Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author

Donald Hamilton Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and non-fiction about the outdoors. His novels consist mostly of paperback originals, principally spy fiction, but also crime ...

(1916–2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of the term as used in most spy thrillers. Helm appeared in 27 adventure/suspense novels by Hamilton, first published in 1960, and the character was later adapted into film, television and other media. The 1960s film series, starring

Dean Martin Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor, and comedian. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Cool", he is regarded as one of the most popular entertainers of ...

, featured a

campy Camp is an aesthetic and sensibility that regards something as appealing or amusing because of its heightened level of artifice, affectation and exaggeration, especially when there is also a playful or ironic element. ''Camp'' is historically ...

, humorous tone quite different from the gritty novels. The 1970s

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

was featured a more serious dramatic tone, but was a relatively standard private investigator series with little connection to Hamilton's books.

The character and the books

Published between 1960 and 1993, the 27 books in the series portrayed Helm, who acquired the code name "Eric" during his secret wartime assignments, as jaded, ruthless, pragmatic, and competent. The series was noted for its between-books continuity, which was somewhat rare for the genre at the time In the later books, Helm's origins as a man of action in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

disappeared and he became an apparently ageless character, a common fate of long-running fictional heroes. The first book in the series, ''

Death of a Citizen ''Death of a Citizen'' is a 1960 spy fiction, spy novel by Donald Hamilton, and was the first in a long-running series of books featuring the adventures of assassin Matt Helm. The title refers to the metaphorical death of peaceful citizen and fam ...

,'' takes place in the summer of 1958, 13 years after the end of the war. In the book, other characters describe Helm as verging on middle age and apparently soft and out of shape, although no specific age for him is given. In the next story, which apparently takes place in the summer of 1959, a hostile agent from a rival American spy organization taunts Helm as a shopworn 36-year-old and clearly over the hill as a physical specimen. Later in the book, Helm himself says that he is 36 years old. Writer Hayford Peirce examined the issue of Helm's age, and found this figure to be improbably young given the information about Helm's background in ''Death of a Citizen.'' Peirce postulated that Helm was actually several years older than the 36 years mentioned in '' The Wrecking Crew'' and that he was probably born around 1918. By '' The Betrayers'', the tenth book, the age issue vanishes completely. Critic

Anthony Boucher William Anthony Parker White (August 21, 1911 – April 29, 1968), better known by his pen name Anthony Boucher (), was an American author, critic, and editor who wrote several classic mystery novels, short stories, science fiction, and radio dr ...

wrote: "Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett ( ; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the characters he created are Sam Spade ('' The Ma ...

; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told."

Golden Age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

mystery writer

John Dickson Carr John Dickson Carr (November 30, 1906 – February 27, 1977) was an American author of detective stories, who also published using the pseudonyms Carter Dickson, Carr Dickson, and Roger Fairbairn. He lived in England for a number of years, and ...

, who began reviewing books for '' Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' in 1969, "found Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm to be 'my favorite secret agent,'" wrote Carr's biographer, noting that Hamilton's books had little in common with Carr's. "The explanation may lie in Carr's comment that in espionage novels he preferred Matt Helm's ' cloud-cuckooland'. Carr never valued realism in fiction."

List of books

(all by Donald Hamilton) #''

'' (1960) #'' The Wrecking Crew'' (1960) #'' The Removers'' (1961) #'' The Silencers'' (1962) #''

Murderers' Row Murderers' Row were the baseball teams of the New York Yankees in the late 1920s, widely considered some of the best teams in history. The nickname is particularly used for the first six hitters in the 1927 team lineup: Earle Combs, Mark Koen ...

'' (1962) #'' The Ambushers'' (1963) #'' The Shadowers'' (1964) #'' The Ravagers'' (1964) #'' The Devastators'' (1965) #'' The Betrayers'' (1966) #'' The Menacers'' (1968) #'' The Interlopers'' (1969) #'' The Poisoners'' (1971) #''

The Intriguers ''The Intriguers'', first published in 1972, was the fourteenth novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton Donald Bengtsson Hamilton (March 24, 1916 – November 20, 2006) was an American writer of novels, short stories, and ...

'' (1972) #''

The Intimidators ''The Intimidators'' was the fifteenth novel in the Matt Helm secret agent novel series by Donald Hamilton. It was first published in 1974. Plot summary Despite the internal politics of '' The Intriguers'', Matt Helm (code name Eric) still fin ...

'' (1974) #'' The Terminators'' (1975) #'' The Retaliators'' (1976) #'' The Terrorizers'' (1977) #'' The Revengers'' (1982) #'' The Annihilators'' (1983) #'' The Infiltrators'' (1984) #'' The Detonators'' (1985) #'' The Vanishers'' (1986) #'' The Demolishers'' (1987) #'' The Frighteners'' (1989) #'' The Threateners'' (1992) #'' The Damagers'' (1993) #'' The Dominators'' – unpublished. Hamilton finished this novel in the late 1990s, and was reportedly revising it in preparation for seeking a publisher in mid-2002. All of Hamilton's Matt Helm novels were first published in the United States by

Fawcett Publications Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940). It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz ...

under their

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

imprint. These titles have since been republished by

Titan Books Titan Publishing Group is the publishing division of the British entertainment company Titan Entertainment, which was established as Titan Books in 1981. The books division has two main areas of publishing: film and television tie-ins and cine ...

