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Murderers' Row (film)
Encyclopedia
Murderers' Row is a 1966 American comedy-spy-fi
film starring Dean Martin
and very loosely based upon the Matt Helm
spy novel Murderers' Row
by Donald Hamilton
, which was published in 1962.
Ann-Margret
and Karl Malden
co-star in this sequel to The Silencers
.
being destroyed. It turns out to have been a model at a demonstration of a heliobeam weapon in the headquarters of the Brotherhood of International Government and Order ("BIG O"). BIG O is a One World organisation with a goal of world domination
that previously appeared in The Silencers
.
With the aid of a mole
, BIG O conducts a worldwide assassination campaign against various secret agents working for ICE (Intelligence Counter Espionage). Matt Helm fakes his own death, as in the next year's Bond film, You Only Live Twice
, that also would begin by faking the lead character's demise and having his funeral. Helm meets his "M"-type boss, Mac (James Gregory)
to receive his twin mission briefing. Helm is to track down the recently missing Dr. Solaris (Richard Eastham
), who has developed a powerful heliobeam weapon that uses the concentrated power of sunlight in a beam capable of mass destruction. Helm is told if he can not rescue Solaris he is to kill him, and if captured to kill himself, lest BIG O brainwash him.
Posing as a Chicago gangster
named Jim Peters, an alias of "Lash" Petroni, Helm travels to the French Riviera
to follow his only lead, Solaris's daughter, Suzie (Ann-Margret
).
's former partner Irving Allen
and Martin's Meadway-Claude Production company for Columbia Pictures
in the mid-1960s starring Martin as secret agent
Matt Helm. Euan Lloyd
, a former Warwick Films
publicity specialist and producer of The Poppy Is Also a Flower
, assisted Allen in production chores.
Like its predecessor The Silencers
, it took a much more light-hearted approach to the source material; treating it more as a gadget-laden spoof
of James Bond
films than Hamilton's original serious spy story. Unlike Hamilton's world weary professional, Martin plays Helm with his own persona
; a fun-loving, wise-cracking alcoholic playboy.
Co-starring is Karl Malden
as Dr. Julian Wall, whom New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther
describes as a "Kansas type Dr. No". Malden had the idea that his character speaking in a different accent every time he spoke would be amusing.
Also in the film are Tom Reese as his Oddjob-type henchman named "Ironhead" and Beverly Adams
returns as secretary
Lovey Kravezit, as do the Slaygirls, a group of beautiful and dangerous women. Columbia starlet
Camilla Sparv
plays Malden's assistant Coco Duquette and Soon Tek-Oh makes a brief appearance as a Japanese agent killed in his bath.
The first script was by Oscar Saul, who had written The Silencers. Herbert Baker
, who had received a screen credit after he wrote the final version of The Silencers script, was brought in to rewrite Saul's first draft of Murderers' Row and received sole credit. Baker had written several Martin and Lewis
screenplays and was a writer for The Dean Martin Show
.
The film was originally intended to be shot totally on location, but Martin, who also co-produced the film, refused to go to Europe. Second unit
teams shot sequences in Monte Carlo
and the Isle of Wight
for the hovercraft
and helicopter sequences instead. The then new Saunders-Roe
SR.N6 hovercraft
appearing in the film's sea sequences (with the land chase through the streets of Monte Carlo
and scenes with Martin using a mock up) was provided by Hoverwork Hovercraft as their first assignment with a Cushioncraft
CC5 appearing as well.
Henry Levin
who had previously directed the Dino DeLaurentiis superspy film Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die for Columbia directed and would also direct the following Matt Helm film The Ambushers. The titles
are again by Wayne Fitzgerald
.
