Naive Lyle Rogers and more self-assured ladies man Chuck Clarke are a newly formed songwriting team based in New York. They are passionate about their work but are not very good at it, which they don't really realize. Their quest to be famous songwriters results in the end of each of their respective marriages. They are even worse at performing, which is what they feel they have to do to sell their songs. They decide to take the best of the all the bad offers presented to them by their agent, Marty Freed, which is to perform in a hotel lounge in Morocco. Their flight to Morocco is via its neighboring country of Ishtar. In Ishtar and then later in Morocco, both Lyle and Chuck are individually approached by a young woman named Shirra Assel, who requests their assistance on a matter which could possibly result in her death if they don't help her. In reality, she believes she is in possession of a map that would lead to an uprising against the ruling government of Ishtar, led by Emir Yousef. Her brother, who discovered the map, was killed by the Emir's men because of his discovery. She is trying to get the map to the leftist guerrillas that want to overthrow the government. Seeing her make contact with Chuck and then Lyle, CIA agent Jim Harrison gets involved as he is trying to prevent the overthrow of the Emir. As Jim believes that Lyle is working with Shirra and Shirra believes Chuck is a CIA agent, both Lyle and Chuck believe the other is indeed a political operative. But what Lyle and Chuck don't know is that both sides want to kill both of them in the belief that they both are working for the opposing faction, their deaths to be a minor casualty for the greater good. Two terrible lounge singers get booked to play a gig in a Moroccan hotel but somehow become pawns in an international power play between the CIA, the Emir of Ishtar, and the rebels trying to overthrow his regime. Admittedly, this is a guilty pleasure. First saw it in the theatres, and found myself the only one that enjoyed it out of our group of attendees. Over dinner that evening, I explained that I had not heard much about its bloated budget and hadn't followed the careers of the stars (yes, I read books and am a losers). As such, I anticipated only an entertaining evening and felt that the film had provided that. The dialogue was snappy and the lead stars fantastic in delivering it. I thought it funny to see Warren Beatty so unaware of being beautiful … it touched me. The idea of being a frustrated (and not very talented) artist struck a chord. I was alone in my enjoyment, let me say, and my wife has brought it up many times over the years to embarrass me "Oh, James liked Ishtar; you can't go by his opinion." Well, I saw it again recently and it is just as funny to me. The whole scene in the desert is fantastic, and if you want to reduce me to hysterical laughter just site the following exchange: "It's … it's …" "What? What?" "It's hot today." I will die. I recall this movie was panned before it was even released to the public. At the time it was also very expensive to produce. I found it to be one of the funnier movies of the period and even now nearly 20 years later I still find it very funny. If you get the chance you should rent this movie because the TV version is edited and does not do it justice. Some might think I am crazy for saying this, but I feel this movie is a classic! I think at the time Hollywood politics doomed it for a less than stellar showing at the box office. I remember hearing for weeks before and even after it came out about how it was one of the most expensive movies ever made! Someone must have been upset about it and decided that no matter what it would be a flop. Again, I urge you to go rent it and decide for yourself if it is a classic or not? The guys in Ishtar are the boring wallflowers of the world. They probably shouldn't be mocked, disgraced and beaten, but who really wants to spend close to two hours with them.
Hanejaryt replied
344 weeks ago