I always like to watch movies about the places where I am living. When I was living in Colorado, I watched [easyazon_link identifier=”B005QG2DGC” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Red Dawn[/easyazon_link], [easyazon_link identifier=”B0015NORDW” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Wargames[/easyazon_link], and [easyazon_link identifier=”B008ROFI4Y” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Dumb and Dumber[/easyazon_link], which of course give you a sense of the history of the place. Since moving to Hawaii I have watched [easyazon_link identifier=”B004LB5FDQ” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]The Hawaiians[/easyazon_link], [easyazon_link identifier=”B001BZ93TM” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]From Here to Eternity[/easyazon_link], and I just added to my list Blue Hawaii (also one of my favorite cocktails).
Blue Hawaii stars Elvis Presley as Chad who has just returned to his Hawaiian home after doing his military stint overseas. Chad wants to live fancy free and enjoy the natural treasures of Hawaii, but his pineapple magnet father wants him to take o
ver the family business. Chad has other ideas and with the help of his girlfriend Miley and a convertible full of vacationing ladies, he is determined to make is dreams come true. As you can imagine, wackiness ensues!
The movie is trite and filled with seemingly light-hearted sexist and racist comments, as well as other unintentional social faux pas that you should expect to be in a romantic comedy that wasn’t crafted to be seen with modern eyes. I did have the thought, ”did women really have to put up with this kind of behavior as a social norm ?” The technicolor looked spectacular on the big screen and my young daughter enjoyed the dance/song numbers throughout the film. Angela Lansbury plays Chad’s mother and I was left with the thought that she has been an old lady her entire life! I was introduced to her through Murder She Wrote, but even in the early 60s she looked old.
It was cool seeing places that we frequent today as they were in 1961. Chad lives at Hanauma Bay, which you most likely visited if you have been to Hawaii. It is a snorkeling mecca and State Park today.
Bottom Line: This movie was part of a 4 Pack that I got from Amazon. It was fun taking a trip back in time and my daughter and I enjoyed it. This is a good family friendly throw back.
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Sounds like this is one to definitely put on the “watch” list. We passed by the Coco Palms hotel (which is now abandoned and decrepit) on Kauai, where much of movie was supposedly filmed, so it will be interesting to see how it used to look.
*Your Angela Lansbury observation cracked me up!
Jenny, I think I had read they were going to tear down the Coco Palms soon. Thanks for reading the blog.