John Goldfarb, Please Come Home! (1965)

During the Cold War, John Goldfarb (Richard Crenna) crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz (Sir Peter Ustinov), soon ... See full summary »

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writer:

William Peter Blatty

Stars:

Shirley MacLaine, Peter Ustinov, Richard Crenna

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shirley MacLaine	...	Jenny Ericson
Peter Ustinov	...	King Fawz
Richard Crenna	...	John Goldfarb
Jim Backus	...	Miles Whitepaper
Scott Brady	...	Coach Sakalakis
Fred Clark	...	Heinous Overreach
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Mustafa Guz
Harry Morgan	...	Secretary of State Deems Sarajevo
Patrick Adiarte	...	Prince Ammud
Richard Deacon	...	Secretary of Defense Charles Maginot
Jerome Cowan	...	Ambassadaor Brinkley
Leon Askin	...	Samir
David Lewis	...	Stottle Cronkite
Milton Frome	...	Air Force General
Charles Lane	...	'Strife' Magazine Editor

Storyline

During the Cold War, John Goldfarb (Richard Crenna) crashes his spy plane in the Middle East and is taken prisoner by the local government. His captor, King Fawz (Sir Peter Ustinov), soon discovers that Goldfarb used to be a college football star. So he issues him an ultimatum: coach his country's football team, or Fawz will surrender him to the Russians. Goldfarb teams up with undercover reporter Jenny Ericson (Shirley MacLaine), and together they plot to escape their dangerous situation.

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Plot Keywords:

cold war | undercover | king | middle east | spy | 

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Taglines:

It's the happiest, wackiest, zaniest comedy you'll ever see! [UK]

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 March 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

A braccia aperte

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orchard Productions, Steve Parker Productions, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Harry Morgan, as Secretary of State Deems Sarajevo, stops an argument between his underlings by yelling "Silence in court! Let the monkey speak!" This might be a reference to Morgan's role as the Judge in Inherit the Wind (1960), about the Scopes "monkey trial".

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Goofs

When Shirley first presents herself to the king she is fearful he will "make his move.on her" so she dresses herself to be as undesirable as possible and throws herself on his bed. The next three shots have her legs crossed right over left, then left over right, them back to right over left in quick succession.

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Quotes

Sakalakis: [looking at bench] Rimsky, in for Korsakoff!

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Connections

Referenced in M*A*S*H: Henry, Please Come Home (1972)

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Soundtracks

John Goldfarb, Please Come Home
Music by John Williams (as Johnny Williams)
Lyrics by Don Wolf
Sung by Shirley MacLaine during the opening credits

User Reviews

Wacky, crazy '60s comedy

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.