Hawaiian Eye (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)This series is a baby boomer must. It was the only really successful detective spin-off of the 77 Sunset Strip phenomena in that it lasted more than just a couple of years (Oct. '59-Apr.'63). The original two leads, Robert Conrad and Anthony Eisley, were molded from the ultra-cool Bailey & Spenser genre that worked so well on the Sunset Strip--replete with mandatory sidekicks, babes, booze and bad guys.
I have collected many of the episodes from various classic tv video resources and can confess that the plot lines are all pretty simple, the sets are vintage backlot Warner studios (many "locations" are duplicated in Surfside 6 and 77 Sunset Strip episodes)and only stock film and backdrops were actually Hawaiian-generated. On rare days only did the film crew venture out to an actual location off the WB lot. Fortunately, L.A. also had palm trees and beaches. Yet the snappy theme song and tiki-soaked opening credits always duped one into thinking Waikiki was just around the corner. The opening credit scenes of Conrad, Eisley and Connie Stevens actually surfing a wave in unison is just awe-inspiring. It must have required a hundred takes minimum to pull off that shot.
You could always tell which car company was sponsoring one of these Warner classics. The 77 Sunset Strip guys all drove Ford convertibles, the Surfside 6 hunks buzzed around in Pontiacs, and the Hawaiian Eyes all drove massively chrome-laden Oldsmobiles (with car radio phones!). Nary a BMW in the lot. If you're lucky enough to have some of the episodes that didn't edit out the original commercials, you can stare in amazement at hip people smoking Old Golds and Winstons or waxing down their hair with "little" dabs of Brylcreem.
The show is set at the Hawaiian Hilton Village, which still exists today. The Shell Bar, where pixie Cricket Blake warbled reverb-enhanced pre-recorded tunes to moon-struck audiences, is still around albeit many times renovated since (the bamboo tables have been replaced). The detectives operated from a way-too-cool office off of the hotel lounge that had its own swimming pool and eternally-lit tiki lamps. One can understand why they beat feet to the office every day. Unfortunately, the series began an early decline once Eisley left for what he thought would be a burgeoning movie career, and certainly "jumped the shark" in its last year when the ever-available Troy Donahue joined the cast as the hotel's social director. The writing became a little stretched in order to justify this rather unexplainable addition.
There's been enough buzz directed towards Warner Bros. for them to consider releasing these classic detective series on DVD. I haven't seen any release dates yet, but I guess they're coming soon. It figures, now that I've spent untold dollars collecting so many episdoes with varying degrees of quality and editing. I suggest you snap up a disk as soon as it becomes available, then settle back in your easy chair with a straight-up martini and a smoke and lose yourself in about 55 minutes an epidode's worth of pure hip private eye fluff ala early '60's Hollywood.

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Surfing Hollow Days (1961) Review

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(More customer reviews)While not as fun as Surf Crazy or either of the Endless Summers, Surfing Hollow Days is still entertaining to those surfing enthusiasts who love Bruce Brown flicks. Surfing Hollow Days takes the viewer on an around-the-world surfing adventure with some of surfing's most legendary riders when they were young men, including August and Yater themselves. The background music isn't much to brag about, and Brown's commentary (usually sharp witted and colorful) seems to fall a little flatter than usual. From California to Australia, during the birth of the foam boards, but still before the oh-so-important leash, we follow several groups of young men surfing their hearts out; including a 12 year old boy surfing Waimea Bay, and the Pipeline's virgin run by the courageous Phil Edwards. And when they can't find a wave it seems as if surfing behind a boat will do. Brown still throws in several gimmicks for comic relief, but for some reason, Surfing Hollow Days just doesn't have the mass appeal as his other works. But, if you love to watch vintage surfing footage, and love anything Bruce Brown, Surfing Hollow Days is still fun to watch - but only recommended for the most die-hard of fans.

