Several years after James Michener's massive novel (in sales and size) hit stores, it became the big budget, event film HAWAII.
Screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Spartacus, Papillon) focuses on about ten percent of the book, telling the story of the missionaries that came to the island paradise and nearly destroyed it.
Max Von Sydow (The Exorcist, The Seventh Seal) is rigid, staunch Reverend Abner Hale. With no room for error, no acceptance of other cultures and little humor, Abner devotes himself to converting the natives to Christianity.
He brings his new wife Jerusha (Julie Andrews) along and she demonstrates all the caring and sensitivity Abner lacks.
It's not long before Jerusha's former love, whaler Rafer (Richard Harris) arrives on the island, shocking Jerusha and challenging her loyalty to Abner.
Carroll O'Conner (TV's Archie Bunker) is Jerusha's father, Gene Hackman is a doctor that arrives on the same boat and many of the locals are played by non-actors from the islands, most of them very well.
If you've ready the massive novel, (typically great Michener) it's hard to wrap your mind around the fact that the film only manages to tell about 100 pages of the novel's story in just less than three hours.
Just before filming started, director Fred Zinneman was replaced with George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting) who keeps the story moving along nicely.
It's the first time that the natives were portrayed in films realistically, without the coconut bras but with a reverence for their actual ceremonies and beliefs.
If the film has a flaw, it's that our central character Abner is so damn unlikable, preferring racist fire and damnation as his only tools of recruitment.
Harris and Andrews have good chemistry and if you're like us, you'll be cheering for Jerusha to dump the guy in the black hat and go with the whaler.
Charlton Heston was supposed to play Rafer, but had a last minute conflict, so Harris replaced him. Heston would take over the role in the sequel "The Hawaiians" in 1970.
Part history lesson, part soap opera and all filmed on location, HAWAII is a relic of the sixties huge roadshow era, with a $15 million budget that's all on screen.
We'll give the big island a B- for its interesting but dated take on island history.
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