Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966)

Runtime: 91 minutes

Directed by: Michael D. Moore

Starring: Elvis, James Shigeta, Suzanna Leigh, Marianna Hill, Donna Butterworth

From: Paramount

After too long, I finally returned to watching an Elvis film, and one that happened to be on TV. It's not as wacky as the other two I saw early this year, but it doesn't mean I wasted my time watching it. The Letterboxd review is below and I'll return tomorrow night.

Early in the year I saw the Elvis films Kissin' Cousins and Tickle Me, but after that I got away from watching them. Well, this film was on an Encore channel last night so I decided to check it out.

The hilarity started even before I saw this when I saw on the IMDb that Elvis's name in the film was Rick Richards. Yes, Richard Richards. He's a pilot who's a womanizer (and demonstrates this often during the movie) and he gets into trouble on the mainland so he returns home to Hawaii where he drags his fellow pilot friend Danny (the late James Shigeta; as a huge Die Hard fan it was nice to see him as a younger man) into a new business where they fly private flights via plane and helicopter. Contrivances happen and the business experience trouble.

Rick seems more preoccupied with trying to bed various women and he even wants attractive ladies to work at the business “for the customers” and prefers said girls to be single. Yes, 60's sexism is rampant here and that's not the only example. A woman wishes to fly for the company but she has to be the secretary instead and there's little opportunity wasted to have women in bikinis. At least they cast an actual Hawaiian in Shigeta to play someone who is a native to the area and he had a Caucasian wife and multiple kids who at least looked like they could be the product of those two. Also, Rick does get accurately called out for how he acts like a cad and him being a hound dog does figure into the final act.

The movie is helped out by shooting on location in Hawaii and there are many opportunities to look at the beautiful Hawaiian scenery. I am sure Elvis did not mind filming several movies there, and neither did the crew there. One of Danny's daughters (who is like 10) does some singing too and she and Elvis have a nice relationship. As for the music, it's enjoyable to hear native Polynesian tunes but none of the songs Elvis sings are the best, unless you are dying to hear him sing a tune called Queen Wahine's Papaya-I presume the song is innocuous but it could certainly be interpreted in a very vulgar way and I'll leave it at that-or warble about sand castles or in one case, about dogs while dogs are barking/howling in the background.

The movie's definitely not as wacky as the other two from Elvis I've seen but I can still say it's an alright watch.