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.

The quintessential Mike Hammer (Robert Bray), haggard, menacing, but essentially a decent guy in a dirty world inhabited by ruthless killers, gets involved in the murder of a young aspiring actress, who only the night before he had met at a lonely downtown diner, and had helped out with bus fare back to her native Nebraska. Her death was related to a piece of jewelry she was carrying, part of a cache of stolen war time jewels. Forced to get to the bottom of the murder, not for money but because of his connection to the girl, he unravels the mystery in the typical Hammer fashion of payoffs and beatings. Released two years after Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly, MGiQ is the poorer man's version, though it has its own charms, mostly in the way of the LA settings and Bray's portrayal, tired and unshaven, but with the determination of a pit bull.

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.

Robert Bray is Mike Hammer in My Gun is Quick from 1957, directed by Victor Saville.

This was a very loud movie, in that it seemed as if everyone was shouting at the top of their lungs.

Hammer meets a young woman (Jan Chaney) whom he calls Red. She's down on her luck, so he gives her money and his phone number. She's wearing an unusual ring, which she says is worthless. Later she is found dead, and the ring is gone.

The ring was part of the Venacci jewelry collection, Nazi loot stolen after the war by a Colonel Holloway, who went to prison. The jewels have not been recovered, but several entities are after them.

The investigation into Red's murder ties into the quest for the jewels, resulting in several more murders.

During the movie, Hammer follows someone in his car. This was not a car chase. It was the most tedious thing I've ever seen. I swear it lasted twenty minutes.

Meredith Baxter's mother, Whitney Blake, who was Mrs. B on Hazel, is a main character who lives in the place once rented by Colonel Holloway.

Boring with loud performances. Like Lawrence Tierney, Bray had the detective familiar monotone.