At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Retired secret agent Matt Helm (Dean Martin) is a photographer of beautiful models with beautiful assistant Lovey Kravezit. His former boss Macdonald at Intelligence Counter Espionage with deadly Tina recruit him back in the fight against the evil Big O organization led by Tung-Tze who plans to use the underground atomic bomb test in New Mexico to start WWIII. Andreyev is the evil henchman. Matt encounters bumbling bosom blonde Gail Hendricks (Stella Stevens) and Sam Gunther.Before Austin Powers, there was Matt Helm. This is a semi-spoof of Jimmy Bond. Dean Martin is the perfect lady's man to play the role. It's a lot of scantily clad beautiful women and outrageous spy stuff. It is semi-spoof because it's not that that far from the actual Bond franchise. It's got some song and dance as long as the dancing has the girls jiggling. The most important part is that this is fun and Martin seems to be having fun winking at the audience.

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.

If Harry Palmer was the poor man's James Bond, and Derek Flint was the poor man's Harry Palmer, then where does that leave Dean Martin's Matt Helm? Bottom feeding in the secret agent pond, I suppose. The Helm films began promisingly, entertainingly and shlockily with 1966's "The Silencers," a promise that was soon dissipated in two very poor films and redeemed somewhat, in 1969, in the fourth and last. Dino basically plays himself here, and these films seem something like extended sketches on the old "Dean Martin Show." But Matt Helm IS cool. How cool? Well, he wears a turtleneck and sports jacket to lounge around a Phoenix pool, and his apartment features a circular bed that dumps him into his bubble bath in the morning. He also has a bar in his car so that he can get tippled while he drives. (Hey, wait a minute...that ain't cool, kids!) A la Bond, he also comes equipped with some nifty gadgets in "The Silencers" (a backward-firing pistol and sports jacket buttonbombs), fights a criminal organization (the leeringly named Big O), makes dumb jokes (his put-down of Frank Sinatra IS pretty funny, actually) and woos the babes. Here, he spends time with Nancy Kovack, Cyd Charisse, Israeli actress Dahlia Lavi and the wonderfully klutzy Stella Stevens; a quartet of pulchritude that would amazingly be topped in Helm's final film, "The Wrecking Crew," with its remarkable Tina Louise/Elke Sommer/Nancy Kwan/Sharon Tate foursome. "The Silencers" also features the phoniest-looking laser beam ever and a moderately exciting ending. This movie's kinda fun, actually. Oh...did I mention that Helm's secretary is named Lovey Kravezit?

Irving Allen co-produced several films in the '50's and '60's with Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli, among them 'The Red Beret', 'Cockleshell Heroes' and 'The Trials Of Oscar Wilde'. A disagreement arose when Broccoli expressed an interest in Ian Fleming's 'James Bond' books. Allen was convinced they had no merit, the partnership ended and Broccoli made the films with Harry Saltzman, of which 'Dr.No' ( 1962 ) was the first. As we now know, they became one of the decade's biggest pop culture phenomena. Allen then set up a rival series of spy pictures, based on Donald Hamilton's 'Matt Helm', an altogether more hard boiled character. After being rebuffed by Paul Newman, he offered the role to Dean Martin, who accepted on the grounds that his company - 'Claude Productions' - be involved. Allen agreed, hence all four Helm pictures carried the credit 'A Meadway Claude Picture'.With Dino around, 'Matt Helm' was bound to turn silly and did. Of the quartet, however, the first - 'The Silencers' - manages to be pretty good. It opens with the ( off-screen ) killing of I.C.E. ( International Counter Espionage ) agent Jim Traynor. His partner, Tina Batori ( Daliah Lavi ), is assigned a replacement in the shape of Matt, with whom she has worked before. The latter lives a life of luxury in a gadget-packed house, with a beautiful secretary ( Beverly Adams ) boasting the unlikely name of 'Lovey Kravezit' taking dictation while sharing his bath. Matt returns home one night to find the lovely Barbara ( Nancy Kovack ) laying in wait for him with a knife. Before she can stick it into his back, she is shot dead by Tina ( Matt's codename of 'Eric' is used here ). She tells him that a top American scientist named Naldi ( David Bond ) is about to pass a vital computer tape to the subversive B.I.G. O ( Bureau for International Government and Order ) organisation. After wiping out a contingent of killers, they head for Phoenix and the Slaygirl Club, where the courier is to be the stunning Sarita ( Cyd Chariise )...As 'Matt', Dean Martin is...well, Dean Martin. Ridiculous gadgets abound, including a gun that shoots backwards, a camera that fires blades, a phone that spits gas, and jacket buttons that double as hand grenades. Oscar Saul's script is based not only on the book of the same name but also 'Death Of A Citizen', the first in the series. He does a good job at combining the plots and, although there is plenty of comedy, there are a few serious bits as well. Take the scene where Matt and Tina take Gail Hendrix ( Stella Stevens ) back to their hotel room for questioning following Sarita's killing. Thinking her klutzy nature to be an act, he gets rough by pushing her so hard she tumbles over the bed and onto the floor, and then rips off her dress, leaving her fuming in her underwear. This scene is lifted almost verbatim from the novel, and is not played for laughs. It is one of the reasons why 'The Silencers' works so much better than the other films. We see a glimpse of the original character - a Government-sponsored assassin who killed in cold blood when he needed to.Other villains include Roger C.Carmel ( 'Harry Mudd' of 'Star Trek' ) as the swarthy 'Andreyev', Robert Webber as hotel pianist 'Sam Gunther' and Arthur O'Connell as garage owner 'Joe Wigman'. These characters are played straight but their boss - 'Tung-Tze' ( Victor Buono ) - is not. He brings to the role the campy approach he brought to 'King Tut', his regular role on the 'Batman' television series. Stella Stevens is hilarious as the accident-prone 'Gail', one wishes she had been used in the sequels. Elegant Daliah Lavi played similar roles in 'Casino Royale' ( 1967 ) and 'Some Girls Do' ( 1969 ). The exciting climax in B.I.G. O's Command Headquarters has Helm ( with Gail at his side ) endeavouring to prevent the launching of a missile before it is redirected at the atomic testing centre at White Sands, Alamorgordo. Great music from Elmer Bernstein.'The Silencers' made less money than the Bond movie 'Thunderball', but thanks to Dino's co-production deal he wound up with a bigger paycheck than Connery. A sequel - 'Murderers' Row' - was announced at the end of 'The Silencers'. Unfortunately, a change of writer - Herbert Baker - and director - Henry Levin' - resulted in a shift in tone as the sophisticated elegance of the first film was thrown away. Phil Karlson did a splendid job with 'The Silencers', but only directed one more 'Matt Helm' film - the awful 'The Wrecking Crew' ( 1969 ).