has just been discharged from the army, but for him the war is only beginning. Like all Presley heroes, Chad wants his independence, to make it on his own. His parents, however, want him to go to work for his father's pineapple business. Chad is torn between the desire to honor his parents and to follow his own dream of freedom. He is also subjected to the wrath of society which demands that the individual suppress all notions of rebellion and toe the line. What is Chad to do? Can he forfeit his dreams of independence without also forfeiting his happiness? And can he spurn his parents' wishes without forsaking the love of his mother (Angela Lansbury)? It's all very intense. If not for the 12 toe-tapping tunes, watching "Blue Hawaii" would be an emotionally draining experience. (There are 14 songs in all, but the wonderful "Can't Help Falling in Love" and the title tune aren't toe-tappers.) Did you know that another of the songs, "Moonlight Swim," was first recorded by Anthony Perkins (who named one of his sons Elvis)? Go forth and spread the news! Brian W. Fairbanks