The Silencers was the first of four films that Dean Martin made as secret agent Matt Helm. The original novels by Donald Hamilton have a far more serious Helm in them. So if you're not a Dean Martin fan expecting to see Dean Martin as himself, don't bother with the film.
But there are certainly plenty of those around to watch Dino become our American James Bond. You have to remember that Bond if he was anything was always a gentleman. Dino as Helm is more like a locker room version of Bond, you wouldn't see Bond in the training room bragging about all his conquests.
In between the women and his cover job as a photographer Dino does work for ICE, Intelligence and Counter Espionage. In this film Dean's got his assignment to track down a defecting US scientist who is working with the Goldfinger/Blofeld of this film, Victor Buono. Buono's got his own secret organization which wants to cause international mischief between the superpowers, in this case by diverting a missile to target a spot where an underground atomic test has taken place and to blow it up, unloosing all kinds of radioactivity over the Southwest USA.
One thing about the Helm films as well as the Bond films, you will always see plenty of beautiful women. In this case we've got Cyd Charisse, Dalilah Lavi, Stella Stevens, and as Dino's personal secretary Lovey Kravezit, Beverly Adams. Adams gets a lot farther with him than poor lovesick Moneypenny does with James Bond.
Stella Stevens is such a klutz we're not sure who she's really helping in this film. It's a nice comic performance, one of Stella's best on screen. With musical opportunities fewer and fewer it's always a pleasure to see Cyd Charisse dance with her voice dubbed by Vikki Carr.
The first Helm was the best, sadly they deteriorated in quality as the series continued. The Silencers also has Dino singing some nice parody lyrics to some popular standards that his generation and mine will recognize.
But there are certainly plenty of those around to watch Dino become our American James Bond. You have to remember that Bond if he was anything was always a gentleman. Dino as Helm is more like a locker room version of Bond, you wouldn't see Bond in the training room bragging about all his conquests.
In between the women and his cover job as a photographer Dino does work for ICE, Intelligence and Counter Espionage. In this film Dean's got his assignment to track down a defecting US scientist who is working with the Goldfinger/Blofeld of this film, Victor Buono. Buono's got his own secret organization which wants to cause international mischief between the superpowers, in this case by diverting a missile to target a spot where an underground atomic test has taken place and to blow it up, unloosing all kinds of radioactivity over the Southwest USA.
One thing about the Helm films as well as the Bond films, you will always see plenty of beautiful women. In this case we've got Cyd Charisse, Dalilah Lavi, Stella Stevens, and as Dino's personal secretary Lovey Kravezit, Beverly Adams. Adams gets a lot farther with him than poor lovesick Moneypenny does with James Bond.
Stella Stevens is such a klutz we're not sure who she's really helping in this film. It's a nice comic performance, one of Stella's best on screen. With musical opportunities fewer and fewer it's always a pleasure to see Cyd Charisse dance with her voice dubbed by Vikki Carr.
The first Helm was the best, sadly they deteriorated in quality as the series continued. The Silencers also has Dino singing some nice parody lyrics to some popular standards that his generation and mine will recognize.