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People are voting emotionally.

Boring

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

This was the first of Dean Martin's four appearances as the spy Matt Helm. Kind of a working man's James Bond. Swedish writer Don Hamilton wrote 27 of these Helms adventures, and they were so very mod. Taking place in the 1960s, we see all the futuristic house inventions, like the automatic bed, coffee makers, drying devices. And or course, the new, scientific specialty weapons. The sexy bombshells come and go, some good, some evil. Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Beverly Adams, Cyd Charisse. Viewers will certainly recognize his nemesis, Victor Buono, leader of the "Big-O" organization. Buono was probably best known for the odd piano accompanist in "Baby Jane". Fun song in the middle, lip synched by Charisse... "In Chile, It got HOT!". The fight scenes are all pretty cheesy, and Martin kind of ambles through his role, but its fun entertainment. Every few minutes, one of the girls gets her dress ripped off, so that's going on, but with Dean Martin, we would expect nothing less! Matt's boss is James Gregory, aka Detective Luger on Barney Miller. It's a goofy, fun adventure, and it IS available on Sont DVD. Haven't seen this shown on cable yet. Directed by Phil Karlson.

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?

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.

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