1h 42min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 18 February 1966 | Color, ws
Director: Phil Karlson
Stars: Dean Martin, Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi.
Robert Sidney ... choreographer
Watched online, blurry.
12 songs performed in the Soundtracks.
I haven't watched much James Bond, but this would appear to be imitating that, but infusing a bit of humor and a bit of singing.
Things are getting smuttier by the month, and the MPAA rating system doesn't start until Nov 1, '68. Here we get some strippers during the opening credits, and one takes off her bikini bottom, hiding herself behind a large feather boa.
Cyd Charisse is here for a short time, also dancing & singing at this strip club, but not removing much. Nonetheless, one of her costumes was pretty tacky, although it revealed no skin. She gets killed mid-grind.
Also here briefly is Beverly Adams, who will apparently have more to do in the next Matt Helm flick.
Very brief appearance by Nancy Kovak, who gets killed off after only a few lines.
The plot is typical evil "genius" stuff, with some enemy taking over our firing of a test atomic missile, and DM is racing against time toward that scheduled launch. (Why can't our government delay it if they know it's at risk?)
Our side, including DM, can't seem know which people are agents. They think an innocent is an enemy agent, and don't realize one of their own is a double agent.
This isn't even appreciated by IMDb'rs, notoriously young males who should like this. The rating is 6.1 with 2k+ votes.
Columbia, dir. Karlson; 5
