Good idea lost in the noise

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

"I did the best I could with the tools I had and the opportunities given me.", this is Stella Stevens's personal quote. And she's right, have you seen her breasts in "The Ballad of Cable Hogue"(1970) directed by Sam Peckinpah? Well, you should, it's a very good movie. "The Silencers" it's just a parody without too many pretensions to the James Bond films. And it's not very bad, which is due mostly to Stella Stevens. Another attraction of the film is the presence of Cyd Charisse, beautiful and perhaps the most talented and seductive dancer of all time. And also Victor Buono as Tung-Tze, an actor much too good for the movies in which he played. Daliah Lavi is also a nice presence. As it regards Dean Martin, he is an extraordinary singer with a unique and very charming voice. But as an actor, is not exactly what one might call an actor, he is just a nice guy, many times looking dumb into the camera. Almost like Daniel Bond Craig...

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.

I will not bother to go over the plot or other cinematic elements of this light-hearted spoof, and concentrate on the man himself, the King of Cool, Dino Crocetti.His casual sexism, smug chauvinism, and generally patronizing attitude are refreshing reminders of the days when men were expected to behave that way, political correctness be damned. My favorite scene is when he casually breaks out a bottle of liquor **while driving** to knock back a few with Stella Stevens. The ways Dean acts would get him picketed by anhedonic prudes-- excuse me, **feminist groups**, if he were performing today. Then again, if he were performing today, we'd have bigger problems because it would mean that the zombie apocalypse has begun. All in all, a playful time-capsule romp through the days when people just seemed to have more damn fun.

In comparison to the early 1960's James Bond adventures, the success of which it is obviously trying to emulate, "The Silencers" is a bit more racy, a bit more campy (or, in Victor Buono's case, a lot more campy), and, paradoxically, a bit more violent. The production values, however, are closer to the numerous European Bond-influenced spy flicks made during that decade, rather than to the legitimate Bond films themselves. The pacing is sluggish and there are several sequences that would benefit from some serious editing (the one with Helm and Gail in the car after the chase, for example). At least near the end enough stuff blows up, and some neat gadgets are put to work, giving the film some semblance of action. Stella Stevens shows not only her killer curves but also a flair for slapstick comedy, however my favorite woman in the movie is the slinky, exotic Goddess Daliah Lavi - she is also part of the one genuinely surprising twist in the plot. Flawless face, astonishing body, she never got to be an official Bond girl but at least with films such as this and "Casino Royale" (1967) she came close. ** out of 4.