bombersflyup Diamond Head was a so so to reasonable film about power and mixed marriage, but nothing special. I did not care for any character in this film. Richard is suppose to be unlikable, but Sloane isn't much better, she will basically have anyone who will jump into the water with her. Jumping from one brother to the next. Sloane: Feel? That's just it, I don't feel. Anything. Paul must of loved me and all I felt was a blank. I don't know how to love. Then she gets with Dean after telling him this. This is a romance?? There was no chemistry between anyone. It was an interesting and engaging enough film though.

JasparLamarCrabb Unless I missed it, there's not a single reference to Diamond Head in this Hawaii-set soap opera. Nevertheless, the meaningless title is not the most perplexing thing about the film. What's astounding is how seriously Charlton Heston, Yvette Mimieux, James Darren & George Chakiris take this melodrama. Heston is Richard "King" Howland, a modern day ruler of a plantation where nothing transpires without his input. Mimieux is his extraordinarily younger sister, bent on marrying islander Darren. A lot of lurid nonsense ensues as Heston's hypocrisy is revealed. There's no action, some fairly lousy acting and some rather dull direction by Guy Green. Heston says "damn" a lot, Mimieux gets drunk a lot and France Nuyen (as Heston's kept woman) espouses a lot of common sense advice to virtually everyone. Frankly, the film is so boring, an eruption by ANY volcano would have been most welcome.

MARIO GAUCI Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, glossy soap operas were among Hollywood's most popular offerings – before such melodramatic stuff became standard TV fare, a status which holds up to this day. These are hardly my kind of genre picture – which, perhaps, explains why I've yet to sit through efforts even as acclaimed as PEYTON PLACE (1957)!Incidentally, given the title's similarity to another Charlton Heston vehicle (which actually preceded this viewing) – namely the Western ARROWHEAD (1953) – it's no wonder that this isn't a reference to anything in particular, and certainly doesn't come up at all in the script! Anyway, while the film doesn't have much of a reputation – especially since it came at the height of Heston's epic phase – I found it surprisingly tolerable (apart from some impossibly corny dance routines from the locals: the narrative is set in Hawaii, to which the star would return for the aptly-named THE HAWAIIANS [1970], which I hopefully also intend to check out in time for this ongoing Heston marathon).Interestingly, good ol' Chuck is perhaps at his most unsympathetic here – playing someone who can only be described as selfish, pig-headed and a hypocrite! Besides, given the actor's controversial latter-day political activity (and which seems to have received undue attention at the time of his passing), it's worth noting that his character in the film is persuaded to run for a place in the Senate because of his influence in the community – but the eventual campaign is botched due to personal scandals (having forbidden his kid sister Yvette Mimieux to marry local boy James Darren, is implicated in the latter's violent death, and himself impregnates Hawaiian France Nuyen!).The cast features a number of current 'stars', whose allure would basically vanish by the end of the decade: apart from the afore-mentioned Mimieux, Darren (best-remembered for the blockbuster THE GUNS OF NAVARONE [1961], he would go on to play the bewildered protagonist in Jess Franco's erotic/cerebral masterpiece VENUS IN FURS [1968]) and Nuyen (she was often paired with Hollywood leading men in such Asian-set romantic dramas), there are George Chakiris (as Darren's half-brother, who also gets in Heston's hair by falling for Mimieux himself) and Elizabeth Allen (appearing here as the glamorous sister of Heston's late wife, and naturally secretly harboring emotions for him, she would later graduate to leading lady for another Hawaiian flick – the John Ford/John Wayne comic romp DONOVAN'S REEF [1963]). An important supporting role, however, is that of veteran Aline MacMahon as the typically indomitable mother figure (of Chakiris and Darren's characters).If handled properly, such histrionic stuff can be reasonably entertaining (especially given their predilection for confrontation scenes): this one's well enough done under the circumstances (with Darren's untimely demise being handled in a particularly inventive manner) but, for good measure, includes a Freudian dream sequence towards the end! Guy Green was a Brit who, after a career as a cinematographer (winning an Oscar for David Lean's classic adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS [1946]), graduated to directing: he seemed to specialize in just this type of slick 'entertainment' – one of these, LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA (1962; also with Mimieux), is being shown on Cable TV for the nth time this very week-end and which I intend to record – though his work could also go from Oscar-worthy 'message pictures' such as THE MARK (1961) and A PATCH OF BLUE (1965), perhaps his most popular effort but which I've yet to watch (I do own a recording of it, though), to the notorious gimmicky-yet-indecipherable puzzle THE MAGUS (1968)

Boyo-2 This might be one of (maybe) seven movies made in Hawaii in the 60's that does not star Elvis. He could have stopped by, Lord knows anything would have helped.Speaking of which, for some very annoying reason, Charlton Heston is referred to as the 'King' by the other characters. Yvette Mimieux is his sister who is in love with a Hawaiian and that does not fly well with the dominating King, but its not like Troy Donahue was an alternative, right? They ARE in Hawaii, right? She carries on with James Darren, heavily made up and George Chakiris is around since the year before he away with playing a Puerto Rican in "West Side Story", so why not? He plays a doctor but I think the only thing in his medicine bag is his Supporting Oscar, to remind anyone who asks what the hell he's doing in this movie. In the meantime, Heston, ever the hypocrite, is having an affair with a Hawaiian woman (Nuyen) and apparently the movie is racist enough to make the statement that Hawaiians are okay to sleep with but don't mix the bloodlines. All prejudice is right on the table and even an elderly Hawaiian woman admits to her own reverse-prejudice. How nice. I am a big Mimieux fan and even watched her other effort with Heston, called "Skyjacked". She is very beautiful in my eyes and a decent actress.With that in mind, if you're in the mood for some heavily dated, overacted melodrama, you could do a lot worse. I still wish someone would explain to me why Heston had such a great career. Its not like there weren't 30 other actors who could've done better in any of the movies he was in. He was from a time when there was no shortage of competent leading men who could look good on the screen AND act. He's not really evil enough in this to make a memorable villian and since the movie rests on his huge jaw, its not as trashy as it could have been, or as classy either.