THE " REAL " MIKE HAMMER by Dave Goode

Watching KISS ME DEADLY ( 1955 ) again the other day I was taken by what a great movie it really is. One of those films that film historians gush over. And rightfully so. I just have one problem with it. The hero in it played by Ralph Meeker just isn't Mike Hammer. The character that he's portraying.

Directed by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides the movie is based very loosely on a novel by Mickey Spillane. Mike Hammer as played by Ralph Meeker is an unethical thug without a moral compass. Spillane's Hammer was a tough as they come street - fighter who could get down and dirty with the bad guys and give as good as he got. But he did have a code of ethics.

Mike Hammer had been brought to the big screen before. First in I THE JURY (1953 ) the adaptation of Spillane's first hit novel from 1947. This one starred Biff Elliott and Peggy Castle. Next up was MY GUN IS QUICK ( 1957 ) an adaptation of the Spillane novel of the same name starring Robert Bray as Mike Hammer. Darren MacGavin also played the private eye from 1958 to 1960 on the television series MICKEY SPILLANE'S MIKE HAMMER.

Spillane himself would play Mike Hammer in THE GIRL HUNTERS ( 1962 )
based on his novel of the same name. And Spillane certainly looked the part. Though a bit shorter than most of us imagine Hammer to be. But he's rugged and looks as tough as an overcooked steak. He's by no means a trained actor. But he does have a screen presence. And his speech pattern ( surprise ) sounds like Hammer's. And unlike the actors who had played Hammer up to this time he carried a .45 M1911A.

THE GIRL HUNTERS revolves around the search for Hammer's secretary Velda , who he believes to have been killed. The story is everything you'd expect from a Mike Hammer movie. There are shoot - outs. And there is an especially brutal fight between Hammer and a communist agent called the " Dragon ". There is only one " Doll " in the flick. But she is played by sexy Shirley Eaton who would go on to play the golden girl in GOLDFINGER (1964 ). Hammer falls in love with her. And for anyone who has read Spillane's books knows what this means.