The Ambushers
Brief Synopsis
When an experimental flying saucer crashes, secret agent Matt Helm has to bring back the secret weapons hidden on board.
Cast & Crew
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Henry Levin
Director
Dean Martin
Matt Helm
Senta Berger
Francesca Madeiros
Janice Rule
Sheila Sommers
James Gregory
MacDonald
Albert Salmi
José Ortega
Film Details
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Action
Comedy
Spy
Release Date
Jan
1967
Premiere Information
Chicago opening: 20 Dec 1967
Production Company
Meadway-Claude Productions #3
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States
Location
Mexico
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Ambushers by Donald Hamilton (New York, 1963).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 42m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Synopsis
The first U. S. flying saucer sent into space is sabotaged by enemy agent José Ortega, and the pilot, Sheila Sommers, is tortured, whereupon sleuth-photographer Matt Helm is called in to investigate. Matt and Sheila pose as husband and wife and fly to Acapulco, where they are hosted by Quintana, a local brewery tycoon. After discovering that Quintana is working for Ortega, they are nearly killed by the beer baron's henchmen. Francesca Madeiros, a secret agent for another foreign power, helps them escape but is duped into leading Helm and Sheila to Ortega's hideout in the Mexican jungle. Although Francesca attempts to pit Ortega against the two Americans, she is eventually killed by his right-hand man, Nassim. Ortega then follows Sheila into the grounded saucer, unaware that when radioactive controls are set off only a woman can survive the withering blast. Ortega and Quintana are both finally killed, but not before the latter has trapped Sheila in the flying saucer and set it rolling down a railroad track. Helm rescues her, however, with the help of his ray gun and a speedy motorcycle.
Director
Henry Levin
Director
Cast
Dean Martin
Matt Helm
Senta Berger
Francesca Madeiros
Janice Rule
Sheila Sommers
James Gregory
MacDonald
Albert Salmi
José Ortega
Kurt Kasznar
Quintana
Beverly Adams
Lovey Kravezit
David Mauro
Nassim
Roy Jenson
Karl
John Brascia
Rocco
Linda Foster
Linda
Yumido Ishizuka
Karin Fedderson
Ulla Lindstrom
Marilyn Suka
Lena Cederham
Susannah Moore
Terri Hughes
Penny Brahms
Kyra Bester
Jan Watson
Annabella Incontrera
Dee Duffy
Alena Johnston
Slaygirls
Marilyn Tindall
John Indrisano
Crew
Irving Allen
Company
Irving Allen
Producer
Herbert Baker
Composer
Herbert Baker
Screenwriter
Tony Braun
2nd unit Camera
Oleg Cassini
Dresses & Costume
Edward Colman
Director of Photography
Sy Devore
Dean martin's Wardrobe designed by
James Z. Flaster
Sound
Max Frankel
Props master
Burnett Guffey
Director of Photography
James Havens
2nd unit Director
Jack Haynes
Sound
Virginia Jones
Hairstyles
Harold F. Kress
Film Editor
Ben Lane
Makeup Supervisor
Danny Lee
Special Effects
Harold Lewis
2nd unit Assistant
Mary Jane Mangler
Choreography
Jack Marta
2nd unit Camera
Hugo Montenegro
Composer
Hugo Montenegro
Music comp & Conductor
Douglas Netter
Associate Producer
Howard Pine
Unit Production Manager
Charles J. Rice
Sound Supervisor
Jerome M. Siegel
Assistant Director
Richard Spero
Set Decoration
Joe Wright
Art Director
Videos
Movie Clip
Hosted Intro
Film Details
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Action
Comedy
Spy
Release Date
Jan
1967
Premiere Information
Chicago opening: 20 Dec 1967
Production Company
Meadway-Claude Productions #3
Distribution Company
Columbia Pictures
Country
United States
Location
Mexico
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Ambushers by Donald Hamilton (New York, 1963).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 42m
Sound
Mono
Color
Color (Technicolor)
Articles
The Ambushers
When an experimental flying saucer crashes, secret agent Matt Helm has to bring back the secret weapons hidden on board.
The Ambushers
When an experimental flying saucer crashes, secret agent Matt Helm has to bring back the secret weapons hidden on board.
Matt Helm Lounge Set - The Matt Helm Lounge Box Set on DVD
Helm works for a government agency known as I.C.E. (Intelligence and Counter Espionage), the American equivalent of MI-5, though he only works on the rare occasion that the agency can get him to set aside his extracurricular activities: drinking, womanizing, and lounging in a circular bed that will, at the click of a button, glide forward and dump him into an indoor pool.
