The Wrecking Crew

The Wrecking Crew is a 1968 American action comedy in which secret agent Matt Helm is called upon to stop a criminal mastermind. Count Massimo Contini has seized a shipment of gold worth a billion dollars, a theft that threatens to destabilize the world economy. Matt's superior at the intelligence agency ICE, MacDonald, assigns him the case. Working alongside him is Freya Carlson, a British agent whose involvement tends to create as many difficulties as it resolves. The trail leads through a criminal organization with international reach as Helm tries to recover the gold and break up Contini's operation.

Dean Martin plays Matt Helm, a role he had already taken on earlier in the decade, with Nigel Green as Contini, Sharon Tate as Freya Carlson, and Elke Sommer, Tina Louise and Nancy Kwan heading the supporting cast across a credited ensemble of twenty-two performers. Phil Karlson directed from a screenplay by William P. McGivern, with Irving Allen producing for Columbia Pictures and Meadway-Claude Productions. The film followed Karlson's earlier Matt Helm entry The Silencers and his A Time for Killing, and preceded Ben, Walking Tall and Framed.

Released in late December 1968, the film took in about 2 million dollars worldwide. Its audience scores sit in the middle range, at 5.5 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 4,200 votes and 5.7 out of 10 on TMDB from 74 votes, indicating a modest reception rather than a strong one. The running time is 105 minutes.