Girl Hunters
Director: Roy Rowland
Year: 1963
Rating: 6.5
Three Mike Hammer films had already been filmed by 1963 - I, The Jury (1953),
Kiss Me Deadly (1955, which Spillane hated), My Gun is Quick (1957) - as
well as a TV series from 1958 to 1960 with Darren McGavin. Mickey Spillane
the creator of Mike Hammer hadn't really liked any of the actors who had
played his character - Biff Elliot, Ralph Meeker, Robert Bray - and so decided
that the best person to play the rough and tumble guy was . . . himself at
all of 5 foot 8. And in truth the Mike Hammer of the written page isn't exactly
a complicated character that needs subtle acting or method training to portray
him. It comes down basically to looking and acting macho and hostile and
Spillane who had only a tiny bit of acting experience is decent enough at
that. The romantic scenes are admittedly cringe-worthy - like a bull elephant
going after a poodle. The poodle gives in. But most of the film is just Hammer
being pissed.
Hammer and Spillane had been AWOL for a few years. When Spillane wrote this
his seventh Hammer novel it had been ten years since the last one. Which
is rather amazing when you consider how popular they were and how many copies
were being sold (which apparently annoyed the hell out of Hemingway). Spillane
just stopped writing Hammer in 1952 with Kiss Me, Deadly. Put him away. In
fact, he wrote barely anything as the money from his Hammer novels kept him
in clover. The reason for this was that he was converted to being a Jehovah
Witness and found his Hammer character to not fit into his new religious
beliefs. No shit! He did in fact go from door to door to hand out pamphlets.
I got two old ladies coming to my door. Some people got Spillane.
His book and the film (for which Spillane wrote the script and so it is not
surprising that it follows the book like a Tuesday after Monday) take this
long absence into account. Hammer had been on a long drunken bender from
hell - the King of Benders - for seven long years till he had become a bum,
sleeping where he could find a spot to lie down on, using his last dime for
that last drink before the bars closed. Velda his long time assistant had
been killed on a case - her body just vanished - and blaming himself Hammer
followed his memories of her into the cold hard gutter. His old friend Policeman
Pat Chambers hated him now and shows this by beating the hell out of Hammer
every chance he gets. In the world of Hammer beating up people is just a
way of saying I care.
Then he hears from a dying man that Velda is still alive. But being tracked
down by professional killers. He has to save her. He throws out the booze
and picks up his .45. It feels good in his hand and he goes hunting too.
His search takes him into the arms of a widow (one of my first fantasy girls
as a youth, Shirley Eaton - the blonde in Goldfinger who gets a paint job)
and killers working for the Commies. The damn Commies. Hammer hates Commies.
A lot. He would like to kill everyone of them.
The film ends where the book does - with the story not finished - but the
book had a sequel The Snake - the film never did - but in a sense it does
because Hammer is back and Hammer is angry again at the world. But he is
not exactly the same Hammer - Spillane tones down the violence on both page
and screen with all the murdered bodies taking place away from Hammer. In
fact, Hammer is involved in practically no violence till the very end and
even then he finally can't kill the man after nearly crucifying him. I will
be curious to see if this kinder side of Hammer remains in Spillane's future
Hammer books - six more.
Filmed in hard-boiled black and white, there is a lot of exterior shooting
on the streets of Hammer's city, New York City - but in fact as I discovered
it is actually London! Now the journalist friend who helps him and goes by
the name of Hy Gardner is in fact Hy Gardner, who at that time was a very
well known news and radio personality (the same in the book). The FBI agent
is played by one of my favorites from the old days Lloyd Nolan who portrayed
private eye Michael Shayne in a good series of films in the 40's.