Like its predecessor, the film is full of jokes, bizarre secret weapon
s like a modified AR-7
pistol configuration that only fires ten seconds after the trigger is pulled, plenty of beautiful women, and fashionable mod 1966 costumes by Moss Mabry
. Karl Malden's character uses a Lancejet
Gyrojet
spearfiring pistol and an experimental twelve barrel Gyrojet pepperbox type pistol. Helm kills a guard with a dart fired out of a cigarette; a weapon also used in You Only Live Twice. Martin's Helm drove a 1966 Ford Thunderbird
landau .
is by Lalo Schifrin
, replacing Elmer Bernstein
. In addition to the driving main theme and spy time score, Schifrin includes some jazz pieces with one having a cover version
by Bud Shank
as well as a song with lyrics by Howard Greenfield
("I'm Not the Marrying Kind") for Martin that, due to contractual rights, didn't appear on the soundtrack album
. It did however appear on Martin's LP, Happiness is Dean Martin.
Billy Strange
slightly changed Schifrin's main title to be an "original" composition entitled "Spanish Spy" on his James Bond Double Feature album.
The pop group Dino, Desi & Billy (which featured Martin's son, Dean Paul Martin
who calls Helm "Dad" in the film) make an appearance and sing the Boyce & Hart song, "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'".
Awards for Best Action Drama and Best Action Performance for Martin.
Murderers' Row was followed by The Ambushers
(1967) and The Wrecking Crew
(1969). A fifth film, The Ravagers with Sharon Tate
reprising her Wrecking Crew character and Dean Martin doing a dual role, was announced but never produced. Martin refused to make The Ravagers so Columbia reportedly held up Martin's share of the profits on Murderers' Row.
The 1960s Helm spoofs seemed to become the template of the 1970s Bond films and in some cases Helm film setpiece
s were copied by the later Bonds. In Diamonds Are Forever
, SPECTRE
threatens the world with a heliobeam device from an orbiting satellite
. The electromagnetic demise of Ironhead in the film happens to the giant "Jaws" villain in The Spy Who Loved Me
, the hovercraft chase on sea and land reoccurs with a gadget filled gondola
in Moonraker
with that film's evil mastermind Hugo Drax
making jokes similar to Julian Wall.
Spy-fi
-Definition and characteristics:It often uses a secret agent or superspy whose mission is a showcase of science fiction elements such as technology and ideas used for extortion, plots for world domination or world destruction, futuristic weapons, gadgets and fast vehicles that can travel on land,...
film starring Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
and very loosely based upon the Matt Helm
Matt Helm
Matt Helm is a fictional character created by author Donald Hamilton. He is a U.S. government counter-agent—a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in spy thrillers.-The character and the series:The...
spy novel Murderers' Row
Murderers' Row (novel)
Murderers' Row is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton. It was the fifth novel featuring his creation Matt Helm, a Second World War assassin recruited as a counter-agent by a secret American agency...
by Donald Hamilton
Donald Hamilton
Donald Bengtsson Hamilton was a U.S. writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction but also crime fiction and Westerns such as The Big Country...
, which was published in 1962.
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
and Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
co-star in this sequel to The Silencers
The Silencers
The Silencers is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm.-Plot summary:...
.
Plot
The film begins with a shot of the United States CapitolUnited States Capitol
The United States Capitol is the meeting place of the United States Congress, the legislature of the federal government of the United States. Located in Washington, D.C., it sits atop Capitol Hill at the eastern end of the National Mall...
being destroyed. It turns out to have been a model at a demonstration of a heliobeam weapon in the headquarters of the Brotherhood of International Government and Order ("BIG O"). BIG O is a One World organisation with a goal of world domination
Hegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
that previously appeared in The Silencers
The Silencers (film)
The Silencers is the title of an American spy film spoof motion picture produced in 1966 and starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. It is only loosely based upon the novel The Silencers by Donald Hamilton, as well as another of Hamilton's Helm novels, Death of a Citizen.The film was the first of...
.