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Castaway Cowboy (1974) Review

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(More customer reviews)In the early '70's, James Garner made two films for Disney studios, "One Little Indian" and "The Castaway Cowboy." Of the two, "Cowboy" is by far the best: a slight but entertaining little comedy-western co-starring the lovely Vera Miles (who was also in "Indian"). She plays Henrietta McAlvoy, the owner of a failing Hawaiian (known here as the Sandwich Islands) potato plantation whose native workers fish a nearly drowned deserter named Costain (Garner) out of the ocean. While Costain waits for a ship home to Texas, he hatches a plot to save the farm by turning it into a cattle ranch, using the Hawaiian workers as ranch hands. Of course, in Disney films of the era, there is always a villain, and "Cowboy" features Robert Culp as Bryson, a local businessman who romances Henrietta in order to get her land and when she won't sell, stoops to some nasty business to sabotage Garner's plan.
Everything is predictable and ends just like you think it might. Also quite predictably, Henrietta is a widow with an irrepressibly cute (i.e. cloying and obnoxious) preteen son played by "The Poseidon Adventure"'s young Eric Shea, who gives an even more annoying, don't-say-your-line-shout-it performance than he gave in the previous film. The only other performances of note are given by native Hawaiians playing the workers as stereotypes who exist merely as goofballs to be laughed at. (More about that later.) Only Elizabeth Smith as Henrietta's housekeeper escapes with her dignity intact, since she manages to make her character more than a one-note stereotype.
Finally, about Anchor Bay's DVD presentation. Even though the copy I received was in fullscreen format (instead of the advertised widescreen--grumble, grumble) I kept it because of the excellent remastered print and the addition of a cool copy of the original poster art from the 1974 release on the back of the scene breakdown card. I still would prefer widescreen, but at least the picture and sound are much better than the awful transfers Disney have been ripping us off with on its own lazy releases.
Now, a word of warning about the presentation of the native Hawaiian characters: if you are sensitive about racial issues and potential racism in the movies, you may want to steer clear of this film. The Hawaiian workers are stereotyped as lazy and undisciplined men-children who would rather swim and play than work. This fact may make the film as offensive to some as "Song of the South" is to African-Americans. However, the natives do become better, more competent workers by the end of the film, so proceed at your own risk!

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Nature: Amazing Places: Hawaii Review

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(More customer reviews)This was a really beautifully shot piece. The narration by F. Murray is pretty cool, and he doesn't dumb it down. You really learn a lot in addition to getting to take in the cool scenery. It looked ridiculously good-- almost photorealistic-- on my Blu-ray player and HD TV. I totes recommend 100%.

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Ecosystems on Big Island Face No Small ChallengePROGRAM ONE KILAUEA: MOUNTAIN OF FIREKilauea continually molds Hawaii s Big Island. Violent and beautiful, destructive and creative, Kilauea: Mountain of Fire explores the incredible power of the volcano and thechallenges of life in its shadow. Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham narrates. TV-GFrom Rivers of Lava Springs Bedrock of LifePROGRAM TWO VIOLENT HAWAIIImagine a lost work with lava flowing down mountainsides, violent storms, monster waves, rockslides and even heavy snows. This isn t science fiction. It s Hawaii where spectacularbeauty was forged by fire, and created by turbulent natural forces. Tony Award-winner James Naughton narrates this riveting HD visual journey.

