Review of The Silencers

Just in case this fact was not made clear in the other reviews. Back in the spy era (James Bond, Our Man Flint, Secret Agent, Man from UNCLE, I SPY, Callan etc etc) there was a very popular series of thrillers penned by a respected suspense writer, Donald Hamilton. Although (arguably) all the entries in the series (27 in all) were of lesser quality than the very first and most visceral work, DEATH OF A CITIZEN, readers worldwide were captivated by the character and the first-person narrative, and Hamilton continued to pen them for decades, into a ripe old age. Hollywood (speaking broadly here) was aware of the success of this series and, faced with a choice between attempting to actually bring the character to life on-screen, or creating a cheap, superficial, low-quality, vehicle for superstar Dean Martin to merely show up for, and walk away with a large paycheck for everyone, well, let's just say the second idea was just too good to pass up. SO HERE IS THE POINT OF THE REVIEW. There were a handful of films made under the Matt Helm title. They had nothing to do with Matt Helm. And just in case this is too confusing, I will add that they (speaking broadly again) also made a TV series with the name MATT HELM, but (hopefully you are ahead of me here) it had nothing to do with the Hamilton character either, it was about a detective, and about making more money for the producers by using a name that resonated with the public. So, bottom line, all the Martin films are not based on the actual character and taken together as a whole they contain the cinematic equivalent of a can of beer left open in the sun for 48 hours. And leave the same taste in your mouth. Glad we had a chance to clear that up.