MURDERERS ROW
US, 1966, 105 minutes, Colour.
Dean Martin, Ann- Margret, Karl Malden, Camilla Sparv, James Gregory.
Directed by Henry Levin.
Murderers Row is the second of the Matt Helm series. They were popular in the mid-1960s, spoofs of the James Bond films. Laid-back Dean Martin is the world’s greatest spy! In retrospect, they are very tongue-in-cheek and seem particularly dated in costumes and decor, language, music, songs and style of dancing – which form a large part of this film. There were four films in the series, the first, The Silencers. This film was followed by The Ambushers and The Wrecking Crew.
Karl Malden, giving a rather camp performance, is not an entirely credible equivalent of Blofeld. His assistant, a glamorous Camilla Sparv, has very little to do but slink around. To this extent, she is the opposite of Suzie, in the lively sex-kitten phase of her career, twists and twists and gyrates on the dance floor. And there are a couple of Dean Martin songs.
The plot is rather perfunctory, a plan to use solar power and its rays to destroy Washington DC. spies are killed and it is thought that Matt Helm has also been killed – but he survives and his commission is to rescue the inventor of the solar ray and to find the villains. He goes about this in the most lackadaisical way, charming people, suddenly getting into fights which, looking at the fight choreography, it is amazing that he could win! He tangles with Ann Margaret who turns out to be the daughter of the scientist. There is also another strong-man villain with a metal plate in his head which does not help him when he is overtaken by a large magnet!
The performances are not particularly good, which may be the fault of the director and many of the confrontations and, even the climax, are not as effective as they might be, even though the film is a spoof.
1. The 1960s popularity of the James Bond films, the number of spoofs including the Matt Helm series? Effective in their time? Now?
2. The colour and verve of the 1960s, the music, the dancing, the comedy?
3. The plausibility of the plot, the solar ray, the villain trying to get it, the kidnapping of the doctor, his holding out with the formula, being threatened with the death of his daughter, his collaborating, but the failure of the plot? The villain, his hiring assassins, getting rid of spies, Matt Helm not dying, his not realising this? In Monte Carlo, his police guard, the strong-man with the iron plate in his head? Coco, his assistant?
4. Matt Helm, the photography, Miss January, trying to kill him, his surviving? On the hit list? Identified with the whiskey glass in his hand? His being commissioned by Washington? Going to Monte Carlo, infiltrating, meeting Suzie, the dance, the death of her friend, the accusation, Coco not identifying him, the villains rage? Suzie saying he was not the killer?
5. Suzie, her friend Billy, the swinging set, her trying to find her father?
6. Matt Helm and his encounter with the villain at the police station, going to meet him, the interrogation in the high crane, his giving the right answers, the information that he was a thug from Chicago, his offering to help? Suzie and her confusion?
7. The group from Washington, the spy in the group, his death, giving the information?
8. The fights, Helm and the iron-plated villain, the fight, is being put in the machine?
9. Suzie and her father, change of heart, with the policeman, sabotaging the machine, Helm getting out of the filter? The comedy with the gun and its slow release, with the policeman, and the irony of the villain being killed by such a trick?
10. A not very well-made film, but a spoof entertainment?