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Hawaii (1966) Review

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(More customer reviews)In the mid 1960's, Julie Andrews was the biggest movie star the world. Her success came on the strength of two block busters, 1964's "Mary Poppins" and 1965's "The Sound Of Music", the two films for which she will be forever identified. However, her body of film work in the 1960's, though only 7 films in all is impressive in it's scope and content. Of these films, one of the best and most successful was the epic "Hawaii".
The film tells the story of a zealous but misguided missionary, Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) and his loving, forthright wife Jerusha (Julie Andrews) who try to bring Christianity to the native Hawaiians. Both von Sydow and Andrews give magnificent performances, bringing humanity to two characters that could have been cardboard, stock figures in less talented hands. Indeed, these two characterisations work well because of each other with the unsympathetic Hale coming off as human after all due to being loved by his wife. Together, von Sydow and Andrews make an impressive team. The cast is rounded out beautifully by a raft of excellent players including Richard Harris, Gene Hackman, Carol O'Connor and even Bette Midler in her first film as an extra on the ship headed for Hawaii.
When the film was originally released, it was as a 189 minute roadshow production with overture, intermission, entr'acte and exit music. The film was later presented in an edited, 161 minute version. It is this version that has been released on DVD. This begs the question, what's missing from the DVD version?
The majority of cuts appear in the film's first half with entire scenes being removed. The second half is virtually intact with only some trimming of scenes. The deleted scenes in the films first half are as follows:
At 0:15:37Hale says goodbye to his family
At 0:27:06After her wedding to Hale, Jerusha says goodbye to her little sister prior to leaving for Hawaii
At 0:35:26On the voyage to Hawaii, Hale makes a convert in the crew
At 0:35:44The Captain charts the course and large bunches of bananas are brought on board
At 0:37:30Hale force feeds a seasick Jerusha bananas
At 0:38:30Hale condemns the convert he made among the crew because of drunkenness
At 0:39:21The Captain requests Hale's prayers prior to sailing through the Evangels
At 0:46:05The Captain throws his novels overboard (his part of a deal with Hale for praying in the ship's behalf) followed by Jerusha throwing the bananas overboard
At 1:16:12Sister Hewlett dies after giving birth
At 1:17:57Hale assures Jerusha that he can deliver her baby and that she will not die in childbirth
At 1:52:50Hale recovers in bed after a shark bite and Jerusha tells him that a wife needs to be loved not worshipped (final scene in the first half of the roadshow version)
There are also some trimmed scenes in the first half such as the farewell scene prior to Hale and Jerusha leaving for Hawaii as well as the elimination of the entr'acte.
It is Julie Andrews' Jerusha that suffers most at the hands of the editor. Some of her most powerful acting (the force feeding scene and her subsequent reaction to this in throwing the bananas overboard and calling her husband a bully, and again when she walks out on her husband's sermon when he condemns the incestuous marriage of the new Queen, for example) was removed. The result of this it to make one of Julie's most absorbing characterisation seem less moving and less three dimensional. In the full version, Jerusha is a devoted wife but is also capable of standing up to her husband and asserting her own personality and beliefs. The shorter version presents less of this side of her character and leaves Jerusha as a submissive wife with a bully of a husband. However, Julie Andrews is incapable of a bad or uncommitted performance and even in the edited version is at the top of her game matching von Sydow's Hale (a more flashy character) every step of the way.
Here's hoping that M-G-M will eventually release a fully restored DVD of the roadshow version to show what a fine film this really is and let us see the complete performances of two great actors, Andrews and von Sydow.
My recommendation: it's worth a look in its edited form but would have been better is presented complete.


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Two cultures collide in this vast, lavish and truly spectacular film starring Julie Andrews, Max Von Sydow, Richard Harris, Gene Hackman and Carroll O'Connor. Adapted from James A. Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and nominated* for seven OscarsÂ(r), this "majestic, gorgeously framedepic is adventuresome picture-making, a credit to the industry" (The Film Daily) and riveting entertainment! They came to bring God, but instead brought disease and destruction. The Rev. Abner Hale (Von Sydow) and his gentle wife Jerusha (Andrews) attempt to convert early 19th-century Hawaiian natives to Christianity but find themselves ill-equipped to endure the unexpected tribulations of paradise. Surging with the excitement of windstorms, firestorms, shark attacks and magnificent island scenery, Hawaii shines as passionately as the island paradise itself!*1966: Supporting Actress (Jocelyne LaGarde), CinematographyColor, Costume DesignColor, Special Visual Effects, Score, Song, Sound

