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One of my all time favorites.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Fluffy day glo spy spoof for those who don't take their action/adventure too seriously. Dean Martin plays the part of Matt Helm with his typical laid back swagger which is just right for the featherweight material. Not as reliant on gadgetry as the 007 series, probably due to budgetary restraints, this still has some cool set pieces and that swingin' 60's atmosphere. It also has that same 60's sensibility to it's female characters namely viewing them as sex objects and little else, if you're willing to take that into consideration before viewing this is a pleasant way to pass a little time. Aside from Dean the cast is full of beautiful women. Two of those knockouts, Tina Louise, fresh from Gilligan's Island, is in and out of the film in under ten minutes, and Nancy Kwan's part doesn't require much more than her looking great in psychedelic dresses and doing karate chops. It's the other two ladies who make an impact despite the script's rather weak efforts to provide them with anything to work with. Elke Sommer, phenomenally beautiful, manages to be silkily devilish in one stunning outfit after another. The real standout is Sharon Tate as the klutzy but endearing Freya Carlson. This was the tragic beauty's penultimate role before her murder and coupled with her amusing performance in the previous year's Don't Make Waves it shows that she had a very real talent for comedy add into that her lovely looks and she could have had a solid career ahead of her as a glamorous comedienne. Of the four films in the Matt Helm series the first The Silencers is probably the best but this one is a close second.

The movie is fantastic in its execution, not its substance, but it was never intended to be serious. The movie has all the glamor, and opulence that only American movies seems to be able to deliver. The choice of color, the character, and of course the girls.Dean Martin's Matt Helm was a product of the swinging '60s, and it's a beautiful movie in its own way. I wish that the modern movies had more of this kind of opulence to its style. Why not live a little like the way these people did ?It's intentionally silly, but if you take away the silly it still has the glamor like nothing you see these days. The movie is worth seeing for this alone.Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate were beautiful, and we don't see beauties like this anymore either.

Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green) is the mastermind behind a billion dollar gold robbery. His plan is to send the world markets into chaos. He may get away with it unless Matt Helm (Dean Martin) can track down the missing gold. But along the way, Helm will meet up the Count's hired muscle, a gorgeous female killer, and a ditsy woman who insists on helping him.I suppose the best way to describe a Matt Helm film would be a light and breezy spoof of the James Bond movies. Nothing is very serious and you're sure that everything will work out in the end. Dean Martin plays Matt Helm about as laid back as could be imagined. Instead of a gun, you're more likely to see him with a drink in one hand, a cigarette in the other, a beautiful woman to ogle, and a quick quip. His fights scenes may leave a lot to be desired, but there's no denying his "cool".The Wrecking Crew is actually one of the better Matt Helm films. The hiding place of the gold is ingenious, the spy gadgets are plentiful, and the women are everywhere. The cast is one of the better assembled for any of these films. Nigel Green and Elke Sommer make a wonderful pair as the distinguished master criminal and the sexy killer (roles very similar to the ones they played in 1966's Deadlier Than the Male). But Sharon Tate really shines as the ditsy Freya Carlson. It's incredibly sad to think that this would be Tate's last role before her brutal murder. She's a joy and a real pleasure to watch.

Someone once said that Dean Martin was so laid-back he made Perry Como look like a nervous wreck. It was said if a nuclear bomb went off behind him he wouldn't even drop his martini glass. Martin and his fellow Rat-packer Frank Sinatra were among our few recording giants who achieved in films as well. Although not as good an actor as Sinatra, Martin had a charming presence on the screen and was always entertaining to watch, even when you knew he wasn't taking it too seriously. The Matt Helm films came out at the same time as Sean Connery was playing Bond and have been largely forgotten today. Martin played the reluctant spy with tongue firmly in cheek. The Wrecking Crew was the last of the four Helm films and I feel it was the best. A gold train has been hijacked by a criminal mastermind. The one billion dollar theft will cause world wide financial panic and its up to Matt Helm to save the day. Of course in any spy film of this nature, you have to have beautiful women and there are plenty here. Elke Sommer and Tina Louise light up the screen, but it is Sharon Tate who steals the show as bumbling MI5 agent Freya Carlson. I thought it was so funny how she kept getting Helm into deeper and deeper trouble, even getting him arrested at one point. She tells him "I wont desert you Mister Helm". He says "Do me a favor PLEASE DESERT ME!". However, she comes through in the end and there is a good fight scene between her and Nancy Kwan. (For trivia lovers, Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee helped to set up the fight scenes for this film). People have commented the fight scenes involving Helm are fakey, what do you expect? Dean Martin was 52 when this film was made. Sharon really stole the show in this one, in fact they later based one of the characters in the Austin Powers films on her character here. This was her last film before she was murdered by the Charles Manson family. Its chilling when you watch it and think of how horribly her life ended.