The Silencers (1966)

Director: Phil Karlson

Starring: Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Victor Buono, James Gregory

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: Follow Matt Helm secret agent from bedroom to bedlam with guns, girls and dynamite!

Plot: In this, the first Matt Helm movie, we see Matt Helm coaxed out of semi-retirement by an attractive ex-partner. It seems that the evil Big O organization has a nefarious plan called "Operation: Fallout." If this plan comes to fruition, Big O will explode an atomic bomb over Alamagordo, NM, and start WWIII. Only Matt Helm can stop them.



My Rating: 6/10

Would I watch it again? I'd rather make a martini and remember the good times...

I love Dean Martin. I...LOVE...Dean Martin. He was "The Man". No one was as natural and smooth as a performer on screen or stage as Dean. He always looks like he's having fun and when he's in something lighthearted like this it's even better. He's clearly having a good time. I just wish I could have as much fun watching this as he had making it. But then a 6-figure paycheck at the end would have helped me a bit.

I remember seeing this a gazillion years ago and my opinion hasn't changed. There are some funny-ass moments (a bunch with one of my favorite character actors, James Gregory) but the few gems we get don't do enough to get me as comfortably through the 102 minute run time as I would have liked. He's just oozing with charisma that it's a shame he wasn't given more funny bits. Dean is a very relaxed performer and this is a very relaxed film. It's not really a bad film. It's just that it's not really a good one, either; not as good as it should have been and for a
film that spawned 3 sequels.

Great title song.