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Lilo & Stitch 2-Disc Big Wave Edition (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)Aloha ka~kou (Aloha to All of Us),
Yesterday, with great anticipation -- yes, with bated breaths -- we, my husband and I who were born in Hawai`i fifty years ago and raised there, went to see LILO AND STITCH at our local theatre, hoping for its unmitigated success and yet knowing it could be yet another dirty bomb unwittingly directed against the Hawaiian culture.
We were utterly impressed with LILO & STITCH's shining truth and loved and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the galactic high adventure and its down-to-Earth (literally) endearing story, brimming full of Aloha of the real, day-to-day variety, not the syrupy, touristy stuff. Having been raised with Disney movies, ourselves, we were delighted with its high caliber Disney feel and animation mastery, especially the stunningly gorgeous water-color visuals of our homeland.
Co-directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and producer Clark Spencer bolstered our faith in the next generation of moviemakers. I dare say that they are uniquely enlightened young people, wise beyond their years. Certainly, this movie is not yet another run-of-the-mill, Hawaiian-themed fantasy that my generation has come to expect out of Hollywood. We've seen, rolled our eyes upward, and laughed at the ludicrousness of too many hurriedly slapped together movies based on deluded, overly-dramatized or white-washed, idealized visions and versions of Hawaiian culture and its people.
Instead, it was clearly evident to us that the research that went into LILO AND STITCH was done with thoroughness, sincerity, concern and care.
The result? A movie with a huge sensitivity, concern and Aloha for our endangered Hawaiian and local culture, which, with a combination of "attitude" and sweetness, captures the authentic spirit and genuine warmth, and inner and outer beauty of Hawai`i, especially its unique Aloha Spirit and valuing of `ohana (family).
In its unique, far-reaching way, LILO and STITCH -- and Disney -- will help to perpetuate Hawaiian ways, beingness, and arts, as well as our one-of-a-kind local culture. I loved the snippets of pidgin, for most of us, our first language. Tia Carrere and Jason Scott Lee were perfect in their voice roles as Nani and Kawika (David). For a change, true locals playing local roles with every truthful and subtle nuance.
Loving Hawaiian music as I do, I am particularly grateful for the inclusion of authentic Hawaiian musicianry: the mesmerizing, lively chants by real-life Hawaiian chanter, Mark Keali`i Ho`omalu, were right-on. The casting of real-life kumu hula (hula master)Kunewa Mook as the voice of the hula teacher in the movie was exactly pono (right and proper); his input on depicting hulas as it is actually danced, and not the swishy hula gibberish of past Hollywood movies was greatly appreciated by us, his peers.
And singing by the Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus -- you must have indigenous blood to go to school there -- could not have been truer or more delightful. Ahh.... I am going out to buy the CD ASAP!
Of course, we grew up with Elvis' classic tunes, so we absolutely loved the resurrection of his songs as well as Wynonna's rendition of "Burning Love." A perfect balance to the Hawaiian music. Pono, which means not only right and proper, but balanced.
We spotted only one glaring mistake: the shaka ("all is cool") sign as depicted in the movie at the end. They got the fingers right, but the way they did it, it's only half of the shakkah sign. As it was, it stopped as the Texas Longhorn symbol. Locals then swivel their wrist, 180 degrees, completing the local sign with the BACK of the hand toward the viewer. Oh well, as we say in Hawai`i: "Ain't no big t'ing, braddah" as the moviemakers can fix that faux pas for the video version.
A big MAHALO (THANK YOU) to all involved, viewers included, who make LILO & STITCH the sharing movie it is. Spread the Aloha.
Me ke Aloha...

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Out of this world storytelling, stunning Disney animation, and wild and irresistible characters are at the heart of Disney's hilarious animated adventure. This worldwide box office sensation is a heartwarming comedy about the power of loyalty, friendship, and finding your place in the world. On the lush and tropical Hawaiian Islands, an independent little girl named Lilo adopts what she thinks is an innocent puppy, completely unaware that he is a mischievous creature who has escaped from a faraway planet. Stitch takes Hawaii by storm, wreaking havoc and hanging ten while he evades the alien bounty hunters who are bent on recapturing him. It's an action-packed comedy the whole family will enjoy over and over again. Bonus Features include Six of Elvis Presley's biggest hits, sung by the King himself, Heartbreak Hotel, Stuck On You, Blue Hawaii, Suspicious Minds, Devil In Disguise and Hound Dog, and deleted scenes

