10 replies to this topic

[Dustin]

The splendid, intriguing, entertaining, hilarious... and highly recommended blog Existential Ennui informs us that Titan Books this December announced the return of Matt Helm for 2013!

Titans own site still gives away little more than the simple fact, but in time further news about this event can be expected.

[larrythefatcat]

Oh, I thought this was going to be an announcement that they were finally going to make a film adaptation of "The Ravagers" as promised at the end of The Wrecking Crew... I guess not.

I don't know who'd play Matt Helm, but I guess it just wouldn't have that ridiculous Dino charm!

[Dustin]

Oh, sorry. Didn't want to make your mouth water there. He'll be back in print.

That said another go at a this-time-for-real adaption would be highly welcome. Depending on who's to take the helm, both in front of and behind the lens. Given that so many heroes of yesteryear see a return to the screen in these times I wouldn't be surprised if Matt Helm should have a second life in theaters in the near future.

For the time being fans of these spy thrillers are already quite happy to see this series back in print, as some entries - particularly the later books - are hard to come by for a decent price.

[Napoleon Solo]

The one unanswered question is whether The Dominators, the unpublished, 28th Helm novel, will finally see print as part of this deal. Hamilton wrote it around 2001 or 2002.

[Dustin]

That would be major news for fans of Helm. We'll have to wait and see. If it's indeed part of this deal I suppose it will only come at the end of that run as the Matt Helm series has a kind of continuity. Depending on how many books Titan publishes in a given time that last Helm adventure by Hamilton could be years away still.

Edited by Dustin, 17 December 2011 - 05:53 PM.

[Napoleon Solo]

The one unanswered question is whether The Dominators, the unpublished, 28th Helm novel, will finally see print as part of this deal. Hamilton wrote it around 2001 or 2002.

The answer is no: http://bit.ly/triZv3

[saintca2005]

I've heard that Donald Hamilton penned one last Matt Helm novel before he died; his son Brian has said it will be printed but not when. There's also rumors of a Matt Helm movie which will be closer to the original books. I liked the series.
Two other spy series come to mind: The Jonas Wilde novels by Andrew York, the first one which was made into a movie called "Danger Route" around 1968 starring Richard Johnson. The other was the John Craig series by James Munro. The last of the four books Innocent Bystanders was made into a movie starring the late Stanley Baker who sort of resembles Sean Connery. Both worthy successors to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

[Brisco]

Two other spy series come to mind: The Jonas Wilde novels by Andrew York, the first one which was made into a movie called "Danger Route" around 1968 starring Richard Johnson. The other was the John Craig series by James Munro. The last of the four books Innocent Bystanders was made into a movie starring the late Stanley Baker who sort of resembles Sean Connery. Both worthy successors to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

When mentioning James Munro, it seems only fitting to also mention his other truly great spy creation, under his own name, James Mitchell: Callan. Edward Woodward played Callan on a TV series of that name, and it's absolutely fantastic. Callan is really an anti-Bond: gritty and depressing. But it's truly amazing stuff. The two color seasons from the Seventies are available on DVD in America, and they're great, but the best episodes are found in the black and white seasons from the Sixties. Sadly a lot of them have been wiped, but happily all the episodes that survive are out on an excellent Region 2 DVD set from Network called Callan: The Monochrome Collection. It's more Harry Palmer than James Bond, but it's among the best spy entertainment ever, in my opinion. I like Callan even better than The Sandbaggers, and that's a great show too. Really, I can't recommend Callan enough.

[Miles Miservy]

Whew..... I thought you were about to write that the Matt Helm movies were going to be redone (Hell... everything ELSE is, these days). I'd prefer if they were left alone. When I was a kid, I thought all those Dean Martin movies were cool; just as cool as OO7. After seeing them years later, I realized that they were just, plain STUPID, with no relative symmetry to the books at all; parodies of the whole genre.

Edited by Miles Miservy, 28 February 2012 - 02:06 PM.

[Napoleon Solo]

Whew..... I thought you were about to write that the Matt Helm movies were going to be redone (Hell... everything ELSE is, these days). I'd prefer if they were left alone. When I was a kid, I thought all those Dean Martin movies were cool; just as cool as OO7. After seeing them years later, I realized that they were just, plain STUPID, with no relative symmetry to the books at all; parodies of the whole genre.

Fans of the novels have long wanted to see a faithful adaptation, not another try at Dean Martin-style movies. If there were a reason to do movies, that would be it.

[RufusCobb]

Two other spy series come to mind: The Jonas Wilde novels by Andrew York, the first one which was made into a movie called "Danger Route" around 1968 starring Richard Johnson. The other was the John Craig series by James Munro. The last of the four books Innocent Bystanders was made into a movie starring the late Stanley Baker who sort of resembles Sean Connery. Both worthy successors to Ian Fleming's James Bond.

When mentioning James Munro, it seems only fitting to also mention his other truly great spy creation, under his own name, James Mitchell: Callan. Edward Woodward played Callan on a TV series of that name, and it's absolutely fantastic. Callan is really an anti-Bond: gritty and depressing. But it's truly amazing stuff. The two color seasons from the Seventies are available on DVD in America, and they're great, but the best episodes are found in the black and white seasons from the Sixties. Sadly a lot of them have been wiped, but happily all the episodes that survive are out on an excellent Region 2 DVD set from Network called Callan: The Monochrome Collection. It's more Harry Palmer than James Bond, but it's among the best spy entertainment ever, in my opinion. I like Callan even better than The Sandbaggers, and that's a great show too. Really, I can't recommend Callan enough.

I heartily endorse your comments about Callan and the Sandbaggers. I watched both series when they were first broadcast and followed them through to their conclusion. Both excellent spy series.

I haven't got around to buying the Callan series DVD's yet but they did make a film 'Callan' which was good but disappointingly is just a remake of the original TV play that introduced Callan, (I think it was called 'A Magnum for Schneider') whereas I was hoping for something new, but it was Callan's intro so I suppose they had to do it that way. Also for some reason they had Peter Egan as Toby Meres instead of the actor who played him on TV, Anthony Valentine. Still worth a watch though and it will tell you whether you like the character enough to buy the DVD's.