Chucklesome brew. It’s easy to get wrong idea about the Matt Helm series, what with the onslaught of girls in bikinis, a hero majoring in seduction and madmen wanting to take over the world. You could be hoodwinked into thinking this had something to do with espionage rather than a platform for the non-stop delivery of deadpan one-liners and wry visual gags. The star prevents anyone taking anything seriously with a rat-tat-tat quip a minute. The plot’s hooey and the female stars scarcely register. But who cares. The audience has buckled up for a fun ride.
Apart from the dialog the narrative is distinctly lazy. Assuming it’s what audiences want, the action takes time out to note parades of passing girls in bikinis and occasionally stops dead should there be the opportunity to watch youngsters dancing wildly. With humor to the fore, you could probably have gone for a dozen other storylines as good – or bad – as this one and nobody would have noticed.
Matt Helm (Dean Martin) is forced to interrupt photographing a bevy of beautiful girls in order to save the world from madman Julian Wall (Karl Malden) who plans to use the power of the sun to destroy Washington D.C. “Operation Scorch” relies on the brain of scientist Dr Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has been kidnapped to persuade him to hand over his formula.
This takes Helm, masquerading as a Chicago mobster, to Monte Carlo where he almost immediately faces a charge of murder. Tracking down Wall and his squeeze Coco (Camilla Sprav) proves easy. In rather desultory fashion Helm hooks up with local beauty Suzie (Ann-Margret) and until we discover that her father is Solaris her presence is mostly redundant as, for once, neither love nor lust is in the air.
Like any self-respecting madman Wall hangs out on an island where he is putting the final details to his plan and torturing Solaris. With Suzie in his wake, Helm easily infiltrates the rather desultory hideout, is captured, Solaris surrenders the secret formula once his daughter is threatened, and Suzie comes into her own by disabling the infernal machine by the simple device of a hairpin. This leads to a rather desultory happy ending.
I’m not entirely sure why Ann-Margret chose this vehicle, since she is called upon to do very little except shake her trademark booty. If she had gone up in critical estimation after her turns in Once a Thief (1965) and Stagecoach (1966) she plummeted back to earth here. You could say the same for Camilla Sparv – all the hard work in gaining reasonable notices for The Trouble with Angels (1966) and especially heist thriller Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966) undone. She has even less to do than Ann-Margret. Eye candy is too good a word for them and they are unfairly underused.
Karl Malden (Nevada Smith, 1966), who usually attempts to humanize his characters, avoids that idea and goes straight for cartoon villain.
So it’s left to Dean Martin to keep the enterprise afloat which he does with tremendous chutzpah. As well as the verbal drollery there are some excellent visual gags, including the use of a giant magnet to render defenseless menacing thug Ironhead (Tom Reese), so called because has a large metal plate on his skull. Virtually every line produces a rejoinder from Dean Martin, and that lightness of delivery matches the souffle nature of the picture, a sequel to The Silencers (1966), both big box office hits.
Director Henry Levin (Genghis Khan, 1965) gives himself no airs or graces, sensible enough to stick the camera on Dean Martin and let him do the rest. Written by Herbert Baker (Hammerhead, 1968) from the bestseller by Donald Hamilton.
Highly entertaining for a piece of pure fluff.
The Magnificent 60s 
A bit:
“The 11 Jan 1966 DV reported producer Irving Allen’s plans to film his sequel to The Silencers (1966, see entry) on location in Saint-Tropez, France, and Monte Carlo, Monaco, with interiors at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, CA. According to the 11 Mar 1966 DV, Dean Martin was set to reprise his role as secret agent “Matt Helm,” with Stella Stevens returning as his leading lady. Three months later, the 9 Jun 1966 DV announced that Ann-Margret had assumed the female lead. The 22 Jul 1966 issue reported the start of principal photography four days earlier. Meanwhile, a second unit was dispatched to the French Riviera to photograph exteriors between the cities of Menton and Marseilles. Other sources include the England’s Isle of Wight as a location.
A news item in the 12 Aug 1966 LAT noted that the trio of Dino, Desi and Billy would appear in a musical sequence, performing a song by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart. The band was comprised of Billy Hinsche, Desi Arnaz, Jr., and Martin’s son, Dean Paul Martin.
As stated in contemporary sources, the cast also included Dick Delmar (1 Aug 1966 DV); Virginia Ann Ford (8 Aug 1966 LAT); Guy Danfort and Gary Lasdun (11 Aug 1966 DV); Richard Gardner, Alex Rodine, Jacqueline Fontaine, Martin Cross, and Tedford Cross (12 Aug 1966 DV); Lou Robb and Ermete Santucci (17 Aug 1966 DV); Maurice D. Tern, who played an inebriate (28 Aug 1966 LAT); and dancer Mary Jane Mangler (16 Sep 1966 DV). The film marked the final screen appearance of stuntman Saul Gorss , according to his obituary in the 12 Sept 1966 DV. The 11 Sep 1966 LAT credited Dean Martin with spelling his name backward (Onid Nitram) on a grave marker for a cemetery sequence.
An item in the 16 Aug 1966 DV reported the return of associate producer Euan Lloyd and second unit director James Havens from location shooting in France. The 21 Sep 1966 Var announced that principal photography was completed during the previous week. Post-production was underway as of 7 Oct 1966, as noted in that day’s DV.
Murderers’ Row opened on 21 Dec 1966 in New York City, and on 8 Feb 1967 in Los Angeles, CA. Reviews were mixed: While the 8 Feb 1967 LAT praised Martin’s performance, the 22 Dec 1966 NYT described the picture as “a feeble serving of James Bond leftovers.”
Public response was considerably more enthusiastic, evidenced by an article in the 1 Mar 1967 Var, which partially credited the film with contributing to a 322 percent revenue increase for Columbia Pictures. Seven weeks later, the 26 Apr 1967 Var estimated gross receipts at $17 million, compared to The Silencers, which earned $15 million.
Irving Allen revealed in the 6 Jul 1967 LAT that actors such as Paul Newman refused the role of Matt Helm, fearing they could not compete with Sean Connery’s “James Bond” films. After a comedy element was added, Allen cast Dean Martin, who was enjoying a wave of popularity with the launch of his television variety series that same year. Five more sequels were planned, although only two, The Ambushers (1967) and The Wrecking Crew (1969, see entries), were released.
On 3 Jan 1968, LAT reported that Dean Martin was voted the fourth most profitable star of the past year by readers of Motion Picture Herald. That same day, Var estimated the film’s1967 rental income at $6.24 million.
According to the 27 Sep 1967 Var, Columbia was reissuing both Matt Helm pictures as a double feature, in emulation of the marketing strategy used by United Artists Corporation (UA) for its James Bond series. The bill opened 20 Sep 1967 in Los Angeles.”
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Shame Stella Stevens didn’t reprise her role. I’ve got a Pressbook for the reissue double bill.
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