brefane Though it lacks style or wit, The Silencers is the best of the 4 Dean Martin Matt Helm films. Like another Bond parody, 1967's Casino Royale, The Silencers features gorgeous women, endless innuendo and an irrelevant plot. Stella Stevens walks away with the acting honors and a relaxed and charming Daliah Lavi is both a perfect foil and complement to Dean Martin's under appreciated talents Cyd Charisse is in great form, but for my money Victor Buono made a better villain on TV's Batman than he does here. The photography by Burnett Guffey (Bonnie and Clyde) is bright and appealing, and director Phil Karlson (Walking Tall) seems to be marking time with this poorly paced film. Still, it's fun.

bkoganbing The Silencers was the first of four films that Dean Martin made as secret agent Matt Helm. The original novels by Donald Hamilton have a far more serious Helm in them. So if you're not a Dean Martin fan expecting to see Dean Martin as himself, don't bother with the film.But there are certainly plenty of those around to watch Dino become our American James Bond. You have to remember that Bond if he was anything was always a gentleman. Dino as Helm is more like a locker room version of Bond, you wouldn't see Bond in the training room bragging about all his conquests.In between the women and his cover job as a photographer Dino does work for ICE, Intelligence and Counter Espionage. In this film Dean's got his assignment to track down a defecting US scientist who is working with the Goldfinger/Blofeld of this film, Victor Buono. Buono's got his own secret organization which wants to cause international mischief between the superpowers, in this case by diverting a missile to target a spot where an underground atomic test has taken place and to blow it up, unloosing all kinds of radioactivity over the Southwest USA.One thing about the Helm films as well as the Bond films, you will always see plenty of beautiful women. In this case we've got Cyd Charisse, Dalilah Lavi, Stella Stevens, and as Dino's personal secretary Lovey Kravezit, Beverly Adams. Adams gets a lot farther with him than poor lovesick Moneypenny does with James Bond.Stella Stevens is such a klutz we're not sure who she's really helping in this film. It's a nice comic performance, one of Stella's best on screen. With musical opportunities fewer and fewer it's always a pleasure to see Cyd Charisse dance with her voice dubbed by Vikki Carr.The first Helm was the best, sadly they deteriorated in quality as the series continued. The Silencers also has Dino singing some nice parody lyrics to some popular standards that his generation and mine will recognize.

Poseidon-3 Following the success of "Dr. No" and the subsequent James Bond films, a raft of gadget-laden, sexually suggestive copycats flooded the cinema landscape, some of them serious in tone, most of them light and/or parodying in nature. Here, Martin plays Matt Helm, the character in a popular series of spy novels which were not intended to be amusing, but some of which were adapted into a series of frothy, campy, goofy, tacky films. This first in a collection of four is among the best, though that still doesn't qualify it as a stellar piece of film-making. Super-spy Martin is drawn out of retirement in order to thwart villain Buono, who is bent on world domination. Aiding him to a point is delectable fellow spy Lavi. Standing in his way is Stevens, the girlfriend of Webber, one of Buono's hit men. Stevens, apart from being suspected as an enemy through her association with Webber, is dangerous simply by way of her penchant for calamity and chaos, which seem to dog her at every turn! Traversing the American southwest in his tricked out station wagon (!), Martin swings from clue to clue when he isn't swinging from babe to babe. None of it is ever believable for a moment if it was ever meant to be. That's fine, but the film has an unfortunate piecemeal feel to it and an undercoat of cheapness that no amount of fancy sets or Moss Mabry gowns (which are mostly very striking) can fully overcome. It leans towards the illogical and the senseless and has a sloppy feel to it. Much of this comes from Martin's completely laid back and noncommittal performance, by now heavily colored by his seat-of-the-pants casualness that was popularized on his glitzy TV variety show. Stevens, on the other hand, gives a winning and wacky performance and looks astonishing as a redhead. From her memorable backwards first entrance to her stunning last one (in a flimsy blue chiffon nightgown with hair piled high), she is the primary reason to sit through this movie. Lavi is no slouch, either. Her fashion model looks and breathy, sex-kitten line readings are also a big draw. Not to be left out, legendary dancer Charisse has a late-career highlight as a singer-stripper who figures into the espionage. Her appearance during the credit sequence is not quite as daring as the publicity stills promised, but she's still very arresting. Her second get-up is as vulgar as it is bizarre and her soft-focus close-ups are amusing, but she still gives it her all. Always intriguing Buono is nonetheless pretty lame as a goofy answer to the quasi-Asian villain Joseph Wiseman portrayed in "Dr. No." Best advice is to jettison the silly plot lines and just soak up the preposterous gadgetry, the gorgeous women (which also include Kovack and Adams), the anything goes 60's atmosphere and colors and the free-spirited performance of Stevens. On this level, the film is enjoyable enough to make its viewing worthwhile.

Bogmeister MASTER PLAN: Operation:Fallout, an international nuclear conspiracy. One of several spy spoofs capitalizing on the James Bond mania of the sixties (especially with "Thunderball" the year before this), this one is similar to the Flint (as in "Our Man Flint") duo of films starring James Coburn as another super-spy: the secret agent (Matt Helm) is semi-retired, involved in his private pursuits (photography, in Helm's case) and uninterested in getting back into the spy game. We don't blame him: he lives the ultimate bachelor lifestyle, complete with moving furniture, odd gadgets and female assistance. But, the enemy, a sinister organization aping SPECTRE of the Bond films, forces his hand with assassination attempts. However, whereas Flint is a genius-level detective, Helm seems to get by mostly on Bond-type luck, squared. The 1st attempt on his life is averted only by the sudden appearance of a female agent (Lavi, who also appeared in the "Casino Royale" spoof in '67). Helm is pretty good at karate and does clobber a few enemy agents along the way. The most memorable character turns out to be a very clumsy female, played by actress Stevens, who appears at the half-hour mark; she keeps spilling stuff over Helm and is a 'walking disaster' in Helm's own words. Stevens is genuinely funny in her role and sexy, hostile towards Helm during most of the movie, especially after he rips her clothes off (don't ask). Most of the other gags are only mildly amusing and some fall flat.Martin as Helm has that well-known easygoing charm; he's pretty laid back usually and gets slightly annoyed when something intense is happening. Actually, he's mostly annoyed with Stevens' character. One unusual aspect to this type of action spy comedy is the occasional song by Martin on the audio track - his familiar crooning (Helm himself doesn't sing, we just hear Martin's voice over some scenes). In one amusing bit, Sinatra begins to sing on the radio and is quickly switched to another Martin song. This first one is probably the best of the 4 Helm features, what with the introductions of Helm, ICE (a version of the CIA) and some outrageous gadgets (grenades as large buttons on Helm's jacket), but things really slow down after the 1-hour mark, beginning with a protracted sequence of the mismatched couple parked in the desert when it rains. There's a triple car chase which ends with a bang, but is just as well done on most TV shows. At least one surprising plot twist occurs during the fairly exciting shoot 'em up conclusion in the villains' lair, with the demise of a henchman (Webber) a particularly good bit. The actor Buono, usually in sinister roles, was suitably cast as the head villain, though he plays a Chinese (tell me another one), with a silly accent. As with the Flint films, the production values are noticeably below the standard Bonders. In fact, the credits/burlesque striptease hint at a low-rent approach right from the start. Helm would return in "Murderers' Row." Hero:6 Villain:6 Femme Fatales:7 Henchmen:6 Fights:6 Stunts/Chases:6 Gadgets:6 Auto:5 Locations:5 Pace:6 overall:6