Sunday, March 20, 2016

Movie review - Matt Helm#3 - "The Ambushers" (1967) *

The Matt Helm series really goes for the lecherous approach in this one with double entendre after double entredre - it really could have been called Carry On Mat Helm. It has a decent enough set up - pilot Janice Rule crashes in the jungle with her memory lost and she and Dean Martin/Matt pose as husband and wife to find out what's going on.

But it's hard going. Janice Rule doesn't have the pizzazz that Ann Margret and Stella Stevens bought to the first two movies in the series. It also lacks a decent villain - Albert Salmi is dull.

The pacing is slow. I did like Matt Helm on a bike chasing the UFO which was on a train at the end. Santa Berger is fun as a femme fetale. There's a villain with dyed face and topi hat reminiscent of Will Ferrell in the first and second Austin Powers.

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