O Harém das Encrencas

I saw "John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" today hoping to see a funny Richard Crenna/Shirley Maclaine film. I was not disappointed. It was the absolute epitome of the '60s, made right in the middle of the decade. The music, done by a young "Johnny" Williams simply managed to reinforce this notion. The opening/ending theme, sung by the lead actress, had an Arabian sound to it, fitting enough. The movie takes place when it was made, in the middle of the Cold War. As it begins, a US ambassador to the nonexistent Middle East country of Fawzia (strangely similar to Saudi Arabia) has just sent the Sultan, a toy train obsessor with a golden golf cart and a harem, pigskin luggage, which just so happens to offend the Muslim. Therefore, the Americans intend to do everything they can to appease him. They didn't count on two things, though: John "Wrong Way" Goldfarb, all-American football star and U2 pilot, and Jenny Ericson, reporter for STRIFE magazine, who intends to get inside the sultan's harem and report on it. Meanwhile, Goldfarb gets lost (big surprise) and crash lands in Fawzia. There are all sorts of crazy complications involving Goldfarb, the reporter (and concubine), and the sultan's would-be football player son, who attended Notre Dame college. It all culminates in an insane football game between Notre Dame and the Fawz U team. If you miss it, you're missing something out of this world. Of course, if you deplore '60s comedies, you might wanna steer clear. Maclaine and Crenna are great together, and Ustinov as the eccentric sultan is brilliant. For all its insanity, I loved it.

Only politically correct prigs and other humorless types will fail to enjoy this over-the-top farce. (Including some here, one of whom doesn't like "Michael" Myers, so consider the source.) The plot involves a dim U-2 pilot (Richard Crenna) who takes a wrong turn and lands in the oil-soaked desert domain of a zany sheik, a dippy journalist (Shirley MacLane) trapped in his harem, State Department bureaucrats, the Notre Dame football team, and other innocents who find themselves asea in the sand.

Everyone's insulted, so everyone should have a good time. Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau was classic, but Peter Ustinov's King Fawz is something else again. If you see "John Goldfarb" in your TV listings, gather your craziest crowd, pass the stash, and laugh away the evening on this crazy flick.

Saw this years ago but saw it several times. Early sexy funny Shirley, hilarious Ustinov, Crenna when he was in top comedic form. Great fun. Maltin hated it so you know it had to have something going for it. Too bad it got trashed. Very offbeat & funny & appealing.

This movie was newly released, showing in a newly completed "rocking chair" theatre in Orlando FL. Only 15 then, had gone to FL by bus from NC, to visit a friend dying of cancer. We bought bright surfer shirts-a new rage, and went to see this movie at the new theatre. I obviously have a good time youthful impression connected with seeing his movie. The movie itself is a vague memory of a humorous football game, cute harem girls including the young Shirley McLaine, a neat railroad running around a palace, etc. While the acting quality etc. may not have sunk in at that time and age, it was a neat comedy I would love to see again. Wish it would be released on video. Even wish it might appear on TV sometime. Perhaps one day someone may have taped a televised showing and a copy may be available that way. Anyway, I think it was a pleasant comedy, in good taste, that anyone would enjoy.......Except for them celibate types at Notre Dame!!!

Richard Crenna plays a U-2 spy plane pilot too stupid to find Russia and who runs out of fuel and crashes in what must be Saudi Arabia.(This is vaguely reminiscent of the Francis Gary Powers story of several years earlier, although he ended up in Moskow). Shirley Maclaine ends up in a harem. Although frenetic and wild, this movie is filled with smarmy sex jokes, comedy on the level of a burlesque house, and offensive ethnic stereotypes; the Arabs are the only group that can still be insulted publicly. Peter Ustinov, always marvelous, was admittedly funny as the Arab king. I suppose this vulgar movie, ripped without mercy by critics at the time, will appeal to the same thirteen year-old boys who like the slob humor of Adam Sandler or Michael Myers, but for adults it's "no sale"! John Goldfarb DON'T come home!