The Ambushers is a 1967 film directed by Henry Levin and starring Dean Martin, Senta Berger, Janice Rule, James Gregory, and Beverly Adams. It's the third entry in a series of American comedic Spy Fiction films featuring Martin as secret agent Matt Helm, a spoof of James Bond.
An experimental flying saucer has been intercepted in a Central-American jungle by an enemy organization's tractor beam. Helm (Martin) teams up with the saucer's beautiful, amnesiac pilot Sheila Sommers (Rule), and they travel to Acapulco disguised as husband and wife to investigate. Their enemies include exiled ruler Jose Ortega (Albert Salmi) and his henchwoman Francesca Madeiros (Berger).
Followed by The Wrecking Crew (1968).
Tropes:
- Bat Deduction: ICE's only lead on what happened to Sheila and the flying saucer is that the jingle of a beer company owned by an ex-con is a reorchestration of a march. No real explanation is given as to why this is even a relevant clue, but it turns out to be correct.
- Darker and Edgier: While still mainly a comedy, the movie depicts agents sustaining psychological trauma from their missions, and the main villain attempts to sexually assault the female lead. This is the darkest a Matt Helm movie has ever gotten.
- Defeat by Modesty: One of ICE's latest gadgets is a ray gun that melts belt buckles, causing men's trousers to fall off.
- Double Entendre: MacDonald sends a secret message to Matt through Lovey's bra, activating when they're getting intimate and Matt tries to unhook it. The message is plot-important (it's about the need to partner with Sheila), but also loaded with innuendo.MacDonald: Now get close to her, Matt. That's your assignment. I want you on top of this from morning til night.
Lovey: I beg your pardon! - Drugged Lipstick: Francesca offers Matt a drink of whiskey. After he declines, she takes a drink herself, puts on lipstick, and starts kissing him. Shortly after he starts feeling woozy and falls. The lipstick is poisoned, and the whiskey is the antidote.
- Gender-Restricted Ability: Only women can pilot the flying saucer; men are killed by the electro-magnetic waves it emits.
- Instrument of Murder: An assassin tries to kill Matt with maracas that have built-in guns.
- Spy School: Matt is helping with teaching prospective spies at a specialized academy at the start of the movie.
- Take That!: The movie ends with a gag where Matt tries to set a romantic mood with a pretty agent-in-training by playing "Everybody Loves Somebody" (one of Dean Martin's hit songs), but she's not feeling it. Then "Strangers in the Night" starts playing and she's suddenly all over Matt, who disbelievingly asks: "You really like Perry Como that much?"
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: Sheila's trauma from being attacked by Ortega causes her to develop amnesia, leaving her with no memory of the flying saucer among other things. When she meets Matt, she starts to recover.
- Undercover as Lovers: Matt partners with Sheila for the mission and the guise they choose is that of husband and wife. It's mentioned it's not the first time they do this with each other.
