Year: 1966
Director: Michael D. Moore
Country: US
Language: English
Much has been written about the musical styles that influences Elvis Presley; Country, bluegrass, blues, gospel, pop and rhythm & blues. However, one very distinct style has always been omitted from this list: Hawaiian music. This type of music was certainly present in the US as Elvis grew up, Hawaiian songs in his home recordings shows us that the man loved the music very much. This state would set the scene for his three island films, one of which I will currently review.
In Paradise, Hawaiian Style Rick Richards (Elvis Presley) is a helicopter pilot who wants to set up a charter flying service in Hawaii -- along the way he makes some friends and meets some girls.
The soundtrack for Paradise, Hawaiian style is decidedly one of the weakest of all of Elvis' soundtracks. The song selection is very unfortunate; it has got very little to do with Hawaiian music and includes several of the worst songs Elvis ever recorded like 'Queenie Wahine's Papaya'. The vocals and instruments were recording on two different weeks, so perhaps it is possible that a lot of genius got lost along the way, but damn, even Elvis' usual high energy is noticeably lower.
Elvis' hefty appearance is quite apparent in this picture, despite the director using obvious camera angles to hide the King's many many pounds. In one beach scene Elvis appears wearing a swimming suit, but as he rises from the sand the camera purposely catches his upper body only from the back. In this picture Elvis is, surprise, an oversexed male, but his usual charisma and sex appeal doesn't show well on camera. It's as if the man phoned it in.
There are quite a few bad Elvis films, but it's pretty easy to say that this one is the worst. Aside from
Suzanna Leigh, who is pretty nice eye candy, there's not a commendable thing in this whole picture. When even the music is terrible, you can bet this is an enormous critical and commercial flop.
No Stars
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