Mike Hammer

While I was a school girl, I never missed doll-faced Darren McGavin as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, an unorthodox, relenetless private eye ridding New York City of creeps in much the same way as "The Sweeney" in 1970s London. I say "doll-faced" because I did meet Mr. McGavin on the street in front of the Met after he had just finished his evening performance of "The King and I," dancing and singing as a barefoot royal in love with a governess - nothing like Mike Hammer but just as adorable. I told him how much I enjoyed his TV shows including "Riverboat." Years later, I bought the Mike Hammer DVDs but found his methods too unorthodox for my adult mind. Still, Darren McGavin was and is one of my all-time favorite stars: RIP.

A lot of great actors have played Mickey Spillane's bad boy detective. From the list of Hollywood heavyweights from Anthony Quinn to Robert Bray,Biff Elliott,Ralph Meeker,Robert Mitchum,Stacey Keach and even Mickey Spillane himself. Perhaps from the range of actors that were convincing,nobody did it better with style and class better than Darren McGavin. His portrayal of gumshoe tough guy Mike Hammer was not only laid back but was a class act. Mickey Spillane's character was basically the first title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private investigator Mike Hammer. This was the first of the two television series featuring the gritty,crime fighting detective. The first from the mid-1950's starred Darren McGavin while the other from the early-1980's starred Stacey Keach.

"Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer",with Darren McGavin in the title role,was the first syndicated television series based on Spillane's title character,the adventures of a tough gumshoe hard-boiled private detective. The series was itself one extremely violent,sexist series that was one of the coolest detective shows of its day. The series produced 78 episodes and it ran two seasons in syndication from 1956 to 1959. The series was produced by Revue Productions/MCA-TV Universal Studios. Filmed in Hollywood of course,with the opening and closing credits of the show using that scenery of New York as its theme. The black and white filming of the series enhances the film noir atmosphere. The entire premise of the show is that the world is an evil and violent place(the setting is New York),and the strong and upright must be as tough and quick as the baddies to set things right.

In the space of a half-hour,Darren McGavin normally escapes assassination attempts on his life,beats at least one man to a bloody pulp while continuously flirts with one or more beautiful women,fires of some 50's tough guy slang while solving a murder and a mystery. The pace of this show is very fast and once you watch it you may want to keep up with what happens next. Darren McGavin's character of Mike Hammer was a tough gumshoe private eye while regularly played judge,jury and executioner to an assortment of bad guys and crooked lowlifes each week. All within a 30 minute time slot. In the final analysis when Hammer solves the mysteries and brings the baddies to justice he may have to go beyond or stoop down to the level to take a case ,but you knew he was on the right side. His crusade against crime,while bravely protects the weak,despite taking a regular share of abuse in just about every episode,takes risk to himself by going great lengths to protect his clients' innocent. He is strong,cynical and have to be extremely violent to do what he has to do. Mike Hammer was the epitome of 50's cool and Darren McGavin was a brilliant to watch here.

Darren McGavin,after Mike Hammer was canceled in 1959 McGavin switched gears starring in the short-lived western series "Riverboat"(which was also produced by Revue Studios), and would return to played another hardboiled detective in the short-lived 1965 series called "The Outsider",and later on would go on to greater fame as Carl Kolchak in the classic supernatural-detective show of the early 1970's "Kolchak:The Night Stalker" Bart Burns played the role of Hammer's trustworthy ally in the police department Captain Pat Chambers. Burns who go on to guest star in several television series including "Dragnet","Columbo","Ironside",and "The Rockford Files".

Speaking of the guest star roster for this classic series from the 1950's,you had stars that were coming up,but made a name for themselves during this time....from Barbara Bain,Robert Vaughn,John Forsythe,to Loren Greene,and even Carl Betz...the list goes on and on. What a show!

Darren McGavin was the quintessential Mike Hammer. Others paled by comparison. He played him with toughness, irreverence and humor. Back in the 50's, when TV censorship was at its strictest, he went as far as you could go. He'd call women "Chickie" and had no qualms at roughing them up to get to the truth. I especially liked his scenes with Nita Talbot, who took everything he dished out. In another review, revtg001 claimed that Anthony Quinn played Mike Hammer. Although, Mr.Quinn appeared in a movie of a Mickey Spillane novel, "The Long Wait",the character he played was JOHNNY McBRIDE. In my opinion, the second best Mike Hammer was Ralph Meeker in "Kiss Me Deadly".

A lot of actors have played Mickey Spillane's bad boy. Anthony Quinn, Robert Bray, Biff Elliot, Stacey Keetch and Mickey himself. Nobody did it with the convincing style of Darren McGavin. His Mike Hammer was a laid back, class act. A friend of mine said it best. "This guy's the real thing," he said. "When he gets a bad guy down he doesn't hesitate to put feet on him 'til he knows he won't get up. That's real." They filmed 72 episodes of that show. I'd give big bucks to have them on a DVD. I remember watching the show in Texas. A beer company in San Antonio sponsored the show. Each episode opened with the camera moving onto Hammer's office where he sat behind his desk. He would say, "Come on in. I'm always ready for some company." And he would reach behind him to open a filing cabinet drawer and take out two bottles of Lone Star beer. The first time I saw that I said, This is going to work. I was right. McGavin did not like the character Mike Hammer. He thought the whole thing was a spoof and never took in seriously. That relaxed attitude is what made the show great.

I love the old private detective shows of the 1950's and 1960's with their jazzy musical themes and their tough heroes with a heart of gold. This early version of Mike Hammer wasn't the best, (that would be Peter Gunn), but it had the best lead actor, Darren McGavin, one of those performers who is usually the best thing in anything he's in. Another reviewer said that he 'nails' Mike Hammer and he really does. Apparently he didn't like the character, (actors are often very different from the characters they play). The theory that he played it as a spoof of private eyes is interesting. The shows and McGavin's performances are serious enough that I wonder about that. But he does seem at times to laugh his way through some scenes and give a comic touch to the show. He can handle the drama just as well. The production values are cheap but he's a whole reason to watch the show by himself.

There is one other reason: the musical theme, 'Riff Blues', (I hope dfam1, who posted a review 17 years ago asking about that finally found out that that's what they call it- there are several good versions on You-Tube). I love Harlem Noctrune, the theme used for the Stacey Keach series, but Riff Blues is equally good.

I'm currently watching an episode of this show and David Janssen's 'Richard Diamond' show each night. Both are half an hour, (meaning 25 minutes), long and contemporary to each other, (Diamond was 1957-60, Hammer 1958-60). Diamond was a network show used as a replacement show, Hammer a syndicated show, so Hammer actually has more episodes, 78 to 77. Hammer is based in New York and Diamond was as well the first two seasons, (although neither show was filmed there, except for a few scenes of Hammer). You wonder if Diamond, (which starred another one of my favorite actors in Janssen) and Hammer ever crossed paths. The actors may well have crossed paths as both series were filmed at the Republic Pictures studios in LA. Both actors later played private eyes in well-regarded series, (McGavin in 'The Outsider' and Janssen in 'Harry O'). I've checked their resumes on the IMDB and they don't seem to have acted in the same TV episode or movies, although Todd and Buzz encountered each of them along 'Route 66'.