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For fans of James Bond, Derek Flint, and especially Austin Powers, the Matt Helm Lounge makes a playful chaser. Powers may be groovy, baby, but Dean Martin's swinging photographer-cum-secret agent Helm is on-the-rocks cool, from the pop-up bar in his car to the lyrics Martin croons on the soundtrack during Helm's amorous encounters ("If your sweetheart puts a pistol in your bed/You'd do better sleeping with your Uncle Fred"). The Silencers (1966), Murderer's Row ('66), The Ambushers ('67), and The Wrecking Crew ('69) are a catalog of guilty, politically incorrect pleasures. They're incorrigibly sexist, with double-entendres straight from the Playboy Party Jokes page. When Helm informs one model she will be posing as the Spirit of '76 (in Murderer's Row), she replies, "Are you kidding? I'm only a 44." It just doesn't get more '60s than the Helm films, though the films' bare-bones production values made Helm the only secret agent to ever drive a station wagon. Murderer's Row features Ann-Margret in a go-go frenzy, a hit song by Dino, Desi, and Billy, and generation gap groaners like, "It's a wise son who knows his own father/The way they're wearing their hair these days, it's a wise father who knows his own son." The plots are a mixed cocktail of criminal masterminds (Karl Malden in Murderer's Row, Victor Buono in Silencers) and foiled world domination schemes, none to be taken too seriously. Of more prurient interest are the bevy of beautiful babes who grace each film, most memorably: Stella Stevens in The Silencers; Senta Berger and Janice Rule in The Ambushers; Elke Sommer, Nancy Kwan, Tina "Ginger" Louise, and Sharon Tate (her last film appearance) in Wrecking Crew. Helm's "Slaygirls" put Austin's Fembots to shame! These films are pretty much above (or beneath) critical comment, but with Dino at the Helm, this box set is a retro cocktail with a kick. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

In this, the third in the Matt Helm special-agent series, Dean Martin plays Helm who's called to save those aboard a hijacked U.S. spacecraft. Ambushers is generally regarded as the weakest of the Helm films, lacking inspiration at most levels. ~ All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

Dean Martin reprises his role as Matt Helm, famed secret agent who is part James Bond and part Rat Packer, in Murderer's Row. The film concerns the nefarious plan of arch-villain Julian Wall (Karl Malden) to take over the world by kidnapping Dr. Norman Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has invented a "helio-beam" -- a device that can harness the rays of the sun to destroy the earth. To insure his plans go smoothly, Wall has eliminated most of the ICE (Intelligence and Counter-Espionage) agents. But luckily for the world, super-agent Matt Helm, having escaped from being boiled to death in his own swimming pool, is hot on Wall's trail. Traveling to the Riviera, Helm meets Solaris's mod daughter Suzie (Ann-Margret) and they team up to rescue her father. Helm poses as a gunman on the run and Wall hires him. Wall becomes suspicious when Helm saves Suzie's life after she is threatened by one of Wall's goons, but Matt and Suzie escape from Wall and make their way to his island fortress, where they must find Solaris and disarm the "helio-beam" before Wall destroys Washington, D.C. Paul Brenner

All Movie Guide

Cahiers du Cinema favorite Phil Karlson may have directed the "Matt Helm" extravaganza The Wrecking Crew, but the only "auteur" around these parts is star Dean Martin, coasting through yet another sexy spy romp. This time, secret agent Helm must prevent a billion-dollar gold hijacking, masterminded by the unspeakable Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green). Aiding and abetting our hero is all-thumbs Scandinavian spy Freya Carlson (a brilliant comic turn by the late Sharon Tate). Sidebar: future action-star Chuck Norris plays a minor role, while Bruce Lee served as the film's martial-arts advisor. The last of the Matt Helm films, The Wrecking Crew was sort of based on a novel by Donald Hamilton; like the other films in the series, the title bears precisely no relation to the plot. Hal Erickson

All Movie Guide

Columbia Pictures tried to create a tongue-in-cheek American James Bond with this, the first of five motion pictures based on the character of Matt Helm, a spy created in a series of novels by Donald Hamilton. Dean Martin stars as Helm, a boozing, womanizing cad of a spy coaxed out of retirement by ex-girlfiend Tina Batori (Daliah Lavi). His mission: stop the evil Big O organization, whose leader, Tung-Tze (Victor Buono) schemes to sabotage an atomic missile and thus spark World War III. Producer Irving Allen had once been partners with Albert R. Broccoli in the British film production company Warwick Films, their alliance ironically disintegrating over the merits of creating a Bond series. When Broccoli's instincts proved correct, Allen attempted to create his own spy franchise with the Helm character. The sequels to The Silencers (1966) were Murderer's Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1969). Allen unsuccessfully tried to resurrect the character as a TV movie, Matt Helm (1975). Karl Williams

Product Details

• UPC: 043396108813
• Source: SONY PICTURES
• Region Code: 1
• Editions: Mixed Media Set
• Time: 1:54:00
• Sales Rank: 3,911

This set contains DVDs which may be available separately:

• Murderers' Row
• The Silencers
• The Wrecking Crew
• The Ambushers

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