Harum Scarum (1965) User Reviews

Faux Parody, Middle East 'Hilarity'

[AndrewGHickey · 4/10 · 10 January 2010]

Now this was something, not really a good something but it was something nonetheless. Being a novice when it comes to the filmic work of 'The King' I approached this film and his others from a fresh perspective. I guess I was put off by the stigma of corniness that plagues his filmography. After checking out Jaihouse Rock, Paradise Hawaiian Style and Spinout I thought I'd give this relative b-movie a look.

I enjoyed the pseudo middle eastern soundtrack and expected the visual equivalent here, which essentially is what I got. The faux parody element of the film falls by the wayside pretty quick unfortunately and ultimately becomes another vehicle for Elvis' kung-fu, romancing and spontaneous song performances. Shake Your Tambourine and So Close So Far are the performance highlights and there is some overlooked snappy dialogue. The less said about the creepy Hey Little Girl sequence though the better. My favourite song, the Garage-lite Animal Instinct was sadly not featured in the film.

Its universally looked at as the bottom of the barrel in the career of Elvis but I think its a pretty fun 80 mins or so, there are far worse movies out there.

Not bad, despite the hokum **

[JoeKarlosi · 5/10 · 17 August 2004]

It's very easy to dismiss an Elvis flick with a goofy title like HARUM SCARUM just by hearing it. But I was actually rather surprised by this colorful and unconventional Presley romp. It turned out pretty good for a Presley knock-off, despite the hokum.

Taking Elvis into the odd world of the Middle East is in itself a fresh change of space considering the formulaic nature of his films. It's not high art by any stretch of the imagination, but it's fun. And leading ladies Mary Ann Mobley and Fran Jeffries are gorgeous to behold.

None of the songs are very strong, but there are plenty of them to go around this time.

Better than it's reputation suggests

[ODDBear · 5/10 · 24 January 2014]

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.

Maybe Elvis needed Bob Hope

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 22 August 2005]

Colonel Tom Parker who usually took great care in the movie properties acquired for Elvis Presley must have cringed with the lemon he got Elvis stuck in here. IMDb says that Colonel Tom thought that Harum Scarum might have needed a talking camel so that there would be no question this was a comedy. Obviously the Colonel had the Road to Morocco in mind. But I'll go one better. Elvis the singer may have needed a comedian along with him, like Bob Hope.

Back when the Road to Morocco was made it was satirizing those sword and sandal desert epics that were popular back in the day. Usually those were about some mythical kingdom. We don't have mythical kingdoms any more, they're not in vogue in Hollywood. Poor Elvis was stuck in genre that was way out of date.

Also I don't think anyone had any doubt that when they went to see the Road to Morocco they were seeing a comedy. The gags here just fall flat. Now I doubt Elvis could have gotten Bob Hope, but a comedian of Elvis's generation to co-star might have brought off the comedy, but only might have.

Elvis is in good voice, but none of the songs from here are especially memorable. Certainly not like Jailhouse Rock or Blue Hawaii.

Harum Scarum belongs at the bottom of Elvis's movie credits. Only devoted fans of the King will like this and maybe not even them.

Elvis' movie career hits rock bottom

[dave13-1 · 3/10 · 19 July 2008]

Widely considered to be Elvis' dumbest movie ever and the source of many prime gags in Top Secret, Harum Scarum is worth watching only for those Elvis fans interested in answering the question of what went wrong with his movie career. The answer was quite simply that, to Colonel Parker, Elvis was a carnival concession. He was getting million dollar offers to keep at the same old formula junk and since Parker had no idea how good movies were made he kept agreeing to the deals while the money was there. Harum Scarum shows the formula at its most derivative. Elvis himself looked bored and distracted at times on screen and even messed up some of his lip synching! The bulk of the songs are strictly for the Pat Boone set and badly out of date before the movie even came out. At a time of rapid change and great excitement in the music world (the Beatles made HELP around the same time) the music in Elvis' movies did not evolve or change, it just got recycled. The sets are also retreads, studio back lot leftovers from earlier better movies which look about as authentically middle eastern as a Moroccan restaurant in Brentwood. The costumes are a bad joke, and look like I Dream of Jeannie cast-offs. Elvis himself spends most of the movie looking foolish (and a bit like a Popsicle) in lime green pants. Add in a ridiculously predictable hand-me-down story about intrigue in the palace of the sultan and a few unfunny minor characters, and there is not much to like here, even for die hard Elvis fans. Even Elvis haters looking for a cheap laugh will find themselves bored by this exercise.

