Matt Helm (Dean Martin) works as a freelance photographer but was formerly at top agent with ICE (Intelligence & Counter Espionage). An American scientist has gone missing and is suspected of assisting a rogue terrorist group bent one world domination. Helm has no interest in returning to the agency and repeatedly hangs up on MacDonald (James Gregory), ICE Chief. However, when Helm is targeted for assassination, he changes his mind. Joining another agent, Tina (Daliah Lavi), he sets out for the American southwest to intercept the first MacGuffin. During a performance, Sarita (Cyd Charisse) will hand off a secret tape. This goes awry and, in the confusion, Gail Hendricks (Stella Stevens) gets the tape. Though Gail claims to be an innocent bystander, Helm suspects she is an enemy agent. In either case, he knows she is now targeted by the terrorists, and he sticks with her until they reveal themselves.
This is a James Bond spoof that is played mostly for laughs. Matt Helm doesn't appear to be particularly competent but has plenty of witty comments. He succeeds more thanks to his opponents incompetence. His gadgets are somewhere between James Bond's spiffy Q branch gear and Maxwell Smart's shoe phone. Helm even has a personal assistant with a name that Ian Fleming might have coined: Lovey Kravezit.
Dean Martin plays himself, an easy-going fellow who always has a drink in his hand and a woman on his arm. Stella Stevens is a voluptuous klutz, a vapid bimbo who does slapstick humor. The cleavage is stong in this one. Wow. It speaks to her talents with physical comedy that I was more often viewing her as an accident in progress rather than an obviously gorgeous woman. Daliah Lavi plays the competent spy who clearly has a crush on Matt Helm. She is conveniently sidelined when Stella enters the picture but returns for the third act. She does such a great job that she was also cast in Casino Royale (1967) as a spy. The cast of villains is plentiful, making them individually less memorable. Victor Buono plays the chief villain, Tung-Tze. Yes, he's supposed to be Chinese. Awkward casting but this was the 60s.
Mostly goofy but generally entertaining. Many of the sequences are carried on too long. The car chase just drags on and on before it finally ends in the predictable crash. Some of Stella Steven's comedic bits also drag - notably her repeated falling in the mud. The villain guards all went to the Stormtrooper school of shooting. Though the backward firing gun was fun, the whistling suit button grenades were a little too Get Smart!
Just okay. Worthwhile for a Dean Martin fan or those who might enjoy a spoof of the spy genre. On the other hand, fans of the Donald Hamilton novels will not recognize the character. This is Matt Helm in name only.
No comments:
Post a Comment