The Worst Film Ever

Please don't spend money on this.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

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.

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.

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 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.