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.

Khartoum (1966)

While leading an Egyptian army against the force of the Mahdi in Sudan, British soldier Colonel William Hicks was killed.  The English newspapers reported this as a British defeat, though only a handful of the officers were actually British.  Something must be done.  Prime Minister William Gladstone (Ralph Richardson) elects to send General Charles "Chinese" Gordon (Charlton Heston) to evacuate Khartoum before it should be sacked by the Mahdi's forces.  Gordon is renowned for leading a Chinese army during the Tai-Ping Rebellion and for ending the slave trade in Khartoum.  He is also known to be a loose cannon who doesn't follow orders.  Colonel Stewart (Richard Johnson) is provided as second in command for Gordon and also a spy for Gladstone.  No sooner has Gordon arrived in Sudan than he confronts the Mahdi (Laurence Olivier) to determine what drives the man.  The Mahdi views himself as a figure of religious prophecy, the "Expected One" who will unite Islam.  Gordon, who is himself a religious man, sees that there can be no reasoning with the Mahdi.  Somehow, Gordon must convince Gladstone to send an army to relieve Khartoum before the Mahdi slaughters everyone.  Can he lure a British Army to rescue him and thereby rescue Khartoum?  He sets out to see.

Heston is good as Gordon.  His accent doesn't seem out of place, which is strange as he is the lone American in the film.  Heston exudes charisma and command.  When he and the Mahdi talk, it is Heston who steals the scene rather than the legendary Olivier.  By contrast, Laurence Olivier is weird as the Mahdi.  His blackface is off-putting.  Yes, this was a common thing at the time, but it has not aged well.  Ralph Richardson is terrific.  His Gladstone is a politician, able to connive to his benefit, but also frequently exasperated when plans go awry.  Of course, Richardson is always a joy, whatever role he happens to play.  Nigel Green appears as General Wolsley, an old friend of Gordon's and the man sent to rescue him.  Sadly, there isn't a lot for Green to do in the role.

The movie is an epic.  It has the opening overture, an intermission, and an end score.  Stylistically, this movie fits with movies like Lawrence of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago.  This isn't mere popcorn fun, this is grandiose filmmaking.  Recommended.

Zulu (1964)

The British Army has suffered a major defeat at Isandlwana and the Zulus are out to find more soldiers to attack.  Rorke's Drift, an outpost on the border of Zululand, is an obvious choice.  Lt. Chard (Stanley Baker) happens to be in the area to build a bridge across the Buffalo River.  Though he is an engineer officer, he has seniority over Lt. Bromhead (Michael Caine).  Though there are calls to retreat, the last orders were to hold the position; Chard intends to do just that.  He gets the men working on redoubts to protect the mostly open compound, stacking barriers and overturning wagons to create a curtain wall.  Even so, he doesn't have enough men to defend all the walls.  He has roughly 150 men standing against 3,000 to 4,000 Zulus.  The first wave of Zulus do little more than determine the defensive strength; it is practically a turkey shoot.  The next wave comes to the walls and bayonets are needed to defend Rorke's Drift.  With each succeeding attack, more and more Zulus get over the walls and the British retreat to inner redoubts.  Can they hold out until reinforced?

In his first high profile role, Michael Caine is shaky.  He plays the dilletante with a haughty attitude.  His early scenes are unlike what one expects of Caine.  Baker is good as Lt. Chard, providing a strong leader in a hopeless situation.  Nigel Green is the standout as Color Sergeant Borne.  He exudes command despite rarely raising his voice.  He is unflappable and always on the spot to get the men in action.  He is somehow gentle as a pillow but solid as a rock.  Strange.  Impressive.  Most of the support characters are quite good with the sole exception of Henry Hook (James Booth).  The character arc for him is much too cliche and rings hollow.  That it was unlike the real Henry Hook makes it all the worse.

Overall, great popcorn fun.  Recommended.

Bulldog Drummond

Richard "Bulldog" Drummond was a popular character who first appeared after World War I.  A former captain in the trenches, he missed the action and excitement so he became a gentleman adventurer.  Not exactly a spy or a private eye but certainly someone who could resolve problems.  He appeared in nearly 20 novels and more than 20 films.  His last notable appearance was in a couple of films in the late 60s staring Richard Johnson, a British actor who declined the offer of James Bond in Dr. No.

Deadlier than the Male (1967): Richard Drummond, veteran of the Korean War, has been called upon to investigate some peculiar deaths that have been very beneficial to a mysterious and nameless figure.  This mysterious person's representative is Irma Eckman (Elke Sommer).  Irma is an assassin who uses her sex appeal to seduce men and kill them.  She often teams with fellow assassin Penelope (Sylva Koscina).  To complicate Drummond's investigation, his nephew has arrived in London and needs a place to crash.  The nameless figure proves to be Carl Peterson (Nigel Green), an evil mastermind with a castle for a lair that is filled with beautiful and deadly women from all over the world.  Drummond must outwit him to save a Middle Eastern monarch, his nephew, and himself!  It is a standard James Bond knock-off with beautiful femme fatales, a menacing villain with a lair full of minions, and plenty of action.  It drifts a bit to the campy side in some scenes but is generally fun.

