Customer Reviews

His Majesty O'Keefe [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like Burt Lancaster, you gotta love this movie. It's even strangely politically correct for its time. One of the themes boils down to not messing around with indigenous cultures to satisfy the White Man's greed. Meanwhile, if you want to dispense with the anti-exploitation morality, just enjoy the most virile male lead in Hollywood history spreading his testosterone around the Fiji islands. Every Burt Lancaster film has a memorable scene that marks his territory forever in your mind. In this movie its the scene where is challenged by the native chief and fights him for domination of the island. His Majesty O'Keefe is a flawed hero, but a real man, no question. He learns from his mistakes, such as ruining the native economy while trying to do them a favor. It does a satisfying job poking holes in the White Man's Burden myth and is rousing entertainment. This isn't a rampant swashbuckler like Crimson Pirate, but if you like that movie, you'll probably enjoy this one also.

This all-but-forgotten fifties swashbuckler produced by the team of Harold Hecht-Burt Lancaster is a thrilling, beautifully photographed epic of the South Seas and the people of Fiji. Lancaster was never better as Captain David Dion O'Keefe, a soldier of fortune obsessed with making a fortune in copra, the oil extracted from cocoanuts. His intentions are deeply affected by a philosophical German trader, the heroic chief of the natives (played by an amazing local character who appears to be a naturally gifted actor/dancer), and the lovely half-caste girl he falls in love with. As if the visuals are not enough, the film is worth seeing for the incredible score by Dmitri Tiomkin, definitely one of his best.

This is a true story about an American in the western Pacific who sets himself up as king of the island of Yap in the late 1800's. The book is very interesting and the movie is too although it is a 1950's Hollywood "treatment" of the story. Burt Lancaster is in his prime in this adventure film. He gets to show off his great physique, his acrobatic talents and of course his 1000 watt smile. The movie was actually filmed in Fiji and the scenery is beautiful. It made me smile to see how conservative our culture was in the 1950's: In the book, O'Keefe has nightly trysts with a native girl but in the movie Burt simply looks at her and smiles and then later you see her with one of his gold coins around her neck. Sex used to be much simpler.

Lancaster gives a fine performance in this classic account of a soldier of fortune willing to risk his neck for profit, and yet, act with honor and courage.
Terrific support cast, excellent settings and the color is superb.
Plenty of action, nefarious German officals and a bevy of lovely dancing girls, some evil slave traders and some good fist fights to boot.
Well worth the price is you are looking to pump up your tape collection.
Go for it, you won't be disapointed
Mike

This is a fantastic movie, I enjoyed watching it. My father was the Camera Man and my mother was Joan Rice's understudy, so I knew all about the film and have lots of photos of behind the scenes. Some information you might like to know is that both the main charecters couldn't swim and when Burt Lancaster dived off the boat into the water a little row boat was waiting just out of camera shot to pick him up. The native girl he had a fling with (in the movie) was a waitress before this. My parents were married just before they went to Fiji to film the movie, so for them it was their honeymoon, not bad!

Warner Bros. Pictures presents "HIS MAJESTY O'KEEFE" (1954) (92 min/Color) -- Starring Burt Lancaster, Joan Rice, Benson Fong, Philip Ahn & Grant Taylor

Directed by Byron Haskin

In 1870, Yankee sea captain O'Keefe finds himself stranded after a mutiny on the Micronesian island of Yap, where the financial potential of copra (dried coconut) excites him. But a German company already has a monopoly...and very low production because hard work is alien to dwellers in paradise. On a later voyage, between affairs with island maidens, O'Keefe struggles to find the key to the wealth of Yap. But before he can carve out the empire of his dreams, he must also contend with assorted villains.

Lancaster playing a larger than life role and the splendid location cinematography of Fiji make His Majesty O'Keefe fine viewing and it holds up well today.

This film is not Lancaster's best but is enjoyable if you enjoy watching him in his athletic prime. Beautifully shot, it captures the exciting times of adventure on the high seas and island exploration. A must for Burt Lancaster's many fans.

