I assume this picture comes from the set of The Wrecking Crew, the 1969 Matt Helm spy flick that starred Dean Martin and Sharno Tate. These two would have made such a nice looking couple. Check out that smile on Sharon's face.
Murderers Row, released in 1966, was the second of the Matt Helm spy flicks starring Dean Martin. Dino's sexy co-star in this film was none other than Ann-Margret. While most people tend to favor the first movie The Silencers, I actually like this one better. I hope you enjoy these photos. I've also posted a clip of the opening credits and a clip of the movie trailer itself.
These pictures are from the set of the 1968 Matt Helm spy flick The Wrecking Crew starring Dean Martin and Sharon Tate. I love seeing these two together. They look like they are having a great time. It's such a shame to think of the horrible and tragic end that Sharon would meet on August 9th, 1969.
This is a cool photo of Dean Martin as Matt Helm in 1966's The Silencers. Dino has one hip and swingin' pad in this spy franchise. I'd love to have a place like that myself.
Please check out the iReel Movie Blog. They discuss the Matt Helm spy flicks and actually mention my Dino Lounge blog in the article.
Also Jacinda, one of my blogging friends, has a great post about dandyism over at her very cool Urban Gentleman II blog. She even mentions the Rat Pack. I hope you will check it out.
One of the best dressed men in Hollywood these days is George Clooney. The actor won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2005 for his work in Syriana. He's also the star of films such as Ocean's Eleven and its sequels, Out Of Sight & Michael Clayton. Clooney almost always looks really sharp. He's a handsome man who dresses well. There's even been some buzz over the years of him playing Matt Helm in an update of the spy franchise. If they were going to bring Matt Helm back to the big screen, especially if the role was going to be played more along the lines of what Dean Martin did, then I think Clooney would be fantastic. He's got the right amount of wit and charm about him that's perfect for the part. George Clooney is an inspiration to me on so many levels.
The Wrecking Crew, released in 1969, was the fourth and final film in the Matt Helm spy franchise starring Dean Martin. I have previously covered the other three films in their own posts, which are The Silencers (1966), Murderers' Row (1966) & The Ambushers (1967). You can check out those posts if you never read them. This film was loosely based on the Donald Hamilton novel of the same title, which was published in 1960. The book was actually the second of the Matt Helm novels written by Hamilton.
The film can be viewed as a reboot of the franchise after the disappointing box office returns and negative reviews of The Ambushers. I stated in my post about The Ambushers that it's my least favorite of the Matt Helm spy spoofs. Phil Karlson, who directed The Silencers, returns behind the camera for this film. Crime writer William P. McGivern was brought on to write the screenplay. Dean Martin is back once again as the cool & swingin' spy Matt Helm. This is the only film not to feature his luscious assistant Lovey Kravezit (Beverly Adams). MacDonald, his boss at ICE, is played in this film by John Larch. The character had been played in the other three films by James Gregory. The film has a bevy of beautiful ladies, such as Sharon Tate, Elke Sommer, Nancy Kwan & Tina Louise. Nigel Green plays the main villain in the film. He's actually one of the better villains in the franchise. Elke Sommer and Nigel Green had played together in the spy movie Deadlier Than The Male in 1967.
Count Massimo Contini, played by Nigel Green, has masterminded the theft of one billion dollars worth of United States gold traveling through Europe. He will profit greatly by the instability of the financial markets, which will pretty much collapse, when the news leaks out. MacDonald orders Matt Helm, who had been photographing and relaxing with some hot models, to take on the mission of proving Contini was behind the heist and getting back all the gold. Mac even blows Matt's cover to smoke out the Count. He's sure that the Count will make a move against Helm. Our favorite lush of a spy goes to interrogate (if that's the right word - lol) Lola Medina, a go-go dancer and the disgruntled ex-lover of the Count. Lola is played by Tina Louise of Gilligan's Island fame. Let's just say that it's an explosive meeting between these two and leave it at that.
Matt is aided, or I should say really hindered, by a clumsy Danish tour guide named Freya Carlson. She's played by Sharon Tate in one of her last roles before her tragic murder. Freya is supposed to be helping Matt get around Denmark. The character of Freya will remind viewers of the character of Gail played by Stella Stevens in The Silencers. She's very accident-prone and always goofing up something. Matt gets fed up with her constantly. She's always getting in his way. These two are hilarious together. Later on in the movie, Freya takes off her glasses and starts to dress sexy. We learn that Freya is actually a British secret agent sent to help on Matt's mission.
