The Silencers (1966)

Retired agent Matt Helm is re-activated in order to stop an evil organization from exploding an atom bomb over the USA and starting WWIII.

Director:

Phil Karlson

Writers:

Donald Hamilton (novels), Oscar Saul (screenplay)

Stars:

Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dean Martin	...	Matt Helm
Stella Stevens	...	Gail Hendricks
Daliah Lavi	...	Tina
Victor Buono	...	Tung-Tze
Arthur O'Connell	...	Joe Wigman
Robert Webber	...	Sam Gunther
James Gregory	...	MacDonald
Nancy Kovack	...	Barbara
Roger C. Carmel	...	Andreyev
Cyd Charisse	...	Sarita
Beverly Adams	...	Lovey Kravezit
Richard Devon	...	Domino
David Bond	...	Dr. Naldi
John Reach	...	Traynor (scenes deleted)
Robert Phillips	...	1st Armed Man

Storyline

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 Alamogordo, NM, and start WWIII. Only Matt Helm can stop them.

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Plot Keywords:

woman wearing only a man's shirt | 1960s | murderess | woman murders a man | woman murders a woman | 

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Taglines:

The Slaygirls will slay you!

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Crime | Music | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 March 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

El agente secreto Matt Helm

Filming Locations:

New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Meadway-Claude Productions Company (I) (II)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The gorgeous statuesque blond stripper in the opening title sequence is dancer Larri Thomas who would later portray Henrietta Hippo on TV's New Zoo Revue in the early 1970s.

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Goofs

One of the guards is shot, and we see the exit wound on his back. But when he turns toward the camera, before falling, he shows that there is no corresponding entrance wound.

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Quotes

Matt Helm: [picking up the phone] Wrong hacienda.

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Crazy Credits

Coming up next Matt Helm meets Lovey Kravezit in Murderers' Row

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Connections

Referenced in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

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Soundtracks

I'm in the Dream
Parody lyrics by Herbert Baker
Sung by Dean Martin

User Reviews

"It happened down in Santiago..."

I recently bought the DVD, and I forgot how much fun it was. It's not rocket science at all, and one could argue that even as an obvious spy spoof (in the best Bond and Flint traditions) it hiccups a bit throughout its own pretensions: Dean Martin's photographer-as-spy is properly cool, but there's a fine line between being laid-back and appearing to sleep on camera. (I could also say something about a modern audience being more than a bit startled at the immense objectifying of women throughout the whole film, but society is currently enjoying a renaissance of all things politically INcorrect and telling the rest of us to shut up- so I'll shut up.) Martin's female co-stars are all a smörgåsbord of beauty and sex appeal- every last one of them, but the one who seems to have emerged with the strongest impression is Stella Stevens' accident-prone klutz (whose airhead personality got on my nerves after a while, but I cannot deny that she looked fantastic as a redhead). For me, I preferred the enigma that is Daliah Lavi (a black-haired siren of Mideastern gorgeousness), who emerges a double agent and semi-lover of Helm's. The film does two brilliant things which take its visual appeal to dizzying heights: It launches the film with clever opening credits which peek under a bevy of gorgeous strippers, each doing a 'legitimate' strip-tease (no true nudity). Ending the strip parade is the film's other secret weapon: Cyd Charisse. I love that TPTB had the foresight to acknowledge a younger and older demographic at the same time- while simultaneously spotlighting one of filmdom's greatest dancers in a cameo (at the age of 45)- with the longest, most gorgeous legs in history. After singing the title song Charisse emerges a second time about 37 minutes into the film (in an important plot point) to perform a stunning dance in a Vegas nightclub to the Vikki Carr song "In Santiago-" then disappears much too quickly. Otherwise, there is a lot of fun with Martin poking fun at his own persona: many songs become sexual double-entendre, an audio cameo by Sinatra is quickly nixed, and so forth.