Post #52826 by AquaZombie on Fri, Sep 26, 2003 1:21 PM

I looked for the old "tiki in old movies" thread and couldn't find it anywhere and lost patience quickly, so here's a new thread that narrows the topic a bit. Several film noirs have tiki in 'em, one I mentioned was "711 Ocean Drive" (1950) starring Edmond O'Brien, with a scene in a Palm Springs tiki bar. My screening (at the Parkway) last night of Sam Fuller's "Underworld USA" (1961) featured a (surprise) big tiki statue sitting on Cliff Robertson's coffee table in a couple of scenes, one of 'em when he's surrounded by gangsters! It was totally random, just a big tiki sitting in the middle of the action for no reason other than incidental bachelor pad decor. The rest of his modest little pad has modern art on the walls, kinda beatnik style.

And of course, "Hawaiian Eye" was a tiki noir TV show, and last summer a terrific three issue comic book series called "Hawaiian Dick" was published, should be coming out soon in an omnibus graphic novel, look for it. It's a supernatural PI caper set in Hawaii during the 50s.

Otto publishes a regular feature in "Tiki News" called Tiki Noir, which is always my favorite part of every issue - personally, I really dig combining favorite genres/niches and coming up with a unique pop cultural cocktail.