The first film in the series, The Silencers, finds Helm called out of "retirement" by I.C.E. chief MacDonald (James Gregory of Barney Miller) to track down the head of the evil "Big O" (Bureau of International Government and Order). Big O is lead by Tung-Tze (Victor Buono), who has stolen the timetables for the U.S. Government's underground nuclear tests and plans instigate "Operation Fallout," in which he will use a device of his own design to amplify the blasts and set off World War III! With the help of fellow-agent and certified klutz Gail Hendrix (Stella Stevens), Helm races to stop Tung-Tze before he destroys the world.
Murderers' Row has Helm on the track of a kidnapped inventor Norman Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has created a death ray that can incinerate an entire city. The trail leads to Blofeld-wannabe Julian Wall (Karl Malden), who intends to use the ray to wipe out Washington, D.C. With the help of Solaris' groovy go-go dancing daughter Suzie (Ann-Margaret), Helm infiltrates Wall's remote hideaway to free the doctor and stop Wall. In The Ambushers, yet another criminal mastermind is on hand to steal America's newest superweapon, which just happens to be a flying saucer. Along with sexy fellow agent Sheila Sommers (Janice Rule), Helm fights to retrieve the saucer from evil overlord Leopold Caselius (Albert Salmi) and femme-fatale Francesca Madeiros (Senta Berger), who comes equipped with drugged lipstick.
The last film in the series, The Wrecking Crew, features Nigel Green as Count Massimo Contini, another criminal mastermind who has successfully stolen a trainload of gold bullion, leaving the U.S. and England on the brink of economic collapse. Along with gorgeous but accident prone agent Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate), Helm is dispatched to attempt to retrieve the gold,. Fully aware of Helm's proclivities, Contini sends out two beautiful accomplices, Linka Karensky (Elke Sommer) and Wen Yu-Rang (Nancy Kwan), to get rid of him.
The Matt Helm series is a bewildering quartet of films for the time in which they were made: with the British invasion already having transformed the music industry virtually overnight, and the country rocked by social upheaval as American youth rebelled against the social order, Martin and his Rat Pack cronies were becoming increasingly anachronistic. While buddy Frank Sinatra was attempting to turn back the clock with his "Tony Rome" films (Tony Rome, Lady in Cement), which at least had the courage of their convictions, the Matt Helm films try to meld the Pack's cool, gin-soaked personae with the youth-oriented "mod" world. The result is something like putting Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly together in Xanadu. The only possible appeal was to the quickly dwindling backyard luau crowd, who had long since worn out their copies of Arthur Lyman's Taboo.
Martin, who was capable of some fine acting, tried here to bring the same lackadaisical, laid-back charm to the big screen that audiences were enjoying on his popular weekly television variety show, produced at the same time as these films: but what worked so well on the small screen is disastrous on the big screen, particularly in a genre that requires a more high-wattage performance to make it funny. Martin sleep-walks through the films as if he were laying back on his television couch and crooning a chorus of "Welcome to My World."
And the passage of time has been even less kind to the series: at a distance of forty years what little charm the films had to 60s audiences has long since been forgotten. The best of the lot is The Silencers, mainly due to Stella Stevens' hilarious performance as the goofy Hendrix. Janice Rule nearly steals The Ambushers from Martin, if for no other reason than that she appears to have been awake during the filming; and the underrated Elke Sommer seems to be the only one of the bunch with a full grasp of what kind of film she's in.
In the end, the best that can be said about the Mat Helm series is that they are marginally better than the Salt & Pepper films.
For more information about Matt Helm Lounge, visit Sony Pictures. To order Matt Helm Lounge, go to TCM Shopping.
by Fred Hunter
Matt Helm Lounge Set - The Matt Helm Lounge Box Set on DVD
By 1966 the James Bond franchise had already enjoyed four straight
box-office hits, so it was probably inevitable that the suave,
unstoppable British agent and lady's man would be satirized. The year
would see not one, but two major film spoofs: the sprightly In Like
Flint starring James Coburn, and the far inferior. The
Silencers, starring Dean Martin as American agent Matt Helm.
Amazingly, the lackluster Helm film would spawn three sequels of its
own. The four films a now collected together in Sony's new value
priced set Matt Helm Lounge.
