The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)
Encyclopedia : T : TH : THE : The Wrecking Crew (1969 film)
The Wrecking Crew, released in 1969 and starring Dean Martin and Elke Sommer, is the fourth and final film in a series of American comedy-spy-fi theatrical releases featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm. As with the previous three movies (The Silencers, Murderers' Row and The Ambushers), the film is based only loosely upon Donald Hamilton's original storyline (the novel was first published in 1960) and takes great liberties with the plot and characters, being developed as a spoof of the James Bond films.
In a plotline reminiscent of the Bond novel/film, Goldfinger, Helm is assigned by his secret agency, ICE, to bring down an evil count who is trying to collapse the world economy by stealing gold. Along the way, Helm is reluctantly partnered with a British agent played by Sharon Tate in one of her final appearances on film before her murder at the hands of Charles Manson's followers. Chuck Norris makes his film debut in a small role.
Also appearing in the film are Nancy Kwan as Yu-Rang, Tina Louise as Lola Medina, and Nigel Green as the villainous Count Contini. Macdonald, Helm's chief, is played by John Larch in this film, replacing John Gregory, who played the role in the other three films. This is the only film in the series not to feature Helm's secretary, Lovesy Kravesit.
Critical response to this film varies, with some calling it the worst of the series, and others calling it the best due to its reduced reliance on outlandish gadgets and storylines. It is also notable for the appearance of Tate.
The film ends with the announcement of a fifth Matt Helm film, The Ravagers (which would have been based upon Hamilton's 1964 novel of the same title). However, Dean Martin declined to return for another film in the face of a declining box office, and the project was cancelled. Also, a "Tony Rome Meets Matt Helm" movie with Frank Sinatra was bandied about, but the last films in both series flopped, which stopped that. Several years later, a Matt Helm TV series featuring Tony Franciosa would be attempted, but in a much more serious vein, and it was unsuccessful. As of 2006, early planning for a new Matt Helm-based film was underway through DreamWorks.
Cast
- Matt Helm: Dean Martin
- Linka Karensky: Elke Sommer
- Freya Carlson: Sharon Tate
- Yu-Rang: Nancy Kwan
- Count Contini: Nigel Green
- Lola Medina: Tina Louise
- MacDonald: John Larch
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.