Really Surprised!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The acting in this movie is really good.

An epic that is largely character driven and that actually works to its detriment. Minister Max von Sydow and his New Englander wife Julie Andrews head for mission work in Hawaii and face storms at sea, fires, disease and some very sexually free natives. Director George Roy Hill assembles a staid adaption of the James A. Michener novel and though the production values are all first rate, the script stagnates to the point of being sleep inducing when it should be sweeping. The acting is good, though there is probably one too many scenes of von Sydow in full on fire & brimstone mode. He's really annoying. Andrews is very restrained, so much so that it's difficult to believe she would have stayed with such a block headed husband. Richard Harris, Gene Hackman and George Rose are in it too. Jocelyne LaGarde, an Oscar nominee for her only film appearance, steals a number of scenes as the very bossy Malama Kanakoa.

Breaking out of the mold of singing nannies, Julie Andrews plays a Bostonian socialite who marries a missionary (Max Von Sydow) and heads to the wilds of Hawaii where her husband works on converting the natives to Christianity. A ship's captain (Richard Harris) sets his sights on the lovely but fragile Andrews which tests the sanctity of marriage. Obsessed with converting what he believes to be a sinful life of the very sexual natives, Von Sydow neglects his wife, leading to tragedy and a climactic confrontation between Von Sydow and Harris. The fact that Harris would go on to play King Arthur in the film version of "Camelot" while Andrews was unable to reprise her role as Guenevere makes this an interesting pairing during this time.Beautiful to look at and superbly acted, this takes James Michener beyond the tales of the South Pacific and Bali Hai to what would later become America's 50th State. Andrews totally underplays her role here after flamboyantly playing Mary Poppins and Maria Von Trapp, so this is a nice change of pace for her. Von Sydow is a bit hammy in spots, but if you consider the type of character he is playing, that is not entirely out of place. The acting honors go to Jocelyn La Garde, the Hawaiian born native chosen to play the last Queen. Speaking her few English language lines phonetically, the hefty La Garde is lovable, touching and fierce. And yes, that is Carroll O'Connor, the future Archie Bunker here, playing Andrews' father.This also contains one of the most beautiful music scores (by Elmer Bernstein) to grace an epic film of the 1960's, one you'll not soon forget. While some of the historical references have been questioned in regards to their accuracy, the film paints a realistic portrayal of the hardships faced by mainland Americans as they face the elements of a land they can never quite understand. This is the type of film that should be given occasional big screen re-releases so today's audiences can see how epics used to be made without resulting in headaches due to overpowering sound and computer generated effects.

I first saw this movie (in snatches) when I was about 10 years old. I was totally captivated by the love story, because I could really relate to Max Von Sydow's performance as the stern, lonely Puritan Minister Hale. I got his anguish, his conflicting feelings, and his total inability to share. When Mrs. Hale (a prim but fetching Julie Andrews) gives birth and he starts sobbing and admits that he loves her more than God, I felt it like a punch in the stomach.On the other hand, I couldn't help admiring the bold whaling captain played by Richard Harris too. When the minister falls in the water and the devilish whaler shouts, "shark! go get him, boy!" that really tickled my funny bone. I was ten years old, of course, but I totally understood what an amazing love triangle this was.Well, the other day I finally got this movie on videotape, and after nearly forty years I was really curious to see if it would live up to my memories. I have to admit that there are some very, very long dull patches in this movie. Richard Harris never really cuts loose. Julie Andrews keeps slipping away just when she most needs to shine! So much of the movie is like a costume party, or a drinking game. Guess which famous character actor will bop in next wearing whiskers and a frock coat? There's Lou Antonio -- he played Coco in Cool Hand Luke! There's John Cullum! There's Gene Hackman! There's Carroll O'Connor! All these guys have major, major stories that have nothing to do with Abner and Jerusha. And the love story totally gets lost for about two thirds of the movie.On the other hand, now that I'm grown up, I really appreciate what a classic American hero Abner Hale is, and how authentic Max Von Sydow makes him. You could teach a whole college course on American literature just with his influences! One moment he's Ahab, forging ahead with ruthless fury. Then he's Ephraim Cabot in Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms, mixing Puritan rage with burning lust. Then he's the young doctor in Hawthorne's story The Birthmark, shutting out happiness and totally ignoring his angelic, suffering wife. And then at the very end (this is spoiler territory) he finally gets his act together -- and suddenly he's doing a letter-perfect Mr. Scrooge.It's amazing the way Hale's character evolves. When you watch him calling down God's wrath on the Hawaiians, it's almost dreamlike, like a silent film showing an Old Testament prophet. And you hate him so much. Yet at the end, when he *finally* gets how wise his wife really is, and how much she means to him, you want to stand up and cheer. And the fact that it's really too late only makes it more poignant.You can't really call this movie a masterpiece -- but it's much more than just another overblown dud.

This film is based on the first half of Michener's book, HAWAII. If follows the life of an initially self-righteous and cold missionary when he is one of the first Westerners to move to this exotic locale. This man is played by Max Von Sydow and he is about as fun to be with as a festering boil.Later, partly because of his coldness, his vivacious wife, played by Julie Andrews, runs off and soon dies. Then, after this trauma, Von Sydow changes and begins to look on the natives in much less harsh terms and his heart softens.The final portion of the film involves the massive influx in opportunists and land-grabbers. The once beautiful and proud nation the missionary once new is now quickly disappearing despite his best efforts.Th irony in the film is that initially, Von Sydow so strongly tried to change the Hawaiians from their "heathen ways", only to eventually mourn the passing of their culture.This was an extremely beautiful film and had a lot of fascinating insights into the old Hawaiian culture and royalty (though the whole business about the Queen's husband plucking out his eyes was a bit nasty). But, there was also a shortcoming in how it dealt with the characters. They tended not to be realistic, but more caricatures who were generally one-dimensional. The missionary was either cold and bad or open and sweet. The natives were allowed little depth as well and the Westerners were almost always bad.