Paradise, Hawaiian Style

Relieved of his duties as an airline pilot due to amorous activities, Rick Richards (Presley) starts a helicopter business in Hawaii with his Polynesian pal."Paradise, Hawaiian Style" (1966) was Elvis' 21st movie of the 31 in his acting filmography.

Face it , the real star of this show is Donna Butterworth.

I liked it. OK the songs weren't up to much, although I did like the Hawaiian song also showcased to some extent on Donovan's Reef.

Paradise, Hawaiin Style is a film about a pilot who is thrown out of his old job for being a sleaze-bag. He comes back to his island buddies in Hawaii to start a new helicopter charter business with his pilot friend.

The only thing that spoils this film, is the soundtrack. I'd say it's a better film than Blue Hawaii (this is understandably nicknamed Blue Hawaii 2) if it had been recorded the other way round (before the "mundane movie formula" had kicked in) and had the songs from "Blue Hawaii" (half of which weren't great themselves anyway) THIS could easily have been Elvis Presley's highest grossing film of his lifetime instead of it's Hawaiian predecessor.

Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966) * 1/2 (out of 4) Elvis plays a pilot who travels to Hawaii to start up his own business but he ends up falling for a woman (Suzanna Leigh) and this might just cost him more than his little bitty heart. I guess I should start off by saying that Elvis gives a truly bad performance here but considering the script I guess you can't blame him nor can you blame him for doing so many drugs.

This was a movie that I watched primarily because of the photography of 1960s Hawaii. In the opening scene, there's a great pan of Diamond Head all the way to the Ilikai hotel.

If Hal Wallis had produced this little epic 10 years earlier, it might have starred his other contract players, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (with Lewis in the role of the little girl played by Donna Butterworth). If it had been made 10 years later, after "The Godfather Part II" made it fashionable to number sequels, "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" might have been titled "Blue Hawaii, Part II.

Last night, I watched Elvis in "Paradise, Hawaiian Style" for the 20,000th time. It's not one of his best (few movies can be considered 'his best').