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 Original 1963 paperback cover | |
| Author | Donald Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John McDermott |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Matt Helm |
| Genre | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Fawcett Publications |
Publication date | 1963 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Preceded by | Murderers' Row |
| Followed by | The Shadowers |
The Ambushers is a novel by Donald Hamilton first published in 1963, continuing the exploits of assassin Matt Helm.
Matt Helm conducts a by-the-book assassination in the (fictional) Central American nation of Costa Verde. Afterwards, he finds himself pursuing an ex-Nazi named von Sachs, who has obtained one of the nuclear missiles that had been bound for Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and who is threatening the United States with the weapon. Along the way he finds himself working with a Russian agent named Vadya (who would return in later Helm adventures).
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The Ambushers was very loosely adapted for the cinema in 1967 as the third film in a series starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm. Like the other Martin films, The Ambushers took only a few elements of Hamilton's original story and recast the plot in the vein of an action comedy.
Donald Bengtsson Hamilton 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 fiction and westerns, such as The Big Country. He is best known for his long-running Matt Helm series (1960-1993), which chronicles the adventures of an undercover counter-agent/assassin working for a secret American government agency. The noted critic Anthony Boucher wrote: "Donald Hamilton has brought to the spy novel the authentic hard realism of Dashiell Hammett; and his stories are as compelling, and probably as close to the sordid truth of espionage, as any now being told."
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 the term as used in most spy thrillers.
Irving Allen was a theatrical and cinematic producer and director.
The Silencers is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm.
Murderers' Row is a 1966 American comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm. It is the second of four films in the Matt Helm series, and is very loosely based upon the 1962 spy novel Murderers' Row by Donald Hamilton.
The Wrecking Crew is a 1968 American spy comedy film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm, along with Elke Sommer, Sharon Tate, Nancy Kwan, Nigel Green, and Tina Louise. It is the fourth and final film in the Matt Helm series, and is loosely based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton. The film opened in Canada in December 1968 before premiering in the United States in February 1969.
Death of a Citizen is a 1960 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 family man Matt Helm and the rebirth of the deadly and relentless assassin of World War II.
The Wrecking Crew is a spy novel written by Donald Hamilton and first published in 1960. It was the second novel featuring Hamilton's ongoing protagonist, counter-agent and assassin Matt Helm. In this book Hamilton continued the hard-headed and gritty realism he had built up around Helm in the first novel of the series, Death of a Citizen.
Matt Helm is an American mystery television series which aired on ABC from September 20, 1975 to January 3, 1976. The title character was played by Anthony Franciosa.
Murderers' Row is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton. It was the fifth novel featuring his creation Matt Helm, a Second World War assassin recruited as a counter-agent by a secret American agency. This was the last Matt Helm novel to not use Hamilton's naming convention of The (Verb)-ers. The expression "murderers' row" had been used previously to describe the batting line-up of the New York Yankees baseball team in the late 1920s.
The Silencers is an American Pathécolor spy film spoof motion picture released in 1966 and starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. It is loosely based upon and takes its title from the 1962 novel The Silencers by Donald Hamilton, and also adapts elements of Hamilton's first Helm novel, Death of a Citizen (1960).
The Ambushers is a 1967 American adventure comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm, along with Senta Berger and Janice Rule. It is the third of four films in the Matt Helm series, and is very loosely based upon the 1963 novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton as well as The Menacers (1968) that featured UFOs and a Mexican setting. When a government-built flying saucer is hijacked mid-flight by Jose Ortega, the exiled ruler for an outlaw nation, secret agent Matt Helm and the ship's former pilot Sheila Sommers are sent to recover it.
The Betrayers is the tenth novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton, which originated with Death of a Citizen in 1960. This novel was first published in 1966. It was reissued in 2014 by Titan Books.
The Menacers, first published in 1968, was the eleventh novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton and the first published since the launch of the Matt Helm film series starring Dean Martin.
The Interlopers, first published in 1969, was the twelfth novel in the Matt Helm spy series by Donald Hamilton, which began in 1960. It represents a middle period in the Helm novels, being about 80,000 words in length, somewhat longer than the first four or five in the series, but considerably shorter than most of the Helm books of the eighties and nineties, which were generally well over 100,000 words in length. At this intermediate length, the action moved swiftly while still allowing for plot complications, but avoided the occasional padded-out-by-dialogue tedium of the later books.
The Intimidators was the fifteenth novel in the Matt Helm secret agent novel series by Donald Hamilton. It was first published in 1974.
The Annihilators, published in 1983, was the twentieth novel in the long-running secret agent series Matt Helm by Donald Hamilton.
The Vanishers is the title of a spy novel by Donald Hamilton which was first published in 1986. It is the twenty-third book in a series of novels featuring the adventures of assassin Matt Helm.
Herbert Baker was a songwriter and screenwriter for television and films.
Hammerhead is a British Eurospy thriller film directed by David Miller and starring Vince Edwards, Judy Geeson, and Diana Dors. Its plot concerns a criminal mastermind who attempts to steal NATO secrets, with an American agent hot on his trail. It is based on the 1964 novel by English novelist James Mayo, and produced by Irving Allen and written by Herbert Baker, who made the Matt Helm films for Columbia Pictures. It was filmed in London and Portugal.