My Gun Is Quick

A private detective (Robert Blay) helps a prostitute being assaulted, and notices that she is wearing a unique ring. She is later found murdered and there is no trace of the ring, which turns out to be part of a cache of jewelry stolen by the Nazis during World War II.

This is apparently what a B-movie film noir looks like. No actors whose names mean anything to me (including star Robert Blay). Made by United Artists, and then acquired by MGM. Now probably sort of in limbo from the financial mess of MGM...

But you know what? Low budget or not, lack of star power or not, this is a pretty good story with a cool detective, some ladies of the night, shady characters...

Finally caught this for the first time recently when it aired on TCM and was pretty impressed. Mickey Spillane was unfairly maligned for years as a low-rent, hardboiled writer, which was more snobbery than real critical appraisal. Writer Max Allan Collins (Road to Redemption) has made championing Spillane a personal cause, and it's a worthy one. While Spillane's writing may not rank with such noir masters as Hammett or Chandler, there is a raw beauty to his prose, and there are passages in his novels that are so evocative of mood and place that they leap off the page. Given his book sales, it's a mystery why Spillane's Mike Hammer stories have not received more attention from Hollywood. And while "Kiss Me Deadly" has its moments, "My Gun is Quick" is far more true to Spillane's most famous character and to his work. That is largely due to Robert Bray, who comes much closer to capturing both the physical look of the character and his moral code, which, while brutal, is firmly on the side of justice, even if he's determined to administer it himself. Hollywood missed a bet by not casting Lawrence Tierney, the obvious choice, or Charles McGraw in the role. But of all the Hammers that have appeared on the big screen, Bray is the best. This movie suffers from a low budget, which includes the choice of L. A. as its location, rather than New York City, Hammer's natural habitat. But given those limitations it is well-shot, well-directed, and despite a no-name cast, well-acted. I'm still waiting for someone to do Spillane's Mike Hammer screen justice, but until he gets a big budget treatment set in 1950s New York, "My Gun is Quick" will remain the most faithful adaption of Hammer to make it to the big screen.

In my Gun is Quick,The Maltese Falcon flies again but not too high. Dolls and dead bodies litter the landscape in this Mickey Spillane story featuring a pair of rookie directors and a cast consisting of minor TV second stringers that nevertheless rises above its drawbacks on more than one occasion.

Mike Hammer (Robert Bray) comes to the aid of a stripper in a hash house when he clocks a thug about to rough her up. Down on her luck she does sport an impressive rock on her finger, one that is part of a priceless set stolen by Nazis during the war. When the girl is murdered Hammer is determined to find her killer. He is also hired by a retired Army colonel to locate all the jewels, promising him a huge payday.

Busy ducking punches and bullets from flunkies while fending off passes from dames the disheveled and surly Bray's cynical deadpan economically conveys Hammer's take on the cesspool society he moves through with few words. His take on everyone is suspicious and for good reason. Hammer's character calls for little stretching and the limited and terse Bray gives Quick a healthy pace by keeping it short and sweet. The rest of the cast is flat (save for Donald Randolph's inspired Colonel) with the mugs supplying perfunctory menace, the babes intense uncontrollable desire for Mike. Considering the personnel My Gun is Quick is a decent Spillane rendering. It may not approach Kiss Me Deadly but it does retain it's pulp sensibility most prominently explored in the hang dog visage of Bray that at times transcends the classic world weary expressions of Mitchum and Bogart.

I have never read any of the Mike Hammer novels so I cannot comment on how faithful the film adaptations are but I have seen all the films.

This film has a plot similar to the previous Mike Hammer film KISS ME DEADLY. As in the latter film Mike Hammer helps a girl escape from a gang of thugs, but the girl later turns up dead. Mike meets a women whom he thinks is trying to help him solve the girls murder, but like Gabrielle in KISS ME DEADLY, she is really working for the bad guys. The bad guys are lead by a retired English army officer who is trying to recover stolen Nazi loot he smuggled out of Europe after the war. Robert Bray is adequate as Mike Hammer, but he is no Ralph Meeker. But his Mike Hammer performance is light years ahead of Biff Elliot's or Armand Assante's.

Mike Hammer (Robert Bray) is the quintessential hard-boiled private investigator. He helps out a working girl named Red with an unusual ring. She had come out from Nebraska looking to make it in Hollywood. She is later found dead. It is a case of a mysterious Colonel Holloway confiscating stolen Nazi jewels.

This is a Mike Hammer film. The production is lesser B-movie. The filming is rather static with many bland interior shoots. The filmmaking isn't that imaginative. There are plenty of women with big assets. The acting is a bit forced at times. There is some violence although nothing shocking. All in all, it adds up to a lesser effort in this B-movie genre.