Quite depressing, really

[capnpisslog · 3/10 · 22 September 2006]

Elvis returns, this time he is slightly weathered, quite a bit more lethargic, and desperate to escape his captors. But, his captors are not the oil paint smeared Arabs, nor the fairly innocuous women that surround him. His captors are much bigger than one motion picture could possibly describe. They are the entire industry he has found himself immersed in. They are the money-hungry culture vultures that readily devour a popular figure like him until he is but a bloated pasty corpse. This film shows them as they are through their sinister machinations. They can be seen with invisible marionette string as they force Elvis to march around in costume, as they prod him with sharp knives into doing little lackluster dances that turn into morose forced marches across the barren tundra of his once mighty career. This is not the Elvis of folklore, nor is it the Elvis that will return one day and save us from mediocrity. This is the dry Elvis, milked fully, udders raw, yet ever sedated. The Elvis that might have died on the screen in front of your eyes and you might have not even noticed it. Don't let the bright lights and forced smile fool you. It is your duty to lament this vision before you, because it is an ugly one.

Harum Hokum

[Hotwok2013 · 12 July 2015]

With a couple of exceptions any Elvis Presley movie was merely a vehicle to display his singing talent. Movie executives thought that because he was such a colossal pop-star that any movie they put him in, no matter how trashy, was bound to sell. They were right, of course, & Elvis fans watched his movies in their droves. Harum Scarum is definitely one of his worst & pure hokum. It is so bad that it has the distinction of being listed in John Wilson's book of "The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made". It definitely fits into the "so bad that it's good" category of movie. It is enjoyable mainly because it is so utterly nonsensical & because, for us lads anyway, it showcases a number of gorgeous hot babes. Former beauty queen Mary Ann Mobley (who sadly died last December 9 aged 77) plays Princess Shalimar. Her talents as an actress are hardly called upon at all so she doesn't have much to do except look gorgeous & she never had any problem doing that. Pretty much the same goes for Fran Jeffries playing Aishah. It also contains a very enjoyable Arabian dance routine done by three more glamorous ladies played by Wilda Taylor (Amethyst), Gail Gilmore (Sapphire) & Brenda Benet (Emerald).

6minutes in...

[SamPamBam · 2/10 · 10 December 2020]

6 minutes into this 'thing' and our boy E has already belted out three-(3)-make that THREE embarassing and forgetable 'songs'.....E must have had rocks in his head to allow himself to appear in such drivel...yeah its that bloated windbag Col. Parker's fault, but E had no one to blame but his Ownself for not firing the guy who mismanaged one of the Greatest Talents of the Century...E could have hired Col Harland Sanders and had a better movie career...what a waste...

On Harum Scarum

[slapstck2000 · 5/10 · 12 July 2007]

I see where this movie could have really been good, i know i use to own it, the story line is so blasted lame and i do mean lame!!!!! and the songs are even lamer!! except maybe the song Who Am I!! and with it towards the end Elvis" lips aren't matching the recording! Sam Katsman definitely should have worked harder on directing this film, but can can you say about the man who was nicknamed the king of the quickies! I've read a lot about Sam Katsman, his work in the 30s and 40s. to bad he got his hands on Elvis huh. I firmly believe Elvis should have gotten a lot more involved with the scripts, maybe he would have cared a lot more about what direction his career was going. sign slapstck2000

Harum Scarum isn't THAT bad!!

[tilloscfc · 6/10 · 19 July 2015]

For me, "Harum Scarum" is a prime example of different people having different opinions...I honestly don't think this is THAT bad, really. I'm an Elvis fan so I can be accused of bias, but I didn't think every film Elvis did was top notch. I'm not a western kind of guy so "Flaming Star", "Love Me Tender" and "Charro", but I think "Harum Scarum" is far more enjoyable and attention keeping than "Girls!Girls! Girls!", "The Trouble with Girls", "Tickle Me" and even "Blue Hawaii"...like I say, different people have different tastes. I know Priscilla Presley certainly doesn't like "Harum Scarum" she slates it in her autobiography "Elvis and Me" and even The King's Manager Colonel Tom Parker didn't like this and he was the man responsible for holding Elvis back in Hollywood. Once again, Mary Ann Mobley appears as the leading lady, looking even more beautiful than she did in "Girl Happy", as a king's daughter, while another beauty - actress and nude model Fran Jefferies also has a starring role as one of the villains. The director was the dancer and musical director Gene Nelson, and the set was used in a Laurence of Arabia type movie earlier. In "Harum Scarum", Elvis plays actor, singer and martial arts Hollywood star Johnny Tyrone, who is kidnapped by naive sheik's who believe Tyrone's movie skills where he can kill a tiger with his bare hands are real, and they want him to kill a king so they can take over control. Once held captive, Tyrone attempts to escape and return to America. En route, he meets and is smitten by Mary Ann Mobley and his escape plan soon makes way for plan B as he plots to save the King from the evil assassins and win the heart of his daughter. The soundtrack is not bad. They only song I'm not fond on is "Shake That Tambourine". "Kismet" and "Golden Coins" are fine songs, but all are nowhere near the sublime "So Close, Yet So Far (from Paradise)". A real hidden Gem from Elvis' movie soundtracks and one of my top 10 Elvis songs he ever recorded, it's a shame it had to appear in one of his most critically panned movies thus gets so criminally overlooked.

