Elvis Presley's seventh film was the first of his "Hawaii trilogy" that also included ‘Girls! Girls! Girls!’, ‘Paradise’and‘Hawaiian Style’. ‘Blue Hawaii’ the best of them all, has got the most number of songs like. Rock-A-Hula baby, Hawaiian Wedding Song, Beach boy blues, Aloha Oe, Blue Hawaii, Island of Love, Almost always true and the immortal Can't help falling in love which Elvis sings to his girlfriend's grandmother for her birthday. Though the script may not be upto the mark, who really cares when you have Elvis doing his thing and singing some of his best songs that are just fantastic.
The picturesque beaches of Hawaii is glossy, welcoming and bewitching, just as the bevy of beauties that make a beeline for the King of Rock and Roll. Chad Gates (Elvis) has just returned from his Army posting in Italy and is greeted by his loving Franco-Hawaiian girlfriend Maile (Joan Blackman) at the Honolulu airport. They both head straight to the cozy beach shack to avoid working in his father's pineapple fruit business. His parents disapprove of his lifestyle, his friends, and want him to help in the family plantation.
In between meetings with his freaky mother the Southern belle Sue (Angela Lansbury), who is hyper over his future, Chad finds a way to work in tourism business and for the pineapple firm at the same time. Chad’s first tryst with the tour guide business is taking care of an attractive teacher and her four teenage girls on a tour around the islands in Aloha. His girlfriend who gave him the job is downright jealous and tries her best to pin Chad away from the voluptuous teacher and her teenage girls who can’t help falling in love with the good looking guide.
There’s the great location, the romance, the comedy and heavy flirting in the air by Chad. But all that ends as Chad finally ties the knot Hawaiian style with Maile.
Watching the antics of one of music’s biggest icons is a nostalgic treat, and that too reliving a 1961 classic in the days of 2010. An entertaining film for all Elvis fans.
Rating: ****
-- Reviewed by Verus Ferreira