Wordiezett So much average

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

georgewilliamnoble 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!

geoffmcauliffe-60295 As a Presley fan, this film plumbs the depths of bad acting and casting. The script, if you call it that is so threadbare that you will snooze off within minutes. The cast look disinterested and frankly not one of them shows any real acting ability. With a ludicrous story line, and the lead who looks totally out of his depth, forget this film. It really is awful! Such a shame that this film will be another in the category of 'turkeys' that Presley made.The whole Arab love affair is so predictable and the simplistic hero villain dimension is outdated and predictable. I can only assume that this was one of many films made on an assembly line basis since clearly there was no attempt to widen Presley's audience of fans as this one simply repeats every cliché that appeared in so many of his films.

lb637 One only has to watch this sorry-excuse-for-art (film and movie-making is an art form...or it used to be) and be an eye-witness to the greatest cultural icon in American history self destruct before your very eyes. So many interviews are out there where the King talks about his Hollywood career as "just a job". And that's what we have with 'Harum Scarum'...just a job. And the blame falls clearly on the shoulders of the King himself. You see, Elvis credited Parker with his 50s success and saving his career after 2 years serving our nation honorably in military service. But after his return and he picked right up where he left off, He outgrew Parker and SHOULD HAVE FIRED HIM! There were rumours at the time that Brian Epstein was negotiating to buy the King's contract. Can you imagine what Elvis would have become had he been managed by Brian?? But instead, it all came down to Parker's greed and Elvis' undying virtue called loyalty. If you look at Hollywood as a place where art is created (or should be), then don't waste your time with this bilge. Just as an example: Elvis is running away from the assassins and you SEE smoke from gunfire (nearly point-blank range) but no gunshot sounds. And the King was so disgusted with the songs he even walked out of the recording studio after multiple takes of a stupid song called "Shake Your Tamborine". An American tragedy indeed. No wonder he used to look out at LA for his California home and tell his Memphis hanger-ons, "this whole town in laughing at me"

Dave from Ottawa 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.