Matt Helm - The Silencers

Starring:Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Victor Buono, Arthur O'Connell, Robert Webber, James Gregory, Nancy Kovack, Roger C. Carmel, Cyd Charisse, Beverly Adams, Richard Devon, David Bond, John Reach, Robert Phillips, John Willis, Frank Gerstle, Grant Woods, Patrick Waltz, Todd Armstrong
Director: Phil Karlson
Studio: Sony Pictures
Product Type: DVD

Description

Dean Martin stars as the original swinger agent, Matt Helm, in this four-disc set including: THE SILENCERS, MURDERERS ROW, THE WRECKING CREW, and THE AMBUSHERS.

THE SILENCERS: The first of the series of Matt Helm films, the big cheese of Big O, an organization that wants to sabotage the American atomic missile system. It's up to secret agent Helm to save the day.

MURDERER'S ROW: The handsome top agent Matt dies a tragic death in his bathtub - the women mourn about the loss. However it's just faked for his latest top-secret mission: He shall find Dr. Solaris, inventor of the Helium laser beam, powerful enough to destroy a whole continent. It seems Dr. Solaris has been kidnapped by a criminal organization. The trace leads to the Cote D'Azur.

THE AMBUSHERS: A government space saucer is hijacked mid-flight by a powerful laser beam under the control of Jose Ortega, who then proceeds to rape the female pilot, Sheila Sommars. ICE sends agent Matt Helm to Acapulco with Sheila to recover the saucer, under the guise of Matt taking fashion photographs of beautiful models. Matt is temporarily sidetracked, falling prey to the seductive charms of enemy agent Franceca Madeiros.

THE WRECKING CREW: The count has stolen enough gold to cause a financial crisis in the world markets so I.C.E. sends in ace spy Matt Helm to stop him. As Matt works alone, the British send in Freya to aid Matt, but it seems that Freya causes more problems than she solves.

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating Look at Sex, Spies, and the 1960s.......2007-04-17

This is a great collection of movies for both Matt Helm and Dean Martin fans. Most viewers will find Dean Martins' slightly comedic approach to the Matt Helm character very entertaining. In addition to some pretty funny moments, the movies are also full of clever songs, such as "When Your Sweetheart Puts A Pistol in her Pillow."

These movies provide a fascinating look at American culture of the 1960s. They contain old cars, scantily clad women, and a surplus of sexual innuendo. The behavior exhibited by Dean Martin is also rather interesting. In a scene from "The Silencers", he rips the dress off of Stella Stevens as an incentive for her to start talking. Today, such behavior would be called "assault." In another movie, Dean is drinking from a flask while driving his car and receiving instructions from Headquarters. Obviously, drinking and driving was not an issue in the 1960s. These films contain some of the big name actresses of the day, such as Stella Stevens, Ann Margaret, and Sharon Tate. Sharon Tate, unfortunately, is better known for being murdered by Charles Manson and his family.

The quality of the movies is excellent and there were no problems with the DVDs. All four DVDs fit into two slim containers. The entire collection fits into one box the size of a normal DVD case. Unfortunately, the set has the appearance of a rental from the local video store, vice something that was intended for sale. "The Silencers" contain several movie trailers for unrelated films such as "Fun with Dick and Jane." There is no trailer for "The Silencers." The other movies do contain Matt Helm movie trailers, but not on the disk of that movie. The set also contains multiple trailers for "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" and an upcoming release of the Seinfeld DVDs. Finally, one DVD came with a small anti theft tag used to prevent shoplifting.

Despite these minor anomalies, this is a very entertaining set of movies. Dean Martin is as enjoyable now as he was in the 1960s. The viewer can certainly see how these films were a likely source of inspiration for the Austin Powers movies.

Killa!!!.......2007-04-12

Bond, Steel, Flint, Man From Uncle, don't got nothing on Matt Helm. Awesome retro movies! Must have if you like this type of movies.

Outstanding Series!.......2007-04-04

It was very enjoyable seeing these now forty year old classics. Dean Martin was his usual easy going self as Matt Helm, while James Gregory was excellent as McDonald his boss. Well worth it!

Neal Robertson

Matt Helm Lounge.......2007-03-31

Waited a long time for these to become available. I am very happy with them. Boy, special effects have sure come a long way.

A '60s Spy Spoof Flashback.......2007-02-24

I want to echo all that has been said by the other, positive reviewers regarding the fun nature of these films. I was a kid in the 60s and Matt Helm was the anti-Bond, an American spy who totally out-cooled that British guy. Definitely not to be taken seriously but a fun romp on a retro weekend of martinis and lounge music. Also note that the aspect ratio on these films is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen so they look great on a 16:9 Hi Def set. Please Amazon, make sure you list the technical details for your products.

