Very well executed

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

In this film the United States is working on an experimental spaceship that resembles a flying saucer. To pilot it they have enlisted the aid of an I.C.E. agent by the name of "Sheila Sommers" (Janice Rule). Upon takeoff everything is fine until it is commandeered by remote control across the border into Mexico. A week or so later Sheila is found wandering out of the jungle with no memory of what has happened to her other than her complete fear of men. It is at this point that Matt Helm (Dean Martin) is tasked with locating the flying saucer. So with Sheila under the illusion that Matt is her husband, they go to Acapulco to investigate. Anyway, like almost all Matt Helm films this one has plenty of action and scantily clad women to keep most men's interest for a good portion of the time. However, the movie seemed to drift from one scenario to another a bit too quickly, the dialogue was somewhat flat and everything seemed to lack cohesion. But both Dean Martin and Janice Rule performed in an adequate manner and while it could have possibly been written better I will go out on a limb and give it average rating.

Third in a series of Matt Helm films starring Martin, this is often noted as being the worst or next to worst. Martin plays a swinging, hot-to-trot parody of James Bond in a film that takes every double entendre and gadget from that series and cranks them up to the nth degree. This time out, Martin must recover a stolen flying saucer with the aid of the female pilot who was stolen with it, then released. Rule (a pretty uncharacteristic choice for a film like this) plays the astronaut/pilot. Martin first attends a camp where he's refreshed in the ways of the spy (and where a battalion of voluptuous babes called The Slaygirls are being trained.) Then he's off to Mexico to track down the ship which is believed to have been nabbed by (the decidedly UN-Hispanic) Salmi. Various complications ensue including run-ins with bumbling second banana Kasznar and drop-dead eye candy Berger. It's pretty clear that the film isn't aiming for greatness, or even seriousness, when the two primary weapons are a bra that shoots bullets and a device that makes men's pants fall down! The latter device is pitifully ridiculous in that it melts belt buckles and somehow that leads to men's buttons, hooks and zippers also failing so that an army of henchman are forced to reach for their dangling trousers rather than catch their man.There's a groovy title song played over credits that display a huge array of bikini-clad, heavily made up beauties that wind up having little or nothing to do with the plot. All of the kicky, funky music is by Hugo Montenegro and it's one of the film's better attributes. The film is only really bad if one is expecting serious spy drama or high brow jokes. The villain's chief gadget is a dopey looking satellite dish that shoots sparks out of it (along with a hand-held version.) It serves its greatest purpose pouring drinks for everyone. The one-liners in this film are of the lowest caliber possible and the ultra-macho point of view will likely be off-putting to some viewers. However, for those eager to see the type of kooky, colorful romps that inspired Mike Myers to create "Austin Powers", this is required viewing. (Check out how Dino's car trunk pops out an inflatable tent complete with bed, nightstand, lamp and metal chairs!) Martin isn't exactly flexing his acting muscles here, but he was playing into his image at the time of a boozy womanizer. Rule is a better actress than this fluff deserves and she doesn't really fit the boobs and hair-type of role, but she does well anyway. Berger is unbelievably luscious. Wearing what have to be the cinema's largest-ever earrings and sporting an impossibly golden tan, hair piled high and an aquamarine lounging gown, she is one of the most underrated beauties on record. She deserved a bigger career in Hollywood than she wound up with. There's a poolside fashion show of ultra-60's Oleg Cassini creations and most of the women wear false eyelashes so heavy they can almost open their eyes. It was a time that can never be repeated, so one should relish films like this as the time capsules they are and rent Oliver Stone movies when they want to be challenged.

Perhaps the most negative thing I can say about the James Bond franchise is that it gave birth to a welter of cheap imitations . In the case of the Matt Helm series it was obviously a still birth THE AMBUSHERS is an awful movie not only because of its Bond wannabe format but because it`s woefully made . Check out the title sequence that insinuates there`s going to be hot killer bimbos in the movie . Actually there is but they only appear for one short scene to get Helm out of a tight spot then are completely forgotten about for the rest of the movie . There`s also other serious flaws to the script like the terrible lines that belong in a CARRY ON movie , lines like " When you said uncover the agent ... " and watch out for the obvious revealing mistakes like harnesses attached to the actors as they float in the air and the laughably bad back projectionOne final thing I couldn`t help noticing is that several of the cast seemed to have consumed a large amount of alcohol before filming . If this was the type of movie the cast were being offered at the time you can`t really blame them and I guess everyone involved had a great time , just a pity the audience didn`t

This film is a funny spoof of the James Bond series. Dean Martin is hilarious as the stereotypical spy with a drink in one hand and a sexy girl in the other. All the people who call this series a rip off of James Bond are missing the point. I especially loved Kurt Kaznar, playing the despicable character he would play so well in his most famous role on Land of the Giants as Alexander Fitzhugh. Also, Janice Rule is more than just window dressing. She plays the femme fetale role to the hilt and she shows a great flair for comedy in this film. The Matt Helm series was intended to be a parody of that series and did a great job of it.