"Murderer's Row" (19669), like all four of Dino's Matt Helmers, is so bad it's good.
It always appeared as though Dino never read the scripts beforehand, never cared about the plots...just plain never cared. I guess that was part of his and the film's charm. But it must have driven his directors up the wall, including "Murderer's Row's" Henry Levin.
The sets are cheesy as hell as is the music by Lalo Schiffrin. But veteran costumer Moss Mabry's creations (especially for the gals) are terrific. Very hip, very 1969 - yet still very cool today.
I am not really an Ann-Margaret fan, but she's really good here. And glamorous Swedish actress Camilla Sparv is stunning! Bad guy Karl Malden is appropriately sinister, slightly amiable and yes, bad. And his right-hand man, Tom Reese (Sgt. Velie on one of the great TV series ever, "Ellery Queen") has a cool chrome steel plate atop his head - nifty gimmick.
Dino's four Matt Helm flicks, made in between taping his TV show and partying between 1966-69 were all the Andre Champagne of spy flicks compared with Bond as the Dom Perignon.
Why is it that I will ALWAYS watch them whenever they're on TV? I mean I'm drawn like a fly to you-know-what. I can't resist them. I guess it's because they're a guilty pleasure. Cheesy but still a lot of really stupid fun.
It always appeared as though Dino never read the scripts beforehand, never cared about the plots...just plain never cared. I guess that was part of his and the film's charm. But it must have driven his directors up the wall, including "Murderer's Row's" Henry Levin.
The sets are cheesy as hell as is the music by Lalo Schiffrin. But veteran costumer Moss Mabry's creations (especially for the gals) are terrific. Very hip, very 1969 - yet still very cool today.
I am not really an Ann-Margaret fan, but she's really good here. And glamorous Swedish actress Camilla Sparv is stunning! Bad guy Karl Malden is appropriately sinister, slightly amiable and yes, bad. And his right-hand man, Tom Reese (Sgt. Velie on one of the great TV series ever, "Ellery Queen") has a cool chrome steel plate atop his head - nifty gimmick.
Dino's four Matt Helm flicks, made in between taping his TV show and partying between 1966-69 were all the Andre Champagne of spy flicks compared with Bond as the Dom Perignon.
Why is it that I will ALWAYS watch them whenever they're on TV? I mean I'm drawn like a fly to you-know-what. I can't resist them. I guess it's because they're a guilty pleasure. Cheesy but still a lot of really stupid fun.