Blue Hawaii

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This article is about the film. For the mixed drink see Blue Hawaii (drink)
Blue Hawaii
Directed by Norman Taurog
Michael D. Moore (assistant)
Produced by Hal B. Wallis
Written by Allan Weiss (story)
Hal Kanter (screenwriter)
Starring Elvis Presley
Joan Blackman
Angela Lansbury
Music by Joseph J. Lilley
Cinematography Charles Lang
Editing by Terry O. Morse
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) November 22, 1961
Running time 102 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

Blue Hawaii is a 1961 musical film set in the state of Hawaii and starring Elvis Presley.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Chad Gates (Presley) has just gotten out of the Army, and is happy to be back in Hawaii with his surfboard, his beach buddies, and his girlfriend. His father wants him to go to work at the Great Southern Hawaiian Fruit Company, but Chad is reluctant. So Chad goes to work as a tour guide at his girlfriend's agency.

[edit] Filming locations

Much of the film was shot on location at the Coco Palms Resort on the East shore of Kauai. The resort has been abandoned since Hurricane Iniki in 1992, but is now slated for redevelopment. [1]

Among the other locations used was the Tantalus lookout overlooking Honolulu; Chad and his girlfriend, Maile, have a picnic there early in the film.[citation needed]

The scenes at Chad's beach house were shot at Hanauma Bay, a volcanic crater that is open to the sea, near the bedroom community of Hawaii-Kai, a few miles away from Waikiki.[citation needed]

[edit] Other information

Although it is mentioned in the film that Chad's parents live in Kahala, one of the most expensive and exclusive areas of Honolulu as of 1961, the view from their lanai (porch or terrace) shows Diamond Head as it appears from Waikiki and downtown Honolulu. This is an error because Kahala is located on the other side of Diamond Head from Waikiki.

"Blue Hawaii" was the first of three Elvis movies to be filmed in Hawaii, followed by "Girls! Girls! Girls!" in 1962 and "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" in 1965.

Angela Lansbury, who played the mother of Elvis, was not yet 36 years old in 1961 when the movie was released. Elvis was 26 years old. Lansbury would later comment that her appearance here was one of the worst in her career.

It could be argued that this film set the tone for Presley's future film career: pretty locations, gorgeous girls, and mediocre songs. Almost all of these musical-comedy films performed well, whereas more "serious" films such as Flaming Star, Wild in the Country and Charro, did poorly at the box office.

While some of the songs on the soundtrack album can fairly be described as "inferior," others compare favorably to his non-soundtrack recordings. Presley's remake of the title song did justice to the Academy Award-winning song, while also introducing it to an audience too young to remember Bing Crosby's original hit version. His recording of "Can't Help Falling In Love" compares quite well to his other Top 10 hits, and his recordings of "Rock-A-Hula Baby" and "Ku-u-ipo (Hawaiian Sweetheart)" are notable as well.

It should also be noted that not all the songs in "G.I. Blues," the first film Presley made after leaving the Army, can be fairly described as "gems."

The "Blue Hawaii" soundtrack album was on the Billboard Pop Albums chart for 79 weeks, spent 20 weeks at #1 on the Pop Albums chart, and sold more than 2-million copies [See: Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums 1955-1996]

[edit] Primary cast:

[edit] Soundtrack

see Blue Hawaii (album)

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Coco Palms Resort and Residences

[edit] External links