Linka Karensky, is the current lover of evil, Count Massimo Contini (Nigel Green), in the 1968 Matt Helm spy film, The Wrecking Crew.
Linka is played by the statuesque German blonde bombshell, Elke Sommer.
Linka and her lover, Count Contini have successfully stolen a billion dollars in U.S. gold bars from a train to England through Denmark during Operation Rainbow. This could potentially collapse the world’s financial markets, and it is up to Helm, a super spy agent for ICE (international Counter Espionage) to locate the gold and dispose of Contini. Helm is aided in Copenhagen, Denmark by the clumsy British agent, Freya Carlson (Sharon Tate).
The gold has been transported to Count Contini’s chateau where it is stacked wall to wall in a room, and then painted to make it look like a typical brick wall design.
Linka and Count Contini are notified of Helm’s entrance into Copenhagen by Yurang (Nancy Kwan) who continues to watch his every move. Linka watches Helm check into his hotel, and then make contact with Lola Medina (Tina Louise) in the lobby. He is invited to meet Lola at her apartment later that night. Lola is the ex-lover of Count Contini.
Later that night, Linka keeps an eye on Helm as he drives to Lola’s apartment. Links booby-traps a Scotch bottle in the apartment to kill both Lola and Helm, but the explosion kills only Lola, which she is not entirely upset over.
Helm and Freya go to Contini’s chateau masquerading as photographers. Here Helm is formally introduced to Linka as Contini’s fiancé. It becomes apparent on the visit that Contini is on to Helm’s true identity. He offers to buy Helm off with two million dollars in cash if he will skirt his responsibilities to ICE and go to South America instead. Helm refuses, so Contini threatens to kill him. Matt uses his camera, which gives off a smoke that fills the room. He and Freya leave the room and the thugs to cough it out.
While exiting the house they find a dazed Linka who is suffering from smoke inhalation. Helm stops to comfort her. Freya jealously looks on as Helm hugs it out with the gorgeous lady. As he later abandons Linka, Freya decides she can take no more. She aggressively pushes poor Linka into the indoor swimming pool. Linka is wearing a white pants suit, and is caught off guard from the catty behavior from Freya. Helm asks Freya, “What made you think she could swim?”. Freya answers back, “That was only way to find out, right?” As they walk away, Linka reaches the edge of the pool and curses at Freya. Helm and Freya are pursued by Yurang and other Contini hired hands who attempt to run them off the road.
While making love to Matt, Yurang draws a knife from under her pillow.
After Helm avoids being captured and killed by Yurang, Linka is informed that she will have the opportunity to dispose of Helm herself. After dropping off Freya he heads back to his apartment where he finds Yurang in his hotel suite.
She tries to seduce him and is interrupted from her attempt to kill him with a dagger. Matt sees the dagger and blocks his while continuing to kiss Yurang passionately. Yurang succumbs to Matt's prowess delays his execution until perhaps after their coupling. But their tryst ends all too soon when Freya interrupts their close encounter. Yurang seems a little let down, not having made it all the way with Matt Helm.
Yurang: I heard you were the most extraordinary lover, but now I shall never know.
Matt is angry at Freya who blocked him from laying Yurang.
Linka makes a date with Matt while Contini listens.
Linka later calls and invites Helm to her lodge. Matt is careful not to tell Freya where he is going so she will not interfere with liaison with the voluptuous blonde bombshell that is Linka.
At the other end of the line, Contini is sitting next to Linka. After Linka makes the date with Matt and hangs up Contini says to her.
Contini: You will have the pleasure of killing Mr. Helm.
Linka: Thank you very much, Your Excellency.
Apparently, despite being engaged to Count Contini and sleeping with him nightly Linka still addresses him by his formal title.
Linka hides her pistol under her pillow before luring Matt into her bed.
When Helm arrives he sees Linka's personal bodyguard is waiting outside and Helm quickly knocks the man out with a rabbit punch so as not to spoil his night with the lovely femme fatale.
He looks in the window and sees Linka is wearing a long sparkly cream-colored evening gown which is still unzipped and open back, and she is hiding a small automatic pistol under her pillow. Matt sneaks in and retrieves the weapon and hides it under the bed.
It is clear that Linka plans to kill him with but Matt knows if he plays his cards right and lays on the charm, he might get to lay Linka before she turns nasty.
Matt helps Linka with her zipper
Matt lets Link know that he's arrived and she asks him to help her with her back zipper.
Matt: Up or down?
Linka: Well, there's always a choice.
Matt decides not to appear too eager and chooses to zip her up (for now).
Linka goes over and sits on the bed and invites Matt to sit next to her.
Linka: Mr. Helm, come here.
Matt: You want me to lie down so you can talk to me? Okay.
Linka: About a partnership.
Matt walks over and lays down on the bed next to Linka.
Linka plays with Matt before she tries to kill him.
Matt Helm: Full partnership?
Linka: Full treatment!
Linka rolls over on Matt and gives him a kiss.
Linka: You see, the trains have stopped for Contini and me and - I'm getting off.
