Tarantino finds
downtown hangoutTAKING advantage of the fact that Havana Cabana is located directly behind the Hawaii Theatre, was Quentin Tarantino. The actor/director is a longtime cigar smoker and took the advantage to take refuge in a corner coach with the woman he was with and puff on a stogie when not slipping in to see some of the films in the Hawaii International Film Festival. One of his pals is Alexander Rockwell, director of "Louis & Frank," which was screened at the Hawaii Theatre Saturday. It was playing with a dreadful short subject called "Mulligans," that starred Tippi Hedren and jokes that are older than she is. (First "The Birds," and then 35 years later, one for the birds.) Since "Mulligans" is a golfing expression meaning a second chance, I'll give Rockwell one as well and hope he does better than he did with this misguided attempt at humor. When the biggest reaction to a film is Tony Curtis appearing in a dream sequence in ladies underwear with black stockings, you know you're in trouble. The fact that the film was halted at one point because the reels were being shown out of order was ironic, since the director seemed to be the only person who noticed. Speaking of Curtis, the 75-year-old actor got married the other day in Las Vegas to his girlfriend, a lissome 23-year-old, just 17 years younger than his daughter, Jamie Leigh Curtis ...
Some are gems
THE nice thing about a film festival with so many entries is that for every bomb, you see a jewel, and so it was Saturday night with "In the Navel of the Sea," Marilou Diaz-Abaya's poetic and moving story about a boy coming of age in a remote island in the Philippines. It was small yet epic filmmaking at its best, and the director, in a question-and-answer period after the film, said it's being sent to the Academy of Arts and Sciences in L.A. for Oscar consideration in a foreign language film ... Thankfully, many of the films in the festival are from Asia or the Pacific Rim - not Hollywood rejects - and worth checking out ...POSTSCRIPT: The HIFF is Festival Director Christian Gaines' baby, but that didn't stop his wife from presenting him with a baby boy the day before the opening ... After wrapping the filming of his latest script, "Fantasy Island" writer Larry Mollin dined at Keo's with "90210" producer Charles Rosin, talking showbiz ... And dining at Matteo's while here for a "Fantasy Island" guest appearance was Elise Neal, who appears on ABC's new sitcom, "The Hughleys." ... Gordie Soltau, the legendary football great, was in Columbia Inn the other day, and while there he was introduced to Frank Conkey, another old Gopher. "We used to have a guy named Soltau who played football back in Minnesota," Conkey remembered aloud. "That would be me," said the NFL Hall of Famer ...
Beauty and the Beast
POLITICAL analyst Dan Boylan should have known better. When he agreed to appear on the same Halekulani Hotel holiday luncheon with former Miss Universe Brook Lee, he should have known the sponsoring organization would label it "Beauty and the Political Beast." But that's just what the International Council of Shopping Centers did. Since Brook has shopped all over the world during her reign, she'll give the center people a keen view of their worldwide competition. Meanwhile, Boylan will share his views on the latest elections and how they'll effect the areas of shopping, retail, attractions and eco-tourism. The luncheon is Friday at the Halekulani and is open to ICSC members or anyone else would like to attend ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.