Arabs, Jews, college football teams, United States Politicians and the military, all get scathed in this over-the-top comedy where a fictional Arab country tries to go American after the son of the King is denied the chance to play on an Ivy League football team. It all starts with famed photographer Shirley MacLaine agreeing to go over to Fawzia to infiltrate the aging King's harem, and while there, she gets involved with one of her previous victims (Richard Crenna as the title character) in aiding the Fawzian football team to play and beat Notre Dame. This ain't no Knute Rockne or even Gus the football kicking mule. This is mud-slinging at its silliest, and you can almost hear the screenwriters laughing out loud as they see the dialog they've written and silly gags they've made into something that even the Three Stooges would turn down. The most outlandish casting comes with Peter Ustinov, truly overdoing it as King Fawz, whether driving around on his outrageous choo-choo train, playing with an all gold model train, or overreacting to MacLaine's fat suit disguise to avoid spending an evening in his company. This is the type of comedy that probably appealed in 1965 to 13 year old boys who were laughing at Gilligan's Island and re-runs of the Three Stooges shorts. For adults, this will appeal to them for the plethora of character actors who appear in small roles, among them Charles Lane as MacLaine's wise-cracking boss (apologizing for making a mistake in hiring her for this project as he really needed a woman), Fred Clark, Jim Backus, David Lewis ("General Hospital's" first Edward Quartermain) and Harry Morgan as government flackies arguing over who sent an Arab King pigskin luggage, and especially Wilfred Hyde White as Ustinov's bossy assistant who treats him like a child. There's even Leon Askin ("Hogan's Heroes"), Richard Deacon ("The Dick Van Dyke Show") and a young Jerry Orbach. While Patrick Adiarte ("The King and I", "Flower Drum Song") does not at all seem to be Arab, he's very charming as Ustinov's young son, making me feel sorry for the woman forced to sleep with Ustinov. Way down the cast list is young James Caan as one of Notre Dame's football players. It seems like they kept everything in, including the harem sink. You've got to give credit where credit is due, and this movie (controversial in 1964) has one of the most outlandish opening songs in film history, sung by its very funny star. I just wonder what she thought of this movie at the time, because I think I've read somewhere that now she considers it to be a career embarrassment. Certainly at the time, she was more known for her comedy, and this was in line with "The Apartment" and "Irma La Douce" that saw her as somewhat pathetic, if still interesting, characters. I happen to find it a guilty pleasure, having laughed hysterically at it in my early 20's, and smiling with amusement and remembrance 30 years later. Still, it's up there on many "worst" lists, and if indeed it does come off very tacky at times and definitely a slap in the face at the groups I mention above, it's an example of freedom of expression that doesn't exist anymore and hopefully might remind us not to take everything around us so seriously.

"It's the happiest, wackiest, zaniest comedy you'll ever see!" screamed the tagline on the British poster for this manic '60s movie. As far as mis-selling a product goes, this has to be one of the most misleading claims in the history of cinema. Happy? Wacky? Zany? Comedy? There are only nine words in the entire tagline, and four of them are completely untrue! John Goldfarb, Please Come Home is a complete disaster from start to finish, an embarrassment for its stars and director, and a film that will leave viewers shaking their head in disbelief and asking one very pertinent question: how could this much talent serve up something this awful? Once-trailblazing journalist Jenny Ericson (Shirley Maclaine) is on the verge of being ditched by Strife magazine. Her pizazz has gone; her eye for a great story has deserted her. Her one shot at redemption comes when she decides to go undercover in the Middle Eastern country of Fawzia, working to expose the sleazy happenings in the harem of the infantile and lecherous King Fawz (Peter Ustinov). Meanwhile, the American Air Force enlists an accident prone pilot by the name of John Goldfarb (Richard Crenna) to fly a spy mission over the Soviet Union. Goldfarb has borne the unwanted nickname "Wrong Way Goldfarb" for years – ever since, as a Notre Dame football player, he ran 95 yards to score a touchdown in his OWN end zone – and he is soon up to his old tricks again when he accidentally flies thousands of miles off course and ends up crashing his plane in Fawzia. The befuddled Goldfarb ends up in King Fawz's palace, where he comes across Jenny disguised as a harem girl, pursuing her undercover scoop. Soon though, she has a bigger story on her hands when the King blackmails Goldfarb into coaching a ragtag Arab football team, and arranges for them play a fixed exhibition match against Goldfarb's old crew, the boys from Notre Dame.Based on a novel by William Peter Blatty (later famous for penning The Exorcist), this wild farce is pitched at a level of frantic hysteria from the word go. Every actor is encouraged to shout and scream with reckless abandon – I don't remember another time when the usually likable MacLaine comes across so shrill and irritating, while Ustinov is horribly wasted in what can only be described as a retarded role as the King. Even Crenna - who has made his share of turkeys down the years – might count this as a candidate for his all-time nadir. Blatty's script is an unholy mess, piling absurdity upon absurdity without any sense of comic timing, narrative flow or subtlety. In the face of all this chaos, director J-Lee Thompson throws caution to the wind and allows everyone to do whatever the hell they please. The result is like witnessing a motorway pile-up in horrifying close-up colour. Collectors of terrible movies will have a ball with this one.

An absurdist romp that tries mightily to spoof the cold war, US-Arab relations, football, religion, and about a thousand other things. It's not altogether successful, but it's also far from being dull. Shirley MacLaine is a reporter who goes undercover to do a story on harem life in a fictional middle eastern country ruled by kooky Peter Ustinov. Ustinov's son has recently been cut from the Notre Dame football team. MacLaine runs into pilot Richard Crenna (a one-time football player known as wrong way Goldfarb). Now a US spy, Crenna's plane crashes in the same country. Shenanegans ensue as Ustinov decides to start a football team to take on the fighting Irish. Crenna is enlisted to coach, setting off an international incident. The actors are all out of control, with MacLaine screaming her dialog and Ustinov acting more like the village idiot than an Arabian sultan. The supporting cast consists of virtually every comic actor working in the mid 60s: Harry Morgan, Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Richard Deacon, Jackie Coogan, Wilfred Hyde White. Directed, with his usually heavy hand, by J. Lee Thompson.

"John Goldfarb, Please Come Home" is a farce seemingly typical of the '60s. The story centers around a bumbling pilot and former college football player who finds himself as coach of a ragtag football team in the Middle East. William Peter Blatty, author of "The Exorcist," wrote this comedy (hard to believe!). It's a movie full of political incorrectness. Peter Ustinov is at the heart, playing a crackpot Arab sultan. And Shirley MacLaine does a memorable turn as a female reporter going undercover in the harem. She does a unique belly dance here! Of course, a movie like this couldn't be made today. But let's just look back and enjoy the laughs, shall we?