The Silencers

Dean Martin briefly took time off from carousing with the Rat Pack to make this, the first and least worst of the Matt Helm pictures.

Carrying a film on his shoulders alone being plainly beyond him (stuntmen are necessary for anything resembling action), Paramount has bolstered Martin with a first-rate supporting cast and lavish production values (including a score by Elmer Bernstein and photography by Oscar-winning cameraman Burnet Guffey), including outlandish gimmicks like a gun that fires backwards.

Lines like "She's dead! Somebody killed her!!" demonstrate both the calibre of the dialogue and of the fate of most of the succession of big-haired females that Dino leers at during the course of the movie; with memorable but very marginal appearances by Cyd Charisse (who also sings the title song) and Nancy Kovack. Fortunately a red-haired Stella Stevens provides a likeably klutzy female lead ("If you were an Indian, Custer would still be alive") to give you someone to root for when things start getting blown up.

By the mid 60's Dean Martin was on top of the entertainment world, even above his pal Sinatra. His hit records even knocked the Beatles off the top of the pop charts in 1964, his film career was going great after his break-up with partner Jerry Lewis nearly 10 years earlier, and his weekly variety show-part comedy, part music- was in the Top Ten. And in the film world, thanks to Sean Connery and the 007 franchise, spy flicks had become the biggest and hippest genre. So it was natural to pair up Dean in the first- and best- of 4 spy spoofs with Dino as super cool Secret Agent Matt Helm, who also doubles as a photographer of beautiful scantliy clad women for "Slaymate" magazine. The nonsensical plot in "The Silencers" isn't important, but Dean seems to have a lot of fun. But besides Dino playing the King of Cool the other reason to watch are a collection of drop dead sexy co-stars. Dalilah Lavi, Beverly Adams, Cyd Charisse-showing her incredible legs and figure in a couple dancing routines, and most notably Stella Stevens as a sexy bimbo, quite naive, who somehow gets caught up in esponiage ring ran by the Evil Crime Organization, "Big O." Double entendres flourish through out "The Silencers" as do the gorgeous women, all dressed provactively. Plenty of gimmicks and laughs in this...Bond movies of the period are serious dramas in compaison.

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.

The first in the Matt helm series; some say the best of all the James Bond spoofs. Violence and humor are equally mixed, as they are in the Bond pictures. *The Silencers* probably has the most alluring collection of femmes fatales as Hollywood has ever assembled. Klutzy (or is she really?) Stella Stevens, brunette Dahlia Lavi, blond Nancy Kovack, and dancer Cyd Charisse all have important roles. It is not giving away too much to say that of these four women, two are good, two are bad, and three of them suffer the fate of getting shot to death at surprising moments.

A bit of trivia: Beverly Adams, Helm's curvaceous secretary, married Yvres St. Laurent. And deadly Nancy Kovack married conductor Zubin Mehta, the lucky devil. Kovack, clad in only her high heeled shoes and one of Martin's white shirts, tries to seduce him into coming back to work for ICE, his old outfit. It is perhaps the most erotic three minute scene in any spy movie.

My favorite part of this "tongue-in-cheek" espionage flick, is when Dean Martin, convinced that Stella Stevens has the micro-film tape on her, completely rips her dress off of her, leaving the sexy Stevens standing there in her bra, gartered-panties, nylons and high-heels. Great scene !! I'm sure it was Stella Stevens who kept the attention of male viewers throughout this silly movie. Sure , there were other attractive women in the movie. But Stevens was tops !! Dean martin, pretty much being himself as opposed to acting, was entertaining to a degree. However, it was Stella Stevens who stole the show. I didn't even consider being annoyed by her "flighty" character. She's just too damn pretty.