Dino-rific all the time. Takes today for example, likes I decided to do some Dino-surfin' and typed in Dean Martin Matt Helm in the google blog search engine and likes came 'cross 'nother amazin' blog tagged "His Name Is Studd" where insightful blogger Mr. Rick Diehl has done a commendable job of puttin' the accent on the quartet of Helmer flicks.
Diehl shares brief thoughts on each of the four Dino-capers includin' pixs of original poster adverts for each. Likes I have never ever seen the one for "The Silencers" before....totally totally diggs the rad thoughts..."THE NEXT BIG BOXOFFICE NOISE YOU HEAR WILL BE THE SOUND OF THE SILENCERS." Likes these Dino-thoughts proved to be oh so Dino-true as indeed "The Silencers" made it big on the big screen.
While Diehl acknowleges that the Matt Helm capers are not great epics, I likes so agree with his concludin' thoughts..."but Dean is just having such a good time in the part and the rest of the casts surrounding him seem to be having an equally good time, to the point that the fact that these films are as bad as they are just doesn’t matter. As I have often said pallies, what makes the Helm films so wonderful is that it is simply our most beloved Dino playin' his ol' so cool, hip, and randy self....and havin' "such a good time" doin' so!
ilovedinomartin salutes Mr. Rick Diehl and his groovy blog ""His Name Is Studd" for sharin' his marvelous Dino-reflections on our great man as the great Matt Helm. Readers of "Studd" will certainly crave to learn more 'bout our amazin' Dino and grow in their desire to know, love, and honor our Dino! To view this in it's original format, likes clicks on the tag of this Dino-message! Dino-delightedly, DMP
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Dean Martin is Matt Helm
Donald Hamilton’s government assassin, Matt Helm was one of the great fictional spies of the 1950’s and 60’s.
Unlike the ever youthful James Bond, Helm was a little older, a little out of shape, and more than a little worn out by the desperate world he lived in and the despicable actions he was sometimes called on to perform for his spy masters.
His novels were considered at the time to be some of the most realistic espionage tales being written and the character to be more related to Chandler than to Ian Fleming.
So when James Bond took the world by storm in the 1960’s with the success of the Sean Connery films it was only natural for other producers to seek out other fictional spies and give them the full movietreatment. One of these producers was Bond producer Cubby Broccoli’s ex-partner, Irving Allen who had broken off his relationship with Cubby because Broccoli kept insisting that they should make a film starring the James Bond character, a character that Allen was convinced would never catch on with audiences and was doomed to failure.
Having learned from his tremendous mistake, Allen jumped on the spy wagon and bought the film rights to Helm.
After getting the rights to the Helm books, Allen then proceeded to take everything that had made Helm such an exceptional character and threw it all right out the window.
Singer/Actor Dean Martin was cast as Helm and Matt suddenly was a hard drinking, womanizing playboy with a quip on his lips and the latest spy gadget in his pocket.
Despite the almost total abandonment of the character Hamilton created, the Helm films still managed to be mostly fun, lightweight spy spoofs with pretty girls and the always ogling Dean having a good time.
The Silencers
The first film in the series was The Silencers, teaming Martin with Stella Stevens in a fairly ludicrous attempt to stop super secrect badguy spy agency BIG O from stealing an Atomic Bomb.
The film is pretty lightweight but has some funny moments mostly from the always reliable Stevens, and a great set of opening credits with the always sexy Cyd Charise lip synching to Vicki Carr.
Murderer's Row
The second Helm film, Murderer’s Row teams Martin and Ann Margaret when Helm fakes his death to go underground and stop BIG O from creating a solar device to take over the world.
This film is not nearly as funny as the first film in the series but it does make up for quite a bit by featuring Ann Margaret at her buxom best.
The trailer up above is by the way one of the smarmiest things I have ever seen on film and should not be missed.
By the way, it’s really hard not to be impressed with the extremely blatant phallic imagery in the poster for the first films. It’s almost like producer Allen is tying to tell everyone that his spy was a bigger man than Bond in every way.
The Ambushers
Third in the series was The Ambushers which is easily the worst of the Helm films as Martin and Senta Berger try to rescue a government made flying saucer from the hands of both the evil BIG O as well as a tinpot Latin American dictator with plans of his own.
The Wrecking Crew
Finally we come to The Wrecking Crew which teams Martin with the duo of Elke Summer and Sharon Tate in a familiar plot about a rich megalomaniac out to steal all of the gold in the world. Tina Louise makes a brief but sexy appearance and one of the bad guys who gets punched out by Martin is a young Chuck Norris in his very first film role.
On the whole the Helm films just don’t hold up that well 40 years later. The humor is strained and the plots are ludicrous, with terrible writing and not even the slightest attempt at characterization. But honestly, I still like them. Sure they are stupid as hell and the kind of thing that most modern women are going to throw a brick at the tv over, but Dean is just having such a good time in the part and the rest of the casts surrounding him seem to be having an equally good time, to the point that the fact that these films are as bad as they are just doesn’t matter.
Posted by Rick Diehl at 3:26 AM
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