Average customer rating:

dated formula movie
After Further Review...
Watching Dino Is Such A Pleasure
Dean Martin's First "James Bond" Spoof as Matt Helm
A word about the cropping

Matt Helm - The Silencers
Starring: Dean Martin , Stella Stevens , Daliah Lavi , Victor Buono , and Arthur O'Connell
Director: Phil Karlson
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Matt Helm Lounge (The Silencers/ Murderers Row/The Ambushers/The Wrecking Crew)
Murderer's Row
Ambushers
Our Man Flint
Deadlier Than the Male

ASIN: B0000CDRW1
Release Date: 2003-11-11

Product Description

Take one shot of danger, two splashes of action and a twist of comedy and add a gererous portion of screen legend Dean Martin to the mix and you've got The Silencers, a stylishly sexy adventure in the tradition of James Bond. It's up to secret agent Matt Helm (Martin) to save the day when mascared megalomaniac Victor Bruno (What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?) and his dasterdly organization, Big O, plot to sabotage America's atomic missile system. From deep inside Big O's subterranean hideout to a perilous mountainside car chase to groovy designer bedrooms filled with booby traps, Helm braves blistering showers of bullets, knives, and laser beams to make the world a safe place again. Helping his cause is a bevy of beauties including Stella Stevens (The Poseidon Adventure) and double agent Daliah Lavi (Casino Royale). In addition to its arsenal of high-tech gadgets and outrageous costumes, The Silencers features an amazing opening sequence starring Cyd Charisse (Singin' In The Rain) and a cocktail-era soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein with vocals by Martin, Charisse and Vikki Carr.

Amazon.com

Austin Powers undoubtedly stole a few moves from Matt Helm, the swinging secret agent embodied by Dean Martin in four intentionally dopey late-'60s movies. The Silencers is the first and best of the bunch--but at that, it's barely a movie. Dino is first seen reclining in his automated bed, and he hardly wakes up for the remainder of the picture. (When a stunt double performs athletic moves in the action scenes, you rub your eyes at the impossibility of Martin moving that quickly.) And yet Matt Helm manages to stave off a nuclear disaster in the southwest desert, the nefarious plot of a Chinese archvillain (Victor Buono). The 007-style gadgets include exploding sportcoat buttons, plus the wet bar in Dino's station wagon--so he can gulp whiskey while he drives. The women are, of course, outrageously sexist playthings, although Stella Stevens remains the most adorable of '60s sex kittens. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

dated formula movie.......2007-06-29

Although I had good memories of this movie seeing it as a kid in the theatre, I was very disappointed seeing it again now. The only way its watchable, is to think of how Mike Myers would adapt some of it for Austin Powers later. Unlike the Bond and Flint flicks, this one is sort of a musical with Dino himself singing half a dozen numbers. The action scenes are stupid. Dino has not a single redeeming quality other than the adolescent wisecracks. The effects are extremely cheesy, and I can't even bear to watch the "laser" scene - the noisiest non-lasers ever envisioned. The women are treated like props more than any other movie I can think of - half a dozen beauties quickly pass through the movie during the credits and first 20 minutes - until it settles on Stella and Israeli actress Daliah. This movie was an obvious cheap copy of the Bond and Flint movies at the time, and it does not hold up well after 40 years.

After Further Review..........2005-11-18

Contrary to what some viewers say, this dvd is not cropped.
The widescreen format is exactly the same throughout the film.
However, it is true that one brief scene involving Stella Stevens has been deleted, probably due to an oversight.

Watching Dino Is Such A Pleasure.......2005-09-20

Although I think the coolest Matt Helm flick is "Murder's Row, watching Dino in any of his films provides such pleasure. Dino majored in the three B's---Butts, Booze, and Broads and so does this Matt Helm caper. Who cares about plots and subplots when Dino is making the scene. I really like that the DVD includes a preview of the second Helm film at the end. Dino making it with all those chicks is really where it is at! I'm looking forward to the issueing of all 4 Matt Helm films in the box set this December!

