The third Matt Helm film - and easily the weakest up to this point. Though Maltin's BOMB rating seems a bit harsh - it IS watchable, after all - it's hard not to notice the drop-off in quality from its predecessor, "Murderers' Row". The villains are nobodies, the gadgets are not as cool as before (levitating gun < delayed / reverse firing gun),the climactic vehicular chase has worse rear projection than the Abbott and Costello movies, and the entire enterprise is slow, unexciting and drab. Bright spot: Janice Rule, who is the smartest Matt Helm assistant so far, and also closer to Dean Martin's age than Ann Margret or Stella Stevens, which makes their (professional and romantic) partnership more believable. Senta Berger has an interesting character, in the sense that you are not sure for a long time whose side she is working for, but ultimately she is underused. The movie's two best bits actually come at the very start (the catchy title song),and the very end (a funny Frank Sinatra gag). *1/2 out of 4.

The third of Dean Martin's Matt Helm series and the quality is dropping rapidly (not that these were works of high art to begin with). THE AMBUSHERS is cheesy beyond belief and the dialogue seems to consist of just one sexist joke after another. The girls are reduced to set dressing, Martin gives a performance that can be best described as sluggish, and there are no memorable supporting characters. The villain is nothing at all. There are some tired set-pieces and endless scenes of our hero chasing skirt, but none of it sticks at all.

A bizarre looking Mexican dude (Albert Salmi in very, very strange garb) steals a flying saucer built by the good guys. So, it's up to Matt Helm and a crazy lady who thinks she is Matt's wife to go to the rescue. However, the film does have a happy ending. The lady actually realizes that the perv she thinks she's married to isn't her husband! Oh, and they stop Salmi and save the day.

Okay, I'll admit before I go any further that I don't particularly like the Matt Helm films. Part of this is because Dean Martin appears to be sleeping through the pictures. I have heard of giving an "effortless performance", but here Dean-O doesn't seem to try to break a sweat or attempt anything other than a walk-through sort of performance. Part of it is the cheapness of the film itself, such as the scene where he slides on a rail, the obvious dummy falling off the roof or the poor use of stunt doubles or the obvious wires suspending the woman near the end of the movie--they're so obviously bad yet no one seemed to care. Part of it is that the films are one sexual double-entendre after another--the sort that put 12 year-olds into hysterics but non-brain injured adults usually can't stand. And, part of it is the utter smarminess and crappiness of the films. They just didn't try very hard or have decent production values in this film.

Amazingly, however, this film comes off almost as an Austin Powers film--and it's obvious that they inspired this later series. The problem, though, is that while the Powers films were sleazy, they also were funny in an undemanding and crude way. The Helm films are just sleazy and crude--and the single joke that is the film wears thin very fast. And, believe it or not, the Helm films had many, many, many more crude lines and sexual references--coming so rapidly and poorly that you cringe at the terrible writing. Because of this, Austin comes off as a joke while Helm comes off as a boorish pig...an old, alcoholic and boorish pig.

It's pretty obvious that I didn't like the movie very much. So the question is, is the film bad enough to have been included in the book "The Fifty Worst Films" by Harry Medved? Harry obviously thought so, though I am inclined to say no...just because there are more than 50 worse films out there--probably several hundred, actually. However, I could see why it was included. For spy films, it might just be the worst from series films--though individual spy films such as THE NASTY RABBIT and LAST OF THE SECRET AGENTS? make THE AMBUSHERS seem like Shakespeare!! Oh...the music was pretty good. There, I COULD say something positive about this film after all!!