König von Hawaii

Richard 'King' Howland and his sister Sloane (Heston and Mimieux) live on an island, the only wonderful place that gets bigger every time they saw it from the sky…

Sloane has just returned from California graduated but she despises waiting… She has something on her mind to tell her brother about Paul (James Darren). So she asks her brother how did he feel about Paul Kahana?

The whole film is about racial intolerance and it sends a strong message, which kept the story interesting… Trade with them, be friends with them, even sleep with them, but don't marry them…

This is Hawaii… It can happen here, and it does all the time… For Laura Beckett (Elizabeth Allen), King's sister-in-law, it happens, but not to people of their class… For King, if Sloane marries Paul, her children will inherit Manoalani one day, and all that goes with it… Paul is pure Hawaiian… Their families have been in these islands over a hundred years… They have never mixed their blood…

Charlton Heston plays a rich narrow-minded pineapple grower, obstinately and intolerantly devoted to his own beliefs, even though he himself having an affair with Mai Chen (France Nuyen), the woman who doesn't ask questions…

Mai knows that most women can make the world go away for a while, but none can make it stay away…Richard Knows that he's in danger of becoming an uncle… His sister and himself are the last of their line…Her son will own Manoalani one day and he has to be the right kid of son… Obviously he could have a child… He might even have a son… But he has no intention of marrying again… But Mai Chen thinks differently… He should have his own son… But King had a son… His name was Richard Howland III… He was 3 years old that day… A tidal wave, 40-foot crest smashed into Hilo and killed him and his mother and 120 others … So he doesn't want another son…

Yvette Mimieux achieved stardom in "Where the Boys Are" (1960) and here, she is incredibly fresh, innocent and beautiful…

Filmed in Color and Wide Screen, the photography is too beautiful presenting a tropical paradise of turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, waving palm trees, lush tropical vegetation and gentle sunshine

So, you decide you want to make a film with a strong social statement about prejudice. You want to show the stupidity and hypocrisy of folks hating mixed-race people...and they then get folks like George Chakiris and James Darren to play these 'mixed' characters!! The actors were lovely men...but looked about as much like they were from mixed ancestry as Shirley Temple! In other words, despite a great story idea they cop out and pick the very white actors to play these characters!! What a mistake...and it clearly was a sign of the times in which it was made. Perhaps the producers had a hard time finding mixed actors suitable for the roles...but finding pretty teen heartthrobs seemed inappropriate given the serious plot. My assumption is that the writer probably felt a bit sick about this...but they almost never have any influence on who plays their characters. But I will excuse some of this--for its day it was rather broad-minded. Plus, Charlton Heston should be applauded for such a role, as he was one of the few white actors who stood along side the Freedom Marchers...so it's pretty obvious that this film meant something to him. After having recently completed BEN HUR and THE BIG COUNTRY he could have chosen any project and chose this.

The film is a soapy affair in which a supposedly liberal-minded and very powerful Hawaiian man, 'King' Howland, is horrified when his sister (Yvette Mimieux) falls in love with a guy of mixed white and Hawaiian blood (James Darren). But he's also a complete hypocrite, as on the side he has an Asian woman (France Nuyen) of his own!! And, when she become pregnant he refuses to have anything to do with her or the child! Nice guy, huh?! What's next? See the film...or not.

Overall, this is a decent film...though if you're looking for Heston in a better film about Hawaii, I prefer THE HAWAIIANS (a sequel to HAWAII). The story is interesting and engaging but loses a bit due to the casting and the soapy elements which deter from the film's believability. The worst is some of the dialog (particularly some of the drivel given to Mimieux to deliver). Not bad entertainment but that's really about it.

Charlton Heston does a great job of acting by becoming the opposite of what he is in real life. His sister comes home from college only to tell him that she is in love with a Hawaiian native (James Darren) to which he is opposed because of his race. Little does anyone know that "King" (Heston) is seeing a Hawaiian woman himself who carries a secret. The story moves well and does not lag or leave you confused. There are also some great supporting roles played out. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that this is a great movie to watch for the first time and also a great addition to your film collection.

I wonder if the late J. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina ever saw this film. He would have understood the character of Charlton Heston in this movie as few others are capable of. As we all know, several years after Thurmond's death in 2003 at 101, a black woman who was his illegitimate daughter came out with a book about the South's long standing segregationist and Dixiecrat candidate for president in 1948.

The film is set in Hawaii in 1959 just upon Hawaii's admission as a state and Charlton Heston comes from a family not unlike the Parkers who still have a ranch on Hawaii's big island that takes a lot acreage there and is the state Ponderosa. Heston's being touted as someone who could be one of their first two US Senators. He's a widower whose wife and son were killed years ago in the famous tidal wave at Hilo and lives at the ranch with his wife's sister Elizabeth Allan and his sister Yvette Mimieux.

Having visited Hawaii for a glorious week I can speak to Hawaii's reputation for tolerance, but even paradise will have a few racial trolls. Even though he's got a Eurasian mistress, France Nuyen of long standing whom he's just put in a family way, he objects mightily to the proposed interracial marriage of native Hawaiian James Darren and Mimieux. When his objections become the underlying cause of tragedy, Heston's political career is shot to pieces. What might fly in Alabama has no place in Hawaii.

During his career Heston also played Thomas Jefferson which came out the same year as Diamond Head. I'm wondering if he didn't channel some of Jefferson into playing 'King' Howland who had a well known backstairs interracial relationship with Sally Hemmings. If Patsy or Polly Jefferson had ever come to father and said they were going to marry some free black man, I imagine Jefferson would have reacted the same way as Heston does with Mimieux.

Diamond Head is a nice Hawaiian soap opera which could have made some great prime time Dynasty like viewing with a pineapple twist. But it fails utterly in conveying any serious message about racial tolerance. Still you can't shoot a bad looking film on Hawaii and since the cast shot it on location, they're all ahead of the game if they got to spend time on the islands. Charlton Heston even got to do it again several years later in The Hawaiians.

Besides those I've mentioned look for George Chakiris as Darren's half brother, Aline McMahon as their mom and Philip Ahn as a most efficient police inspector. What I liked about what Ahn did with the part is that it could have been played like Charlie Chan and it wasn't.

You can never go wrong with a Hawaiian based film. Even the worst films are never bad looking and Diamond Head is far from the worst.

A good film, Macbeth and Romeo-Juliet in a Hawaiian setting. Credible performances, but this film could have been shot in California or mostly on a soundstage. It deserves better than a 4.5 of 10 but surely not more than a 7. A poignant social, cultural commentary on Hawaii becoming a State in mid-Twentieth century.