Monday, March 21, 2016

Movie review - Matt Helm#4 - "The Wrecking Crew" (1969) *1/2

The fourth and last (to date) Matt Helm film is tired, creaking along at a slow pace, unsure of where to pitch its jokes. Say what you will about the first one or two movies, they knew what they were - over the top Bond spoofs which played up Dean Martin's image as a drunken, lecherous crooner. This one they seem reluctant to go there, but don't know where else to aim either.

It has the benefit of Nigel Green as the villain plus some stunning girls - Sharon Tate as a klutzy assistant, Elke Sommer as the femme fetale, Nancy Kwan as another femme fetale.

But it's slow and dull and Tate, for all her beauty doesn't have the  spark of Stevens or Ann Margret. By the time it stumbled to an end I was falling asleep and when the end credits promised Helm's return in The Ravagers (never made) I was depressed.

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