There are a couple of beautiful women working for the Count. Linka Karensky, played by Elke Sommer, is engaged to Count Contini. She's very calculating and cunning in her own right. Linka uses her sexual wiles to try to seduce and kill Matt Helm on several occasions. Nancy Kwan plays Chinese operative Wen Yu-Rang (gotta love these names in spy movies lol). She has a group of hoodlums under her command, plus she's the mistress of a club called the House of Seven Joys. Yu-Rang also uses her beauty as a way of manipulating Matt. You can never tell if these women want to kill him or just make out with him. There's a fight scene in the movie between Sharon Tate's Freya Carlson and Nancy Kwan's Yu-Rang, which was actually choreographed by Bruce Lee. Chuck Norris has a small and uncredited role in the film.
Matt is in a race against time to get the gold back before the theft of Uncle Sam's gold supply is revealed. The world's financial markets will be devastated by that news, which will definitely cause quite the global financial crisis. There are some really good action scenes in the movie, including one at the House of Seven Joys and Matt's assault on the Count's home. Of course, Matt Helm has his share of gadgets (such as a camera that shoots out gas) in this film as well. While I always have liked the gadgets he used, they did always seem comical and/or second rate. That's what makes them so much fun. There is plenty of sex appeal with all the sexy ladies in this film. The Wrecking Crew definitely doesn't disappoint in that department. They aren't just eye candy either in this movie. The female characters play a major part as either allies or adversaries of Matt. Plus Sharon Tate does quite a good comical job as the bumbling Freya. There are some really hysterical scenes in the movie between her and Dean Martin, especially one involving their car later in the movie. I got a good chuckle out of that.
The Wrecking Crew did have a smaller budget than the previous films. The Ambushers had not performed that well at the box office. Plus while the Bond films were still moving along, the spy craze that resulted in so many spy spoofs was running out of steam. These factors, plus the horrible murder of Sharon Tate, probably played a big part in the decision not to do a fifth film which would have been called The Ravagers. I think this film is a good way to end out the franchise. I know that fan reaction is mixed on this movie Some people enjoyed it, while others thought it was the worst of the series. It is interesting to see that Denmark (where most of the film was set) looks so much like California (where the film was actually filmed). You know what though. That's one of the things that I loved about these movies. They don't take themselves seriously. Dean Martin could probably play the role in his sleep because he's so at ease with the role. This spy caper and the previous ones in the franchise never tried to be something they weren't. They understood that they were meant for breezy entertainment. It was pure escapist fun. There's nothing wrong with that at all. There was action, humor, hot chicks, hip music, exotic locales, diabolical madmen, etc. The highlight was always the King of Cool himself. Dean Martin played Matt Helm as Dean Martin. He wasn't the cold and ruthless Matt Helm of the books. Instead he was a cool and randy fella who loved to drink, seduce some chicks, croon some tunes & fight some bad guys. I wouldn't have him any other way.
P.S. Here's a pretty cool scene from the movie featuring Dean Martin and Sharon Tate. I love this part. I hope you enjoy it too.
Here's a picture of the very sexy Senta Berger. I'm not sure where it comes from though, but I really love her look here.
She was my favorite chick in the Matt Helm spy caper The Ambushers. I loved her as bad girl Francesca Madeiros. I just wish she had been in the movie much more than she was. Here's a clip between her and Dean Martin in the movie. Check it out to see them try to get the upper hand over each other.
Here's a picture of Daliah Lavi from the Matt Helm spy caper The Silencers. I love this film. It's so cool and hip. Daliah is such an exotic beauty, plus I really dig her accent. Check out her sexy legs.
Here's a clip from the movie. It features Dean Martin, Daliah Lavi & Stella Stevens. Watch them in action now.
It's time for another review of one of the Matt Helm spy spoofs. I've purposely been delaying posting this particular review. I'll honestly admit that I'm not a big fan of this particular film. The Ambushers, released in 1967, is the third and weakest movie in the Matt Helm spy franchise. It follows two really cool movies The Silencers and Murderers' Row, both which hits theaters in 1966. The Wrecking Crew, which was released in 1968, would the last of the Matt Helm spy capers. I always felt like it rebounded the franchise and sent it out on a high note.
Dean Martin once again returns as Matt Helm. Beverly Adams (as Helm's sexy personal assistant Lovey Kravazit) and James Gregory (as Helm's ICE boss MacDonald) are back for a final time. Neither of them play in The Wrecking Crew. Lovey is nowhere to be seen, while Mac is played by John Larch. Henry Levin, the director of Murderers' Row, was again behind the camera on The Ambushers. The screenplay was written by Herbert Baker, who had also worked on Murderers' Row. While I enjoyed what Levin and Baker did on that film, I'm not sure exactly what happened here.
Uncle Sam has manufactured an experimental flying saucer as the latest weapon in its vast arsenal. ICE is supervising the security of the flying saucer. Sheila Summers (played by Janice Rule) is the ICE agent who is piloting the spacecraft. It seems that the saucer has a unique quality about it. The electro magnetic field produced by it is deadly to men. It must be flown by only the female of the species. The flying saucer is hijacked in Mexico where Sheila is captured and assaulted.
