"BLUE HAWAII" (1961), SUMMER MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

It’s been 45 years since Elvis left the building, but he remains firmly rooted in our zeitgeist. He seems more omnipresent than ever, thanks in no small part to Baz Luhrmann’s biopic. I lay no claim to being a connoisseur of Elvis cinema. I’ve only seen a few of his more than 30 films. I began with Blue Hawaii, and I’m so glad that I did. 

I love 60s beach party movies, particularly those starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello. Blue Hawaii is just a more expensive rendition of those. The movie has no lofty aspirations above its station. It’s happy to be all froth and bubblegum; bright color palates, women in bathing suits, sandy beaches, and luaus. And Elvis, of course. 

The plot of Blue Hawaii is disposable. Presley plays a young man who returns home to Hawaii after military service. Rather than enter the family business (a pineapple company, naturally), he becomes a tour guide, ferrying a group of teenage tourists and their teacher around the islands. That is just a clothesline on which to hang the scenic photography of Hawaii and musical numbers for Elvis. 

Presley will never make it on AFI’s top 100 actors, but he’s likable in his role. I got the sense that he was playing himself. Whether he was or not is besides the point. He convinced me he was that person in reality; that’s the skill of any great movie star. Another notable cast member is Angela Lansbury, who, despite being both British and a mere 10 years Presley’s senior, plays his histrionic mother. How well does London-born Lansbury play an overbearing, Georgia-born mama? Like the legend she is. Her performance is a riot. Her exaggerated southern accent comes straight from a comedic rendition of A Streetcar Named Desire. 

The film’s director, Norman Taurog, was a seasoned pro. After winning the Academy Award for Best Director in 1931, he went on to direct icons like Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, and Fred Astaire. He helmed six films for Martin and Lewis, and ultimately nine of Elvis’s. Taurog provides a steady competency for the trifling fun. And nothing wrong with being trifling fun. 

Blue Hawaii doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s how you should take it. You’re meant to look at Elvis, listen to him sing, and arrive at the end credits with a smile on your face. What a nice way to spend your summer. 

As of this posting, Blue Hawaii is available for FREE on Pluto TV. 

-T.Z. 

"SUMMER RENTAL" (1985), SUMMER MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

I don’t want to believe John Candy is dead. I fantasize that he faked his passing, and lives happily on some island in the South Pacific, selling shower curtain rings and punching out intoxicated birthday clowns.

After initially rising to fame on the Canadian sketch show SCTV, Candy achieved further notoriety for his supporting parts in movies like Stripes, 1941, and Splash. His first starring role was in the Carl Reiner directed comedy, Summer Rental. Candy plays a burnt-out air traffic controller who takes his family on vacation to a beachfront rental house in Florida. But his attempts at unwinding are constantly thwarted by a series of vacation-related disasters. While Summer Rental was not a critical success, it did well at the box office, finishing at number two behind Back to the Future. The film has a devoted fan following, particularly among Candy-philes. 

Hilarious performances help elevate a stock premise. Rip Torn plays a local restaurant owner who talks and behaves like a salty pirate. You wouldn’t naturally think of Richard Crenna, best known as Col. Trautman in the first three Rambo movies, as a comedic presence. But he’s absolutely superb as the conceited, egomaniacal town local who wants to evict Candy and his family from the rental house. 

And of course there’s Candy, who was always terrific. An actor whose innate lovability permeated all his performances and characters. Also featuring Carmine Caridi, Karen Austin, John Larroquette (his part seems severely trimmed), Kerri Green, and a young Joey Lawrence. Summer Rental is an easy-going, relaxed time, meant to be enjoyed with your friends and family, like a great day at the beach.

As of this posting, Summer Rental is available for FREE on Pluto TV. 

-T.Z. 

"KEY LARGO" (1948), SUMMER MOVIE RECOMMENDATION

I enjoy recommending Key Largo (1948) because it’s a movie that I love. I just can’t shut the hell up about it. This was the final of four films to star Hollywood super-couple Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Though there’s stronger examples of their chemistry (see The Big Sleep), Key Largo remains their most intoxicating. I saw it for the first time on TCM many years ago, and it remains one of my favorite films.

Bogart plays Frank McCloud, a World War II vet who arrives at a seaside hotel in Key Largo, Florida. He’s come to pay his respects to the family of his army buddy, George Temple, who was killed in combat. Frank meets his late friend’s widow (Bacall) and father (Lionel Barrymore), who owns the hotel. (Modern audiences know Barrymore best as the evil Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life.) They invite Frank to spend the night. But other guests have checked in too. A coterie of shifty, unsavory hoodlums, led by a mysterious man sequestered in an upstairs room (Edward G. Robinson). 

Director John Huston effectively creates an unrelenting atmosphere of grim,  claustrophobic foreboding. A paranoid mood pervades, wafting through the hotel’s corridors, bathed in dying sunlight and beautifully photographed by cinematographer Karl Freund. As conflicts between the hotel guests intensify, so too does the thick, oppressive heat; an approaching hurricane bears down on the hotel. 

Bogart and Bacall are the ostensible stars, a pair of mourners that fall in love through their bereavement. But the spotlight belongs to two supporting actors. Robinson is both frightful and repugnant; a sweaty bulldog that loves to poke at its meal. His entrance is the most effective character introduction in any movie anywhere. Within a single frame, we learn everything we need to know about Robinson’s character without him uttering a single grunt. 

You can argue that the film really belongs to Claire Trevor. By 1948 Trevor was already typecast as hardboiled dames; the wayward blonde gone wrong. It was a role she played aplomb in many films including Stagecoach (1938), Murder, My Sweet (1944), and Dead End (1937). But her performance in Key Largo as boozy Gaye Dawn, a washed-up nightclub singer, is her most heart-wrenching. In the film’s best scene, Gaye is enticed to sing her signature tune in exchange for a glass of hooch. But as the first creaky notes slip between her gin-soaked lips, it’s clear to everyone — including herself — that she drank her talent away. Trevor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1948. Deservedly so. 

From the moment I first saw Key Largo, I became utterly entranced by it. Once you’ve seen Key Largo, you won’t be able to shut up about it either. 

As of this posting, Key Largo is currently streaming on HBOMax. 

-T.Z.