Aloha, Hawaii USA! Love that song and I love this movie. Elvis plays Rick a pilot this time. He has been fired again, all because of a woman…what a shocker. He is off to see he old buddy, Danny, and asks for a job, which he gets. We then get to meet the fabulous Donna Butterworth who plays Jan. This is Donna’s last film. The chemistry between them when they are singing Queenie Wahine’s Papaya is just so much fun to see. They both are having heaps of fun.
Then Rick and Danny go to see a few helicopters and to try to set up their own helicopter tourist service. The double in the outdoor helicopter shot is so obviously not E. Elvis island hops and predictably girl hops too. When I was a kid I just loved watching that cable car scene. Lani’s singing is not the best but Rick steps in to finish the song. The actual song that was released didn’t include Lani’s singing. Good move.
Drums of the Islands is such a beautiful song. Elvis is so obviously older in this one compared to Blue Hawaii (1961), his voice better (it just keeps getting better) but you can start to see the difference in his face too, not that there is anything wrong with that, and a bit of a tummy there too.
A Dog’s Life is a funny scene with all those dogs crammed into a helicopter. Not very realistic, because I think the flight would have ended a lot differently if they had all of those dogs in a helicopter. The shots of the helicopter look fairly dangerous too even for the stunt guy to do, almost hitting the car on the highway. And look Rick and half-naked woman managed to bandage all the dogs before landing. Then off they go for a steak at the Colonel’s Steakhouse (a shout out to Tom Parker maybe?) and a fight ensues, well they did offend a woman and Rick needed to defend her honour.
Rick takes Danny’s daughter Jan on a flight in the helicopter, Jan just wants to spend some time with her Uncle Rick, but he stops off to pick up a girl and they fly to a remote beach for a picnic, where Lani would like to stay longer. She hides the key and then no one can find it. They have to stay overnight, but Danny doesn’t know where they are and boy is he mad. Danny picks up Jan and they fly back to base…but they don’t arrive and Rick has to rescue them.
There doesn’t seem to be much chemistry between the other staring women and Elvis. They all seem a little lost.
Jan sings Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home, man that girl is such a natural. Elvis sings Stop Where You Are, complete with the footage actually stopping, and Rick has to run because all of the women, he has been running around with, show up at the same time. Wow those blue pants are tight! Who doesn’t love the Hawaiian performance, those slapping guys are awesome.
Co Stars Alive: Donna Buttersworth YEP
James Shigeta YEP
Suzanna Leigh YEP
My Favourite Song: Drums Of The Islands
Most Popular Song: Paradise, Hawaiian Style
Stay tuned for Day 22 of ELVIS MONTH
So put this full album on and go and do the housework while listening to it, or alternatively…grab yourself a glass of red or white get some cheese and biscuits and go and have a sit down and enjoy these great songs.
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