When we first see Matt Helm, he is at ICE's training center to brush up on his skills and help in the instruction of newer agents. It seems that all these agents in training are gorgeous young women. They are known as Slaygirls. The scenes at the center are actually some of my favorite of the movie. Matt is definitely in paradise here with all these hot babes.
He encounters a crazed white-haired and pale woman who refuses to have anything to do with men. He discovers that this is Sheila. They go way back. It seems that they had once worked on a mission together. When some bad guys make an attempt on her life, Matt rushes to the rescue. Sheila comes out of her catatonic condition, but she nows believe that she is the wife of Matt Helm. Their cover on a previous mission had been as a married couple. Sheila begans to remember a jingle for a beer company in Mexico. They believe it might be a link to what happened to her and the missing saucer. She tags along with Matt on his mission to Acapulco. Matt's cover will be that he's going to do a photo shoot on the brewery.
There Matt and Sheila meet up with Quintana (played by Kurt Kasznar) who runs the brewery. Quintana is a top henchman for Leopold Caselius aka Jose Ortega (Albert Salmi), the exiled ruler of a rogue nation. I don't want to give too much away, but it's not long before Matt and Sheila are fighting for their lives. They not only face Ortega and his men, but also other baddies who have come to Mexico. It seems that Ortega plans to sell the saucer to the highest bidder. Those seeking to buy the craft include Francesca Madeiros (played by Senta Berger), the best pilot employed by Big O, and a Middle Eastern assassin named Nassim.
Senta Berger, one of my favorite female stars of the 60's and 70's, is not featured enough in this film. Her part as Francesca is way too small. She's one of the major highlights of this film for me. It's just that we don't get a chance to see enough of her. I love anytime she is on the screen. She has great chemistry with Dino in this movie. One of my favorite scenes is when she plays a seductive game with Matt Helm. I won't tell you exactly what happens there.
I have nothing against Janice Rule. I think she's a fine actress. I just think she was wrong for a Matt Helm spy spoof. She seems so out of place here. She's very different than the usual type of actresses that have played in these movies. There's something really missing in the movie. Another actress might have been better suited in this role. She just doesn't have the electricity that Stella Stevens or Ann-Margret had in their roles in the previous two films.
I'm also not a big fan of the main villain in this film. Albert Salmi as Ortega just doesn't intrigue me the way the madman of a spy movie should. He's my least favorite villain of the four films in the Matt Helm franchise. He is too sinister. He doesn't have that wicked sense of humor that the other villains tended to have. I actually much prefer his henchman Quintana (Kurt Kasznar), who really hams it up and chews the scenery so well. There is a really hilarious shoot-out between him and Matt Helm at the beer factory. Just imagine the boozy Dino and lots of beer. You should get the picture.
The special effects in the Matt Helm franchise do tend to be pretty standard for the era. I would have hoped that they might have been a little better this time around since the film has such a science fiction quality to it. Gadgets used by the various characters in this film include a bullet shooting bra, a device that makes men's pants fall down, a weapon that doesn't do much more than make drinks, cigarettes that emit laughing gas, lipstick laced with drugs, etc. Matt Helm even has in his truck a portable bachelor bad. This thing has to be seen to be believed. It's always funny to see what sort of cheesy gadgets will be used in each film.
The musical scores for the first two films were done by Elmer Bernstein and Lalo Schifrin. This time Hugo Montenegro was the man in charge of the music. I'm a huge fan of his style of music. His lounge score is really groovy and catchy. It infects the movie with such a cool and hip vibe. The intro sequence to The Ambushers features a theme song by Boyce and Hart which considers women to be the real "ambushers."
There is definitely lots of eye candy on display throughout the film. Besides the gorgeous and luscious Senta Berger, there are the female ICE agents at the beginning and end of the film, as well as some models at a fashion show down in Mexico. This film doesn't disappoint in that department. There is also a very hot (no pun intended) scene of Matt and his assistant Lovey in a steambath at the start of the film.
I hope I haven't been too hard on this film. I do want you to see if if you haven't. The Matt Helm movies are not high art. They never pretend to be. They are just good campy escapist fun. That's how they should be enjoyed. I do think that this one was a little substandard to the other three. There are still plenty of things I liked in this movie. I'm glad I saw it. I do believe that are things that could have been improved on. These four films are all available in the Matt Helm Lounge DVD set. It's not like you have to buy it separately. You get all four spy flicks together. I hope you'll give it a chance if you haven't seen it. Cheers!
I mean no copyright infringement by the posting of pictures, videos, etc. on this blog. I do not in any way claim the rights of ownership to any of them. They totally remain the property of their respective owners. I have posted them purely for entertainment purposes only. All written content, unless otherwise noted as being quotes, has been written and copyrighted by me.
