The Helm movies are drivel, sort of a satire of the early Bond movies.
The novels are great; one of my favorite scenes: Helm is in an aircraft with two bad guys. The pilot dies for one reson or another; Helm asks the the woman, “Can you fly?” She responds, “No!” and he immediantely shoots her. 
In defense of the movies, Dean Martin is always a pleasure to watch for me.
For what it’s worth, Austin Powers (at least the first movie) borrowed almost as much from the Matt Helm movies (with Dean Martin) and the Flint movies (with James Coburn) as it did from the James Bond movies.
Well, in the books, Bond doesn’t drive an Astin-Martin. He drives a Bentley.
Regarding Matt Helm:
In the books,Donald Hamilton used him to comment on current events in the popular culture, so he often sounds like a grumpy old man. Hamilton is/was pretty conservative, so liberal readers might not like him.
In the movies, Dean Martin played him as a caricature of Dean Martin. If you love the books, just leave your brain at the door, and enjoy the eye-candy.
In the books, Matt Helm had one rule of thumb: if a woman claimed to be attracted to him, then she was obviously a KGB agent!
Maybe you could ask a mod to fix the typo in your post; it makes it seem like you’re saying Eva Green isn’t hotter than a handful of habaneros in a bowl of magma sitting on the surface of the sun. 
I read them all. I grew up reading Helm and Bond. One of my best friends and I used to swap the books back and forth. He actually did a book report in high school comparing the two characters.
So, who would win? My money’s on Helm. Especially if he’s prepared. (Has a crowbar).
Yeah, but the Bond from the books wouldn’t have any problem with shooting Helm in the back while he lies in wait with that crowbar.
Eva Green. I wouldn’t throw her out of bed for eating crackers.
Well, I’m a straight female so the sexual attraction part isn’t there for me - I’ll have to defer to the straight men and lesbians on the board for an assessment of that.
She just doesn’t seem like the right type for this role to me. However, I should wait and see the movie when it comes out - I’m sure they’ll have her tarted up real good!
It’s been a while since I read anything except Casino Royale, but I do remember that while “Book Bond” was a sexist by our terms, he was caring and in love in this novel; the last line is all the more striking.
Now I don’t remember that. Which novels should I read again?
(I was going to say, “Sounds like they would have gotten along fine”, but Helm makes a point of saying you don’t have any friends in the business, cause you might have to leave them blleding to death in a ditch while you got the message home.
I think Craig is a horrible choice for James Bond.
I also think it doesn’t really matter, ultimately, what the books are like, because the FILMS have set a precedent and the films are what get the most mass-consumption. Most Bond fans are Bond film fans, and they want someone who falls in line with the other James Bonds of the movies, and I understand them completely.
When I see Craig’s face, I think “RUSSIAN.” He even looks like Vladimir Putin with more hair, for Christ’s sweet sake.
I agree.
It also sounds to me like the current filmmakers are trying to get away with paying smaller salaries to their actors, too, so it makes me wonder what else they’ll try to cut back on.
Usually script quality, in my experience…
Yeah, he would. Book-Bond hesitated to plug Scaramanga on at least two occasions and paid dearly for it. He did drop a guy into a shark tank, but only after the baddie had done the same to Felix Leiter. Bond had killed in cold blood several times, but avoided it whenever possible.
“That’s a Smith & Wesson, Doctor, and you’ve had your six,” is strictly a movie invention, one of the rare cases where the movies were better than the books.
I’m not a Bond fan so maybe I shouldn’t be posting. I just thought it strange that people are saying Craig isn’t handsome enough when frankly, I don’t really consider Connery as all that handsome, attractive yes, but not handsome. Lazenby didn’t seem handsome or attractive to me and Moore, went from Pretty Boy to Pretty Wrinkly Old Man before his turn as Bond was up. I don’t see how looks should be all that important, it’s whether or not he can pull off the character and you won’t know if he can manage that until you see the finished product.
That would explain the last two movies.
I read all the books by Flemming and a couple of the 1970’s pastiches. The overall impression of Bond that I took away from it was that he was ruthless to the point of sociopathy. “Licensed to Kill” struck me as a polite way of saying “Her Majesty’s Hitman.” YMMV
Especially as I’m not a big fan of the movies, and have seen only a couple of them, I don’t believe I am conflating the character from the book with the character portrayed on screen.
