Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Moustroll Good movie but grossly overrated

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

ksf-2 This was the first of Dean Martin's four appearances as the spy Matt Helm. Kind of a working man's James Bond. Swedish writer Don Hamilton wrote 27 of these Helms adventures, and they were so very mod. Taking place in the 1960s, we see all the futuristic house inventions, like the automatic bed, coffee makers, drying devices. And or course, the new, scientific specialty weapons. The sexy bombshells come and go, some good, some evil. Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Beverly Adams, Cyd Charisse. Viewers will certainly recognize his nemesis, Victor Buono, leader of the "Big-O" organization. Buono was probably best known for the odd piano accompanist in "Baby Jane". Fun song in the middle, lip synched by Charisse... "In Chile, It got HOT!". The fight scenes are all pretty cheesy, and Martin kind of ambles through his role, but its fun entertainment. Every few minutes, one of the girls gets her dress ripped off, so that's going on, but with Dean Martin, we would expect nothing less! Matt's boss is James Gregory, aka Detective Luger on Barney Miller. It's a goofy, fun adventure, and it IS available on Sont DVD. Haven't seen this shown on cable yet. Directed by Phil Karlson.

Poseidon-3 Following the success of "Dr. No" and the subsequent James Bond films, a raft of gadget-laden, sexually suggestive copycats flooded the cinema landscape, some of them serious in tone, most of them light and/or parodying in nature. Here, Martin plays Matt Helm, the character in a popular series of spy novels which were not intended to be amusing, but some of which were adapted into a series of frothy, campy, goofy, tacky films. This first in a collection of four is among the best, though that still doesn't qualify it as a stellar piece of film-making. Super-spy Martin is drawn out of retirement in order to thwart villain Buono, who is bent on world domination. Aiding him to a point is delectable fellow spy Lavi. Standing in his way is Stevens, the girlfriend of Webber, one of Buono's hit men. Stevens, apart from being suspected as an enemy through her association with Webber, is dangerous simply by way of her penchant for calamity and chaos, which seem to dog her at every turn! Traversing the American southwest in his tricked out station wagon (!), Martin swings from clue to clue when he isn't swinging from babe to babe. None of it is ever believable for a moment if it was ever meant to be. That's fine, but the film has an unfortunate piecemeal feel to it and an undercoat of cheapness that no amount of fancy sets or Moss Mabry gowns (which are mostly very striking) can fully overcome. It leans towards the illogical and the senseless and has a sloppy feel to it. Much of this comes from Martin's completely laid back and noncommittal performance, by now heavily colored by his seat-of-the-pants casualness that was popularized on his glitzy TV variety show. Stevens, on the other hand, gives a winning and wacky performance and looks astonishing as a redhead. From her memorable backwards first entrance to her stunning last one (in a flimsy blue chiffon nightgown with hair piled high), she is the primary reason to sit through this movie. Lavi is no slouch, either. Her fashion model looks and breathy, sex-kitten line readings are also a big draw. Not to be left out, legendary dancer Charisse has a late-career highlight as a singer-stripper who figures into the espionage. Her appearance during the credit sequence is not quite as daring as the publicity stills promised, but she's still very arresting. Her second get-up is as vulgar as it is bizarre and her soft-focus close-ups are amusing, but she still gives it her all. Always intriguing Buono is nonetheless pretty lame as a goofy answer to the quasi-Asian villain Joseph Wiseman portrayed in "Dr. No." Best advice is to jettison the silly plot lines and just soak up the preposterous gadgetry, the gorgeous women (which also include Kovack and Adams), the anything goes 60's atmosphere and colors and the free-spirited performance of Stevens. On this level, the film is enjoyable enough to make its viewing worthwhile.

Petri Pelkonen He's super spy Matt Helm.All the girls love him and all the men envy him.And some want to kill him.In the 1960's they made four Matt Helm movies.The Silencers (1966) is the first one of them directed by Phil Karlson.In this movie Matt Helm's job is to prevent WWIII.Not an easy job to do, except for Matt Helm.Matt Helm movies were James Bond parodies.They did the same Austin Powers did some decades later.And this agent could also sing! The actor who portrayed Matt Helm was super cool Dean Martin.The leading lady of this first movie was portrayed by super sexy Stella Stevens (Gail).Daliah Lavi plays Tina.The singing and dancing beauty Cyd Charisse is Sarita.The movie history has pretty much forgotten these movies.I found The Silencers rather entertaining.Matt Helm movies look very 60's.It's probably the nostalgia that raises the value of these movies.And the super cool Dean Martin.

yanks23 My favorite part of this "tongue-in-cheek" espionage flick, is when Dean Martin, convinced that Stella Stevens has the micro-film tape on her, completely rips her dress off of her, leaving the sexy Stevens standing there in her bra, gartered-panties, nylons and high-heels. Great scene !! I'm sure it was Stella Stevens who kept the attention of male viewers throughout this silly movie. Sure , there were other attractive women in the movie. But Stevens was tops !! Dean martin, pretty much being himself as opposed to acting, was entertaining to a degree. However, it was Stella Stevens who stole the show. I didn't even consider being annoyed by her "flighty" character. She's just too damn pretty.