Some Girls Do (1969): Carl Peterson (James Villiers) has returned and this time he is trying to sabotage the development of a supersonic plane.  As before, he has a bevy of gorgeous women who do his dirty work, the most notable being Helga (Daliah Lavi).  Most of them have been 'robotized,' which is not well-defined.  Peterson's final gambit is to destroy the prototype while in flight by use of infrasound technology.  Drummond is called upon after early sabotage efforts have plagued the project and follows leads that take him to Peterson's latest lair with the "help" of Flicky (Sydne Rome) and Peregrine Carruthers (Ronnie Stevens).  Flicky is a gorgeous ditz who follows - unasked - Drummond from place to place with unlikely stories to explain her presence.  Carruthers is a comic relief sidekick who tends to be more hindrance than help.  This is practically a remake of its predecessor but campier.  Villiers lacks the magnetism of Nigel Green though he does exhibit the master-of-disguise talent that Green didn't.  Nonetheless, I preferred Green in the role.

The movies are entertaining but it's clear why the series did not continue.  It's very sixties.  Drummond is kind of a bland adventurer with the attributes of a spy in the mold of Bond but not a government.  Peterson is a weak villain compared to Blofeld and SPECTRE.  Of course, the second movie is clearly inspiration for Austin Power's fembots.

Popcorn fun.

Harry Palmer

With the boom of spy thrillers in the 1960s that started with Dr. No (1962), new franchises appeared.  One of the more successful ones followed the adventures of Harry Palmer, played by Michael Caine.  While James Bond travels to exotic locations to engage in action-packed adventure, Palmer finds himself navigating the bureaucracy of the intelligence service.  There are forms to sign, paperwork to fill out, and places to surveil.  Whereas Bond spends his time wearing tuxedoes in posh casinos, Palmer shops at Safeway and cooks at home.  Palmer is very middle class though, like Bond, he has a gift for seducing beautiful women.  Also like Bond, he has his M, Colonel Ross (Guy Doleman), who appears in all three Harry Palmer films.

The Ipcress File (1965): Professor Radcliffe, one of the leading physicists of the UK, has been kidnapped and his bodyguard killed.  Harry Palmer, an agent with a criminal record, is reassigned from surveillance duty to replace the murdered agent.  Now working for Major Dalby (Nigel Green), he is assigned to track down the man most likely to have Radcliffe and arrange a ransom.  Along the way, he launches an unsuccessful rescue, learns of a mysterious brainwashing technique, kills an American spy, and has multiple dustups with both his current and former bosses.

A Funeral in Berlin (1966): Colonel Ross dispatches Harry to Berlin to arrange a high-value defection.  Harry has many friends and acquaintances in Berlin as he served there just prior to the Ipcress File.  Most of these acquaintances are criminals, something that infuriates Inspector Reinhardt of Berlin Police.  After meeting the local man in Berlin, Johnny Vulkan, Harry learns that the would-be defector is Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka) of the Russian Army.  Harry thinks it's a con job but reluctantly travels to East Berlin and meets with Stok.  Harry still doesn't believe him but Ross gives the go ahead and forwards the money.  Stok demands that Kreutzman, a man famed for his ability to smuggle defectors from east to west, take charge.  The plot proves more complicated with the involvement of Israeli Nazi hunters, double agents, and people who aren't who they seem to be.

The Billion Dollar Brain (1967): Harry has left the service and is a private detective who is reduced to eating corn flakes in his office.  Ross arrives to ask him back into service, offering a promotion and more pay.  Harry declines but soon after receives a call from a computer that sends him to Helsinki with a mysterious package and a promise of 200 pounds.  In Helsinki, he meets an American friend, Leo Newbigen (Karl Malden).  Leo takes the package and pays Harry.  Then, he proposes that Harry join a private outfit that has no risks and high pay.  He's intrigued and will think it over.  Enter Colonel Ross, who carries out the threat of drafting Harry back into service.  He must recover the package and return it to the UK.  To do this, he finds himself entangled with Latvian rebels, the Russian Army - including a return of General Stok, a Texas oil billionaire with his cowboy goon squad, a super computer - the titular billion dollar brain, and yet another gorgeous woman throwing herself at him.

Of the three, The Ipcress File is the most gritty.  It takes place entirely in London and follows Palmer on his first real case.  In the later two, he's a veteran and not fazed by some of the situations.  Here, he is daring and direct but inexperienced.  A Funeral in Berlin is the best as far as classic spy movies go.  There are lots of characters with conflicting goals and unknown motivations.  Harry is a professional here and has some secrets of his own.  The Billion Dollar Brain is the most like a standard Bond movie.  Harry travels to Finland, Latvia, and Texas.  General Midwinter (Ed Begley) is the standard mad villain with a private army, a secret bunker, and dreams of conquest.  It is the weakest of the bunch, an unfortunate conclusion for the series.

Michael Caine had signed up to do 5 movies but balked after the financial disappointment of The Billion Dollar Brain.  He was released from the contract but, in the 1990s, he reprised the role in a couple more movies.

Highly recommended.  The first two are top notch and the third is still a lot of fun.