MURDERERS' ROW (1966)

 

MURDERER’S ROW follows the same pattern as SILENCERS.  Malevolent mastermind Julian Wall (Karl Malden) captures American scientist Dr. Solaris in order to wring from him the secret of (what else?) a solar super-weapon, with which Wall hopes to bring the world to its knees.  In this Wall has the usual small army, and two main allies.  One is the “bad girl” of the story, Wall’s mistress Coco (Camilla Sparv), who proves somewhat sympathetic to Helm’s cause, though for a change she doesn’t become one of the superspy’s bed-partners.  Wall’s other main aide is “Ironhead,” a tough enforcer-type who has a metallic dome covering the top of his skull.  This character proves more visually imposing rather than Malden’s unimpressive mastermind-character, and makes it possible for Helm to engage in a few half-decent fight-scenes.

Again, the most impressive element in the script is the “innocent outsider/good girl” who gets drafted into Helm’s adventure—but the script’s treatment of Suzie (Ann-Margret) is precisely the opposite of SILENCERS’ treatment of Gail.  As Suzie is the daughter of the captured scientist Solaris, she’s automatically given a greater motive for becoming Helm’s aide despite her inexperience, but the script also goes out of its way to make her as clever and vivacious as Gail was made klutzy and awkward.  Indeed, Ann-Margaret’s characterization of Suzie is of a piece with a similar “hot number” in 1964’s VIVA LAS VEGAS. In that film, Ann-Margret’s energy was well-matched with that of Elvis Presley.  Here, when Suzie tries to dance with Helm at a discoteche, he’s almost immediately exhausted by her energy—one of the few times any of the four Helm films acknowledge Dean Martin’s advancing age.  Perhaps Ann-Margret’s greater star-power insured that the scripters didn’t try to put her through the same wringer they used on Stella Stevens.

MURDERER’S ROW, in addition to giving audiences a more vibrant heroine, is richer in its employment of quasi-surrealistic fantasy-scenarios.  Helm is picked up in the scoop of a huge steam-shovel.  Helm drives a hovercraft through the streets of a major city.  Ironhead imprisons Helm in a giant centrifuge and jokes that it’ll turn Helm into a “milkshake” with its pumping action.  Given that from the first the series was focused on exploiting the most fantastic aspects of the Bond film-series, it’s somewhat pleasant to see ROW go all-out in the absurdity department.

Finally, we come back to “the Pussy test.”  Suzie is certainly a more admirable heroine than Gail, but does she possess any greater symbolic complexity?  The answer is no, though with the caveat that none of the characters, including Matt Helm, are anything more than simple stereotypes.  Oddly enough, SILENCERS ends with a come-on for the same-year sequel, and pays unusual attention to repeating the name of  the secretary-character seen briefly at the film's beginning: “Lovey Kravezit.”  Maybe the producers wanted to make sure everyone in the audience "got" the transparent pun modeled on “Pussy Galore.”  But the imitation of the name is all that the Helm series could duplicate.  In every other way, strangely for a series so devoted to heterosexual conquest, the filmmakers just couldn't manage to “get Pussy.”