Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

utubes The Matt Helm series are a treasure of what was the scene in the late 1960's. James Bond had the world crazy for the spy genre so Hollywood made various spy type TV and Films, these included Matt Helm and Derek Flint. The Matt Helm series had the cool factor down to a science with Dean Martin being the coolest cat around at the time. The Wrecking Crew is steeped in 1960's vibe, from the set designs to the the wonderful music in the movie. This is probably one of the movies that best captures that era. The Matt Helm series is a must have addition to your video collection along with the Flint movies. One particular scene from "The Silencers" that is especially indicative of the 1960's is when Matt and Gail are driving through the desert in Matt's American made spy station wagon. Matt pushes a button and out comes a stocked bar in the back and they proceed to pour drinks and get toasted as they are driving along, without seat-belts!

Poseidon-3 Fourth and final in a quartet of spoofy films that Martin starred in as secret agent Matt Helm, this one is among the best, thanks to some curvaceous women and a shift away from the more preposterous gadgetry that marked some of its predecessors. Martin begins the film, as usual, living the life of a photographer surrounded by buxom women in various deliberately idiotic costumes. He's called into action when already-wealthy Green pilfers a train car filled with a billion dollar's worth of gold. The first step is interviewing Green's discarded mistress Louise though he is soon entangled with Green's current squeeze Sommer, dangerous Asian Kwan and clumsy travel guide Tate. Meanwhile, Martin's boss Larch (taking over from James Gregory of the previous three installments) oversees the operation, occasionally pitching in to help. In typical spy-film tradition, everything comes to a head with an extended chase and battle to the death, this time involving a helicopter and a train. Martin, always at his most "relaxed" in this series, barely takes time to act, though he is clearly enamored of Tate, the best sidekick he had after Stella Stevens in "The Silencers" (which was a somewhat similar type of character.) Green makes for an adequately snide and slick villain, constantly referring to his "shhedule". (This actor died a few years after this film in a sleeping pill overdose.) Sommer is a total knockout, making a sensational entrance in an almost waist-high slit, lilac dress and showing off many other flattering Moss Mabry creations and striking hairstyles during the movie. Louise turns up the heat in order to get some attention on the crowded canvas and manages to do so rather well. Kwan is, sadly, rather wasted here. She gets a fair amount of screen time, but is mostly underutilized and rarely shown off to her full advantage. The real gem of the movie is Tate. Overcoming a truly atrocious red wig and some decidedly dorky costumes, she nonetheless creates a hapless, uncoordinated, yet utterly appealing character. Her entrance alone is hysterical and predates Mary Katherine Gallagher of "Saturday Night Live" by more than two decades. Her penchant for loudly stating the obvious, often right in Martin's ear, only adds to the physical humor. She flaunts her considerable assets at the camera, yet backs it up with a deftly handled acting job. The thought of her being viciously murdered in real life not too long after this is almost too much to reflect upon. She is remembered more for her role in the champion of camp "Valley of the Dolls", but here she proved she was far more than just a looker. It's a shame her own lovely hair wasn't used. Oddly absent this time out is Martin's secretary, who was played by Beverly Adams three times prior. These films, while always meant to be amusing, are enjoyable now because the dated clothes and music add even more to the fun. They entertain almost in spite of themselves and are of special interest to those who enjoy the "Austin Powers" movies. The credits song "House of 7 Joys" (a place which is not exactly heavily featured in the film) makes a bit more sense when one is aware that that was the working title of the movie prior to release. This time out, the music can be a bit overbearing. One's tolerance for the sounds of the era will determine how much "bah bah bah BAH" can be withstood before annoyance sets in. An announced fifth film "The Ravagers" never came to fruition.

Bogmeister MASTER PLAN: Operation:Rainbow - steal a billion in gold and then take it in on a train. More so than the previous 3 Matt Helm adventures, this one has the earmarks of a regular thriller, though a lot of absurdity is retained: gold cannot be stacked as high as we see here; it's too heavy. Dino Martin is back in his final take as the boozy USA-Bond-type Helm, still snoozing to femme-infested dreams and ready with the off-the-cuff remarks, though some of it doesn't work. In an early scene at ICE's testing facility (copying the Q dept. from the James Bond films), he and his boss MacDonald test a new grenade device; 'Why don't we call it a little bit of hanky-panky?' Helm quips. MacDonald just looks at him like 'What are you talking about, please?' The actor James Gregory did not return as MacDonald, replaced by John Larch. There's an uneven tone to this Helmer, combining straight action with silliness. We have a bevy of femme fatales: Elke Sommer is pretty bloodthirsty as the head villain's main squeeze, but Nancy Kwan is also on hand to offer dangerous thrills. Tina Louise, off of "Gilligan's Island," shows up briefly. The real bright spot, however, is Sharon Tate as a clumsy agent, recalling the Stella Stevens character of the 1st Helmer "The Silencers." You can't decide whether she really is a dimwit or playing some undercover role (it turns out, she works for the Brits). Helm is really annoyed with her during most of the film and their repartee is quite amusing, suggesting what more could of been done with the female characters in the "Austin Powers" movies.The drawback to this Helm entry, which follows "The Ambushers," is the deadly slow pace in many scenes during the first half of the pic. A good example is Helm's scene with the Tina Louise character, which seems to drag on forever. Most of the action takes Helm to Denmark, where he must confront the super-rich Count Contini (Nigel Green), a villain patterned on such Bond foes as Goldfinger and Drax of the later "Moonraker." If one wanted an actor for a snide, sneaky, dastardly mustache-twirling role in the late sixties, actor Green was the 'go to' guy. He tries to bribe Helm at first, looking down at him as a typical agent, and eventually decides to have him killed. The action picks up in the final third of the film, with the story having to dispose of several key characters, and there's a lot of kicking, punching and shooting, not to mention cheesy explosions. Tate and Kwan have a martial arts confrontation to add some spice. Helm assembles a helicopter out of some equipment stored in his car's trunk and the climax shifts to a moving train. Helm would not return in "The Ravagers," as planned; there was no "The Ravagers," as the briefly-popular Helm persona could not sustain more than 4 features (by contrast with Bond, who went past 20 of 'em by the new millennium). Helm would return in a TV-movie and brief TV series in the seventies, with actor Tony Franciosa. Hero:5 Villain:6 Femme Fatales:7 Henchmen:6 (hey, Chuck Norris was one of these) Fights:6 Stunts/Chases:5 Gadgets:6 Auto:4 Locations:7 Pace:6 overall:6-

shepardjessica The 4th and final M. Helm film, this is definitely the bottom of the barrel, except for the lovely and funny Sharon Tate near the end of career. There are other babes as well: Elke Sommer (hot for many years), Nancy Kwan lovely as always and Tina Louise who doesn't get to do much. Nigel Green is a noble villain and very creepy. Dino slogs along the best he can under the circumstances and Sharon Tate is just a joy! If she'd ever been given a decent role in a good film, I think she might have surprised a few skeptics about her talent.A 3 out of 10. Best performance = Sharon Tate. All of these Helm flicks are cotton candy at best, but a pleasant reminder of bad fun films of the late 60's.