Murderers' Row is a 1966 film directed by Henry Levin and starring Dean Martin, Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Camilla Sparv, James Gregory, and Beverly Adams. It is the second entry in a series of American comedic Spy Fiction films featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm, a spoof of James Bond.
Helm (Martin) is assigned by ICE to prevent the evil organization BIG O from getting their hands on a new destructive weapon called the heliobeam. To this end, he needs to free the heliobeam's inventor, Dr. Solaris (Richard Eastham), from their clutches.
Followed by The Ambushers (1967).
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Gun Safety: Matt's gun fires ten seconds after the trigger is pulled. This results in several people who take the gun from him handling the gun unsafely after it seemingly doesn't go off and shooting themselves.
- Bloodless Carnage: Coco (Camilla Sparv), as punishment for You Have Failed Me, gets a speargun dart in her breast, but while we see the dart sticking out of her chest, there's no blood.
- Dead Man's Chest / Stuffed into the Fridge: Matt goes to meet a contact in Monte Carlo and finds her dead body in the refrigerator.
- Faking the Dead: At the start, the villainous organization BIG O assassinates various ICE agents and are looking to include Matt in the list of the deceased. He fakes his death through an explosion in his house before that can happen, complete with a funeral that a dozen of his lovers, standing all in a row, attend.
- Girl of the Week: Suzie Solaris, the daughter of Dr. Solaris, is Matt's main love interest for this movie. On the bad guys' side there is Coco Duquette, who has a bit of a crush on Dr. Solaris and doesn't want to see him hurt.
- Meaningful Name: Dr. Norman Solaris. He created the heliobeam, a weapon capable of mass destruction that's powered by the Sun.
- The Power of the Sun: The heliobeam harnesses the sun's light for the purpose of mass destruction.
- Rule of Pool: Like the previous movie, it ends with Matt and the Girl of the Week accidentally activating a mechanism in Matt's bed that throws them into his pool.
- Take That!: Matt gets rid of an explosive by throwing it at a picture of Frank Sinatra that's being projected on the ceiling.Matt: Sorry, Frank!
