WOmWAm FEMMEnomena - The Wrecking Crew

By 1969 the "ersatz spy" genre had played itself out and The Wrecking Crew heralds one its last gasps... Since "Matt Helm" movies were as much comedies as actioners, the creative team was content to work once more the over-worked spy format, and wisely loaded the movie with as many Gorgeous Femmes as possible as Dino goes through the "beating the dead horse" motions...

It's difficult to fathom Tina Louise's public proclamations against being "Ginger" and then watch her do this Latina Stereotype of "Lola Medina..." Ms. Louise's days of being a sex symbol were on the wane and being Lola could not be what she wanted: over-acted seductiveness to the point of corniness, and then getting thanklessly killed in the beginning of the movie....

Nancy Kwan in another Sexist/Racist role as "U-Rang...." She at least fits the bill as a SpyFemme, altho proffers the role in a too-casual, relaxed manner, that while not out of step with the tone of the movie, works against any real threat she's supposed to pose... But she does have a great CatFight-FemmeFu at the end with the Heroine...

Elke Sommer essentially does an "Irma Eckman"-lite as the laughably-named "Linka Karensky..." - we guess that's supposed to be Russian... She's just as sexy as Irma was, but just as U-Rang, poses no real threat... Her kissing scene with Dino, tho, is a wonder to behold... She's one of the best at talk-kissing-nibbling while theoretically trying to kill a guy... See Mikey's commentary on the scene below...

While the other actresses were doing variations on routines done before, Sharon Tate as "Freya Carlson" is the true revelation... She's funny & sexy with a mind-blowing butt-ogling dance, providing the flick with the fresh energy of a likeable Heroine... "In Norse mythology, Freya is a goddess of love and fertility, and the most beautiful and propitious of the goddesses..." Kind of an odd name choice for a Secret Agent Bimbo, but the Matt Helm Femme-Names were consistently ludicrous...

Somewhat curiously, Lynn Borden, after a regular role on Hazel, appears as one of the Anonymous Glamazon SlayGirls...

Mikey contends: "I want to register that rather than being "Irma-Lite," I think that Elke three years later at 29 is a more evolved, seductive FEMMEtasm and more dangerously desirable..."

All the elements for a seduction: lowered lights, an oversize bed with oversized throw pillows, and a gorgeous EuroSpy Villainess hiding a gun before going to her boudoir dressing table. Helm is coming to discuss a deal about a mega-fortune in stolen gold bullion, but she has her own plans.

She's got it all as she saunters toward her boudoir table (as Helm slips in behind her). Her tight, shimmering gold dress packages her beautiful busts to advantage, her swiveling hips encase her power box. She's arrogant and completely confident for good reasons.

But she promptly takes command. She begins arousing him with a sophisticated tease, having him zip up her dress and letting him adore her superb bare back and bodacious buns. He still thinks he's in charge but she knows better.

"That's a good boy." He's being trained to do as she says.

She bamboozles him with some pillow talk about their possible partnership. But then decides it's time to close, and on her terms. She's going to wreck him.

"The full treatment," she taunts, as she flattens Helm, pins him down with her beautiful busts, her power box takes his boner prisoner, and his hands are now captured on her bare back.

She establishes her feline dominance with a bite, using measured erotic pain/pleasure to further enrapture him.

She lets him come up for air for a moment, but adds to her control with further kisses and an ear job.

Again she rolls him over and is back in her intended place on top. He knows he can't trust her, but he's besotted and he'll go along with her
terms.

Mikey certainly makes a convincing argument. How do you rate this seduction scene compared to Irma Eckman's kiss & poison ringing of Mr. Northridge in Deadlier Than The Male?

High C weighs in: "I vote for Linka. Mikey made a very compelling argument, and I would add to it the fact that she had another hidden gun that Dino didn't know about, and thus could've whacked him anyway had she so chosen. That makes the scene even better."

Jack counters: "Irma wins. She was as deadly as she was seductive. I think I would have been lured willingly to that bedroom even though I knew what her plans for me were."

Over the years WOmWAm has noted a consistent male-viewer response where the responder, possibly identifying with the victim/target, essentially chooses over whether he wants to be f***ed or killed... While Linka certainly poses a threat with the guns, the end result is that Helm does get laid, while Mr. Northridge is assassinated... The Linka scene has more give 'n' take with the male, while Irma is in control every step of the way... In some respects Helm seduces Linka, since she does not kill him & gives him what he wants: her... She is certainly on-top in the seduction, but she is not the ultimate dominant... Irma completely dominates Northridge with no give or take, using Northridge's inability to resist her as a calculatingly manipulative advantage... Both scenes are testimonies to Elke Sommer's alluring power on screen...