IMDb RATING
6.1/10
1.7K
YOUR RATING
An enigmatic faith healer - who appears to possess genuine magical powers - and a political fixer vie for influence over a senator and his family.An enigmatic faith healer - who appears to possess genuine magical powers - and a political fixer vie for influence over a senator and his family.An enigmatic faith healer - who appears to possess genuine magical powers - and a political fixer vie for influence over a senator and his family.
- Awards
- 5 wins & 6 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe sequence where Alex Rast (Mark Spain) is seen being dangled off the side of a cliff by Gregory Wolfe (Robert Powell) did not use trick photography or deceiving camera angles. Spain was hung over the side of a cliff-face but was wearing a safety-harness which was not visible to the audience as it was attached through the underneath of Powell's white cloak.
- GoofsThe levitation of the piano reveals that it is hollow and contains no strings, hammers or metal pieces. If it was a complete piano, there would be a tremendous sound of string notes as it hit the floor.
- Quotes
Gregory Wolfe: I know there are powers at work in the universe. For those higher powers, the de-materialization of a given target would be child's play.
- ConnectionsFeatured in At the Movies: Spacehunter/Tough Enough/WarGames/Harlequin (1983)
Featured review
Thankfully, Margot Robbie is nowhere to be seen.
For years now, I've been trying to see and review every horror film from the '70s and '80s, as listed in my Aurum Encyclopedia of Horror; I've ticked off the majority of the best known titles, and have now entered the 'mopping up' phase, with just a few hundred less-well-known movies to see before I am done. The problem is that the ones I have left to watch are either extremely difficult to find, are often not very good, or aren't what I consider to be horror. Harlequin is NOT horror in my opinion: it's a strange contemporary retelling of the story of Grigori Rasputin, the Russian mystic who gained influence over the family of Nicholas II in the early 20th century.
Robert Powell plays Gregory Wolfe, who works his way into the life of senator Nick Rast (David Hemmings) after he cures young Alex Rast (Mark Spain) of leukaemia. After performing this apparent miracle, Wolfe becomes companion to Mrs. Rast (Carmen Duncan), but is the man's magic real or illusion? Nick Rast's superiors claim that Wolfe is a fraud, while the magician tells Nick that he is being used as a political puppet. But who is speaking the truth?
The only genuinely scary thing about Harlequin is Wolfe's fashion sense: he wears a studded black leather and silk outfit that wouldn't seem out of place in a Las Vegas show (the ensemble completed with painted nails and glittery eye-brow make-up), and he dons a very silly, padded, multi-coloured harlequin costume for the final act. However, Powell's quirky Bowie-esque outfits are in perfect keeping with the overall tone of the film, which is quite simply bizarre, the film frequently making not a lick of sense (the levitating marbles in Alex's room, the grimy portrait of Wolfe on the kitchen floor, and little Alex's transformation at the very end).
4/10. Just about worth seeking out if cinematic strangeness is your thing. But it's not horror.
Robert Powell plays Gregory Wolfe, who works his way into the life of senator Nick Rast (David Hemmings) after he cures young Alex Rast (Mark Spain) of leukaemia. After performing this apparent miracle, Wolfe becomes companion to Mrs. Rast (Carmen Duncan), but is the man's magic real or illusion? Nick Rast's superiors claim that Wolfe is a fraud, while the magician tells Nick that he is being used as a political puppet. But who is speaking the truth?
The only genuinely scary thing about Harlequin is Wolfe's fashion sense: he wears a studded black leather and silk outfit that wouldn't seem out of place in a Las Vegas show (the ensemble completed with painted nails and glittery eye-brow make-up), and he dons a very silly, padded, multi-coloured harlequin costume for the final act. However, Powell's quirky Bowie-esque outfits are in perfect keeping with the overall tone of the film, which is quite simply bizarre, the film frequently making not a lick of sense (the levitating marbles in Alex's room, the grimy portrait of Wolfe on the kitchen floor, and little Alex's transformation at the very end).
4/10. Just about worth seeking out if cinematic strangeness is your thing. But it's not horror.
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- BA_Harrison
- Apr 5, 2021
- How long is Harlequin?Powered by Alexa
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Box office
- Budget
- A$850,000 (estimated)
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