The Castaway Cowboy

Wayward Texas cowboy James Garner (as Lincoln Costain) washes up on the beaches of Hawaii, is taken home by fatherless (hint, hint!) young Eric Shea (as Booton MacAvoy), meets tightly-outfitted single mom Vera Miles (as Henrietta), helps her ward off slimy suitor Robert Culp (as Calvin Bryson), and saves the family's business. The English performers speak to the smiling Hawaiians like they are mentally retarded; apparently, with good reason. Mr. Garner unfavorably compares them to schoolgirls and Ms. Miles notes, "They do like their fun!" One of them is handy with the spear, so Garner better watch his back!

**** The Castaway Cowboy (8/1/74) Vincent McEveety ~ James Garner, Eric Shea, Vera Miles, Robert Culp

It has the benefit of being one of the most Kauai-intensive movies ever filmed. Not only was 90% of the movie actually made on that beautiful Hawaiian island, but it's actually SET there, too -- and there are very few movies both shot AND set in Hawaii.

The photography is excellent; the score is very good (but would have been better with a little more island influence), and the use of the Kauai locations, though limited to just a few, is first-rate. Garner is fine, and Culp makes a good, if foggily-motivated, villain.

However, the attitude toward the Hawaiians is painfully paternalistic, and there's a stupid, TRULY stupid, subplot involving "sorcery" and some extremely improbable caves, full of Tahitian statuary. Very bad idea.

Historically, it's a bit muddled; much is made of the idea that no one has found a way to load cattle aboard a schooner at this time. (Somewhere around 1870, I guess.) But over on the Big Island, this problem had been licked, and the founder of the Parker Ranch was already getting rich selling King Kamehameha's "big dogs.

If the script had been better, with a less predictable story, THE CASTAWAY COWBOY could have been a little gem. As it is, it's mostly a pretty time-passer.

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.

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.

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.