Reverend Thorn introduces Abner to his young niece, Jerusha Bromley, who is in love with Captain Rafer Hoxworth, a whaler currently away at sea.

This incestuous tradition is meant to preserve the royal bloodline, and Keoki, wanting to become a minister, is expected to marry his sister, Noelani, who is next in line to rule.

Jerusha takes an active role in helping the natives, including efforts to end the practice of infanticide after rescuing a baby with a facial birthmark.

In a final act of vengeance, Hoxworth entices Iliki to leave the island with him and throws Abner overboard when he attempts to retrieve her.

When Noelani and Keoki’s child is born severely deformed, Abner sees it as God's punishment and refuses Jerusha’s pleas to save the infant.

Bette Midler also had her first on-screen movie appearance as an extra in the film (she can be seen behind a woman covered in a white shawl during Abner's sermon).

Heather Menzies (who co-starred with Andrews in The Sound of Music a year earlier) appears as Jerusha's sister Mercy Bromley.

The film was based on the book's third chapter (out of seven), entitled From the Farm of Bitterness, which covered the settlement of the island kingdom by its first American missionaries.

French-speaking Jocelyne LaGarde had never acted before and could not speak English; however, her screen test showed a powerful presence, and the producers hired a coach to train her phonetically to handle the character's dialogue.

Making early screen appearances in this film were Bette Midler, John Cullum, and future Oscar winner Gene Hackman.

But Zinnemann had fought with United Artists a few years before the film was made and left the production to go to England, to work on A Man for All Seasons.

On October 9, 2015, Twilight Time Movies announced on the Home Theater Forum that they would release a Blu-ray edition of Hawaii (along with The Hawaiians) on January 19, 2016.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote that "one comes out the theater not so much moved as numbed — by the cavalcade of conventional if sometimes eyepopping scenes of storm and seascape, of pomp and pestilence, all laid out in large strokes of brilliant De Luxe color on the huge Panavision screen.

"[3] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety stated, "Superior production, acting and direction give depth and credibility to a personal tragedy, set against the clash of two civilizations.

"[11] Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that even at three hours in length, the filmmakers "still haven't given themselves enough leeway" to adapt Michener's epic novel, but "'Hawaii' will still be one of the outstanding Hollywood pictures of 1966.

"[12] Time magazine felt that "Instead of portraying the death of one culture and the birth of another, he [George Roy Hill] has restricted himself to the story of one man and his ministry.

The spectator is rather too frequently allowed to feel that he is watching a rather small film on a very large screen and to wonder, with a mounting sense of lumbar crisis, why he must pay advanced prices $2.25 to $4.25) for the privilege of sitting through a 3+1⁄2-hour story that could have been told just as well in two.

"[13] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post found the romance between Abner and Jerusha "more trite than credible" and wrote that Max von Sydow "seems to have based his concept of the leading role on a quick course in Roots of Modern America.