Sunday, March 3, 2013

Diamond Head

Diamond Head (1963) 104 Minutes Stars: Charlton Heston, Frances Nguyen and Yvette Mimieux. Plot: A Rich Hawaiian Pineapple Planter (Heston) must deal with his racial prejudice when his sister falls in love with a Native Hawaiian and his Chinese mistress bears his son.

An amazingly bad Pineapple Soap Opera. The actors aren't to blame but the writing and supporting cast are simply awful. James Darren and George Chakiris are supposed to be Hawaiian. Mimieux and Heston are supposed to be brother and sister. And Heston is supposed to be head over heels in love with supposedly "Chinese" France Nguyen. Note: even if she wasn't "Chinese" I found it hard to believe a Hawaiian millionaire who looks like Chuck Heston couldn't do better than France Nguyen. But then maybe Rich millionaire Pineapple growers are easy to please. The scenery was good to look at, but it couldn't overcome the silly "Not with my My Sister you don't" racial subplot and the ham-fisted "Wow, white racism sure is bad" message which the movie constantly pushed.

Summary: Rated only a 5.7 at IMDB - I'd rate the script even lower. And too bad they couldn't have gotten some real Hawaiian actors to play the roles. Heston doesn't say much about the movie in his Biography, but I assume he did it for the money, the Hawaiian shoot, and a chance to make an anti-racist movie. Rating *

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