With the aid of a mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
, BIG O conducts a worldwide assassination campaign against various secret agents working for ICE (Intelligence Counter Espionage). Matt Helm fakes his own death, as in the next year's Bond film, You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
, that also would begin by faking the lead character's demise and having his funeral. Helm meets his "M"-type boss, Mac (James Gregory)
James Gregory (actor)
James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...
to receive his twin mission briefing. Helm is to track down the recently missing Dr. Solaris (Richard Eastham
Richard Eastham
Richard Eastham, born as Dickinson Swift Eastham , was an American actor of stage, film, and television and a concert singer known for his deep baritone voice.-Tombstone Territory:...
), who has developed a powerful heliobeam weapon that uses the concentrated power of sunlight in a beam capable of mass destruction. Helm is told if he can not rescue Solaris he is to kill him, and if captured to kill himself, lest BIG O brainwash him.
Posing as a Chicago gangster
Gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Some gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from mob and the suffix -ster....
named Jim Peters, an alias of "Lash" Petroni, Helm travels to the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...
to follow his only lead, Solaris's daughter, Suzie (Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret
Ann-Margret Olsson is a Swedish-American actress, singer and dancer whose professional name is Ann-Margret. She became famous for her starring roles in Bye Bye Birdie, Viva Las Vegas, The Cincinnati Kid, Carnal Knowledge, and Tommy...
).
Production
The film was the second of four produced by Albert R. BroccoliAlbert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
's former partner Irving Allen
Irving Allen
Irving Allen was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director. He won an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie Climbing the Matterhorn. In the early 1950s he formed Warwick Films with partner Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and relocated to England to leverage film making against a...
and Martin's Meadway-Claude Production company for Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
in the mid-1960s starring Martin as secret agent
Secret Agent
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll, and Robert Young...
Matt Helm. Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd
Euan Lloyd is a British film producer.He began his career directing short travelogue documentaries, starting with April in Portugal in 1954...
, a former Warwick Films
Warwick Films
Warwick Films was the name of a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in London...
publicity specialist and producer of The Poppy Is Also a Flower
The Poppy Is Also a Flower
The Poppy Is Also a Flower is an ABC made-for-television spy and anti-drug film. The film was directed by Terence Young and stars Senta Berger, Stephen Boyd, Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, and Marcello Mastroianni...
, assisted Allen in production chores.
Like its predecessor The Silencers
The Silencers
The Silencers is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm.-Plot summary:...
, it took a much more light-hearted approach to the source material; treating it more as a gadget-laden spoof
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
of James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
films than Hamilton's original serious spy story. Unlike Hamilton's world weary professional, Martin plays Helm with his own persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
; a fun-loving, wise-cracking alcoholic playboy.
Co-starring is Karl Malden
Karl Malden
Karl Malden was an American actor. In a career that spanned more than seven decades, he performed in such classic films as A Streetcar Named Desire, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, On the Waterfront and One-Eyed Jacks...
as Dr. Julian Wall, whom New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
describes as a "Kansas type Dr. No". Malden had the idea that his character speaking in a different accent every time he spoke would be amusing.
Also in the film are Tom Reese as his Oddjob-type henchman named "Ironhead" and Beverly Adams
Beverly Adams
Beverly Adams is a Canadian-born actress and author.-Early life and career:Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Adams moved to Burbank, California as a child. As a teen, she competed in and won beauty contests before becoming an actress. During her career, Adams appeared in various guest roles in television...
returns as secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
Lovey Kravezit, as do the Slaygirls, a group of beautiful and dangerous women. Columbia starlet
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
Camilla Sparv
Camilla Sparv
Camilla Sparv is a Swedish actress. She was briefly married to American film producer Robert Evans in 1965....
plays Malden's assistant Coco Duquette and Soon Tek-Oh makes a brief appearance as a Japanese agent killed in his bath.
The first script was by Oscar Saul, who had written The Silencers. Herbert Baker
Herbert Baker (screenwriter)
Herbert Baker born Herbert Abrahams in New York City 25 December 1920 died 30 June 1983 of cancer in Encino, California was a songwriter and screenwriter for television and films.- Biography :...
