The Silencers is the title of an American secret agent comedy motion picture produced in 1966 and starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. It is only loosely based upon the novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton, as well as another of Hamilton's Helm novels, Death of a Citizen.
The film was the first of four produced between 1966 and 1969 starring Martin. Whereas Hamilton's books were generally serious spy novels about a former Second World Wa...
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The Silencers is the title of an American secret agent comedy motion picture produced in 1966 and starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. It is only loosely based upon the novel of the same name by Donald Hamilton, as well as another of Hamilton's Helm novels, Death of a Citizen.
The film was the first of four produced between 1966 and 1969 starring Martin. Whereas Hamilton's books were generally serious spy novels about a former Second World War assassin who is recruited to continue killing for an American government agency, the film versions were light-hearted spy romps spoofing the James Bond series in the same spirit as Our Man Flint. They have been cited as the principal inspirations for the Austin Powers spy comedies of the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Silencers does borrow a plot element from the first Helm novel, Death of a Citizen, as it begins with the agent being coaxed out of retirement. Helm's mission: to stop an evil organization called "BIG O" (the Bureau for...
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