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DVD Harum Scarum
Say this for Harum Scarum: At least it has the virtue of boasting one of the strangest settings of any Elvis Presley vehicle. Elvis plays an action-movie star on a goodwill tour of the Middle East who's kidnapped in a remote country that has turned its back on modernity. Vilified as an "American unbeliever," he is enlisted by the Lord of the Assassins in a plot to kill a monarch (they've mistaken his filmic kung fu fighting skills for the real thing). And this is an Elvis picture? The soundtrack has a particularly mad selection of faux-"Kismet" numbers relating to the setting, with lyrics such as "I'm gonna go where the desert sun is/I'm gonna go where I know the fun is." Hints that the whole thing is a Rudolph Valentino spoof help the early going, but it gets pretty draggy. Elvis looks liveliest in a Vegas sequence... a bit of foreshadowing. --Robert Horton
Entertainment, much as beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. No doubt the steadfast loyalty of dedicated Elvis fans will find value in this movie. Casting Elvis Presley in a spoof of Rudolph Valentino movies was unfortunate. This could be the film that left Elvis crying in the chapel, and it leaves the viewer indescribably blue. Good sense notwithstanding the film was made. That's when your heartaches begin. One could give some credit for attempting a different approach from Elvis' usual "fun in the sun" formula film, but the end result lacks charm. Describing the plot is pointless. The music is the '60s pop fluff that Elvis and the songwriters phoned in. It adds to one's reflective midlife melancholy to remember that in 1965, while Elvis' formidable talent was squandered in cheesy movies, the Beatles were leading the charge of the British Invasion; storming the ramparts and taking no prisoners in the realm of rock music and innovative style. Elvis, you left us much too soon. You really deserved better, and so do we. Return to sender. ;-)
ENTERTAINING!
THANK YOU WARNER BROTHERS for useing the original MOVIE POSTERS for the covers of these wonderful DVDs! They look EXCELLENT! I wish the other companies that put ELVIS films out would have followed suit BUT instead they air brush a still from the film and think they can make a better cover than the EXPERIENCED MOVIE POSTER artists of the 1950's and 1960's. All you can ask from an ELVIS movie is that it is Entertaining and a GREAT Soundtrack...this film has both. HAREM HOLIDAY, the films' opening track, is a classic.
This "Harem" is not at all "Scarem"
I first saw this movie as a very young teenage male who idolized Elvis. It made a lasting impression on me. It was one of the first records (LP's-remember those?) that I purchased. Yes, the movie IS cheesey, and in acordance with most of the other reviewers on this site, was not worthy of Elvis's presence. However, I recently saw the movie again for the first time in years on one of my satellite channels, and I would suggest some alternate obsevations. 1.) The plot is structured to conform to the typical "travelog" Elvis movie, i.e. "Blue Hawaii", and allows for him to sing some songs, do karate moves, and romance women in an environment that actually seems less contrived than perhaps "G.I. Blues". 2.)Yes, the movie is silly, but I still think that the sountrack has some really beautiful melodies, which I still enjoy singing. 3.)I would assert that Elvis' on-screen redition of "So Close, Yet So Far" was one of the very few songs that he seemed to put his heart in for the camera in all of his movie "career". Try to watch at least that scene with an open heart. The song is pretty, passionate, and well done. 4.)Today, the scene with the slave girl in which Elvis sings "Hey Little Girl" would most certainly not past muster for being "politically correct"-in fact, it may not get past many censors. But sometimes we need to regard things in a perspective of more innocent times. Elvis was staged to do many scenes with children in his movies. 5.)I like this movie because I think it did not pretend to be anything other than insipid ententainment. And, I still think that much of the music is very pretty.
Elvis hadn't dyed his hair a permanent midnight black yet in Follow That Dream, which is another way of saying this is still the point in his career when he was making movies, not just Elvis Presley vehicles. Elvis road-trips with his crabby, anti-government pop (Arthur O'Connell) and an adopted brood to a Florida beach, which by a legal quirk they can homestead. The authorities and some fairly unbelievable gangsters would like to stop them. The songs are undistinguished but not awful, the scenery is nice, and Elvis--looking well-fed and relaxed--shows off good comedic chops doing a dumb-guy shtick. Screenwriter Charles Lederer and director Gordon Douglas are a class act by Presley picture standards, keeping the sitcom-style plot moving along. No fancy clothes or cars in this one,... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elvis Presley Director(s): Gordon Douglas DVD Release Date: Released the 11 May 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Far superior to any previous home-video version, the huge deluxe edition of Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii captures over four hours of footage from the King's historic televised concert from January 1973. The main concert is presented in its entirety for the first time since its original worldwide satellite telecast, and reedited to remove the now-dated split-screen "montage" look. But that's not all--as a prelude to the concert, the first disc includes 17 uncut minutes of the "Elvis arrives" footage (only 2 minutes of which appears in the concert film) followed by the complete rehearsal concert that took place two days before the telecast. This rehearsal, which was released separately on video as The Alternate Aloha Concert, is rougher than the official show, but more relaxed... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elvis Presley Director(s): Marty Pasetta DVD Release Date: Released the 22 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Released in conjunction with a two-disc deluxe edition of Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, the three-disc deluxe edition of Elvis's '68 Comeback Special is another incredible treasure trove of footage documenting a high point of the King's career and a milestone of televised musical performances. Taped and broadcast in 1968 after Elvis had seemingly abandoned live performing in favor of a movie career, the '68 Comeback Special was a remarkably intimate show, Elvis singing his old songs on a small stage, often alone, surrounded on all sides by a rapt audience. The show's numbers fall into three general categories: the black leather stand-up shows, in which Elvis performs solo on stage; the black leather sit-down shows, in which Elvis jams with former bandmates Scotty Moore... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elvis Presley DVD Release Date: Released the 22 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Elvis tried something different in his final narrative movie but the results are oddly similar to his usual '60s formula. Here the King plays a doctor working in an inner-city free clinic, playing host to three Catholic nurses (who are really nuns incognito). Elvis gets hung up on one of the nuns, played by Mary Tyler Moore; she seems a lot closer to The Dick Van Dyke Show than the Vatican. The songs are sparse--"Rubberneckin'" gets a workout in one of those awful stilted hootenannies so prevalent in Elvis pictures. The flower-power ambience is more interesting than the story; the film features Mod Squad-style attempts at racial politics, a sit-down protest, and a weird sequence involving "rage reduction" to cure an autistic child. Elvis has good scenes and indifferent... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elvis Presley - Mary Tyler Moore - Barbara McNair Director(s): William A. Graham DVD Release Date: Released the 30 July 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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It's pretty tough to beat Jailhouse Rock in terms of sheer entertainment, but Elvis lovers are particularly fond of this 1964 hit. The Big E plays race-car driver Lucky Jackson, who arrives in Las Vegas for an upcoming Grand Prix race. Lucky's car needs a new engine, so he gets a waiter job at a casino and starts working his crooning charms on Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). It's their on-screen chemistry that makes this flick a lot of fun; Presley never had a better costar than Ann-Margret, and their race-car romance is quintessential 1960s fluff. Then there are the songs, of course, including the snappy title tune, a rockin' rendition of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say?," and "The Yellow Rose of Texas." Viva Las Vegas is one of the Elvis movies that stands the test of time, when... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Elvis Presley - Ann-Margret Director(s): George Sidney (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 01 August 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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