, who had received a screen credit after he wrote the final version of The Silencers script, was brought in to rewrite Saul's first draft of Murderers' Row and received sole credit. Baker had written several Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....
screenplays and was a writer for The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show
The Dean Martin Show is a TV variety-comedy series that ran from 1965 to 1974 for 264 episodes. It was broadcast by NBC and hosted by crooner Dean Martin...
.
The film was originally intended to be shot totally on location, but Martin, who also co-produced the film, refused to go to Europe. Second unit
Second unit
In film, the second unit is a team that shoots subsidiary footage for a motion picture. Its work is distinct from that of the first unit, which shoots all scenes involving principal actors...
teams shot sequences in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
and the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
for the hovercraft
Hovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
and helicopter sequences instead. The then new Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe
Saunders-Roe Limited was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works East Cowes, Isle of Wight.-History:The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliot Verdon Roe and John Lord took a controlling interest in the boat-builders S.E. Saunders...
SR.N6 hovercraft
Hovercraft
A hovercraft is a craft capable of traveling over surfaces while supported by a cushion of slow moving, high-pressure air which is ejected against the surface below and contained within a "skirt." Although supported by air, a hovercraft is not considered an aircraft.Hovercraft are used throughout...
appearing in the film's sea sequences (with the land chase through the streets of Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
and scenes with Martin using a mock up) was provided by Hoverwork Hovercraft as their first assignment with a Cushioncraft
Cushioncraft
Cushioncraft Ltd was a British engineering company, formed in 1960 as a division of Britten-Norman Ltd to develop/build hovercraft. Originally based at Bembridge Airport on the Isle of Wight, Cushioncraft later moved to the Duver Works at St...
CC5 appearing as well.
Henry Levin
Henry Levin
Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. He broke into film in 1943 as a dialogue director for the films Dangerous Blondes and Appointment in Berlin for Columbia Pictures...
who had previously directed the Dino DeLaurentiis superspy film Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die for Columbia directed and would also direct the following Matt Helm film The Ambushers. The titles
Film title design
Film Title Design is and always has been an essential part of any motion picture. Film Title Design was originally a motionless piece of artwork called Title Art....
are again by Wayne Fitzgerald
Wayne Fitzgerald
Wayne Fitzgerald is an American main title designer. Over a career that spanned 55 years, he designed close to a thousand motion picture and television main and end title sequences for such directors as Francis Ford Coppola, John Huston, Mike Nichols, Robert Redford, Roman Polanski, Arthur Penn,...
.
Like its predecessor, the film is full of jokes, bizarre secret weapon
Secret weapon
A secret weapon is either a concealed weapon, or a weapon that is not officially confirmed by the owner.In terms of large-scale weapons, a secret weapon may refer to a newly-designed or invented weapon that the government denies the existence of...
s like a modified AR-7
AR-7
The ArmaLite AR-7 Explorer, designed by M-16 inventor Eugene Stoner, is a semi-automatic .22 Long Rifle rifle developed from the AR-5 adopted by the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and aircrew survival weapon. Its intended markets today are backpackers and other recreational users as a take-down utility...
pistol configuration that only fires ten seconds after the trigger is pulled, plenty of beautiful women, and fashionable mod 1966 costumes by Moss Mabry
Moss Mabry
Moss Mabry was a famed Costume designer who lived from . He started off designing costumes for his high school plays, but actually studied mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. He later went to Hollywood to attend art school, eventually signing a contract with Warner Bros....
. Karl Malden's character uses a Lancejet
Lancejet
Lancejet may refer to:*A variation on the Gyrojet, rocket-firing underwater firearm*A brand of pressure washer nozzle...
Gyrojet
Gyrojet
The Gyrojet is a family of unique firearms developed in the 1960s named for the method of gyroscopically stabilizing its projectiles. Gyrojets fire small rockets, rather than inert bullets, which have little recoil and do not require a heavy barrel to resist the pressure of the combustion gases. ...
spearfiring pistol and an experimental twelve barrel Gyrojet pepperbox type pistol. Helm kills a guard with a dart fired out of a cigarette; a weapon also used in You Only Live Twice. Martin's Helm drove a 1966 Ford Thunderbird
Ford Thunderbird
The Thunderbird , is an automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company in the United States over eleven model generations from 1955 through 2005...
landau .
