Customer Reviews

Silencers [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've waited many years to see this fearsome foursome of cheese find a decent release in DVD. Sadly, thanks to bad cropping and seemingly random censorship, it still hasn't happened yet.

The four films are, of course, The Silencers, Murderers' Row, The Ambushers, and The Wrecking Crew. (A fifth intallment was storeyboarded but never shot.)

Letting the studio off the hook by saying things like "widescreen areas always crop full frame versions," is being much too gracious in the face of these money-grabbing studio weasels who also CUT entire parts of the film and never even gave you an original trailer.

And I should know about the widescreen concept, since I am, after all, the chairman of the WWS - the Widescreen Watchers Society. (Yes, my organization has a movie site online, but an Amazon review is not the place to plug it by posting links to it.)

Rather I just wanted to point out that it is instead within the "full frame" or "standard screen" format that all cropping takes place. The most dominant style is pan-and -scan, which is done by zooming in on whatever the film editor decides is the most important area on screen at any given moment.

That's why you often end up with the ridiculous sight of one person chattering happily away to the air for long periods of time, since you can't see the other person he's talking to. And because of the zoom effect, naturally you also get a more blurred focus on the overall picture.

But a presentation in widescreen, whether it be a regular rectangle (Vista-Vision style) or a more narrow rectangle (Panavison style), or somewhere in between, never cuts out frames and/or zooms in after the fact at any point. This gives you the vast difference of ultimate picture composition in crystal clarity, resulting in the best total viewing experience possible - which is why the original director filmed it that way for its theatrical release in the first place!

How today's studios stamping out inferior DVDs think the public will never notice such a huge difference is completely mind-boggling! And who buys most of the DVDs of older movies anyway? Film buffs who are very picky about such things to begin with!

RECOMMENDATION: Wait until all four films are put out together in an improved deluxe edition - TRUE widescreen (non-cropped and non-censored), featuring behind the scenes featurettes (which they shot back in the '60s as long commercials for such films), surviving crew interviews, trailers, etc. Otherwise, forget it.

Hey, Rat Pack fans - or just fans of Dean Martin in general - you know ol' Dino deserves far BETTER than this shoddy treatment! Mama mia!

I won't review the film as this has been done by others. However, I would like to add some thoughts about the "cropping" issue--

To many fans of DVD, a key selling point is seeing a film the way it was orginally presented in the theatre.

Most people are aware today that widescreen films shown on a full frame standard TV's are cropped-- that is, they are panned and scanned and you lose information (images). Pan & Scan changes the composition of the film.

With this in mind, people expect to see ALL of the composition when a film comes out on DVD and is viewed on a widescreen televison-- not less. However, there are exceptions:

In some circumstances, the director of a film will compose a shot with more information than is meant to be conveyed to the audience.

The "extra" information is never meant to be seen. When the film is "matted" for release, the additional info is covered up and you are left with the director's original conception of the shot.

Now here's the thing: when the film is shown on commercial television in a standard full screen format, the "matts" are opened up and the film subjected to pan and scan. In this case, you may now see parts of the shot that were covered up-- and also lose other parts that were originally shown.

The bottom line here is that this release of "The Silencers" shows the film in its "matted" form the way it was shown in theatre's. People who have seen the film on television all these years became accustomed to seeing the "open matt" pan & scan version. They have seen more information than was intended and now think that the released DVD version has been "cropped" because the afore mentioned images are now missing.

Here's a great example: (warning: spoilers below)

A previous reviewer makes mention that in a certain part of the film, actress Nancy Kovack is shot in the back and we her bare bottom. This reviewer then complains that in the DVD version, we don't see that far down. The conclusion that is drawn is that this scene is to riske' for the DVD version for some reason and has been cropped or edited out.

As explained above, this is simply not true.

In the pan & scan "open matt" scene, we see the actress wearing only a shirt and pantyhose. Dean Martin is holding her and we see Kovack from the back. As she is shot, Kovack arches up and we see her pantyhosed butt come out of the shirt.

This "nyloned butt" shot was never intended to be seen-- remember this was a film made in the mid 60's-- nudity simply wasn't going to make it in to a film that was rated the way this one was.

