The Wrecking Crew (1968)

A train with $1 billion in gold is traversing the Danish countryside when it is hijacked.  The hijackers are employed by Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green).  In Washington DC, there is panic.  Chief MacDonald (John Larch) of ICE (Intelligence and Counter Espionage) explains that revealing the theft would be economically catastrophic for both the United Kingdom and the United States; the money was being sent to London to shore up the British Pound.  On account of the need for secrecy, the recovery operation must be as small as possible.  As such, MacDonald calls on Matt Helm (Dean Martin).

Helm is once again photographing beautiful women and not terribly keen on another mission.  Nevertheless, he flies to Denmark with his cover already blown.  He is met by the over-eager and clumsy Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate).  She is to be his assistant though he never misses an opportunity to brush her off.  Once checked into his hotel, Helm is contacted by Lola Medina (Tina Louise), who offers information and maybe a good time.  He also has dalliances with Linka Karensky (Elke Sommer) and Wen Yu-Rang (Nancy Kwan), each of whom are minions of Count Contini.  Of course, before Matt can really get involved with other women, Freya inevitably arrives to spoil the mood.

In tone, The Wrecking Crew echoes The Silencers.  There is a dream sequence where he imagines some intimacy with the various models to the soundtrack of Dean Martin.  Every woman is agog over him.  The leading lady is mostly viewed as a nuisance and a klutz (i.e., Stella Stevens) but he is eventually won over by her beauty.  The battle with the goons is less goofy than in previous movies but still a bit corny.  Really, Dean Martin dispatched Chuck Norris with a lazy kick!  This was Chuck Norris' first movie and he plays a minor goon for Count Contini.  Speaking of fisticuffs, Martin still had an unconvincing double for his stuntman.

Elke Sommer is stunning as the main femme fatale.  She is so villainous and yet so gorgeous.  Sharon Tate is quite dazzling, but she spends much of the film in less flattering outfits than Sommer.  Nigel Green, who is usually outstanding, is unremarkable here.  The count pails when compared to Green's previous villain roles: Carl Petersen in Deadlier Than the Male or especially Major Dalby in The Ipcress File.  The count's constant concern over the schedule and his general indifference to his minions' deaths reminded me of Christopher Walken in A View to a Kill, another unremarkable villain.

This is the last of the Matt Helm films and certainly better than the previous one.  Many of the scenes appear in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood when Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) goes to see the film!  Good popcorn fun.