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  • Blue Hawaii

    "Blue Hawaii" starring Elvis Presley was on TCM this morning, filmed in 1962, loaded with great background shots of the Hawai'i of that era as well as of course hundreds of classic old cars...all American! I don't think Presley did many bad films, this was one of his best. He was certainly one of the biggest talents of the 20th century. My friend Charlyne was visiting Hawai'i as a girl with her family when the film was being shot. Presley had a wing of one floor of the hotel (Hawaiian Village, I think), but Charlyne and family were staying in a room on the same floor's other wing, so she got to ride the elevator with Presley. A memorable event for her!

    Hanauma Bay for background, virtually deserted, and almost no high rises in Waikiki!

  • #2
    Re: Blue Hawaii

    Originally posted by Kalalau View Post
    "Blue Hawaii" starring Elvis Presley was on TCM this morning, filmed in 1962, loaded with great background shots of the Hawai'i of that era as well as of course hundreds of classic old cars...
    Hanauma Bay for background, virtually deserted, and almost no high rises in Waikiki!
    Yes, "the King" would have been 74 years old this week! This film is one of my favorite nostalgic ways to fantasize that all is right and good in the world. I love it, not for Elvis' singing or acting, but for the sweet shot of that grand lady, Hilo Hattie, putting the welcoming lei around "Chad's" neck as he disembarks the plane. And then at the film's ending, lovely Coco Palms Resort in Kauai. Ke Kali Nei Au.... I always wanted to be married there, like the lead characters, alas, too late... Maybe when I find the fourth Mr. Snowbird, they'll have it reopened, and back to its former glory days, as a CONDO!.... nah

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    • #3
      Re: Blue Hawaii

      Originally posted by snowbird View Post
      Yes, "the King" would have been 74 years old this week![...]
      Today, aamof!

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      • #4
        Re: Blue Hawaii

        Actually this movie had some pretty good Elvis songs including:
        I'm still here. Are you?

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        • #5
          Re: Blue Hawaii

          I honeymooned at the Coco Palms back in the mid-70s.

          It's fun to watch the scene with Elvis driving up Kamehameha Highway past the present-day Waipio Gentry development. The movie uses the rear-screen projection method which lengthens the "drive." You can see the trees alongside the highway and the vehicles repeat themselves. Most of those trees were removed when the road was widened long after the movie was filmed in 1961.

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          • #6
            Re: Blue Hawaii

            Many, many years ago I was part of a film crew that filmed and stayed at the Coco Palms. I took that job specifically to be able to spend time there. Loved it. That's where I got the idea for a clam shell bathroom sink. Thanks to Kimo55 I now have that giant clam shell but my Makaha hale's remodel is still on hold. Waiting for the economy to turn around...<tap><tap><tap>!

            Speaking of Elvis, Larry King and Entertainment Tonight both had Priscilla Presley on yesterday, from Graceland. PP showed the deed to Graceland, the cancelled $30k down payment check (amazing as that was from the era of 20% down payments...not to say that applied to Elvis, tho') and the original keys to the property.

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            • #7
              Re: Blue Hawaii

              This movie is what brought me to Hawaii! I must have seen the movie about 15 times, then I met this very good looking sailor who was stationed here. One night, he put a BIG honking diamond on my finger & said "will you marry me & move to Hawaii with me?" Well, DUH!!!!! The marriage was a big huge mistake but here I am, 46 years later and still loving my adopted home. I don't know where he is now but I'm very happy I stayed (and returned after a few years in Calif.)
              "Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be."
              – Sydney J. Harris

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              • #8
                Re: Blue Hawaii

                watched bh for a class on the portrayals of hawaii and other parts of the pacific in film last semester. some notes: if you are a white male from a wealthy family, marrying outside your own color is okay only if the colored person part white and her non-white family is descended from royalty; hawaiians are non-productive yet happy folk who provide great entertainment for whites, a transplant is best at showing tourists "the real hawaii and what the natives do," and women can own businesses as long as they're married and their husband is the other owner.

                one of the arguments i made for that class was that bh, while outwardly a completely frivolous and fun film, is valuable for study bcs it completely depicts the tumultuous era it which it was made, what with its warring perceptions of race and gender. future films like blue crush are direct descendants of bh, not only bcs both are in the hawaii/surf/romance with a hawaiian or at least, someone who lives in hawaii and does cool things like surf genres, but bcs you can see societal developments of each film's time period in both.

                oh, two more notes:
                twas eye-opening to see "jessica fletcher" as the smotheringly charming, racist belle and to note that except for a couple instances (hilo hattie among them), hawaiian characters can be successfully portrayed by actors of other brown ethnicities.

                *smiles & removes needy glasses*
                superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath) & acedia (sloth)--the seven deadly sins.

                "when you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people i deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous, and surly..."--meditations, marcus aurelius (make sure you read the rest of the passage, ya lazy wankers!)

                nothing humiliates like the truth.--me, in conversation w/mixedplatebroker re 3rd party, 2009-11-11, 1213

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