Colorful score by composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

BIOS:
1. Byron Haskin [aka: Byron Conrad Haskin] (Director)
Date of Birth: 22 April 1899 - Portland, Oregon
Date of Death: 16 April 1984 - Montecito, California

2. Burt Lancaster [aka: Burton Stephen Lancaster]
Date of Birth: 2 November 1913 - New York City, New York
Date of Death: 20 October 1994 - Century City, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 92 min on DVD ~ Warner Bros. Pictures ~ (October 23, 2007)

POSSIBLE SPOILER AT THE END OF COMMENT. First of all, I love Burt Lancaster in anything. How can you not love the man for his fine acting, great body and wonderful smile? But I remember this movie from when I was a little girl for 1 thing...Burt Lancaster is giving the eye to a 'native woman' who is really the lovely Tessa Prendergast, a Jamaican woman. As a young 'colored' girl growing up in the 50's that really stood out in my mind. For him to even suggest a relationship with a woman people knew (anyway the black community knew) was not white could have deep-sixed any career. But he did more than suggest...he was openly desirous of her. It raised his esteem in MY household, that's for sure. No disrespect to the commenter who says her parents were involved with the film, but Ms Prendergast was born into a wealthy, high-ranking family. She lived a life of privilege in London. I seriously doubt whether she was a waitress. She was the subject of an earth-wide scandal when "An incident involving Prendergast made headlines all over the world in 1955: An Egyptian King Farouk and an Italian Prince exchanged cold glances and hot words over her attentions in Rome where the curvaceous Prendergast was working on a film. According to reports, the two scions of ancient Mediterranean Royalty clashed when King Farouk attempted to persuade Prendergast to leave the company of an Italian Prince who had been her constant companion in Italy. The Italian Prince called Farouk's unwelcomed rivalry a personal affront and engaged in such a heated verbal clash with him that it was necessary for police to intervene". She was also a fashion designer and it was Ms. Prendergast who designed Ursula Andress' famous bikini in the James Bond film. Sorry, but it bugs me when 1. people don't do research and 2. when people aren't given their due. Anyway, a thoroughly enjoyable film. I'm glad I ordered it. And even though Ms Pendergrast doesn't marry Mr. Lancaster in the film, you get the very distinct impression that he will be seeing more of her (yes I know, politically, etc. incorrect...but watch the movie and you'll see what I'm talking about).

I Loved this movie when it was released in about 1954(It was a hit). At that time it did the circuit of the local cinemas. Thanks to the magic of DVD it was just great to see it again.
BarryS41

One of the better "exotic adventure" films of the 1950's. Burt Lancaster alternately grins and fights his way across the South Pacific in the role of Captain David O'Keefe, a real-life adventurer who found wealth in the copra trade and (most likely) died tragically in a typhoon while still practicing his profession.

Plenty of excellent information in the other reviews. In some ways, the parts are greater than the whole. Lancaster, in 1954, making an obvious play for an honestly (no makeup) dark-skinned native girl (played by the luminous Tessa Prendergast) and having an implied non-platonic relationship with her. Partnering with a Chinese dentist (Philip Ahn) who plainly has a better grasp of economics than the captain. Taking on a bunch of truly nasty white guys led by "Bully" Hayes (another real-life character from the history of the South Seas) with a Chinese crew in whose fighting ability he has complete confidence. Reading philosophy. Ultimately conceding that the traditional ways of the local Yapese (Micronesian islanders, although the film was shot in Fiji with Melanesian locals) trump those of the mercantile anglo.

O'Keefe was able to intervene profitably in the fei (stone money) and copra trade not because he had dynamite with which to blast the rock from which Yap's famous stone money was carved, but because his ship could transport tons of it back to Yap far more quickly and safely than the Yapese could in their outrigger canoes...a point which is made in the film, albeit so obliquely as to pass notice. Featuring some traditional Fijian dances and songs, the film's music, ably augmented by one of Dimitri Tiompkin's better scores, is another highlight.

One goof: when O'Keefe sets sail from Hong Kong he declares that he's going "north to Yap", when in reality Yap lies south (southeast, actually) from HK.

A favorite character insight: buying a new captain's outfit in Hong Kong, instead of keeping his change the monetarily-challenged O'Keefe carefully doles it out to the three hard-working Chinese tailors instead of leaving it with the English owner of the shop.

Why would a German guy plant himself on the Island of Yap and teach one of the natives ENGLISH???

This is a great movie because it's a time capsule of Fiji in 1953 with hints of the juicy machinations of trading in South East Asia. I loved the Hong Kong dentist bankrolling Burt's entrepreneurial vision and the snooty Indian traders declining to invest., The CREEPY Germans are of course, an important part of the story.