Murderers' Row (1966)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

A new villain by the name of "Julian Wall" (Karl Malden) is planning to destroy Washington D.C. on behalf of the secret criminal organization known as the "Big O". To do this he has captured an American scientist named "Norman Solaris" (Richard Eastham) and is trying to force him to complete work on a special solar weapon called a "super helio beam". At the same time, Julian gives orders to kill the world's top agents and Matt Helm (Dean Martin) is on that list. Fortunately, Matt survives the assassination attempt and uses this event to fake his demise in order to give him an edge in his assignment to rescue Norman Solaris. Since the only lead seems to be an ore deposit near Monte Carlo, that's where he starts his investigation. Now, rather than spoil the story for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this is a fairly decent action film. The nifty gadgets and clever one-liners Matt Helm throws out were really entertaining. Likewise, I thought that Ann-Margret (as "Suzie") was absolutely gorgeous. Additionally, both Camilla Sparv ("Coco Duquette") and Beverly Adams ("Lovey Kravezit") also provided some nice scenery too. Unfortunately, the overall acting wasn't that great and the film seemed a little dull in some places. Along with that, this movie definitely felt a bit dated and even though I am fond of this particular time-period, it started to get old and clichéd after awhile. All things considered I give it an average rating.

Some people just don't get the Matt Helm movies. They are enjoyable over the top spoofs of the spy genre and would have been as effective if the actors were replaced with Gerry Anderson puppets. Nobody was out for Oscar recognition here, just 100 minutes of enjoyably daft entertainment. Murderers Row seems to be about 50% second unit shooting (with doubles) but is still more enjoyable then any recent Bond film. No gritty realism or stupid back stories here. It could have been improved if the score had been better, too many scenes, especially the car chase, are under scored and the movie does sag a bit in the middle, but overall it is undemanding entertainment if you are in the right mood.

"Murderer's Row" is one of those rare sequels that's actually better than it's predecessor. That's not saying much, however, as the predecessor is basically a soft-core porn film minus the nudity. This movie is a step up in most ways, having better direction, a more coherent plot (Which is to say it has a plot, something the former film mostly lacked), and more interesting locations and subject matter. Certainly it's a far more 'watchable' film than the first one in the series, but as with all the Matt Helm flicks, it kind of falls apart in the middle.Ann Margaret is drop-dead gorgeous in this movie, and very energetic, however the scenes of her dancing in a disco just go on way the hell too long, and the producers seem undecided as to whether they want her to be the love interest for Dean/Helm or if they want her to be a poor, innocent lamb that he rescues. (She has a boyfriend character who shows up awkwardly throughout the film, as if to point out that nothing is going on between the sex kitten and the dirty old man). Oddly, Helm has fairly few romantic interludes with women in this film, and aside from Ann, none of them really make much of an impression. This film seems to be going out of it's way to avoid being as unrelentingly naughty as it's predecessor. Ann's character herself is rather incoherent and implausible, there's not a lot of acting involved there, but she lights up the screen when she's on it. Karl Malden is fun to watch simply because he seems to keep forgetting he's foreign in the movie, and wanders in and out of a vague accent. Martin himself is more consistent in this film than in the previous one, and endlessly likable as ever.There's something that should be really really cool in the last third of the film - a chase sequence between two (real) hovercraft, but, alas, it's shot so blandly (And without accompanying music!) that it just kind of kills all the energy in the film. This is strange, since it's obviously supposed to be the movie's centerpiece.In essence this film is kind of an outgrowth of the Rat Pack's mostly-unfortunate habit of making what more-or-less amounts to "High concept home movies" and then releasing them theatrically. It's not bad stuff, it succeeds mainly on the amiability of it's stars, but after all is said and done you don't have much else to show for it.

There's just one main reason to see this film.....ANN-MARGRET'S FABULOUSLY FANTASTIC dancing, and her flashy swingin 60's costumes! Other then that, It's your typical Matt Helm film. Lots of confusing action..Matt gets the girl.. E.T.C. But it definitely showcases A-M as the ultimate triple threat that she is! LUV A-M, she's the greatest! Def. for A-M and Dean Martin fans