abysmal

[blanche-2 · 4/10 · 1 July 2005]

This is a nearly unwatchable Elvis Presley movie...and I thought I could watch Elvis in just about anything. I met my match with this one.

Elvis sings a lot in this movie, using very little energy. He puts even less into the acting. The whole cast sounds like they're reading from the script.

"Hey Little Girl" was cute, and Elvis looks great, if somewhat expressionless. Movie stardom had started going real stale for him by this time. I understand that Colonel Parker negotiated a share of the film's profits, etc., but couldn't he have done that with better movies? Why was this magnificently talented man put through these films? At the tail end of Elvis' film career, there was an attempt to appeal to his maturing audience, and the scripts were better. But Harum Scarum, as if you can't figure out from the title, was in the middle. I like Viva Las Vegas, Girls, Girls, Girls, Change of Habit, Live a Little, Love A Little, Blue Hawaii, GI Blues, and of course King Creole and Jailhouse Rock. As the years went on, it seems like everyone cared less and less. You can't blame them with dreck like this.

I'll leave you with this - Mary Ann Mobley as a Mideast princess.

Go East Young Man

[mercury4 · 10/10 · 21 September 2002]

This movie is one of my favorite Elvis Presley movies. This movie is about a famous karate chopping actor in the United States. Assassins from a Middle Eastern country see how skilled he is with his hands and they kidnap him. When he arrives in their foreign land he learns he has been brought there to kill their king. Along the way he even meets and falls for the king's daughter.

I very much disagree with the negative reviews about this movie. This movie has very good action and music. Songs include; Go East Young Man, Shake That Tambourine, So Close Yet So Far, Harum Holiday and much more. This movie won't disappoint you and it will most definitely not disappoint Elvis Presley fans like myself.

Its music will win you over

[samspin · 6/10 · 16 July 2006]

Harum Scarum may not be Elvis's best movie, yet this Elvis movie is very much worth watching because it is a good movie. But more importantly the movies soundtrack is definitely the greatest album ever recorded, and its percussions are still being felt at the present time. For some reason they failed to play "Wisdom Of The Ages" in this Elvis movie and that is so wrong, because if there is one song from the 1960s that represents the 1960s rock & roll sound, its Elvis's song "Wisdom Of The Ages". Elvis's Harum Scarum soundtrack Middle Eastern infusion changed the world of rock & roll forever, and placed Elvis and his band, among the greatest of rock & roll teachers, who include John Lee Hooker and the most important Howlin Wolf. Yes, the Elvis movie Harum Scarum is worth buying to watch and so is that movies soundtrack.

Elvis, how could you?

[geoffkirby1 · 1/10 · 19 March 2019]

I've always been a massive Elvis fan but, unfortunately, I have to say that this is the worst thing he ever did in his life. I gave it one star because Elvis was in it... otherwise it would have been zero...

decent movie

[kwbucsfan · 20 August 2001]

This was actually a much better movie than the critics say. It has an interesting plot and great actions. there are a lot of gorgeous women in this film. It's hard to believe that Sam Katzman produced a film this good, and also produced something as bad as Kissin' Cousins. This movie was the exact opposite of Kissin' Cousins, in Kissin' Cousins most of the songs were great, but the movie stank. In this movie, the film was great and most of the songs stank. There were still some good songs, like "Kismet", "So Close Yet So Far From Paradise". It's not that they weren't all good songs, they were just not good songs for Elvis.

Scarrrry!

