PARADISE- HAWAIIAN SYTLE
Originally reviewed May 21, 2020
Paradise, Hawaiian Style is a fluffy movie. But after Tickle Me, Harum Scarum, and Frankie & Johnny, it’s a welcome breath of fresh air. And honestly, on paper, Frankie & Johnny and Paradise, Hawaiian Style are more alike than different. Neither has much of a plot. Both have a lot of songs, but nothing super memorable. The acting is about the same. But, still, Paradise, Hawaiian Style comes out on top.
Why? Well, for one thing, Paradise, Hawaiian Style just looks better. While the previous three movies were shot almost entirely on soundstages, a lot of P,HS was actually shot in Hawaii. The people who made this movie must have realized (finally) that if you are going to make a movie about Elvis in an exotic location, it pays to have him go to the actual exotic location. I don’t know if it would have made any difference, but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to have Harum Scarum shot somewhere in the Middle East. And if that wasn’t possible, at least in an outdoor desert-y looking place. I mean, even William Shatner got to go to Vasquez Rocks to do battle with the Gorn.
So they got Elvis to Hawaii again, called him Rick Richards and made him a pilot. Rick gets fired from his job as an airline pilot* and goes home to Hawaii. He talks his best buddy Danny Kohana into buying a couple of helicopters and starting a tour company with him. And now we’re in business. At this point, the story becomes a series of adventures, all of which include Rick flying from one beautiful place in Hawaii to another beautiful place in Hawaii. There are shots of mountains and the ocean and volcanoes and canyons and long, loving shots of (what I’m sure were new at the time) hotels that can only be described as “Resort Porn.”**
One of the more interesting things about Paradise, Hawaiian Style is that there really isn’t a love interest. Rick has a number of ex-girlfriends that he runs into, but he is only interested in them because they work for resorts, and he’s hoping they’ll send him some work. One of these ex-girlfriends, Lani, is played by an actress named Marianna Hill that looked really familiar to me. I looked her up and turns out that for once it wasn’t from Star Trek. She played Deanna Corleone in The Godfather Part II***.
There is also the Hot Woman Judy that Danny hires to work in their office. She is an old friend of Danny’s, so he has her pretend to be married so Rick leaves her alone. That works out for a while. Judy is a pilot herself, but for some reason she decides to stop doing that so she can answer phones all day. There is a point when Danny is missing and Rick has lost his pilot’s license, and I’m thinking, “OK, now Judy is going to save the day!” But then 1966 happened and well, Rick flies the helicopter without his license. But Judy does come along, so, Progress!
The misadventures include a goofball scene were Rick and one of his exes take a helicopter full of dogs to another island to get to a dog show, The dogs get loose in the helicopter, the helicopter almost crashes, and comedy ensues. If you think that the dog get off the helicopter without ridiculous bandages and leg splints, well, you’re underestimating Elvis movie writers.
The movie has a few good songs, namely "Scratch My Back (Then I'll Scratch Yours),” "Stop Where You Are,”**** and the goofy "A Dog's Life.*****” There are a couple of songs ("Queenie Wahine's Papaya" and “Datin’”) that I like on the album (with just Elvis singing) that are taken down a notch by being done as duets with Danny’s precocious young daughter, Jan, in the movie.****** Jan also gets to do a solo version of “Bill Bailey” which is totally unnecessary.
Paradise, Hawaiian Style was directed by Michael Moore. No, not that one, but another one who was also an assistant director on a little picture called “Raiders Of The Lost Ark.” He made some good choices in Paradise, Hawaiian Style, which I’m sure Spielberg took into account when he was hiring him.
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ACTING: 5 Elvises
MUSICAL PERFORMANCES: 4 Elvis
BEST SONG: "Scratch My Back (Then I'll Scratch Yours)”
STUNTS: One steakhouse fight. Because one fight is mandatory, apparently.
CRINGE FACTOR: Duet of “Datin’” with little girl.
KISSIN’: Almost none.
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*For getting busted fooling around with a stewardess during a flight, naturally.
**I’m sure that’s not really what “Resort Porn” means, but I’ve learned never to check with Urban Dictionary.
***She also played Helen Noel in the Dagger Of The Mind’s Eye episode of Star Trek.
****The film goes to freeze frame every time Rick sings the word “Stop” in the song. Brilliant? Stupid? Brilliantly stupid? Stupidly brilliant? I can’t decide…
*****Little Elvis doesn’t do any songs from Paradise, Hawaiian Style, although on the incredibly rare 90s Little Elvis cassette release “3 Little Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong,” we did do a very short instrumental version of “A Dog’s Life.” We also sampled a bit of dialog.
******I’m hoping to make it to the rest of this project without another Elvis/ young girl duet.