Matt Helm Lounge....

[Lincsong]

I just bought the 4 disc Matt Helm Lounge; The Silencers, Murderers Row, The Ambushers, and The Wrecking Crew. Dean Martin as the swingest Spy in America. Great fun, and Great looking babes. Any Matt Helm fans out there?

 

[Brian Sheridan]

Have you heard Spielberg is looking at optioning the rights to a Matt Helm franchise? It is expected to be closer to the books than to the Dino movies.

 

[Elaina]

I used to love it when I was a kid, but I haven't seen it in years now.

 

[Lincsong]

Have you heard Spielberg is looking at optioning the rights to a Matt Helm franchise? It is expected to be closer to the books than to the Dino movies.

Oh no, please don't tell me that. The guy goes and makes E.T. politically correct. I don't want to even think what he would do to Dino. :eusa_doh:

 

[TM]

The worst film staring Dean Martin is still better than the best film by Steven Spielberg.

Tony

 

[docneg]

About 15 years ago, I was stuck indoors by a blizzard and watched all the Dean Martin Matt Helm movies again after seeing them as a youngster. Even though I enjoyed them, I didn't think they held up as well as the two "Our Man Flint" movies (which I watch at least once a year). After being used to the ultra-slick spoof of the Flint movies, the stagey nature of the Helm films was kind of hard to ignore. Always great to see Dino, though.

 

[Lincsong]

You know, I also was just thinking about Our Man Flint.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I never cared for the Matt Helm flicks, but I LOVE the Flint movies!

I saw them in theaters when they were new (I was 11, 12) though I hadn't yet seen any James Bond films - my parents still considered these too "adult". Of course, I was thoroughly versed in TV spies of the time: The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Secret Agent, etc., so I wasn't entirely unprepared...

"This has 82 different functions - 83 if you want to light a cigar."

 

[Lone_Ranger]

You had me going there. While, I did enjoy the Dean Martin movies, the Matt Helm series of books, by Donald Hamilton, is fantastic!


Donald Hamilton's Helm, makes Fleming's Bond look like a misguided boy scout. "Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told," one critic commented.


I especially recommend, Death of a Citizen. The first in the series.

Matt is living an idyllic life, in Post War, Arizona. Matt Helm meets Tina, an old World War II associate, who coerces him into helping her with her plans. Thinking she is still one of the good guys, he goes along. After finding out she isn't, he tries to forgive and forget. She kidnaps his daughter to force him to help her. He sets out to find his missing daughter with disastrous results for the WWII associate.

There's some great back story, about the two working a "morde gruppe" in France, the week leading up to D-Day. Where their goal was to disrupt the OKW by targeting key officers, for assassination.

1964's The Ravagers. The whole thing is a plot to bring a Soviet submarine close enough to our shores to destroy it, allegedly in retaliation for their sinking of one of ours. Very "Clancy," like if you consider, the Scorpion was lost, in 1968. One of the theories, was the the Soviets had sunk her.

Helm is no frills. No tuxedos, at Monte Carlo. No tricked out shoulder holsters, Just a 2" snub nose revolver. Helm drives a 4x4, not a Lotus.

And yet somehow, it's some good stuff.

The only person in Hollywood, that could do justice to Helm, on the Big Screen, would be Michael Mann.

 

[Lincsong]

In watching The Wrecking Crew I enjoyed how in the chase scene Helm's Lincoln is smashed on the side. Then when they escape the goons and drive into town the Lincoln hasn't been touched. lol

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

On a sad note, this month marks the 40th anniversary of the murder of Dino's co-star in "The Wrecking Crew", Sharon Tate.

Great collection. Watch for the "grass" to bulge up like a loose carpet when Dino falls on it. Watch also for Chuck Norris, blink and you'll miss him.

 

[Lincsong]

I liked Sharon Tate as a brunette. When she appeared in The Beverly Hillbillies I thought she was the hottest in the Secretarial Pool.

 

[Naphtali]

There is an enormous difference between the Dean Martin's and Don Hamilton's Matt Helm. Hamilton's novels, especially the earlier ones, are good entertainment, far superior to Ian Fleming's 007 novels.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Relax relax relax relax

No surprise, I think, that I'm crazy about Matt Helm books and movies. I still have a crush on Dean Martin and wanted to grow up to be a Golddigger.

 

[Lincsong]

Dean is the ultimate cool....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exMmde2CizE

 

[Brian Sheridan]

In watching The Wrecking Crew I enjoyed how in the chase scene Helm's Lincoln is smashed on the side. Then when they escape the goons and drive into town the Lincoln hasn't been touched. lol

Yeah, continuity isn't a big thing on Helm pics...