Frommer's Kauai - Jeanette Foster [30]
• Raiders of the Lost Ark: Filmed on Kauai, Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film follows archaeologist Indiana Jones on a search for the Ark of the Covenant, which is also sought by the Nazis under orders from Hitler.
• Six Days Seven Nights: Ivan Reitman’s 1998 adventure-comedy is about a New York magazine editor and a gruff pilot who are forced to put aside their dislike for each other in order to survive after crash-landing on a deserted South Seas island (filmed on Kauai). It stars Harrison Ford and Anne Heche.
• South Pacific: The 1958 motion-picture adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical was filmed on Kauai. The film has an all-star cast, with Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor in the lead roles. It was nominated for three Academy Awards but won only for Best Sound.
• Waterworld: Kevin Costner directed and starred in this 1995 film about a future in which the polar ice caps have melted, leaving most of the world’s surface deep beneath the oceans. The survivors live poorly on the water’s surface, dreaming of finding “dry land.” Some of the water scenes were filmed off Kauai. The final and most beautiful scenes in the movie were filmed in the Waipio Valley on the Big Island.
My favorite films made in Hawaii and about Hawaii are:
• Blue Hawaii: Chad Gates (Elvis Presley), upon discharge from the Army, returns to Hawaii to enjoy life with his buddies and girlfriend, against the wishes of his parents, who want him to work for the family business. Elvis Presley, Joan Blackman, and Angela Lansbury make this 1961 film a classic, with great music and beautiful Hawaiian scenery from the early 1960s.
• 50 First Dates: This 2004 romantic comedy stars Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler in a story about a young woman (Barrymore) who has lost her short-term memory in a car accident and who now relives each day as if it were October 13th. She follows the same routine every day, until she meets Henry Roth (Sandler), who falls in love with her and seeks a way to forge a long-term relationship.
• From Here to Eternity: Fred Zinnemann’s 1953 multiple-Oscar winner, set in pre–World War II Hawaii, tells the story of several Army soldiers stationed on Oahu on the eve of Pearl Harbor. The film won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Frank Sinatra), Best Supporting Actress (Donna Reed), and five other awards.
• Hawaii: George Roy Hill’s 1966 adaptation of the James Michener novel features amazing island scenery and stars Julie Andrews, Max von Sydow, and Richard Harris. It is a great introduction to the early history of Hawaii.
• Molokai: The Story of Father Damien: This 1999 film follows the life of Belgian priest Damien de Veuster from 1872, the year before his arrival in Kalaupapa, through his years ministering to the patients with Hansen’s disease at Kalaupapa, until his death at the Molokai settlement in 1889.
• Pearl Harbor: Michael Bay’s 2001 film depicts the time before, during, and after the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack (with the best re-creation of the Pearl Harbor attack ever put on film) and tells the story of two best friends and the woman they both love.
• Picture Bride: Japanese director Kayo Hatta presents this 1995 film about a Japanese woman who travels to Hawaii to marry a man that she has never met, but only seen through photos and letters. She soon discovers that he is twice her age and that much turmoil awaits her in her new home. Beautifully filmed on the North Shore of Oahu and the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island, with a special appearance by Toshiro Mifune.
• Tora! Tora! Tora!: This 1970 film tells the story of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as seen from both the American and the Japanese perspectives.
MUSIC
Hawaiian music ranges from traditional ancient chants and hula to slack-key guitar, to contemporary rock and a new genre, Jawaiian, a cross of reggae, Jamaican, and Hawaiian. To listen to