Linka reaches under the pillow, but then Matt informs her that he has taken her gun.
They continue to kiss and now Linka tells Matt to look under the other pillow, where he finds another gun. She tells him that she doesn't want to kill him.
They roll back and forth on the bed. Linka likes both being on top and being on bottom.
But then the tryst is suddenly cut short by Freya, who has located Helm and is honking a car horn outside the window. Helm leaves the sexually frustrated Linka Karensky who was ready to go all the way with the legendary secret agent, whose sexual ability seems to be a hot topic among promiscuous Femme Fatales of the criminal underworld.
Linka later calls Matt and makes a date with him. She wants him to go to the House of the 7 Joys. Feya says that that is Yurang's place. Matt suggests another place.
Matt and Freya's control MacDonald (John Larch) has arrived and he agrees to meet with Linka, whom they still partly believe to be about to change sides, while Matt and Freya got to Yurang's night club. Where Matt believes he can bring Yurang over to the side of the good guys.
Freya arrives at the House of the 7 Joys before Matt, Freye is wearing a black wig and glasses as a disguise and as she sits at the bar.
Matt sits in a booth with Yurang. He attempts to talk to her about their partnership but she blows smoke in his face then gets up and leaves the booth. Suddenly the bartender pulls a gun on Freya and a bulletproof glass shield slides down over the booth trapping Matt. The booth begins to rotate as an outer metal shield slides down from the ceiling. Matt is holding on as the back wall opens and the booth begins to slow its rotation. There in the back chamber of the nightclub Yurang is standing behind the seated Count Contini, they are flanked by Yurangs goons.
Linka catches MacDonald and Matt Helm with the help of Chuck Norris.
Matt attempts to talk his way out of it. Telling Contini that MacDonald is arriving.
Contini then presses a button and Matt is spun around in his seat so that he can see Linka arriving with MacDonald as her prisoner.
Linka is wearing white pants and a yellow double-breasted top with white gloves. She is wearing her blonde hair in a ponytail with a long fringe in front that almost covers her eyes. She scolds Helm for not keeping his rendezvous with her and then deposits the captured MacDonald in the seat next to Matt Helm.
Linka then goes over to agitate and gloat over Freya who is still being held at gunpoint by the bartender.
The evil Linka is accidentally machine-gunned by her own fiancé.
Linka: My dear, you must be terribly dedicated to your work to wear an atrocious wig like that.
Freya: How very common of you to mention it.
As Linka walks away with her thugs in toe, Freya knocks out the bartender with a Karate chop and grabs his Luger pistol. From the cover of the bar, Freya opens fire on Linka and her henchmen.
Freya presses a button opening the booth doors freeing MacDonald and Matt Helm who jump out and roll to safety.
Linka pulls out her own gun from her purse and shoots MacDonald, wounding him. Helm knocks out the thugs (including Chuck Norris in a bit part) and as Linka aims at Freya, he knocks her gun away and throws her into the revolving booth with one of the dased thugs.
Behind the booth Count Contini decided that it is time to kill Matt Helm and MacDonald. He orders Yurang to lift the bulletproof glass and get ready to open the doors. Yurang snaps her fingers and her loyal goons grab their M16s and take aim at the opening bulletproof door.
The booth closes up, with Linka and the wounded bodyguard. The booth spins around, and then reopens when Yurang pushes a button.
Contini gives the order to fire as the doors open on what he expects to be Matt Helm and MacDonald but instead, the gunmen brutally machine gun Linka and the bodyguard to death.
Contini turned to Yurang in disbelief, and his only response is, “How very unfortunate”.
Contini and Yurang make quickly make their escape. Agreeing to meet up in Luxembourg. Matt Helm and Freya give chase discovering Linka and the body guard's bodies in the back room.
Trivia[]
- The Wrecking Crew was the fourth and final movie in the Matt Helm spy series. A fifth movie entitled “The Ravagers” was in the planning stage, but many factors including the untimely death of Sharon Tate, led to the decision to not pursue that venue.
- Elke Sommer appeared as the female assassin, Irma Eckman in the 1967 film, "Deadlier Than The Male", in which she played alongside Sylva Koscina as Penelope, again with Nigel Green as the archvillain.
- The Hays Code rules that regulated the film industry at the time when The Wrecking Crew was made required that "The sanctity of marriage had to be upheld". Linka Karensky was Contini's fiance when she was making out in bed with Matt Helm. This required her character to be killed for her unfaithful behavior.
- The Hays Code also required Matt be interrupted before making love to Lola, Linka, Yurang, and Freya so as not to commit adultery.
- Matt Helm grabs Linka's boob as he throws her into the spinning booth (and to her death).
- The fight in the House of the 7 Joys was choreographed by the legendary Bruce Lee and included his friend and stunt man Chuck Norris.
- An actor parodying President Lyndon B. Johnson with one of his pet beagles (the Johnsons had two beagles, named "Him" and "Her") appears in the movie (shot from behind). Johnson was president at the time the movie was filmed but was out of office in 1969 when the movie was still in theatres in some places.
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