10 replies to this topic

[PrinceKamalKhan]

Someone has uploaded the 4th and last of the Dean Martin Matt Helm/Bond spoofs on youtube:



It's not my favorite 007 knockoff but it probably features the best female supporting cast of the Helm films: not one, not two, not three, but four of the Swingin' Sixties most classic chicks: Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate(in her penultimate film role), Tina Louise and my personal favorite Nancy Kwan. Interestingly, Chuck Norris makes his film debut in the House of 7 Joys scene and Bruce Lee served as karate advisor.

[killkenny kid]

Fun flick, from a fun time in my life.

[AMC Hornet]

The poorest of the four, IMCO, but I would watch it again if I could hunt up the Matt Helm Lounge boxed set.

[jaguar007]

The poorest of the four, IMCO, but I would watch it again if I could hunt up the Matt Helm Lounge boxed set.

No, I would say The Ambushers is certainly the poorest of the four. In fact TWC might just be my favorite.

[Napoleon Solo]

The Wrecking Crew has the usual "based on the book by Donald Hamilton" credit but about the only thing used from the novel was a setting in Scandanavia, and even that's Denmark rather than Sweden (and of course actually being filmed in Southern California). The villain name Caselius from The Wrecking Crew novel was used in The Ambushers. Irving Allen brought Phil Karlson back to direct after two films helmed by Henry Levin. I've wondered if JB, the British agent who gets killed was Allen's gentle jab at his old partner Cubby Broccoli.

[AMC Hornet]

The poorest of the four, IMCO, but I would watch it again if I could hunt up the Matt Helm Lounge boxed set.

No, I would say The Ambushers is certainly the poorest of the four. In fact TWC might just be my favorite.

I respect your opinion, Jag, although I don't share or understand it.

For me, Murderers' Row is the only one I can enjoy. The weakest part is the effort to 'build tension' by having Anne-Margaret dance interminably with a phial of nitro pinned to her chicken costume (the same sort of phial that obliterated a french agent within seconds). The rest was suitably tongue-in-cheek, and the foriegn backdrops were well-mixed with the California location work (it took me several viewings to realize that Dean Martin had never left the backlot but what the hell, Sean Connery never saw Florida or Kentucky while making Goldfinger).

The Ambushers was half tongue-in-cheek and half serious attempt to make a spy thriller, which is why it didn't work - they should have stuck with one or the other, but I still give it second-place. The Silencers - what was with Victor Buono's eyes, and that equestrian-phallic laser that could only reach the edges of the room? And a gadget is only meant to be used once or twice - wiping out all the guards with a backwards-firing gun got tedious very quickly.

As for The Wrecking Crew - we accepted remote cameras in YOLT, so I suppose we should let that go, but the unconvincing sets, the offensive "ah so, ah-so" song and other Asian references grated on me (and I'm not even Asian). And although Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris worked on the picture, everyone else who tried to imitate their chop-sockey moves came up woefully short of the mark. The director, upon realizing that debris should drop from the ceiling after an explosion, repeated the effect so often it left me missing the backwards-firing gun.

Obviously I have different expectations from sixties spy-spoofs (e.g.:I liked Our Man Flint, but don't care for its sequel). However, I have to admit I found Donald Hamilton's source novels to be not only 'gritty' but downright nasty. I've only read about half-a-dozen of them and found them quite unmemorable. I'm not saying the films were in any way an improvement, but I can see why the filmmakers chose the approach they did (and what else do you do with Dean Martin?).

The Matt Helm films are fine mindless entertainment, but I find I can only park my brains under the seat for so long, so I'm picky about which mind-candy I will indulge in. For me, Murderers' Row is a guilty pleasure - the others I can take or leave (and prefer to leave).

[AMC Hornet]

Okay, upon watching The Wrecking Crew for the second time, I can admit that it's not as dreadful as I remembered, so I can rank it second or third.

I'll need to see the Ambushers again before ranking it third or second.

That leaves Murderers' Row in first place, with The Silencers dead last.

I can only say thank God that The Ravagers never happened. The law of diminishing returns must have hit its nadir with TWC.

[lazenbyland]

Interesting to note that Cubby Broccoli's former partner, Irving Allen, produced these films.

Presumably as he was unable to see the value of the Bond franchise thus paving the way for the Saltzman/Broccoli partnership.

According to wikipedia, Allen's Helm series had one major effect on Broccoli's Bond movies (produced at the time in partnership with Harry Saltzman). To get Dean Martin on board as Matt Helm, Allen had to make the actor a partner in the enterprise. Dean Martin ended up making more money on The Silencers (1966) than Sean Connery made on Thunderball (1965). This did not go unnoticed by Connery.

[AMC Hornet]

Dean Martin ended up making more money on The Silencers (1966) than Sean Connery made on Thunderball (1965). This did not go unnoticed by Connery.

...Nor by Terence Young, who advised Harry and Cubby to make Sean a partner. He said something to the effect of "Sean's a Scotsman, and there's nothing they love more than the sound of coins jingling in their pockets. Cut him in and he'll happily make these movies with you in perpetuity."

The proper quote can probably be found in a thread right here at CBn.

[larrythefatcat]

It's been a few months since I cracked open the Matt Helm Lounge and watched all four flicks... and I honestly can't remember much about any of the movies except for the fact that Dean Martin was a photographer... he also had a moving bed, a big pool and a yellow turtleneck... oh, and there were random parts of the movies where a Dean Martin cover (or slight parody) of a song would play in a scene from time to time for some reason or another.

Is this the spaceship one?... I wanna say there was one with a spaceship...


I'm sure there are people who have a fondness for these films... but, personally, if it's time for a ridiculous spy movie I'm going to go for CR '67, the Flint films or their Austin Powers offspring pretty much every time.

Edited by larrythefatcat, 07 February 2012 - 01:24 PM.

[AMC Hornet]

...if it's time for a ridiculous spy movie I'm going to go for CR '67, the Flint films or their Austin Powers offspring pretty much every time.

Hear, hear.

Give me Murderers' Row, Our Man Flint, True Lies, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, and about half of CR '67.

You can keep the rest.