Un cow-boy à Hawaï

Perfectly watchable Disney fare. You can read the lot points elsewhere. But two things stood out that I winced at, the Hawaiians were simplistic and stereotyped as childlike innocents lazy folks, and the cattle were treated atrociously.

I love the movies Holiday Inn and Song of the South, uh.... except for the Blackface Minstrel number in the former and the "happy slave" trope in the later.

Castaway Cowboy is really nothing special at all. I saw it as a kid in '74, and forgot its plot. Now I'll remember the plot because a lot more sensitive to the suffering of sentient beings, animals AND people.

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.

Not bad, not good.

'The Castaway Cowboy' is a run-of-the-mill live-action offering from Disney. The casting is fine but plain, while the plot is alright if unspectacular and entirely predictable - especially the love story, which is one of the most obvious I think I have ever seen. The humour is decent, probably the best part of this.

James Garner (Costain) and Vera Miles (Henrietta) are a duo once again, following on from their exploits together in 'One Little Indian' a year prior. Eric Shea plays Booton, who I feared would be yet another annoying Disney kid actor but he's actually OK all in all.

The villains are extremely forgettable, in fairness Robert Culp (Bryson), Gregory Sierra (Marruja) and Nephi Hannemann (Malakoma) don't get much to work with - unexplored potential; solid actor choices.

This should be far more entertaining, especially as it's an adventure film.

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.

"The Castaway Cowboy" begins with Mr. Costain (James Garner) washing ashore on the island of Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands back in 1850. It seems that Costain was kidnapped and forced to work on a ship...and he availed him a chance to escape by jumping overboard.

Soon Costain is befriended by a widow and her son. The MacAvoys have a large plantation there, but it's being underutilized and the crops are failing. Costain has an idea...why try to make pennies on crops when there are dollars to be make cattle ranching. This film is about the difficulties encountered trying to make a go of it. Some of the difficulties were cultural, some were definitely man-made.

In 2022, this film might be seen as a bit politically incorrect in the somewhat paternalistic way the Hawaiians are portrayed....and Disney+ mentions this on a tacked-on prologue. Fortunately they have NOT trimmed the film. I also noticed near the end that Costain was using a revolver...something pretty much impossible in Hawaii at the time. The revolver wasn't mass produced until the 1850s...and finding one in 1850 in such an out of the way place seems more than just unlikely. Not a major problem...just something this history teacher noticed.

All in all, a decent movie...especially since in the 20th century Kaua'i DID become a big cattle producing island! Yep..cowboys and cattle on the island!