Further, there was also another bit of nudity just slightly earlier in the same scene that is in the "open matt" pan & scan version-- Kovack in shirt and pantyhose rushes up to Dino and we see both of the actors side by side.

As Kovack turns towards Martin, her short shirt lifts and parts slightly, and we see a glimpse of Kovacks "front" (for want of a more descriptive term).

Again, this was not meant to be seen and never would have made it past the censors during the original release.

So, in this instance, viewers have seen a more racy version of the film on televison than was ever shown in theatre's-- the complete opposite of what is expected with a DVD release-- hence the complaints.

Following four highly successful serious spy films starring Sean Connery as that world-famous fictional British spy James Bond, American film companies began playing with the idea of producing their own spy films with equally world-famous, but more humorous, spies in their own James Bond spoofs. On January 16, 1966, the first James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring James Coburn (1928-2002) as Derek Flint in Twentieth Century Fox's film "our Man Flint". Only one month later, on February 18, 1966, a second James Bond-inspired spoof hit the big screen starring the well-known comedic actor/lounge singer Dean Martin (1917-1995) as the semi-retired spy Matt Helm in "The Silencers", which was produced by Claude Productions and Meadway, and distributed by Columbia Pictures.

Similar to Derek Flint, Matt Helm loves to be surrounded by beautiful women; but unlike the super-serious & high-tech Flint, Helm is far more laid back. Helm's bedroom is equipped with a rotating circular bed (which was also part of Mike Myer's 1997 portrayal of British superstar/super-spy Austin Powers in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery"), which can also role forward and raise at an angle so that it can let Helm (and anyone else in Helm's bed) slide into a waiting olypic-sized bubble-bath. Doing his best to avoid being used in yet another spy mission, Helm leaves his expensive home and travels to Acapulco where an unexpected blond woman is waiting in his bedroom. While in his arms, she is shot from behind by one of Helm's former spy coworkers Tina (Daliah Lavi, who appeared in yet another James Bond-inspired spoof in 1967: the highly comedic "Casino Royale" that also starred Woody Allen, David Niven and Peter Sellers). Discovering that they're being watched by operatives working for the evil mastermind Tung-Tze, a.k.a., "Big-O" (Victor Buono, 1938-1982), Helm & Tina escape in his station wagon to Phoenix, where they expect to find a highly sought after computer tape. The tape is in possession of a singer named Sarita (Cyd Charisse), who ends up shot while performing on stage, but hands the tape over to the highly-accident prone Gail Hendrix (Stella Stevens) who runs on stage to help her. Helm & Tina quickly rush Gail out of the club and away from enemy agents, but suspect that she is also an enemy agent working for "Big-O". After being temporarily knocked out by gas shooting out of a phone, Helm is assisted by his & Tina's boss Sam Gunther (Robert Webber, 1924-1989), who also prevents Gail from escaping. Helm then takes Gail to San Juan, which is where Sarita told her that something was going to happen before she died; but can Helm stop the dastardly Tung-Tze and his evil plan? You'll just have to watch the film to find out!

In typical 1960's motif and humor, "The Silencers" is still a very humorous spoof to this day and I rate it with 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a non-serious spoof. Dean Martin would portray Matt Helm in three more subsequent films: "Murderer's Row" (later in 1966), "The Ambushers" (1967, which is my personal favorite) and "The Wrecking Crew" (1969). Hopefully these other three Matt Helm films will also be released on DVD.

Well, I have been a fan of this film ever since I saw it as a young teenager...lots of attractive women, guns firing backwards, Bond type driving a station wagon(a station Wagon????) And never for a moment does it take itself the least bit seriously!
So, I was glad to see this film come out on dvd finally, but they sure cropped the image, even though it is widescreen! How do I know this??? Well, the film just ran on cable last month, full screen version, and when Daliah Lavi shoots Nancy Kovack in the back, just before she was to stab our hero Matt, you see her behind as she jumps up(She is only wearing one of his shirts)....so...when the DVD comes out, and you get to this scene...it is cropped so you are not shown the offending buttocks!!!! A film from 1966 is too hot for DVD today??? Why??? I thought the big selling point for DVD was to be the chance to see films as they originally were shot and shown on the big screen...I guess not, but they still get your 20+ bucks. Who knows what else they cut/cropped from the film?????
The image quality is fine,(though the adventures of Robin Hood from 1938 still looks better) but no extras... and you know this is the only time it will be out on disc.....

