The Wrecking Crew

As I watched this movie I couldn't help smiling. The movie is essentially a spoof of James Bond flicks with super-guy fighting well-equipped villain. Seductive women and ridiculous gadgets are abundant. Some are as cute as they come (I am talking about women here). All are fallible (women). All women fall for our super-guy. He seemed to be bemused by this (who wouldn't). While he conquers one woman after another, he also manages to rescue a few tons of gold from the grip of the above mentioned villain (the later is usually considered to be the main plot - what a preposterous notion). One has to love the irreverent soundtrack. They don't make movies like this anymore. Pity. 9/10.

Fluffy day glo spy spoof for those who don't take their action/adventure too seriously. Dean Martin plays the part of Matt Helm with his typical laid back swagger which is just right for the featherweight material. Not as reliant on gadgetry as the 007 series, probably due to budgetary restraints, this still has some cool set pieces and that swingin' 60's atmosphere. It also has that same 60's sensibility to it's female characters namely viewing them as sex objects and little else, if you're willing to take that into consideration before viewing this is a pleasant way to pass a little time.

Aside from Dean the cast is full of beautiful women. Two of those knockouts, Tina Louise, fresh from Gilligan's Island, is in and out of the film in under ten minutes, and Nancy Kwan's part doesn't require much more than her looking great in psychedelic dresses and doing karate chops.

It's the other two ladies who make an impact despite the script's rather weak efforts to provide them with anything to work with. Elke Sommer, phenomenally beautiful, manages to be silkily devilish in one stunning outfit after another. The real standout is Sharon Tate as the klutzy but endearing Freya Carlson. This was the tragic beauty's penultimate role before her murder and coupled with her amusing performance in the previous year's Don't Make Waves it shows that she had a very real talent for comedy add into that her lovely looks and she could have had a solid career ahead of her as a glamorous comedienne.

Of the four films in the Matt Helm series the first The Silencers is probably the best but this one is a close second.

The movie is fantastic in its execution, not its substance, but it was never intended to be serious.

The movie has all the glamor, and opulence that only American movies seems to be able to deliver. The choice of color, the character, and of course the girls.

Dean Martin's Matt Helm was a product of the swinging '60s, and it's a beautiful movie in its own way. I wish that the modern movies had more of this kind of opulence to its style. Why not live a little like the way these people did ?

It's intentionally silly, but if you take away the silly it still has the glamor like nothing you see these days. The movie is worth seeing for this alone.

Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate were beautiful, and we don't see beauties like this anymore either.

Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green) is the mastermind behind a billion dollar gold robbery. His plan is to send the world markets into chaos. He may get away with it unless Matt Helm (Dean Martin) can track down the missing gold. But along the way, Helm will meet up the Count's hired muscle, a gorgeous female killer, and a ditsy woman who insists on helping him.

I suppose the best way to describe a Matt Helm film would be a light and breezy spoof of the James Bond movies. Nothing is very serious and you're sure that everything will work out in the end. Dean Martin plays Matt Helm about as laid back as could be imagined. Instead of a gun, you're more likely to see him with a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, a beautiful woman to ogle, and a quick quip. His fights scenes may leave a lot to be desired, but there's no denying his "cool".

The Wrecking Crew is actually one of the better Matt Helm films. The hiding place of the gold is ingenious, the spy gadgets are plentiful, and the women are everywhere. The cast is one of the better assembled for any of these films. Nigel Green and Elke Sommer make a wonderful pair as the distinguished master criminal and the sexy killer (roles very similar to the ones they played in 1966's Deadlier Than the Male). But Sharon Tate really shines as the ditsy Freya Carlson. It's incredibly sad to think that this would be Tate's last role before her brutal murder. She's a joy and a real pleasure to watch.

Too bad Dean Martin gave up on Matt Helm just as James Bond was in chaos in the wake of Sean Connery's departure... In 1969, the new Bond was an unknown and only had one true lady with "man appeal" on his side; Emma Peel herself, Miss Diana Rigg! Helm had all kinds of chicks, especially the sublime Miss Sharon Tate... On that advantage alone, Matt Helm could have overtaken James Bond's spot! Alas such a feat had to be accomplished by a total parody such as Powers many years later... Mind-boggling too when one considers the fact that Powers never had anyone even remotely close to the elegance of a Rigg or Tate next to his ridiculous frame...!

Matt Helm though -just as James Coburn's Our Man Flint series- was a far more subtle parody of the Bond myth... Thus worthier of eclipsing it than the ridiculous farce that Austin Powers and his mojo are! History tells us though that both Helm and Flint failed... and Powers is the one to finally outsell at the box-office the once-invincible Bond...