Matt Helm in other media

In 1965,

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

acquired the film rights to eight Matt Helm novels. A five-film parody or spoof spy movie series was planned and four were produced, debuting with '' The Silencers'' (from Hamilton's novels ''The Silencers'' and ''Death of a Citizen'', adapted by acclaimed ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' screenwriter Oscar Saul). The series was produced by

Irving Allen Irving Allen (born Irving Applebaum, November 24, 1905 – December 17, 1987) was an Austro-Hungarian–born American theatrical and cinematic producer and director. He received an Academy Award in 1948 for producing the short movie '' Climbin ...

, former partner of

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

film producer Albert R. Broccoli. They were made to star

, who co-produced them with his Meadway-Claude Production company and received a share of the profits. The films used the name Matt Helm, his cover identity, plus book titles and some very loose plot elements, but otherwise the series bore no resemblance to the character, atmosphere, or themes of Hamilton's original books, nor to the hard-edged action of Bond. Martin played the part with his own persona of a fun-loving, easygoing, wisecracking playboy with plenty of references to singing and alcohol consumption. Helm's government agency, unnamed in the novels, was called Intelligence and Counter-Espionage (ICE) in the films. Like the Bond series, the Helm films featured a number of sexy women in each, sometimes referred to as "The Slaygirls". Martin co-starred in the films with popular '60s actresses such as

Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born Estelle Caro Eggleston; October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023) was an American actress. She was the mother of actor Andrew Stevens. Stevens began her acting career in 1959 in the film ''Say One for Me'', winning the Golden ...

Ann-Margret Ann-Margret Olsson (born 28 April 1941), credited as Ann-Margret, is a Swedish-American actress and singer with a career spanning seven decades. Her many screen roles include '' Pocketful of Miracles'' (1961), ''State Fair'' (1962), '' Bye Bye B ...

, Sharon Tate, Elke Sommer, Janice Rule and Tina Louise. A 1970s TV series ''

Matt Helm Matt Helm is a fictional character created by American author Donald Hamilton (1916–2006). Helm is a U.S. government counter-agent, a man whose primary job is to kill or nullify enemy agents—not a spy or secret agent in the ordinary sense of ...

,'' which cast

Tony Franciosa Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...

as Helm, an ex-spy turned

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigat ...

, also departed from the books and was unsuccessful. In 2002, it was reported that DreamWorks had optioned the entire Helm book series. In 2005, '' Variety'' reported that DreamWorks had signed Michael Brandt and

Derek Haas Derek Haas (born June 30, 1970) is an American writer and producer. Life and career Derek Haas attended Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he earned both his Bachelor of Arts, B.A. and Master of Arts, M.A. in English Literature. He lives ...

to write a screenplay for a high six-figure deal. According to the article, the film was to be a contemporary adaptation of the character, but no casting or release information was announced.

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. **Paramount Picture ...

retained the film rights to the Matt Helm series after its 2008 split from DreamWorks. In 2009, it was reported that

Alex Kurtzman Alexander Hilary Kurtzman (born September 7, 1973) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing the scripts to ''Transformers'' (2007), '' Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)'', ''Star Trek'' (2009), ''Star Trek Into Darkness ...

and

Roberto Orci Roberto Gaston Orcí (July 20, 1973 – February 25, 2025) was a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. Born in Mexico City, Orci began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Toge ...

would produce a more serious version of the Helm franchise, with '' Variety'' saying that the tone of

Paul Attanasio Paul Albert Attanasio (born November 14, 1959) is an American screenwriter and producer. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, once for '' Quiz Show'' (1994) and once for '' Donnie Brasco'' (1997). Earl ...

's script had a similar tone to '' The Bourne Identity'', and that

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...

was considering directing or producing. In March 2018, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'' reported that Tom Shepard had been hired to rewrite the script, with

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and three Grammy Awards. In addition, he has been nominated for twelve Acade ...

attached to play Helm. Spielberg reportedly would remain involved in some unspecified capacity.

Films

(all starring

as Helm) #'' The Silencers'' (1966) #''

'' (1966) #'' The Ambushers'' (1967) #'' The Wrecking Crew'' (1969) A fifth film was planned, based upon the novel ''The Ravagers'', but Martin declined the opportunity to play the role again. The title of the film was announced at the end of ''The Wrecking Crew''.

Box office performance

Home media

''Murderer's Row'' was initially released on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in 1980, with reissues in 1987 and 1993. ''The Ambushers'' was released on VHS in 1987, with a reissue in 1996. ''The Silencers'' and ''The Wrecking Crew'' were both released on VHS only in 1996, with no reissues for either film. The 1996 releases consisted of 2 box sets, one containing ''Murderer's Row'' and ''The Ambushers'', with the other containing ''The Silencers'' and ''The Wrecking Crew''. It is unknown if these releases were sold exclusively as box sets, or if they were also issued individually. A 4-

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

box set containing the four films was released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

in December 2005.

Television series

A television series loosely based upon Hamilton's character was launched by the ABC Network in 1975. Titled simply ''

,'' the series starred

Anthony Franciosa Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...

as a retired spy who becomes a

. After being launched by a pilot TV movie, it ran for only 14 episodes.

Manga

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Jin Kimura (), also known as () drew , based on the novel, in the magazine '' Boy's Life'' (), November 1968 – March 1969.

References

External links

*Article on the history of the Matt Helm films:
Mr Helm Goes to Hollywood
" November 14, 2011. '' Cinema Retro.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Matt Literary characters introduced in 1960 Fictional United States government agents Fictional spies Novel series Characters in American novels of the 20th century American film series Male characters in literature