The Ambushers ** (1967, Dean Martin, Senta Berger, Janice Rule, Beverly Adams) – Classic Movie Review 6375

Director Henry Levin’s 1967 movie is the third of the four Matt Helm spy spoof films, following the hits The Silencers and Murderers’ Row (1966).

Only one man – Dean Martin’s fondly remembered Sixties top-secret American agent Matt Helm – can save America’s first flying saucer from the wicked clutches of super-villain Jose Ortega (Albert Salmi) and his powerful hijacking laser beam.

The Ambushers has its share of laughs, fisticuffs and lovely ladies (Senta Berger, Janice Rule, Beverly Adams), as well as a lot of mugging and smirking to try to compensate for Herbert Baker’s relentlessly silly screenplay (based on the book by Donald Hamilton), and the over-indulgent handling by Levin.

Martin remains likeable and naturally amusing in this colourful Swinging Sixties snapshot.

Also in the cast are Kurt Kasznar, James Gregory, Roy Jenson, David Mauro, John Brascia and Linda Foster.

It is shot in Technicolor by Burnett Guffey and Edward Colman, produced by Irving Allen and scored by Hugo Montenegro.

It is Adams’s third and final appearance as Helm’s secretary, Lovey Kravezit. She appeared in Presley’s Roustabout and Girl Happy, and in How to Stuff a Wild Bikini and Torture Garden.

One more to go: The Wrecking Crew.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6375

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