Un cow-boy à Hawaï

The Castaway Cowboy, a western film in the Disney tradition is a family film about Texan Lincoln Costain, played by James Garner. While in California, he gets shanghaied and jumps ship just off the shore of the Hawaiian islands. While there, he works on a ranch run by Henrietta MacAvoy, played by Vera Miles and comes face to face with a major problem. The problem is that wild cattle are destroying her crops, causing her to be further behind on her bank note. And the banker, Calvin Bryson couldn't be happier because he's got his eyes on Henrietta and her farm.

The problem is, Calvin is devious and dubious and will do anything, legal or not to get his hands on the property. If that even includes a little sabotage or murder, he feels he's above the law. He doesn't count on Lincoln Costain's no holds barred Texas approach on solving problems. Eventually, Henrietta and Costain are able to convert the farm from cash crops to cattle, which in the long run will net Henrietta with more income if they can successfully pull off how to load the cows onto a boat.

This is an interesting film, it shows a part of Hawaiian history prior to its statehood in the United States, a time when it was still being colonized and before it was completely commercialized. It's also one of only two films that James Garner made for the Disney company, the other being One Little Indian.

James Garner and the Disney Corporation may not sound like a likely mix, but it did happen - twice, as a matter of fact. In 1973, Garner and Disney made a two movie agreement. Garner was looking for flavorful movie vehicles, and Disney was looking for a major star in order to regain the audience it had lost since Walt Disney's death several years earlier. But everyone's expectations were not met. The first movie, "One Little Indian", did not wow critics or audiences, and the same fate was met with "The Castaway Cowboy". It has an interesting premise - starting a cattle ranch in Hawaii during the days cowboys were kings - but the execution is severely lacking. It has a real sedate, almost boring tone for the most part. Both kids and adults will be restless. Almost nothing is done with Robert Culp's villain character - his footage can't add up to more than five minutes. It's only Garner's charisma that saves the movie from total decay, but even he can only do so much. Word of warning to parents: While the movie got a "G" rating in 1974, the movie would get a "PG" rating today due to a couple of violent fistfights.

Having been to Hawaii and actually going through the famous Parker ranch on the big island, I'm in a better position to comment on this film now than before.

The Castaway Cowboy is one of two films James Garner made for the Disney studio in the Seventies. He's a Texas cowboy who got himself shanghaied in San Francisco and jumped ship and washed ashore on Kaui. Right into the arms of widow Vera Miles and her son Eric Shea who are struggling to make a living as farmers.

A lot of wild cattle keep trampling up their crops. So Garner gets the idea that they ought to start cattle ranching instead. Of course the Hawaiian farm hands don't readily take to the American cowboy culture. Of course they eventually do in the end.

Cattle came to Hawaii courtesy of British explorer George Vancouver who left them on the big island. It was the descendants of those cattle with which John Parker founded his ranch. No doubt some of them made it to the smaller islands in the chain.

Of course there's a villain in the piece and it's Robert Culp. He's a banker with eyes to grab Vera Miles land and maybe Vera herself. Culp does resist the tendency to model his performance on Snidely Whiplash and he's a worthy rival of the resourceful Garner.

Of course there are paternalistic attitudes towards the native Hawaiians. But if you want to see a serious film about those attitudes than watch the film made of James Michener's novel Hawaii. This is a Disney family product and doesn't pretend to be social commentary.

The Castaway Cowboy is a good entertainment. How could it be anything else with James Garner starring.

I don't know why I didn't see "The Castaway Cowboy" when it was in the theaters. It came out when I was seeing all of Disney's movies. Oh well, I watched it tonight and I thought "The Castaway Cowboy" was a good movie. A lot of it was really good. It is a well acted, fast moving movie. It's not your average western and I kind of liked that.

I thought it was Australia? Oh ... that was Support Your Local Sherrif, and there is a lot of that character in James Garner's performance in this film.

Garner looks a bit heavier and a bit slower in this film, as the injuries he'd suffered in previous roles started to catch up to him. This was just before Rockford, where he often moved like an old man because of them.

This is a great fish out of water film, and the novelty is it works both ways. Garner's Costain, rescued after he escaped from a ship that shanghaied him, finds himself totally out of place among the native Hawaiians, and on a potato farm.

Once Mrs. MacAvoy (Vera Miles) learns she might leverage some wild cattle into saving her failing farm, she convinces Costain to retrain her farm hands as cowboys. That's the second fish out of water element, because the Hawaiians initially don't fare too well as cowpokes. :-)

But with training mishaps, witch doctoring, and having to figure out how to load cattle on ships with no docks available, Costain almost gives up.

Garner is always a good watch. I've never been disappointed.