Helm works for a government agency known as I.C.E. (Intelligence and
Counter Espionage), the American equivalent of MI-5, though he only
works on the rare occasion that the agency can get him to set aside
his extracurricular activities: drinking, womanizing, and lounging in
a circular bed that will, at the click of a button, glide forward and
dump him into an indoor pool.
The first film in the series, The Silencers, finds Helm called
out of "retirement" by I.C.E. chief MacDonald (James Gregory of
Barney Miller) to track down the head of the evil "Big O"
(Bureau of International Government and Order). Big O is lead by
Tung-Tze (Victor Buono), who has stolen the timetables for the U.S.
Government's underground nuclear tests and plans instigate "Operation
Fallout," in which he will use a device of his own design to amplify
the blasts and set off World War III! With the help of fellow-agent
and certified klutz Gail Hendrix (Stella Stevens), Helm races to stop
Tung-Tze before he destroys the world.
Murderers' Row has Helm on the track of a kidnapped inventor Norman Solaris (Richard Eastham), who has created a death ray that can incinerate an entire city. The trail leads to Blofeld-wannabe Julian Wall (Karl Malden), who intends to use the ray to wipe out Washington, D.C. With the help of Solaris' groovy go-go dancing daughter Suzie (Ann-Margaret), Helm infiltrates Wall's remote hideaway to free the
doctor and stop Wall. In The Ambushers, yet another criminal
mastermind is on hand to steal America's newest superweapon, which just happens to be a flying saucer. Along with sexy fellow agent Sheila Sommers (Janice Rule), Helm fights to retrieve the saucer from evil overlord Leopold Caselius (Albert Salmi) and femme-fatale Francesca Madeiros (Senta Berger), who comes equipped with drugged lipstick.
The last film in the series, The Wrecking Crew, features Nigel
Green as Count Massimo Contini, another criminal mastermind who has
successfully stolen a trainload of gold bullion, leaving the U.S. and
England on the brink of economic collapse. Along with gorgeous but
accident prone agent Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate), Helm is dispatched
to attempt to retrieve the gold,. Fully aware of Helm's proclivities,
Contini sends out two beautiful accomplices, Linka Karensky (Elke
Sommer) and Wen Yu-Rang (Nancy Kwan), to get rid of him.
The Matt Helm series is a bewildering quartet of films for the time in
which they were made: with the British invasion already having
transformed the music industry virtually overnight, and the country
rocked by social upheaval as American youth rebelled against the
social order, Martin and his Rat Pack cronies were becoming
increasingly anachronistic. While buddy Frank Sinatra was attempting
to turn back the clock with his "Tony Rome" films (Tony Rome, Lady in
Cement), which at least had the courage of their convictions, the
Matt Helm films try to meld the Pack's cool, gin-soaked personae with
the youth-oriented "mod" world. The result is something like putting
Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly together in Xanadu. The only
possible appeal was to the quickly dwindling backyard luau crowd, who
had long since worn out their copies of Arthur Lyman's Taboo.
Martin, who was capable of some fine acting, tried here to bring the
same lackadaisical, laid-back charm to the big screen that audiences
were enjoying on his popular weekly television variety show, produced
at the same time as these films: but what worked so well on the small
screen is disastrous on the big screen, particularly in a genre that
requires a more high-wattage performance to make it funny. Martin
sleep-walks through the films as if he were laying back on his
television couch and crooning a chorus of "Welcome to My World."
And the passage of time has been even less kind to the series: at a
distance of forty years what little charm the films had to 60s
audiences has long since been forgotten. The best of the lot is
The Silencers, mainly due to Stella Stevens' hilarious
performance as the goofy Hendrix. Janice Rule nearly steals The
Ambushers from Martin, if for no other reason than that she
appears to have been awake during the filming; and the underrated
Elke Sommer seems to be the only one of the bunch with a full grasp of
what kind of film she's in.
In the end, the best that can be said about the Mat Helm series is
that they are marginally better than the Salt & Pepper films.
For more information about Matt Helm Lounge, visit Sony Pictures. To order Matt Helm Lounge, go to
TCM Shopping.
by Fred Hunter
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Location scenes filmed in Mexico.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States December 20, 1967
Released in United States Winter December 1, 1967
Re-released in United States on Video April 16, 1996
Re-released in United States on Video April 16, 1996
Released in United States Winter December 1, 1967
Released in United States December 20, 1967
