Murderers' Row

In this second Matt Helm installment, we begin to see the law of diminishing returns kick in. The Silencers already began to show signs of a faltering franchise, and that was only the first film!

Again, like its predecessor, Dean Martin appears to love his job. He’s effectively playing himself. He appears to does what he wants and at times I wouldn’t have been surprised if he just ad libbed the entire role himself. Of course he didn’t but he pulls off his performance that way.

Obviously Dean returns in this film to portray Matt Helm. Joining him in this adventure is Ann-Margret, as Suzie, a woman that gets mixed up in whatever nonsensical plot Helm is pursuing. James Gregory returns again as MacDonald.

I have been sitting here for about 20 minutes and have been unable to sum up this film any better than the summary provided on IMDb:

The handsome top agent Matt dies a tragic death in his bath tub - the women mourn about the loss. However it's just faked for his latest top-secret mission: He shall find Dr. Solaris, inventor of the Helium laser beam, powerful enough to destroy a whole continent. It seems Dr. Solaris has been kidnapped by a criminal organization.

That pretty much says it all.

Out of the entire film, I found the opening title probably was the best part of the entire film. Unfortunately that’s saying something. The film is like a train wreck, but it's a fun one to look at.

Next up, The Ambushers.

** 1/2 out of *****