Music
The film scoreFilm score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
is by Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin
Lalo Schifrin is an Argentine composer, pianist and conductor. He is best known for his film and TV scores, such as the "Theme from Mission: Impossible". He has received four Grammy Awards and six Oscar nominations...
, replacing Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein
Elmer Bernstein was an American composer and conductor best known for his many film scores. In a career which spanned fifty years, he composed music for hundreds of film and television productions...
. In addition to the driving main theme and spy time score, Schifrin includes some jazz pieces with one having a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Bud Shank
Bud Shank
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...
as well as a song with lyrics by Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...
("I'm Not the Marrying Kind") for Martin that, due to contractual rights, didn't appear on the soundtrack album
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
. It did however appear on Martin's LP, Happiness is Dean Martin.
Billy Strange
Billy Strange
William E. "Billy" Strange is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor.-Recordings and songwriting:...
slightly changed Schifrin's main title to be an "original" composition entitled "Spanish Spy" on his James Bond Double Feature album.
The pop group Dino, Desi & Billy (which featured Martin's son, Dean Paul Martin
Dean Paul Martin
Dean Paul Martin was an American entertainer, noted as a tennis player, a singer and actor, and a military pilot.-Early life and career:...
who calls Helm "Dad" in the film) make an appearance and sing the Boyce & Hart song, "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'".
Reception
Released only ten months after The Silencers, Murderers' Row was the eleventh highest grossing film of the year. The film received 1967 second place LaurelProducers Guild of America
Producers Guild of America is a trade organization representing television producers, film producers and New Media producers in the United States. The PGA's membership includes over 4,700 members of the producing establishment worldwide...
Awards for Best Action Drama and Best Action Performance for Martin.
Murderers' Row was followed by The Ambushers
The Ambushers (film)
The Ambushers is a 1967 spy comedy film filmed in Acapulco starring Dean Martin, Senta Berger and Janice Rule. It is loosely based upon the novel of the same title by Donald Hamilton....
(1967) and The Wrecking Crew
The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)
The Wrecking Crew, released in 1969 and starring Dean Martin, Elke Sommer, and Sharon Tate is the fourth and final film in a series of American comedy-spy-fi theatrical releases featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm....
(1969). A fifth film, The Ravagers with Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...
reprising her Wrecking Crew character and Dean Martin doing a dual role, was announced but never produced. Martin refused to make The Ravagers so Columbia reportedly held up Martin's share of the profits on Murderers' Row.
The 1960s Helm spoofs seemed to become the template of the 1970s Bond films and in some cases Helm film setpiece
Setpiece
In film production, a setpiece is a scene or sequence of scenes the execution of which requires serious logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term setpiece is often used more broadly to describe any important dramatic or comedic highpoint in a film or story, particularly...
s were copied by the later Bonds. In Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (film)
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...
, SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
threatens the world with a heliobeam device from an orbiting satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
. The electromagnetic demise of Ironhead in the film happens to the giant "Jaws" villain in The Spy Who Loved Me
The Spy Who Loved Me (film)
The Spy Who Loved Me is a spy film, the tenth film in the James Bond series, and the third to star Roger Moore as the fictional secret agent James Bond. It was directed by Lewis Gilbert and the screenplay was written by Christopher Wood and Richard Maibaum...
, the hovercraft chase on sea and land reoccurs with a gadget filled gondola
Gondola
The gondola is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian Lagoon. For centuries gondolas were the chief means of transportation and most common watercraft within Venice. In modern times the iconic boats still have a role in public transport in...
in Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
with that film's evil mastermind Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by...
making jokes similar to Julian Wall.
External links
- original teaser trailerTeaser trailerA teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnQ8xX3-k8