.... it did help cement Martin as one of the Kings of Cool in my book.

Hey pallies, likes here's yet still 'nother  bit of Dino-devotion that bubbled up from our trilogy of posts from pallie Keith over at "Teleport City which was shared here at ilovedinomartin on October 28-30 of last Dino-year. Likes we had planned to share today and tomorrow's Dino-grams soon followin' those fabulous Dino-diggin' posts by Keith, but one thin' or the other came up, so we are thrilled to be sharin' 'em early in this new Dino-year!

 This time we visit with the blog "Micro - Brews Reviews where a dude tagged "W.B. Kelso" posted "Operation 00-Oddballs :: Matt Helm vs. the Magic Sparkomatic Bartender and Slaygirls Dressed to Kill!"  It's a prose and pix essay on Helmer numero tres, "The Wrecking Crew" scribed by a pallie tagged "Endless Dave Hudson."

As W.B.'s sharin' is only a partial review by Hudson, we ain't gonna say much more then that is is always always so so cool to see our Dino as hipster spyster Matt Helm continually showin' up in post after post on the web.  'Cause tomorrow we are plannin' on runnin' Hudson's remarkable review in total from a pad tagged  3B Theatre :He Watched It Sober. , we simply gonna sez, thanks very very much W.B. Kelso for honorin' our most honorable Dino at your blog and pointin' the way to the full review.

To checks this out in it's original pad, simply clicks on the tag  of this Dino-message.  Dino-psyched, DMP

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Operation 00-Oddballs :: Matt Helm vs. the Magic Sparkomatic Bartender and Slaygirls Dressed to Kill!

Wow. Has it really been over six months since I last tinkered with this marathon? That, my friends, is a lot of Red Tape or something. Anyhoo, due to somebody's procrastinating and a running headstart at celebrating the pending New Year, the regular writer of this retrospective has, well, kinda disappeared for a weekend bender. Fear not, faithful readers, both of you, OPERATION: 00-Oddballs marches right along thanks to the timely intervention of long time reader, and even longer time friend, Endless Dave Hudson.

And m'man has drawn a plum assignment, dissecting one of Dean Martin's Matt Helm films. And though this series of spoofs isn't exactly what author Donald Hamilton envisioned with his pulp novel spy hero, it did help cement Martin as one of the Kings of Cool in my book.

The Ambushers, says Dave, was the third of four Matt Helm spy films starring the preternaturally-loose, turtle-neck-clad Dean Martin. While Martin was capable of excellent dramatic work (more on this later), this movie is best seen while in a state of relaxation just short of coma. Don’t expect its 101 minutes to make much sense, for the location footage to match the sound stage shots or for anyone involved to try particularly hard. Not trying hard was Dean Martin’s prime charm, after all. If it bothers you, have another drink fer Christ’s sake. It’s what Dino would do...

And to read the rest of the review, click on over for a full debriefing on our terminally overdue third installment of our OPERATION: 00-Oddballs spy-spoof retrospective.

Other Points of Interest: 

Full film review of The Ambushers at 3B Theater.

Newspaper ads for The Ambushers at the Archive.

Poster campaign for The Ambushers at the Archive.

The Ambushers (1967) Meadway-Claude Productions Company :: Columbia Pictures Corporation / P: Irving Allen / AP: Douglas Netter / D: Henry Levin / W: Herbert Baker, Donald Hamilton (novel) / C: Edward Colman, Burnett Guffey / E: Harold F. Kress / M: Hugo Montenegro / S: Dean Martin, Janice Rule, Senta Berger, James Gregory, Albert Salmi, Beverly Adams