Dean Martin and Stella Stevens in The Silencers.
Movie channel TCM will present all four of Dean Martin’s Matt Helm films on Sept. 26. It’s part of a month-long salute to Dino, with Martin movies being shown on Wednesdays.
The Helm movies were produced by Irving Allen, former partner of Albert R. Broccoli. That partnership ended, in part, because Broccoli wanted to make movies based on Ian Fleming’s 007 novels. Allen wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea.
After the early Bond films, produced by Broccoli and his new partner, Harry Saltzman, had become a success, Allen searched for his own spy property to pursue.
He ended up with Donald Hamilton’s Matt Helm series of serious spy novels. But Allen got Dean Martin to participate as a partner. So the movie adaptations took a much lighter tone and, in effect, were spy versions of Martin’s variety show.
The Silencers will be shown at 8 p.m. ET, followed by Murderers’ Row at 10, The Ambushers at midnight and The Wrecking Crew at 2 a.m., Sept. 27.
For more about the Helm film series, read MATT HELM, AMERICA’S LOADED WEAPON.
h/t to reader Mark Henderson, who flagged this on The Spy Command’s Facebook page.
Filed under: The Other Spies | Tagged: Albert R. Broccoli, Dean Martin, Donald Hamilton, Harry Saltzman, Irving Allen, Murderers' Row, TCM, The Ambushers, The Silencers, The Wrecking Crew |
The Spy Command 
For the real Matt Helm experience, read the original books. Or listen to the audiobooks, so far available through Volume 14, THE INTRIGUERS. They just got better as the series progressed, and they keep on getting better with time.