Harum Scarum (1965)

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Perhaps I was in a very forgiving frame of mind but "Harum Scarum" went down pretty well. Widely regarded as one of the King's worst offenders and he was disappointed with the results as he thought (before reading the finished script) that this would be a welcome change of pace from his established formula. The scenery is a breath of fresh air (though we all know it's MGM's back lot for the most part) and the film has a bit more of a plot than usual; although it's very clumsily handled. The comedy bits are fairly lackluster and the action is rather stiff but the film moves along well with few to no lulls. Elvis has a strong presence but he really doesn't strain himself too much and he receives little support from his fellow co-stars; though Billy Barty (most memorable as J.J. MacKuen from "Foul Play") does induce a few chuckles without a line of dialog. The songs range from pedestrian to very good ("Kismet" and "So Close (Yet So Far) From Paradise") and the girls, as almost always is the case with Presley films, are quite the eye candy. "Harum Scarum" is not good but it's breezy enough entertainment for fans of Elvis that's not quite as bad as it's reputation suggests. I'd choose this over "Stay Away, Joe" any day of the week.

While this may be considered a typical Elvis movie I think it is not that good but it is a bit entertaining. There are the usual girls in what is skimpy costumes for the time, songs, music, and humorous scenes. Billy Barty is a rather unskillful cut purse who is also funny. Seems rather odd that almost all the Arabs are white and speak accent free English. Elvis uses what is suppose to be karate. If it is I could teach it with no training!! It is probably the hokiest part of the film. The assassins are a joke. Michael Ansara is a prince in league with the assassins trying to take over the tiny isolated country. This country shows many of the things that I think are still wrong with the Arabs. Slavery, women as property. I personally found the scene with Elvis singing a romantic song while the little nine year old girl danced what would have a provocative dance by an grown woman uncomfortable to watch. Almost kiddie porn with her dress slit to her waist and her dance moves. I have read that Elvis liked them around 14, but that was even younger. The princess and Elvis do the usual falling in love at first sight. Elvis, the princess, and the king are the only ones who go to save the two kids who are surrounded by the assassins. Yeah right!!! Since when ?!?! Jay Novello plays Zacha, a very opportunistic pay me and I am on your side,maybe, scoundrel. He is always looking for the easy ducat(s). Using the seamy peoples of the streets as an assault force Elvis and the king take the city back, chastise the bad prince, destroy the assassins, and of course Elvis gets the princess. The fighting to take the city back is the funniest part of the whole movie. The last thing I will comment on are the costumes that are worn. Talk about outre.

Harum Scarum (1965) * 1/2 (out of 4) Elvis plays an American singer in a foreign country is who is kidnapped by a group of assassins to kill an Arab leader but the singer has fallen in love with his daughter. You'd think putting Elvis in a foreign country would lead to something new but outside the visuals there's very little to enjoy here. The humor is very forced from the start and really doesn't go anywhere. The supporting cast are all rather lame and the stuff dealing with the assassination is just as boring and pointless. The songs are also rather bad this time out and after watching all these films in a row I can't help but feel sorry for Elvis because some of this music isn't good enough for karaoke night. There's one really ugly moment where Elvis sings a rather sexual song to a little girl so you've gotta think that perhaps the adult actress didn't show up that night and they threw this girl in without thinking about the lyrics of the song.

About in an hour into this mid-60's Arabian Nights dreck, there's a moment when Elvis sings the above-referenced song. In this subtle though not well-staged, two-minute scene (Elvis sits motionless and cross-armed by a prison barred window), the song's lyrics sadly reveal what poor Elvis truly must have felt personally regarding his nose-diving professional acting career. He was still a strong top box office draw (So Close), but he had somehow become and remained mired in below even below-average DRECK like this movie (Yet So Far) after the fact that the decade had already produced "Help!" and "A Hard Day's Night." Some IMDb reviewers blame Col. Parker and the evil-Elvis-inner-circle, but I think the blame rests with Mr. Presley himself … a truly American tragic figure who should have courageously asserted himself and said "No more!" even if it meant buying out his movie contracts and firing losers like Col. Parker.As for the rest of the film, TERRIBLE! It has "why bother?" karma (emanating from behind and in-front of the camera) that hangs over the entire production. It begins with a cheesy horrible opening credits then continues w/ Ansara's repetitive "Karnac the Magnificent"-like hand gestures in every scene he's in, then onto Ms. Jeffries wearing a black body-hugging kittenish outfit (w/ matching white scarf) that makes her acting and looking like she's auditioning for Catwoman on "Batman" instead of performing in "Harum Scarum", and then this dreck ends with a Vegas-casino musical number TOTALLY out of place with the previous hour-and-a-half Middle East-based "storyline."Earlier on, there's one jaw-dropping musical number scene that's borderline soft-kiddie porn when Presley (wearing really gay green pants that don't hide the bulge in his crotch) sings to little orphan girl Malkin a song clearly meant for an adult woman w/ lyrics like "I want you for my very own" and "I want to take you home with me." Presley watches as his pre-teen firecrotch (with slits in her dress that are WAIST-HIGH) gyrates faux-seductively. It's a really LAUGH-INDUCING, inappropriate, wildly politically-incorrect musical number.