[moonspinner55 · 1/10 · 9 February 2003]

It's 'Arabian Nights a Go-Go' when a cocky, crooning movie star tours the Middle East and gets mixed up in an assassination attempt (don't worry--the flick is a piece of fluff, not "The Manchurian Candidate"). Elvis Presley, his lacquered black hair so shiny it often appears to be a plastic prop, looks great sporting a turban à la Valentino in "The Sheik", but his usual stony expressions for once cannot belie his embarrassment. Song selection (including "Go East Young Man", "Shake That Tambourine", and "Golden Coins") features no hits, making this one of Presley's weakest musicals. The comedy doesn't take off either, with the cramped studios of MGM substituting for the Land of the Sands. Released abroad as "Harem Holiday", and strictly for die-hards. * from ****

Like A Star Trek Episode With Elvis

[verbusen · 5/10 · 15 April 2006]

For me most Elvis movies rate about the same, below average. This one was cool in a couple of spots though so I guess its about average. Check out the scene where Elvis karate chops a jumping leopard (looked like a young one but still funny). And what about the karate factor? That was ahead of its time I think, Bruce Lee would be on TV after this in the Green Hornet, that Elvis knew how to spot trends way ahead of the rest. I say in my review title its like Star Trek, well if you look there's the Klingon Commander, and also the evil guy was in another Trek episode "Catspaw", plus the sets look like the same ones used in a Trek episode where they were on some planet. Even the titles used were straight out of I Dream of Jeanie (Barbara Feldon was married to that same Klingon dude, Michael Ansara, in real life lol). Well, thats about all of that. The fact that they are in Warestan means no Blondes so I liked seeing all the brunettes, and Billy Barty kicks some butt against hordes of knife wielding 6 foot dudes, so thats amusing (not really). Check out Elvis in a Vegas show at the end, man was that what I missed by not being old enough to see him in Vegas? He looked like a stick, clearly he wasn't happy doing this one. Still I give it a 5 on Elvis's movie scale, 10 I guess would be Jailhouse Rock, I don't know what 1 would be but than again its not like I go out of my way to watch Elvis movies. To think, it's 1965, only like 2 years out from the British invasion; the times they were a changin fast and left Elvis behind, didn't they?

Harum Scary

[cutshall0 · 3/10 · 18 August 2005]

Harum Scarum is an unusual Presley vehicle set in the the mid-east with a special blend of the 1960's and some typical Presley music. As with most Presley movie's of that era, this movie lacks a good theme and script but Presley does manage to pull out some of his best music.

Presley has been kidnapped but manages to escape his takers, sing to everyone along the way and finds safety in the arms of Mary Ann Mobley.

This Presley outing is based in an unusual area but typical for Presley in script. Presley obviously appears to be in this movie only because he is under contract and unfortunately, it lacks supporting actors/ actresses that could have helped pull the movie out.

Not the best attempt in scripts but then if Presley had been given good material to work with things may have been different in his movie career.

Entertainer rescues a pretty damsel in distress.

[michaelRokeefe · 4/10 · 14 November 1999]

Elvis plays Johnny Tyronne, a matinee idol on a good will tour in the middle east. He soon becomes involved with kidnappers, assassins and a beautiful damsel in distress (Mary Ann Mobley). Amongst a predictable plot of boy saves girl; are nine songs featuring "Kismet", "Golden Coins" and "Harem Holiday". Cast includes Michael Ansara , Fran Jeffreys and Jay Novello. Costumes are better than the cardboard scenery. This is close to bottom of the barrel as far as Elvis movies are concerned. If you stumble across it, watch it. Don't make a special trip.

Oh Elvis, Where Art Thou?

[campbell-russell-a · 1/10 · 31 March 2014]

Honestly, how could anyone say that they liked this film? How could anyone say that most of the songs were even vaguely acceptable? Whilst the Beatles were doing "Help" Elvis was doing this! I watch this film with a profound sense of despair for the thrilling rock and roller who was turned into a bland automaton - from Heartbreak Hotel to pap. From a young firebrand to a pantomime character in lime green baggy pants. Colonel Parker knew he had a cash cow that would provide milk irrespective of the quality of the film or the music. Harum Scarum is incontrovertible proof that Parker had no respect for Elvis the person or the artist.

Strangely, this film provided Elvis with two female co-stars who had genuine star quality - Fran Jeffries and Mary Ann Mobley. Only Ann Margret in Viva Las Vegas gave him the sexual competition that Fran and Ann provided. Without them, this film would have been utterly devoid of class. If only Fran Jeffries had been provided with a few dance routines, the film may have had a redeeming feature.

Lastly, I am always struck by the fact that this impossibly handsome and healthy man would within a few years become a bloated parody of himself. Where did he go? Were films like Harum Scarum a sinister foreshadowing of a lost personality or am I reading too much into it? Did I really discern hints of self-loathing in his performance in this film? Had the Elvis who had always wanted to be movie star and who admired James Dean finally realized that his mentor and promoter had sold his dream for a handful of gold? Was Elvis the loneliest man on Earth? He certainly looked like it in this film.

