Missione compiuta stop. Bacioni Matt Helm

Someone once said that Dean Martin was so laid-back he made Perry Como look like a nervous wreck. It was said if a nuclear bomb went off behind him he wouldn't even drop his martini glass. Martin and his fellow Rat-packer Frank Sinatra were among our few recording giants who achieved in films as well. Although not as good an actor as Sinatra, Martin had a charming presence on the screen and was always entertaining to watch, even when you knew he wasn't taking it too seriously. The Matt Helm films came out at the same time as Sean Connery was playing Bond and have been largely forgotten today. Martin played the reluctant spy with tongue firmly in cheek. The Wrecking Crew was the last of the four Helm films and I feel it was the best. A gold train has been hijacked by a criminal mastermind. The one billion dollar theft will cause world wide financial panic and its up to Matt Helm to save the day. Of course in any spy film of this nature, you have to have beautiful women and there are plenty here. Elke Sommer and Tina Louise light up the screen, but it is Sharon Tate who steals the show as bumbling MI5 agent Freya Carlson. I thought it was so funny how she kept getting Helm into deeper and deeper trouble, even getting him arrested at one point. She tells him "I wont desert you Mister Helm". He says "Do me a favor PLEASE DESERT ME!". However, she comes through in the end and there is a good fight scene between her and Nancy Kwan. (For trivia lovers, Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee helped to set up the fight scenes for this film). People have commented the fight scenes involving Helm are fakey, what do you expect? Dean Martin was 52 when this film was made. Sharon really stole the show in this one, in fact they later based one of the characters in the Austin Powers films on her character here. This was her last film before she was murdered by the Charles Manson family. Its chilling when you watch it and think of how horribly her life ended.

Much better than the previous 2 Matt Helm films, but not as good as the first, THE SILENCERS. THE WRECKING CREW was directed by PHIL KARLSON as was the first Matt Helm movie 3 years earlier. This time around, Matt Helm (DEAN MARTIN) is sent to Denmark to immobilize Count Contini (NIGEL GREEN) who has hijacked a fortune in gold bullion. Assisting Helm is eager, but bumbling Freya Carlson (SHARON TATE). Freya is more of a hindrance than a help however. Contini's former flame Lola Medina (TINA LOUISE)is willing to provide pertinent information to Helm, for a cut of the action. She is killed though before she can tell him anything by a bomb laden bottle of scotch placed in her bar by Contini's current paramour Linka (ELKE SOMMER). Another beauty in the Count's arsenal is Yu Rang (NANCY KWAN). Contini tries to buy Helm off, but when that is unsuccessful, resorts to a dozen lame brained attempts to murder him. Will Helm triumph over the evil Count Contini ? What do you think ? One of the reasons that this movie is better than the previous 2 is that Helm is giving a female sidekick that is funny. As in THE SILENCERS where you had klutzy Gale Hendricks (STELLA STEVENS), here you have Freya (SHARON TATE) in a similar role. Neither MURDERERS ROW, nor THE AMBUSHERS had that. And TATE, although only 25 when this was made, showed very funny comedic ability. The production dollars spent appear less than in all 3 prior Helm flicks. In a scene where Helm is sparring with one of Contini's men outside of the Count's chateau, the artificial grass fold up like a rug. The interior sets look like something from a porno movie. The fight scenes are slow, and obvious. At 51, MARTIN was getting a little old for this kind of thing. Plus, JAMES BOND aside, ersatz "Spy Films" were on their way out. If you watch the credits at the end, you'll see a notice that states : Matt Helm will be back in THE RAVAGERS. Alas, it was not to be. This genre had run its gamut and what a schmaltzy time it was !!!

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...

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.