The Silencers (1966)

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

After James Bond began piling up revenue with a string of box office winners, there were numerous imitators, lots of spies popping up on the big screen. Martin's Matt Helm was among the worst of the Hollywood rip offs. It is difficult to view these terribly contrived stories with Martin crooning sappy songs on his way to save the world from evil plots and criminal syndicates. His "irresistible" sex appeal on screen strains credulity, and nothing in his demeanor suggests sophistication or cleverness. While there may have been even worse, lower- budget spy flicks than the Matt Helm franchise, this is a very pale effort compared to any of the various Bond incarnations.

By the time Matt Helm emerged, 4 bond films had been released. Just long enough for greedy Hollywood to try to cash in on someone else's success formula. I viewed 3 of the 4 Helm movies and it became obvious that they saw the Bond films and said "Lets do everything different than Bond." Maybe they had to execute them differently due to copyright or plagiarism, I don't know. But even had they emulated the Bond formulas more closely, Albert Broccoli would still be laughing and certainly not threatened. But that laughter would come out of ridicule and not from any on-screen humor. Helm, played by Dean Martin is so laid back he appears to be in a stupor. He couldn't move fast if a sloth was chasing him. He, like Bond, is a misogynistic boozer who is licensed to kill, but only those words exemplify any actual resemblance. Martin, who is nearly 50 in the first 2 installments and over 50 in the 2nd two, drives a wood paneled station wagon, chain smokes, and drinks while driving. He has to be coaxed into performing any act of duty as he is constantly resisting work. Of course he beds just about any woman he meets, which is sort of creepy because some of them are half his age, if that. I will say, the Helm women equal the Bond women in looks, but not sex appeal, as they are written as 1-dimensional excuses to be a prop for fashion designers.On the topic of fashion, Helm's look is a turtleneck under a blazer. His "day job" seems to be a fashion photographer and he spends more time fantasizing and singing about them then shooting them. The songs are crooner-corny, the jokes are stupid. But the stupidity does not stop there. The scripts are so vapid they could almost be improvised. The three movies I saw plodded along at a snails pace, poorly edited, terrible continuity, and repeated variations on the same scenery. The villains had little evil about them, and apparently spent much of their time performing the dirty duties their lackey's should have. Admittedly I only continued to watch these films for the babes, but they were so plastic and un-sexy, that even that quickly became boring for me. By comparison, the Flint movies were more entertaining. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't approaching this with too much serious enthusiasm at the onset. Dean Martin cannot act, and I knew he would play the rat-pack cool-card to the hilt. I also understand parody and kitsch. But these films were not intelligent enough on any level to deliver. The 1st two films end with Helm sliding into his indoor pool/tub from a robotic bed, with a girl at his side, I can only assume the next two did the same. My question is: why couldn't they have placed the film canisters and scripts along with them?

This is a really bad movie. Do not waste any part of your life watching it. It is not so much a Bond spoof as an eighth-grader's prequel of Austin Powers, by way of Las Vegas. If you've ever read any of the Matt Helm books, you'll hate this movie, because it has absolutely nothing in common with the books besides the character's name.This Matt Helm sings. He has a huge collection of impractical and silly gadgets. His dialog is painfully stilted and inappropriate, and he talks too much. If the Dean Martin character were completely removed from the movie, it would be a third-rate period TV action show. With him in it, it's much worse than that.I hope whoever approved the making of this turkey lost his job and never worked in the movie business again.

Irving Allen co-produced several films in the '50's and '60's with Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli, among them 'The Red Beret', 'Cockleshell Heroes' and 'The Trials Of Oscar Wilde'. A disagreement arose when Broccoli expressed an interest in Ian Fleming's 'James Bond' books. Allen was convinced they had no merit, the partnership ended and Broccoli made the films with Harry Saltzman, of which 'Dr.No' ( 1962 ) was the first. As we now know, they became one of the decade's biggest pop culture phenomena. Allen then set up a rival series of spy pictures, based on Donald Hamilton's 'Matt Helm', an altogether more hard boiled character. After being rebuffed by Paul Newman, he offered the role to Dean Martin, who accepted on the grounds that his company - 'Claude Productions' - be involved. Allen agreed, hence all four Helm pictures carried the credit 'A Meadway Claude Picture'.With Dino around, 'Matt Helm' was bound to turn silly and did. Of the quartet, however, the first - 'The Silencers' - manages to be pretty good. It opens with the ( off-screen ) killing of I.C.E. ( International Counter Espionage ) agent Jim Traynor. His partner, Tina Batori ( Daliah Lavi ), is assigned a replacement in the shape of Matt, with whom she has worked before. The latter lives a life of luxury in a gadget-packed house, with a beautiful secretary ( Beverly Adams ) boasting the unlikely name of 'Lovey Kravezit' taking dictation while sharing his bath. Matt returns home one night to find the lovely Barbara ( Nancy Kovack ) laying in wait for him with a knife. Before she can stick it into his back, she is shot dead by Tina ( Matt's codename of 'Eric' is used here ). She tells him that a top American scientist named Naldi ( David Bond ) is about to pass a vital computer tape to the subversive B.I.G. O ( Bureau for International Government and Order ) organisation. After wiping out a contingent of killers, they head for Phoenix and the Slaygirl Club, where the courier is to be the stunning Sarita ( Cyd Chariise )...As 'Matt', Dean Martin is...well, Dean Martin. Ridiculous gadgets abound, including a gun that shoots backwards, a camera that fires blades, a phone that spits gas, and jacket buttons that double as hand grenades. Oscar Saul's script is based not only on the book of the same name but also 'Death Of A Citizen', the first in the series. He does a good job at combining the plots and, although there is plenty of comedy, there are a few serious bits as well. Take the scene where Matt and Tina take Gail Hendrix ( Stella Stevens ) back to their hotel room for questioning following Sarita's killing. Thinking her klutzy nature to be an act, he gets rough by pushing her so hard she tumbles over the bed and onto the floor, and then rips off her dress, leaving her fuming in her underwear. This scene is lifted almost verbatim from the novel, and is not played for laughs. It is one of the reasons why 'The Silencers' works so much better than the other films. We see a glimpse of the original character - a Government-sponsored assassin who killed in cold blood when he needed to.Other villains include Roger C.Carmel ( 'Harry Mudd' of 'Star Trek' ) as the swarthy 'Andreyev', Robert Webber as hotel pianist 'Sam Gunther' and Arthur O'Connell as garage owner 'Joe Wigman'. These characters are played straight but their boss - 'Tung-Tze' ( Victor Buono ) - is not. He brings to the role the campy approach he brought to 'King Tut', his regular role on the 'Batman' television series. Stella Stevens is hilarious as the accident-prone 'Gail', one wishes she had been used in the sequels. Elegant Daliah Lavi played similar roles in 'Casino Royale' ( 1967 ) and 'Some Girls Do' ( 1969 ). The exciting climax in B.I.G. O's Command Headquarters has Helm ( with Gail at his side ) endeavouring to prevent the launching of a missile before it is redirected at the atomic testing centre at White Sands, Alamorgordo. Great music from Elmer Bernstein.'The Silencers' made less money than the Bond movie 'Thunderball', but thanks to Dino's co-production deal he wound up with a bigger paycheck than Connery. A sequel - 'Murderers' Row' - was announced at the end of 'The Silencers'. Unfortunately, a change of writer - Herbert Baker - and director - Henry Levin' - resulted in a shift in tone as the sophisticated elegance of the first film was thrown away. Phil Karlson did a splendid job with 'The Silencers', but only directed one more 'Matt Helm' film - the awful 'The Wrecking Crew' ( 1969 ).