MovieChat Forums > Hawaii (1966) Discussion > anyone recognize the location of Lahaina...

anyone recognize the location of Lahaina?

posted 15 years ago by valleyhaole
2 replies | jump to latest

I lived on Maui for several years and the locations in this movie are very accurate, if one takes into account that Lahaina looks very different today...the white guy seems to have made Lahaina his own tourist destination, forcing out the locals who don't work in the tourist industry currently.
The West Maui Mountains look just the same as in the movie's location, and the banyon tree and Front Street were also prominent in the movie, as well as the jailhouse for whalers.
Does anyone know for sure where this movie was filmed? I'm not familiar with what Maui looked like in 1966, but it sure could have been the real thing with the right locations...
Also, the theme music in the score repeating throughout the movie struck me as familiar. Is it the same riff used in the theme song for C&H Sugar's television ads from the seventies, or am I reading too much into the takeover of the islands by white men driven by the greed to take advantage of the innocent ones. First came the missionaries, then came the sugar plantation owners, now...the condominium and hotel owners!
This movie is a timeless classic, with views to inspire as much as the message of the movie.

[–] shandy8 15 years ago

My husband is from Oahu, and when we were visiting home last year we went swimming at a beautiful remote beach. He told me that it was in the movie "Hawaii" and substituted for Lahaina (which was, of course, already built up). When it was on TCM the other day, I watched, and, sure enough, it looked just like the spot. I'lI ask him the name of the place and post it.

"I love corn!"

[–] Lois-R 15 years ago

Most of the filming took place on Makua Beach on Oahu (NW shore of the island near the end of the road). I visited the site a few years ago. All of the old sets were dismantled after the production ended. The reason they picked Makua was because the valley had been used for target practise during WWII and there's unexploded ordinace in the valley so that's why the valley was never developed. When I visited, I knew I was at the right spot because the big rock where Keoki was reunited with Noelani (and where later in the movie (spoiler!) Keoki drowns his baby and where even later in the movie he expires) is still there! The rock, I mean. I took some photos of it and it has the very ironic graffitti message "Pray for Sex" written on it.

FYI the other locations used are Sturbridge Village (Walpole, N.H.) and Mystic Seaport, Conn.