Mike Hammer is a fictional American detective created by the American author Mickey Spillane in the 1947 book I, the Jury (made into a 1953 movie). Hammer is tough to the point of brutality. Several movies and radio and TV series have been based on the books about Mike Hammer. The actor most closely identfied with the character in recent years has been Stacy Keach, who portrayed Hammer in a CBS television series, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, which ran 1984-1987 and had a syndicated revival in 1997-1998. (An earlier syndicated version, originally aired 1957-1958, starred Darren McGavin as Hammer.) Mickey Spillane himself played Hammer in a 1963 motion picture adaptation of The Girl Hunters.

Mike Hammer Novels

• I, The Jury (1947)
• My Gun is Quick (1950)
• Vengeance is Mine! (1950)
• One Lonely Night (1951)
• The Big Kill (1951)
• Kiss Me, Deadly (1952)
• The Girl Hunters (1962)
• The Snake (1964)
• The Twisted Thing (1966)
• The Body Lovers (1967)
• Survival... Zero! (1970)
• The Killing Man (1989)
• Black Alley (1996)

Mike Hammer Films

• I, The Jury (United Artists, 1953)

• Kiss Me Deadly (United Artists, 1955)

Robert Aldrich was the director, Ralph Meeker was cast as Hammer, Maxine Cooper portrayed Hammer's sexy secretary/companion Velda.

The plot was as follows: Mike Hammer gives a ride to an attractive woman potrayed by Cloris Leachman, whom he picks up on a lonely country road. Thugs waylay them and force the car over a cliff, and kill the girl. Hammer declares vengeance and sets out to even the score, one by one.

The picture grossed $726,000 in the States and a total of $226 overseas.

Today, this film is considered one of the many influential film noir pictures. References appear in the Quentin Tarantino picture, Pulp Fiction.

• My Gun Is Quick (United Artists, 1957)

Robert Bray was cast as Hammer, with more of the violence originated from the villian rather than the detective.

The film grossed $308,000 with a total of $602 overseas.

• The Girl Hunters (Colorama Features, 1963)

Spillane himself played his creation, Mike Hammer (one of the few occasions in film history in which an author of a popular literary hero has portrayed his own character). It also starred Bond girl, Shirley Eaton, and actor Lloyd Nolan .

External link

• Unofficial Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer Site