Xander Seavy (RiffRaffMcKinley) Given the epic nature of James Michener's thousand-page novel "Hawaii," if the first film did any kind of positive business whatsoever, a sequel was bound to happen. The result is actually quite good, though nowhere near as good as George Roy Hill's original. Practically none of the original cast or crew has returned. Hill was succeeded as director by Tom Gries; Trumbo and Taradash are replaced on script duty by James R. Webb ("How the West Was Won," "Cheyenne Autumn"), who certainly had a bizarre gift for crafting intelligible and reasonably entertaining stories out of momentous historical hoopla. And since it takes place a couple generations after the end of the first film, obviously the cast is all gone. Charlton Heston adds more than prestige (he also adds presence and strength) to the central character of Whip Hoxworth, with Geraldine Chaplin decent but underused as his odd wife Purity. Mako is terrific as a Chinese peasant farmer who comes to Hawaii after cheating himself a new wife-- Char Nyuk Tsin, played by Tina Chen in a performance that starts off rather uninteresting but blossoms into a real stunner. The story goes on through racial strife, economic and ecological developments on the islands, political turmoil, and personal tragedy, very much in the spirit of the first "Hawaii" but without all the buildup (remember how much time had passed before we saw the islands in the first one?) and with a quicker pace. The film is lush, intriguing, and adequately enacted, but there are a few obstacles to overcome before you can really get into it. The worst of these is Henry Mancini's tacky, obvious, ethnic cliché-infused score, which comes nowhere near the scope, emotion or wonderment of Elmer Bernstein's original. If Bernstein couldn't have been secured, surely there was a better option (Jerry Goldsmith springs to mind) than Henry "The Pink Panther" Mancini. But the score does have a few moments of... well, adequacy. Given that the film obviously failed and-- having never been released on either VHS or mass-market DVD-- both suffers in obscurity while toiling in notoriety, and given that the first film was (at least to this reviewer) almost thoroughly a masterpiece, "The Hawaiians" is much better than can be expected. And compared to the lame sequels that stuff the cineplexes these days, it plays off like a "Citizen Kane" or a "Godfather."

thinker1691 James Mitchner's books on the south seas and the people living there are always fascinating reading. Any one of his novels can easily fit onto the silver screen. This particular film, " The Hawaiians " is a case in point. Following the exploits of the main character who draws the most attention, Charlton Heston plays Whip Hoxworth, an experienced sea Captain who dreams of overseeing a scheduled line of commercial vessels. His force of acting brings the worthy sea Captain ashore to confront the religious power of his clan. Having enough of the high Seas, Whip decides to stay shore-bound and tend to his Grandfater's sailing ships. Unfortunately, he arrives too late as his Grandfather left all his businesses to his laboriously pious and financially selfish family, leaving him an unpromising island called Hanni-Ki. Disappointed, he begins to despair his future when Milton Overpeck, a drunken driller (Don Knight) offers him an opportunity to become rich. At nearly the same time an oriental pair Tina Chen (Nyuk Tsin) and Mun Ki (Kako) arrive in Hawii and during the ensuing years, join Hoxworth in the ever changing social and political landscape. Geraldine Chaplin plays Purity Hoxworth a woman who slowly loses her mind, her son and her husband. John Phillip Law, Alec McCowen and Keye Luke add to the star studded film. With the magnificent Hawiian landscape as a backdrop, this movie is a splendid example of art come to life. The story is solid as is the acting with the result being a Classic created from a literary novel. ****

FromBookstoFilm What I really enjoyed about the Hawaiians was the story of how Hawaii came to be such a cultural melting pot. The Polynesians were the aboriginal peoples of the Hawaiian novels. Next came the American and European whites mostly missionaries or seamen. Then came the Chinese followed by the Mediterranean European Portugese and then the Japanese and Filipinos. Hawaiians movie does a great job of covering the Chinese immigrants at the beginning of the story Tina Chen and Mako did a fine job in the film as a Chinese Man and his second wife whom by Chinese law at that time was considered in reality a concubine. The scenes at the leper colony was very close to the original in the book and the rape of the beautiful Hawaiian leper girl Kinau who did not show except for one sign of the disease is also graphically depicted in the film. In the novel the concubine has all sons.In the movie version the concubine has one daughter.A character that has been created from Japanese and Chinese characters in the book.The Japanese former comfort girl mistress of Charlton Heston was actually a made from several different females in the book. Charlton Heston did a great job in his part but in actuality and no fault of his own but of the screenwriter his Whip character did not remain faithful to the book portrayal and Geraldine Chaplin her character should have been left out entirely since it was another streamline of other female characters. People who viewed this movie couldn't relate to Geraldine's Purity's character. She apparently was unhappy in her marriage gave Whip a son but didn't want to return to the marriage bed.Frigid and emotionally detached. She kept going back to her full blooded Hawaiian relatives and the church. She was comfortable with the old ways and not the new and certainly not her husband's sex drive. John Phillip Law plays the son of Whip and Purity who later married a Chinese girl the daughter of the Chinese couple was told to keep his quarter Polynesian blood a secret by his father. There was racism by the so-called Pure white stock against Caucasians who had a little of the Polynesian ancestry. Pure Polynesian Hawaiians weren't too happy at first with their children intermarrying with Caucasians or mainland Asian Chinese then Koreans or other island Asiatic groups like Japanese and Filipinos but it happened. Bottom line on this sequel-Good Movie but not what one could call faithful to a James Michener's novel. The Chinese storyline pretty much stayed close to the depiction in the book. The James Michener novel Centennial was better adapted to the small screen than this epic sequel.

viewer70 The impact "The Hawaiians" has made on this viewer stretches over many years. Not only because it finishes the story initiated by the earlier film release, "Hawaii," which is readily available on video. But also because within this film we enjoy an epic life's story of a Chinese m woman, played by Tina Chen, who only speaks the Hakah mountain dialect. She arrives in Hawaii with almost no English, but a strong desire to survive and succeed. She is the center figure of the story and as such, she gives birth to five sons and ultimately one daughter all by a man, also from China, played by Mako. She dedicates herself to him. This guy, by the way, is already married to a woman still living in China,his first wife, who he sends much of his earnings to. So our Heroine, must be her own children's "auntie."When her husband contracts Leprosy, Wu Chow's Auntie, as she is now called by everybody who knows her, nobly follows her husband to the outcast Island of Molokai where she takes care of him until he dies.(Mako is not Chinese but an excellent Japanese-American actor. We can see him in his latest film as the Admiral who attacks "Pearl Harbor."} Thanks to the friendship of the Hawaiian Island Master played by Charlton Heston, this great lady, who miraculously does not contract the dreaded Leprous disease, is allowed to return to her children, now grown to teenagers. All five boys,and the youngest, a girl, born at the Leper Colony and sent home just after her birth, have all managed to still be living together at the old homestead. Although missing for so many year, they are nevertheless, glad to see their mother, but when Wu Chow's Auntie begins to take charge and direct them, declaring which son will be a lawyer and which a doctor etc.; they are astonished and resistantly shout questions ... " How can we do this, we have no money. " Wu Chow's Auntie listens patiently to all the reasons for why her expectations are impossible. Then the noble mother pulls herself to her fullest height, surely no more then five feet, and declares, looking each child in his eyes until he is forced to lower them: "Impossible has come back from Molokai." Naturally to find out what happens to this woman you have to read James Michener's epic novel. This one scene alone, would make the film a MUST SEE in my opnion. I really am impatient with the controllers who are delaying the release of this wonderful story. Come on guys, get moving.. Give us "The Hawaiians," on VHS and DVD too.