Hurricane

In view of the disaster-movie cycle of the 1970s, somebody got the bright idea of remaking the John Ford classic THE HURRICANE (1937) – lavishing on it a considerable budget, a handful of stars, and the best that special effects wizardry could afford at the time; however, the end result was so dreadful (and old-fashioned) that the film proved a notorious flop!

The setting (adapted from a book by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, best-known for another adventure with an exotic backdrop, "Mutiny On The Bounty") is a South Sea island run by the American Navy; the arrival of the Governor's daughter causes a commotion – the newly-crowned native King forsakes his local girl for the white woman's charms; this obviously creates problems between the two sets of inhabitants, who do not wish to have their blood mingle…but, before the situation can be resolved, the Forces of Nature contrive to mete out their own form of justice (via the titular catastrophe).

Jason Robards Jr. is the Governor, Mia Farrow his daughter, and Dayton Kane the young ruler; besides, Max von Sydow is a doctor, Trevor Howard a priest, Timothy Bottoms a Navy officer (with feelings for Farrow) and James Keach as Kane's hostile keeper (the latter having been convicted of his fiancé's death, who drowned after fleeing a ceremony in which her virginity was to be ascertained!). Despite enviable credentials – producer Dino De Laurentiis, acclaimed Swedish director Troell, cinematographer Sven Nykvist, composer Nino Rota (whose contribution is particularly notable) and production designer Danilo Donati – the film is something of a snoozer, with endless footage devoted to local color and the unconvincing central romance…until the spectacular climax (but which still isn't really enough to redress the balance)!

Having re-acquainted myself with this (I'd already watched it as a kid), I hope someday to get a fresh appraisal of the Oscar-winning original as well; it was available on DVD very early into the format, but hasn't been re-issued since going out-of-print!

I have also heard negative feedback about this movie. This is one of the greatest examples of romance in any movie I have ever seen. Only unromantic men usually don't like it, movie critics for one. Luckily I don't base watching a movie on what a critic has to say. I could care less about what they think. Hurricane is a beautiful and moving story of the cost of love and what love can do. The special effects are also excellent as far as they go in 1980 or now. See it and then see the original which is also excellent and moving. Beware young lovers !!!

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.

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.