Murderers' Row (1966)

**_Britain has James Bond while America has (the inferior) Matt Helm_** An American ICE agent (Dean Martin) fakes his own death and goes to the French Riviera to track down the creator of a device that uses the concentrated power of sunlight for mass destruction. A diabolical organization has taken the scientist captive with intent to use his weapon for world domination. Karl Malden plays the leader of BIG O. "Murderer’s Row” (1966) was the second of four Matt Helm movies released in three years from winter, 1966, to winter, 1969. The franchise was obviously inspired by the great success of the first four James Bond flicks from 1962-1965. Unlike the books (and Bond), the tone is lighthearted and spoofy with Martin doing his wink-at-the-camera act, similar to the contemporaneous Derek Flint flicks with James Coburn, not to mention Raquel Welch’s “Fathom” (1967). The tagline for the first film in the Helm series, “The Silencers,” was “guns, gadgets, girls,” but a more accurate description would be “guns, gadgets, girls and booze.” Naturally these are worthwhile flicks to experience the fun, colorful side of the 60s, but since the spy exploits are played as a low-key joke, there’s no sense of danger and, worse, the story simply isn’t compelling, at least in “Murderer’s Row.” Yeah, there are several attractive females on hand with Ann-Margret being the most charismatic and alluring, but they’re all so thin and unshapely they’re kinda meh. Don’t get me wrong, Ann is a top-of-the-line beauty, as witnessed in Elvis’ “Viva Las Vegas” (1964), but she obviously lost weight in the two years leading up to this flick. It’s a shame because she lost her shapely appeal. However, if you prefer women with stick figures, you won’t have a problem. These fun 007-imitation flicks from the 60s all came & went and are forgotten, while the James Bond franchise marches on decade after decade. There’s a reason for this. The film runs 1 hour, 45 minutes. While second unit teams shot sequences in Villefranche-sur-Mer (France), Monte Carlo (Monaco) and the Isle of Wight for the hovercraft and helicopter scenes (England), Martin refused to go to Europe so all of his scenes were done in Hollywood. GRADE: C