Elvis In Pantomime With One Great Song.

[georgewilliamnoble · 7/10 · 3 October 2017]

Only Elvis fans, and big ones at that would probably be the only viewers willing to give this musical comedy burlesque a spin. Made cheaply on the MGM lot it is a fantasy with songs about an American movie star who gets caught up in a plot to assassinate the king of a ancient Arabian kingdom. The plot is the sort of thing that worked for Rudolph Valentino, so why not Elvis?. No one is really taking any of this movie seriously least of all the star while his co stars are happy just to be working. Like all the Elvis movies of the 60's this made money despite very weak production values and timid list of songs, except for one "So Close Yet So Far" written by Joe Byers this is one of the least known most under rated songs ever to be recorded by Elvis, and it has long been a big favourite with me. Watched with a sense of humour "Harum Scarum" known to us in the UK as "Harem Holiday" the title of the opening song, this is a terrible movie so bad that it must be one of history's greatest bad movies, and brilliantly entertaining for being just that, it really is a hoot. I love It!

A Tragic Waste Of A Great Talent

[lisa-kevin3531 · 1/10 · 25 November 2009]

Being a huge Presley fan, it is absolutely depressing to see Elvis appear in such blatant nonsense as this. It's obvious why Elvis hated most of the movies he appeared in, and Harum Scarum has to be his worst film, hands down. The acting is terrible, as is the plot and songs. It's a shame Presley spent most of the 60s wasting his time on crap like this when he could've used his talent to create more great music or at least appear in films that warranted some merit. Unfortunately much of the blame has to lie with Elvis himself. Had he stood his ground and refused to take part in movies this bad, he may have dug his way out of the comedy/musical grind. But then, you can't really call this a comedy musical either, because it isn't funny and the music stinks!

Very good Presley movie

[mercury4 · 10/10 · 19 September 2002]

This movie is one of my favorite Elvis Presley movies. I watched it for the first time and couldn't even take a break from watching it I liked it so much. It is a great movie with a great soundtrack. Elvis once again shows he is a great singer and a great actor. This movie is about a famous actor in the United States, sort of like Rudolph Valentino, he dresses like a sheik; sword fights and beats all the bad guys with his karate in his most recent movie. He rescues the girl and then rides off with her. Assassins from a Middle Eastern country see how skilled this actor is with a sword and his karate so they kidnap him and bring him to their foreign land to kill their king.

One reviewer on this site said that this was Elvis's worst movie since King Creole. Don't listen to him. That guy doesn't know what the heck he's talking about. King Creole is were Elvis first showed he could be in a dramatic film. He also sings the best in King Creole and it's his greatest triumph as an actor. For someone to say that a great movie like this isn't good and then say King Creole isn't good, something has to be wrong there. This movie is action packed fun and has great music in it. Don't miss this Elvis movie.

Elvis goes to a hidden Middle Eastern kingdom to fight assassins

[Wuchakk · 6/10 · 13 November 2020]

An American actor and martial arts expert (Presley) is kidnapped and forced by a sinister group of assassins to execute the king of a secret kingdom in the Middle East (Phillip Reed). During the course of events he falls in love with the King's daughter (Mary Ann Mobley) and hooks up with an entertainment troupe that are thieves on the side.

"Harum Scarum" (1965) was Elvis' 19th movie of the 31 in his acting filmography. Many say it's his worst, but it's not. It's a tuneful frolic and sendup of Middle Eastern swashbucklers, like Sinbad or even Conan, but more amusing, cheaper and without the sorcery & monsters. You're supposed to roll with it and have fun, not take it seriously. For a ballpark parallel, think Star Trek's "Plato's Stepchildren" but with a comedic flair and songs.

Speaking of the original Star Trek, Michael Ansara is on hand as the king's brother; he of course played the Klingon Kang in "Day of the Dove." The colorful cast also includes Jay Novello as little person Zacha. Aside from winsome Mobley, the feminine department features the stunning Fran Jeffries and several other beauties. Too bad their lovely forms are largely hidden by Arabian-styled apparel, but that's to be expected.

I'm glad "Harum Scarum" is in Elvis' oeuvre. It's fun and not the same-old, same-old.

The film runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, and was shot on the set of Cecil B. DeMille's 1925 version of "King of Kings" at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in Culver City, as well as location shooting at Iverson Ranch, Los Angeles; and some scenes done at Earl Carroll Theatre in Hollywood.

GRADE: B-

Elvis clearly in pain with this

[ger55champ · 2/10 · 10 June 2020]

Dreadful movie .Quite sad to see One to avoid if you want to keep the candle burning for the Elvis legacy