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Girls Guns & G-Strings (2011) Review

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(More customer reviews)If you know B movies then the title of my review should tell you everything you need to know. All of these films were either directed or produced by Andy Sidaris. These films all feature dead pan serious delivery while demonstrating some of the most ridiculous and over the top plots, dialogue and action. You must not under any circumstances attempt to take these films seriously or elicit any deep meaning from them. You'll just strain yourself. These are B movies made for fun. If you can let yourself go with the flow, you'll find yourself having a good time with this collection.
Here's what your green buys you.
THE DALLAS CONNECTION: I don't know what the Connection is, I'm not really sure it's even mentioned in the movie. But a team of gorgeous assassins is wiping out a group of scientists who possess some dangerous secret. Only one scientist remains and it's up to Samantha Phillips and her fellow agents to save them. There are some wacky death scenes, and a nice "Basic Instinct" style beginning which features the leader of the murderous trio, Julie Strain.
DAY OF THE WARRIOR: The Legion to Ensure Total Harmony and Law (L.E.T.H.A.L.) is hunting an evil genius known as The Warrior. Warrior's turn ons include diamond smuggling, porn and art theft. Best line in the movie is spoken by Julie Strain's character Willow Black;"I worked at Disneyland. I was one of the rides." Gerald Okamura plays a martial arts master named Fu. You will recognize him from Big Trouble in Little China, among many other roles.
DO OR DIE: This is the silliest movie in the Sidaris oeuvre. You've got Mr.Miyagi as an Asian criminal mastermind and Eric Estrada...period. Miyagi sends several teams of assassins after our fair ladies and R rated hijinx ensue. The colorful assassins remind me of the killers sent after Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther Strikes Again.
ENEMY GOLD: Now this is a great one! Evil assassins hassle our heroes whilst they're looking for Quantrill's Lost Civil War gold! There are historical flashbacks and characters named Jewel Panther and Becky Midnight. What's not to like?
FIT TO KILL: There's something going on here about a rare missing Russian diamond, but once you see Julie Strain working out on a balcony you'll forget about things like "Plot". For extra fun though there's a cool helicopter battle.
GUNS: Is this a sexy feminist comedy or a feminist sex comedy? I dunno that's too much thinkin' for me. It's also got Erik Estrada, Danny Trejo, oil wrestling and hand grenades. Sounds like a great week in Vegas.
HARD HUNTED: You can't spell PLOT without a T and an A....well... Anyway we have another of Andy Sidaris' version of Charlie's Angels for Men. The girls need to track down a nuclear detonator or blah-ditty-blah-blah-blah.
HARD TICKET TO HAWAII: The evil Dr. Chang plans on destroying the economy of Hawaii and only super-agents Donna and Taryn and their pet mutant snake can stop him. This cultural and intellectual extravaganza features blow up dolls, razor tipped Frisbees and skate-boarding thugs.
MALIBU EXPRESS: This is sort of a down home Burt Reynolds type movie except it happens at the beach, and stars an 80's porn star/surfer dude, Sybil Danning and a red Delorean.
PICASSO TRIGGER: A cool title but probably one of the least of Sidaris' films. A bad guy tries to ice all the agents involved in his brother's death.
SAVAGE BEACH: Smoking hot Agents Donna and Taryn wander around a humid jungle in tiny tops looking for lost treasure. They run into an old Japanese soldier who still thinks WW2 is going on and a bunch of baddies also looking for the treasure. Plenty of action but for me not quite enough wacky humor.
RETURN TO SAVAGE BEACH: The Ladies of LETHAL try to recover a lost treasure before a hoard of bad guys can snag it. This one has plenty of skimpy outfits, hot actresses, bad dialogue and explosions but it's not as wacky or fun as many of Sidaris' earlier films.


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HOW TO EQUIP A TRAILER-SAILER OCEAN CRUISING Review

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(More customer reviews)The DVD wasn't a polished, professional production, but it got the information across.
The seller didn't answer all of my email requests for shipping schedule, but the product finally arrived

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