Wenn Killer auf der Lauer liegen

The third Matt Helm film - and easily the weakest up to this point. Though Maltin's BOMB rating seems a bit harsh - it IS watchable, after all - it's hard not to notice the drop-off in quality from its predecessor, "Murderers' Row". The villains are nobodies, the gadgets are not as cool as before (levitating gun < delayed / reverse firing gun), the climactic vehicular chase has worse rear projection than the Abbott and Costello movies, and the entire enterprise is slow, unexciting and drab. Bright spot: Janice Rule, who is the smartest Matt Helm assistant so far, and also closer to Dean Martin's age than Ann Margret or Stella Stevens, which makes their (professional and romantic) partnership more believable. Senta Berger has an interesting character, in the sense that you are not sure for a long time whose side she is working for, but ultimately she is underused. The movie's two best bits actually come at the very start (the catchy title song), and the very end (a funny Frank Sinatra gag). *1/2 out of 4.

This film is a funny spoof of the James Bond series. Dean Martin is hilarious as the stereotypical spy with a drink in one hand and a sexy girl in the other. All the people who call this series a rip off of James Bond are missing the point. I especially loved Kurt Kaznar, playing the despicable character he would play so well in his most famous role on Land of the Giants as Alexander Fitzhugh. Also, Janice Rule is more than just window dressing. She plays the femme fetale role to the hilt and she shows a great flair for comedy in this film. The Matt Helm series was intended to be a parody of that series and did a great job of it.

The third of Dean Martin's Matt Helm adventures is generally considered to be the worst of the quartet but, while undeniably the silliest (especially in the film's relentless concession to go-go dancing), it's still never less than enjoyable; I'd say these goofy spy sagas were basically the rough template for the jokey version of James Bond as depicted throughout Roger Moore's tenure in that series!

While here we don't get the hero thinking in song per his usual custom (though Hugo Montenegro's lounge score is as infectious as ever), all of the character's other traits are allowed full sway: the constant intake of alcohol, the lethal attraction to women, the dubious gadgets (guns shooting heat rays or causing people to levitate, an inflatable tent complete with comfort accessories, cigars emitting laughing gas, while even the women spies are given the benefit of narcoleptic lipstick and bullet-shooting bra – the latter device has actually reminded me that I've yet to check out the Vincent Price sci-fi comedy DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE [1965]) that I've recently acquired.

The two leading ladies themselves are well chosen: Senta Berger (somewhat ill-used, though, as the obligatory duplicitous female – especially since she's eventually disposed off rather too quickly, and not even by Helm!) and Janice Rule (quite delightful as Martin's companion but who also gets to play an important role in the mission); besides, as ever, there's a plethora of other beauties on hand – including Helm's ubiquitous secretary Lovey Kravezit (Beverly Adams yet again). The villains, too, are notable: Albert Salmi and Kurt Kasznar; as for the action scenes, perhaps the most elaborate is the one inside Kasznar's brewery…and, of course, a jab at Martin's fellow Rat Packer Frank Sinatra never goes amiss! For the record, the best line in the film has Berger toasting via the traditional Scandinavian epithet of "Skol", with Martin's instant retort being "Sure it's cold – it's got ice in it!"

The plot, for what it is, involves the theft of a flying saucer (though we're never told just what Salmi intends to do with it and, in fact, is later visited by interested parties bidding for possession of it) which, it transpires, can only be flown by a woman – as the atmosphere inside is fatal to the male of the species (huh?). The comic-strip nature of the film extends to the climax – in which Helm chases the runaway saucer (speeding across a railway track with Rule still inside it) on a motorbike (he even goes underwater on top of it and comes up with an alligator seated in the sidecar!) – which, however, is rather marred by the rampant back-projection involved.

I'd like to know more about the people writing negative reviews of a movie like this: how old are they? were they even alive during the 60s? This movie is a product of a different age. It was a simpler time. You could get away with making movies that had this kind of production values, script and, yes - allusions to rape in an action-comedy notwithstanding - moral values (I'm not saying they're high, they're just an indicator of the time).

Do you watch Charlie Chaplin or Laurel & Hardy and complain about the cinematography? You're watching a movie from the 60s guys - it's a time capsule. It can teach you about what life was like then, because at the time the Matt Helm movies were all completely acceptable and even successful.

I dread to think how you lot would handle a 'Carry On' film - yet they were some of the most successful movies ever made in England. You'd probably brand them sexist, vulgar, childish and uninventive though...duh!

Superspy Matt Helm is back in action.

My God! What a great UNDER-RATED movie! Where do I start? The opening theme song and the images that go with it get ten out of ten. Then after we are finished with the cool theme music we cut to the spaceship...with some cool Hugo Montenergo music playing over the spaceship footage. From this point I am hooked on this fun very 1960s movie! Dean Martin, Kurt Kasznar (pre-Land of the Giants) and Albert Salmi are outstanding!

The only thing I have against the film is the train-track scene where it is a bit too obvious that the actors are actually in the studio and not out on location at all.

I have seen all the 60s Matt Helm movies and they are all great. The Ambushers is my favourite of the bunch as it has more of a science fiction element than the others. It is too bad these films don't seem to get the expected TV reruns these days (atleast in my country of Australia) but I am guessing the sexist nature of them might bother some? But they are a product of the time so it is not something we should be upset about today. After all, 60s 007 movies still get screenings around the clock and nobody complains about them.

Frankly, I am not too big on Dean Martin as a singer so he will always be Matt Helm to me. I wonder how he would feel about that? The Ambushers is a must see!