Hurricane

Have you heard the old LP or CD score for this film? It is one of the most exquisite suites of film music ever created. Memorable and infinitely playable at home. Friends say: "what is that lovely music?" and you say: "the love theme from Hurricane, you know, with Mia Farrow." They do not understand and you just keep sashaying about as you serve a tray of crackers with pineapple chunks. Sadly though, HURRICANE was a monumental disaster of its own when released in 1979. Here in Sydney Australia it played the 900 seat ASCOT Theatre, built for My Fair Lady (alas that never screened there) but found huge success with 70mm spectaculars like SWEET CHARITY and RYANS DAUGHTER, two films that struggled overseas but ran for over 12 months each in Sydney. Perhaps that was the reason HURRICANE went in, after all, the Ascot also had a 60ft cinema-scope screen, and HURRICANE looked as spectacular as SOUTH PACIFIC meets THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, given this film was set both in the 1920s and on Bora Bora. Within 2 weeks, the distributor sent another print to the theater. Gone was half an hour, and HURRICANE shrank from 120 mins to 90mins overnight. Other comments here complain about how boring it is, but really, it isn't, HURRICANE is quite exquisite, a bit silly, and a lot beautiful... then whoosh, mighty seas and winds that see our ukulele crossed lovers up a tree. Great special effects, a church squashed by a freighter in the middle of the storm, and that heavenly plunking and strumming. HURRICANE deserves re appraisal and a DVD release with extras, set and costume pix and clips, and maybe Mia Farrow and Timothy Bottoms hosting a chat. It was made with real heart and basically is a slow tropical drama with a mighty windy finale. But that music! Oh! so sublime.

One of the worst movies ever made. It's a remake of a 1937 disaster epic, which I haven't seen, and it's so impossibly dull, so lifeless and enervated that my guess is, if you ever start watching it, you won't finish it through. The climactic hurricane sequences are OK, but not really spectacular by today's standards - and how many viewers will have survived the 90 minutes that the movie takes to get there? Lots of good actors (Farrow, Von Sydow, Timothy Bottoms) are pitifully wasted. Don't say you weren't warned.

Long before I saw "Hurricane", I bought the soundtrack album in a second hand store.

It was a happy purchase. I knew Nino Rota's music for "War and Peace", the Fellini movies and "Death on the Nile", but his score for "Hurricane" was a surprise. It is a seductive blend of mandolin, ukulele, orchestra, primitive instruments, wordless chorus and even whistling. The whole thing beautifully captures the mystique of the Pacific islands of legend. It was Rota's last score. He died before the film was released.

It's interesting how often those mega-budget movies set in Polynesia seem to have been lured to destruction by swaying palms and swaying hips. "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), "The Bounty" (1984), and Kevin Costner's Rapa Nui (1994), all hit a reef financially. Mind you, I find them all guilty pleasures in their own way. Unfortunately "Hurricane" didn't fare any better.

Set in the 1920's, Charlotte Bruckner (Mia Farrow) arrives on Pago Pago to visit her father Captain Bruckner (Jason Robards), the U.S. Governor. She falls in love with Matangi (Dayton Ka'ne) an islander destined to become chieftain. Dad is not pleased; there are racial tensions and somewhat disturbing father/daughter tensions. Then the hurricane hits.

Apparently there were also tensions on the set. In fact, all those big epics had tensions behind the scenes. Maybe it was the isolation with stars and crew trapped on their respective islands for weeks on end. According to an article in "The Independent", at some point during the making of "Hurricane", Mia Farrow fetched co-star Timothy Bottoms a smack in the mouth.

Few critics had a good word for "Hurricane". The love affair between Charlotte and Matangi doesn't quite register. Dayton Ka'ne was a good-looking surfer plucked from obscurity, but he struggled with his lines. He made one other movie and retired from the screen - he died a few years ago aged only 61. The film suffers from some one-dimensional characters, but the storm at the end is good if a little long although it is called "Hurricane" after all.

I feel the film has a certain ambience definitely helped by Rota's haunting score. It's a long way from being the worst movie I have ever seen.

The much maligned remake of John Ford's 1937 film (or at least the second adaptation of the novel, which came out in 1936) is not as bad as its reputation, but it doesn't really work. They change things up a bit to make it about an interracial romance. Mary Astor's character (now played by Mia Farrow) is now the daughter of the governor character (played here by Jason Robards), and the lead native character (played by newcomer Dayton Ka'ne) falls in love with her. This being the 1920s, their romance is looked down upon (by both races). The initial premise change isn't too bad, but it weakens the rest of the plot, which plays out pretty similarly to the original film. Ka'ne's crime is far less sympathetic than it was; there he was arrested for assaulting a racist who insulted him. Here, he, as chief of his people, allows a custom of checking for a bride's virginity before she's married - the girl is so upset about it she drowns herself. Farrow helps Ka'ne escape, but their plans, and everyone's lives, are disrupted by the hurricane. Jon Hall was kind of the weak link in Ford's film, but Ka'ne is far worse. Even besides his more detestable crime, he's just not that likable an actor. Farrow's infatuation with him never comes off as real love, so there's no romance to latch onto. Farrow herself isn't too bad, but she's ten years older than the character should be at least. Robards is the best thing about it. Trevor Howard plays the priest and Max von Sydow the doctor. Both are fine, but the roles probably should have been reversed. It doesn't really matter, though, since both characters get short shafted by the script. Timothy Bottoms is pretty good as Farrow's initial love interest (he doesn't really have an analogue in the original). The actual hurricane is still pretty good, but the ending is lame. The film looks great, thanks to Sven Nykvist and, you know, Bora Bora just being beautiful in general.

HURRICANE is not a great film, but it sure IS entertaining. Some of the scenes and situations are ludicrous (Jason Robards has the hots for his daughter, Mia Farrow) and the dialogue is often hilarious. But if you stick around, you'll find that the production values are astonishing. Among the talents behind the camera are Jan Troell (THE EMIGRANTS, THE NEW LAND), who directed; Sven Nykvist (cinematographer for many of Ingmar Berman's later films) who filmed on location in the South Pacific; and Nino Rota, who wrote a lovely, haunting musical theme. The performances aren't so bad (considering the dialogue) and the special effects at the end show you why this was one of the most expensive films of its day.