 1964 paperback edition | |
| Author | Donald Hamilton |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | John McDermott |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Matt Helm |
| Genre | Spy novel |
| Publisher | Fawcett Publications |
Publication date | 1964 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 144 pp |
| Preceded by | The Shadowers |
| Followed by | The Devastators |
The Ravagers is a novel by Donald Hamilton that was first published in 1964. It was the eighth novel in his long-running series of adventures featuring secret agent Matt Helm.
Matt Helm is sent to Canada where his assignment is to stop a scheme to bring a Soviet submarine within striking distance of the United States.
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In the 1960s, a series of popular motion pictures based upon the Matt Helm series were produced starring Dean Martin. These films only loosely adapted their source material, choosing to adopt a comedic tone, rather than the serious tone of Hamilton's books. At the end of the fourth film, 1969's The Wrecking Crew , it is announced that Matt Helm's next cinematic adventure would be The Ravagers (presumably based upon this novel). Martin, however, declined to return to the role for a fifth time and the film was never made. Sharon Tate, his co-star in the fourth film, was to have co-starred in The Ravagers (the first of Helm's female companions to make a return appearance) but was murdered by the Manson Family in August 1969. Martin had pre-approval of his co-star and was not happy with the alternatives that Columbia Pictures presented and wanted Goldie Hawn to co-star. Hawn wanted $150,000 to appear which Columbia weren't prepared to pay. [1] An alternate account by Martin biographer Nick Tosches suggests Martin pulled out of the film due to being upset at Tate's death. [2]
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cactus Flower (1969).
Dean Martin was an American singer, actor, and comedian. One of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century, he was nicknamed "The King of Cool". Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio and television and in films.
Kurt Vogel Russell is an American actor. At the age of 12, he began acting in the western series The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters (1963–1964). In the late 1960s, he signed a ten-year contract with The Walt Disney Company, where he starred as Dexter Riley in films such as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (1969), Now You See Him, Now You Don't (1972), and The Strongest Man in the World (1975). For his portrayal of rock and roll superstar Elvis Presley in Elvis (1979), he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. According to Robert Osborne of Turner Classic Movies, Russell became the studio's top star of the 1970s.
Nicholas John Tate is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles as pilot Alan Carter in the 1970s science fiction television series Space: 1999, and James Hamilton in the 1980s Australian soap opera Sons and Daughters.
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 known best 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.
The Silencers is the title of a 1962 spy novel by Donald Hamilton, the fourth in a series of books featuring assassin Matt Helm.
There's a Girl in My Soup is a 1970 British romantic comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Peter Sellers and Goldie Hawn. It was based on the 1966 stage play of the same name by Terence Frisby.
Phil Karlson was an American film director. Later noted as a film noir specialist, Karlson directed 99 River Street, Kansas City Confidential and Hell's Island, all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s.
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.
The Silencers is a 1966 American spy comedy film directed by Phil Karlson, starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. The screenplay by Oscar Saul is based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton, while also adapting elements of Hamilton's first Helm novel, Death of a Citizen (1960). The film co-stars Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi, Victor Buono, Arthur O'Connell, Robert Webber, James Gregory, Roger C. Carmel, Beverly Adams, and Cyd Charisse.
The Ambushers is a 1967 American spy comedy film directed by Henry Levin 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 based on 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 Dominators is the title of an unpublished novel by Donald Hamilton. The book, which was completed in the early 2000s, was intended to be the 28th novel in Hamilton's Matt Helm spy series, continuing the adventures of the character introduced in the 1960 novel Death of a Citizen and later popularized by actor Dean Martin in a series of late-1960s motion pictures.
Hammerhead is a 1968 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 of the same title 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.
Dean Martin Sings Songs from "The Silencers" is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin of songs that featured in his film The Silencers, the first of the four films featuring the Matt Helm character that Martin would appear in. The album was arranged by Ernie Freeman and Gene Page.
Carole Enwright White was an American hairdresser, author, and spokesperson. She was known as the "First Lady of Hairdressing," who styled Jennifer Jones, Betsy Bloomingdale, Elizabeth Taylor, Goldie Hawn, Camille Cosby, Ann-Margret, Elvis Presley, Sharon Tate, Brad Pitt, and Sandra Bullock, among others.
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