I saw this movie on local cable more than ten years ago, and in the wake of the successful Austin Powers films, this was and is one of the best spy spoofs of all time. Not just the wit of Dean Martin as Matt Helm, and the villany of Victor Buono as Tao, criminal mastermind of "Big O", but also the sexy women of the film like Stella Stevens as Gail Hendricks, Dalilah Lavi as Helm partner, and yes Cyd Charisse as the sultry singer-stripper Sarita. The only downfall I give this film is that during the remarkable opening title sequence, where you see Cyd Charisse and two other women, who should get the recognition for appearing in the film albeit of a few minutes, doing their little striptease routines, as an possible twist to the Bond title sequences where you only see the silouhette of their nude form. I hope in the DVD release, they show the making of the movieand of the title sequence. Also, here's another trivia question in the making: The character of Helm's secretary, Lovey Kravesit, was the basis for a fictitious secretary named Mona Luvsit in the episode "Our Man Bashir" of Star Trek: DS9. Anyway, it's a great film with a great cast. Hope you enjoy it.

Contrary to what some viewers say, this dvd is not cropped.
The widescreen format is exactly the same throughout the film.
However, it is true that one brief scene involving Stella Stevens has been deleted, probably due to an oversight.

Although I think the coolest Matt Helm flick is "Murder's Row, watching Dino in any of his films provides such pleasure. Dino majored in the three B's---Butts, Booze, and Broads and so does this Matt Helm caper. Who cares about plots and subplots when Dino is making the scene. I really like that the DVD includes a preview of the second Helm film at the end. Dino making it with all those chicks is really where it is at! I'm looking forward to the issueing of all 4 Matt Helm films in the box set this December!

Forget 007 he means nothing !!
If you really want to be someone else you don't need immagination any more, just look at Dino! He is cool, easy-going, polite, just perfect! And look the girls too, they are wonderful, sexy and never voulgar.
Big movie, big actors, big actress and naturally big big Dino !!
We want all the others Matt Helm movies on DVD.

Ahh, another film in the tradition of the numerous spy thrillers of the 1960s. The Silencers stars Dean Martin as Matt Helm and Stella Stevens as the token woman sidekick, Gail Hendricks. I'm not going to beat around the bush with this one: if you're looking for good, cheesy fun, then this one's for you! It's the usual story: secret agent shags countless girls, drinks, looks suave (He! he! It is Dean Martin, after all. . ..) and then still has enough free time to save the world from nuclear holocaust. Oh, what a miserable life it must be! There are some great visuals in this film that definitely make it worth your while. Ya gotta love the dancing girls during the opening credits. And the hairstyles. . .whoo! Look out Vidal Sassoon, here I come! Yeah, the story is silly, but just grab a six-pack of Tab cola with some friends, sit back, and enjoy! Mr. Powers, look out! Dean Martin's at the "helm" and in control!

If you dig Dean Martin, glamorous gals, or groovy gadgets, you'll love THE SILENCERS, the first of Dino's fondly-remembered "Matt Helm" films (based on the series of books by Donald Hamilton).

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Dean Martin plays Matt Helm, part-time spy and full-time ladies' man, assigned to stop power-mad megalomaniac Tung-Tze (Victor Buono in Asian makeup) from destroying the world with a rogue nuclear missile. Stella Stevens is Gail, a scatterbrained innocent caught up in the action.

Forget about trying to follow the plot, just sit back and revel in the outrageous clothes (designed by Moss Mabry), and the comic skills of Dean Martin and Stella Stevens, who both give sensational performances. Ms Stevens in particular will stun you with her physical comedy and luminous beauty. Dancing legend Cyd Charisse (with singing dubbed by Vikki Carr) performs the Main Title sequence plus "Santiago". The bevy of screen beauties also includes Daliah Lavi, Nancy Kovack, Beverly Adams and Barbara Burgess.

If you get a kick out of the James Coburn "Flint" movies, you'll flip for Dino and Stella in THE SILENCERS! (Single-sided, dual-layer disc).