Dean Martin's First "James Bond" Spoof as Matt Helm.......2005-03-14

Following four highly successful serious spy films starring Sean Connery as that world-famous fictional British spy James Bond, American film companies began playing with the idea of producing their own spy films with equally world-famous, but more humorous, spies in their own James Bond spoofs. On January 16, 1966, the first James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring James Coburn (1928-2002) as Derek Flint in Twentieth Century Fox's film "our Man Flint". Only one month later, on February 18, 1966, a second James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring the well-known comedic actor/lounge singer Dean Martin (1917-1995) as the semi-retired spy Matt Helm in "The Silencers", which was produced by Claude Productions and Meadway, and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Similar to Derek Flint, Matt Helm loves to be surrounded by beautiful women; but unlike the super-serious & high-tech Flint, Helm is far more laid back. Helm's bedroom is equipped with a rotating circular bed (which was also part of Mike Myer's 1997 portrayal of British superstar/super-spy Austin Powers in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery"), which can also role forward and raise at an angle so that it can let Helm (and anyone else in Helm's bed) slide into a waiting olypic-sized bubble-bath. Doing his best to avoid being used in yet another spy mission, Helm leaves his expensive home and travels to Acapulco where an unexpected blond woman is waiting in his bedroom. While in his arms, she is shot from behind by one of Helm's former spy coworkers Tina (Daliah Lavi, who appeared in yet another James Bond-inspired spoof in 1967: the highly comedic "Casino Royale" that also starred Woody Allen, David Niven and Peter Sellers). Discovering that they're being watched by operatives working for the evil mastermind Tung-Tze, a.k.a., "Big-O" (Victor Buono, 1938-1982), Helm & Tina escape in his station wagon to Phoenix, where they expect to find a highly sought after computer tape. The tape is in possession of a singer named Sarita (Cyd Charisse), who ends up shot while performing on stage, but hands the tape over to the highly-accident prone Gail Hendrix (Stella Stevens) who runs on stage to help her. Helm & Tina quickly rush Gail out of the club and away from enemy agents, but suspect that she is also an enemy agent working for "Big-O". After being temporarily knocked out by gas shooting out of a phone, Helm is assisted by his & Tina's boss Sam Gunther (Robert Webber, 1924-1989), who also prevents Gail from escaping. Helm then takes Gail to San Juan, which is where Sarita told her that something was going to happen before she died; but can Helm stop the dastardly Tung-Tze and his evil plan? You'll just have to watch the film to find out!

In typical 1960's motif and humor, "The Silencers" is still a very humorous spoof to this day and I rate it with 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a non-serious spoof. Dean Martin would portray Matt Helm in three more subsequent films: "Murderer's Row" (later in 1966), "The Ambushers" (1967, which is my personal favorite) and "The Wrecking Crew" (1969). Hopefully these other three Matt Helm films will also be released on DVD.

A word about the cropping.......2005-01-09

I won't review the film as this has been done by others. However, I would like to add some thoughts about the "cropping" issue--

To many fans of DVD, a key selling point is seeing a film the way it was orginally presented in the theatre.

Most people are aware today that widescreen films shown on a full frame standard TV's are cropped-- that is, they are panned and scanned and you lose information (images). Pan & Scan changes the composition of the film.

With this in mind, people expect to see ALL of the composition when a film comes out on DVD and is viewed on a widescreen televison-- not less. However, there are exceptions:

In some circumstances, the director of a film will compose a shot with more information than is meant to be conveyed to the audience.

The "extra" information is never meant to be seen. When the film is "matted" for release, the additional info is covered up and you are left with the director's original conception of the shot.

Now here's the thing: when the film is shown on commercial television in a standard full screen format, the "matts" are opened up and the film subjected to pan and scan. In this case, you may now see parts of the shot that were covered up-- and also lose other parts that were originally shown.

The bottom line here is that this release of "The Silencers" shows the film in its "matted" form the way it was shown in theatre's. People who have seen the film on television all these years became accustomed to seeing the "open matt" pan & scan version. They have seen more information than was intended and now think that the released DVD version has been "cropped" because the afore mentioned images are now missing.

Here's a great example: (warning: spoilers below)

A previous reviewer makes mention that in a certain part of the film, actress Nancy Kovack is shot in the back and we her bare bottom. This reviewer then complains that in the DVD version, we don't see that far down. The conclusion that is drawn is that this scene is to riske' for the DVD version for some reason and has been cropped or edited out.

As explained above, this is simply not true.

In the pan & scan "open matt" scene, we see the actress wearing only a shirt and pantyhose. Dean Martin is holding her and we see Kovack from the back. As she is shot, Kovack arches up and we see her pantyhosed butt come out of the shirt.

This "nyloned butt" shot was never intended to be seen-- remember this was a film made in the mid 60's-- nudity simply wasn't going to make it in to a film that was rated the way this one was.

Further, there was also another bit of nudity just slightly earlier in the same scene that is in the "open matt" pan & scan version-- Kovack in shirt and pantyhose rushes up to Dino and we see both of the actors side by side.

As Kovack turns towards Martin, her short shirt lifts and parts slightly, and we see a glimpse of Kovacks "front" (for want of a more descriptive term).

Again, this was not meant to be seen and never would have made it past the censors during the original release.

So, in this instance, viewers have seen a more racy version of the film on televison than was ever shown in theatre's-- the complete opposite of what is expected with a DVD release-- hence the complaints.

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