Introduction
In the mid-1960s everybody in Hollywood wanted in on the spy game. This was thanks to the runaway success of the Broccoli/Salzman-produced James Bond franchise. Columbia Pictures was no exception with their entry into the genre being the Matt Helm series starring Dean Martin in a spoof of the spy genre of the day.
Dean Martin made four films in all for the Matt Helm series – The Silencers (1966), Murderer’s Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), and The Wrecking Crew (1968). In this article, we will take a look at each film in the series, including behind-the-scenes details. We’ll also provide short reviews of each film.
The Silencers
Behind the Scenes
In 1964, producer Irving Allen was kicking himself because of missed opportunities. A few years earlier Allen had been Albert “Cubby” Broccoli’s business partner and had thought Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels were terrible with no cinematic value. Allen and Broccoli parted ways with the latter having great success with his adaptations of Fleming’s spy novels. The former was filled with thoughts of regret.
To compensate for and rectify his mistakes, Allen purchased the rights to the Matt Helm spy novels, written by Donald Hamilton. He then struck a deal with Columbia Pictures to make an American spy film series. It would be in a similar vein to the then-Bond films. The fourth book in the series, The Silencers, was chosen to be the first novel adapted.
“We had wanted Paul Newman or one of the good stars, but no one would go up against Sean Connery. Nobody wants to go up against a successful series.”
– Irving Allen
Eventually, the studio shifted gears. This was due to the inability to attract a big-name star by changing the planned tone of the Matt Helm films to a more comedic tone. The idea was suggested by director Phil Karlson. Allen then approached 48-year-old Dean Martin in March of 1965. Martin signed on to play the lead role soon after.
The original script was written by Oscar Saul who had adapted the play A Streetcar Named Desire for the screen. Saul’s version was much more serious than needed for the film. Subsequently, Allen brought in comedy writer Herbert Baker to revise the script. Baker had written several of Martin’s films with Jerry Lewis and was also a writer for The Dean Martin Show.
Stella Stevens was cast as the primary female lead, Gail Hendricks. Two years earlier she had played opposite Martin’s former partner, Jerry Lewis.
“(Irwin Allen) was the cheapest man in the world and he did everything he could at the very cheapest price and that’s why he was called “The Great Producer”.”
– Stella Stevens
Legendary dancer Cyd Charisse was cast in a small role as Sarita. She was a striptease artist and enemy agent working for the villainous organization known as “Big O.” Charisse was 44 years old at the time. Although her character sings in the film, her voice was dubbed by Vikki Carr. This would be one of Charisse’s final film roles.
Legendary Hollywood car customizer George Barris worked extensively on The Silencers. He customized Helm’s vehicle, a 1965 Mercury Colony Park, to include a bar and reclining seats. In addition to customizing Helm’s station wagon, Barris also rigged the two cars that were trying to wreck Matt and Gail, to fall apart when they hit head-on.
Elmer Bernstein composed the score. However, the film also featured a number of Martin’s recordings as well. As a result, two soundtrack albums were released – an RCA Victor album featuring Bernstein’s original score, and a Reprise album by Martin, singing several songs that were featured in the movie.
The world premiere for The Silencers was held on February 18, 1966, at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, Illinois. The film went on to great success at the box office, earning over $7 million dollars during its theatrical run.
Review
The Silencers (and the other films in the Matt Helm series) are definitely inappropriate by today’s standards. Let’s face it, They were inappropriate back then too. Nevertheless, that doesn’t stop them from being a lot of fun, if you leave your brain and modern sensibilities at the door.
Make no mistake, The Silencers is by no means a good movie. However, it is a lot of fun. “Girls, Gags & Gadgets” proclaims one theatrical poster for this flick. That pretty much sums up the entire viewing experience.
Let’s begin with the first one – girls. A bevy of mid-sixties beauties is prominently featured in The Silencers, starting with the opening credits. This features various strip tease artists doing their thing.
From there we meet Martin’s, Matt Helm. He’s a retired secret agent who snaps pictures for various girly magazines in order to pass the time. His secretary by day/harem girl by night, Lovey Kravezit (Beverly Adams), does whatever it takes to keep Helm satisfied. She’s a regular “Girl Friday.”
Additional women come and go (sometimes fatally) from Matt’s gaze until we meet the two primary female leads. They are Tina (Daliah Lavi), a sexy secret agent pal of his, and Gail Hendricks (Stella Stevens), a klutzy girl who always gets into trouble, and usually loses most of her clothes in the process.
Moving on to the gags part of the film, we get a lot of “If James Bond was Dean Martin” type humor. One of the best examples of this is the fully stocked bar in his station wagon that Matt Helm and Hendrick pound booze from while driving in San Juan (but filmed on location in the Hollywood Hills).
Lastly, we cover the gadgets that Matt Helm uses. This includes the best one, a gun that shoots the person pulling the trigger instead of the intended target. This gag is used several times near the end of the film. It works every single time. Helm’s swinging bachelor pad also features a radio-controlled bed that rolls around the room until it dumps its occupants into a swimming pool-sized jacuzzi.
The overall production of The Silencers isn’t in the same class as the Broccoli/Salzman 007 films given the lack of on-location shooting. However, the production of the sets for the villainous lairs is pretty good. It successfully emulates the work of the James Bond series art director, Ken Adam.
Overall, the film isn’t a bad way to spend an hour and forty minutes. However, a high-quality spy adventure, it’s not. The Silencers also happens to be the most surreal and funniest movie in the Matt Helm series.
Murderer’s Row
Behind the Scenes
After the success of The Silencers, Columbia rushed a sequel, Murderer’s Row, into production. Loosely based on the Donald Hamilton novel of the same name, Allen once again turned to Oscar Saul and Herbert Baker for scripting duties.
With a larger budget, the production planned on shooting the entire film on location, in Europe. However, when Martin refused to go, the idea was scrapped. Instead, a second unit crew traveled to Monte Carlo and the Isle of Wight to shoot footage that would intercut with the footage that was produced in Hollywood.
Henry Levin would take over directorial duties for both this movie as well as the follow-up, The Ambushers (1967). Levin was hired because he had been impressed with the direction of the Dino De Laurentiis spy spoof Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) for Columbia Pictures.
Due to an improved budget, Allen was able to pursue a couple of bigger names to fill in the lead roles this time around. For the role of Julian Wall, the villainous head of Big O, they landed Academy Award Winning Actor Karl Malden. For the female lead Martin, who was a producer on Murderer’s Row, contacted his friend Ann-Margret. She accepted the role of Suzie.
“Karl Malden rises to new heights as a rotten human being.”
– Dean Martin in the trailer for Murderer’s Row