User reviews

This is a very gritty low-budget Mickey Spillane film. Yet, despite having a no-name cast and every reason to believe it would stink, the film was very good and deserves to be seen. Robert Bray (who?!) plays Hammer--and plays him directly--without being handsome or bigger than life. This Mike Hammer was very human and very believable.

The film begins with an exhausted Mike coming into a greasy spoon for a bite. There he meets a young lady who had dreams of making it big in Hollywood but who is forced to survive through prostitution. Despite this hard life, Mike feels sorry for her and after a brief talk, gives her money to take a train back home to her family in the Midwest. Later, he learns that she's dead--the supposed victim of a hit and run. Hammer knows better--and spends the rest of the film tracking down her killers. Oddly, this case turns out to be related to an old jewel robbery. How can they be connected and how can Mike avoid getting his brains beaten out....yet again.

As I said above, this film is pretty good despite the budget. The story is excellent and the entire production works well because it seems pretty realistic and tough. A very good but relatively forgotten example of film noir that's worth seeing.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Spillane's Hammer Books Sold Like Hot-Cakes in the Cold-War Making Mickey one of the Best-Selling Authors of All-Time.

A Reality-Check also makes Clear that the Author is Never on Any Best Writer Lists. Truth is that Spillane was a Blistering Commodity that Tapped a Nerve. Returning Vets (Mickey was a Marine), and Macho Types of All Stripes Loved the Noble Savagery.

But Spillane was and Never Will be Considered a "Great" Writer Despite His Highly-Impressive Numbers. Is McDonalds Considered "Great" Dining.

The One Film that had the Backing and Will to put Hammer on the Screen with a Production Worth the Popularity of the Character was "Kiss Me Deadly" (1955).

Director Robert Aldridge's Seminal Film-Noir, some Consider a Masterpiece.

This B-Movie is like all the Other Hammer Movies...Low on Everything Including Talent and a Desire to Not Risk much on the Successor to the 30's and 40's Pulp Icon's.

So the Salivating Public was Short-Changed and the Hammer Legacy on the Screen has been Relegated, mostly, to an Anemic Artistic Wasteland of Missed Opportunities and Creative Indifference.

All of the Movies in the Hey-Day Suffered and Blend Together with such a Degree of Sameness from the Actors to the Style or Lack Thereof, to the Story and the Soundtrack, that in Retrospect it's Difficult to Distinguish Among the Product Offered.

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.

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.

Lead actor Bray is well-named as he simply screams his lines in people's faces. - most of it cliche tough-guy talk from 30's era comic books. Besides the miserable dialogue the story is weak, the acting wooden, the direction poor, the sets cheesy, and the music awful.

Ironically, the extended freeway scenes - originally useless filler that wrecked what little dramatic tension existed - are now a treat. Remarkably uncongested, as are the beach properties, these along with the tail-finned convertibles etc. are part of a great nostalgic glimpse back.

Unfortunately, Bray's bland version of iconic Mike Hammer can't hold together an over-extended 90-minutes. I might have responded differently had the actor evinced more than one emotionless expression and ditched that perfect wardrobe right out of Gentleman's Quarterly. Then too, there's that meandering screenplay whose threads come and go-- but crucially fail to weave anything like good suspense.

Now, I'm no fan of the Cold War's "a slug in the commie gut" Mickey Spillane, but the movie as a whole fails to project his particular brand of blue-collar gusto. And that's despite the many half-clad babes that parade in and out. Also, looks to me like the screenplay goes awkwardly out of its way to emphasize Hammer's principled core. That's probably to reassure 50's audiences that this is not Spillane's ethically challenged version. In that sense, the movie's a somewhat revisionist working of the decade's favorite PI.

Still the movie manages a few positives, especially Jan Chaney's beautifully shaded performance as a forlorn hooker named Red. It's one of the more subtly soulful turns I've seen. Note too how that same opening scene registers Hammer immediately as a tough guy but with heart. Then there's a good traveling look at LA's notorious freeways, which must have been an early morning shoot before the system-wide jam starts. Note too,the big glimpse of 50's upscale decor. No wonder this Hammer only parades around in fine suits. And I liked that imaginative junkyard set-up that proves even recyclables can be a menace.

What the movie really needs however is a strong touch of style. I'm just sorry proved stylists like those of of Kiss Me Deadly (1955) didn't have a hand in this pedestrian production. As things stand, the programmer remains an appropriately obscure entry in an otherwise durable franchise.

(1957) My Gun Is Quick CRIME DRAMA

It has private investigator, Mike Hammer (Robert Bray) coming into a small diner late at night. And while there he strikes up a friendship with a call girl/ hostess named Red (Jan Chaney) sitting across from him. He notices she has not eaten anything and orders her a bowl of soup while he is waiting for his egg sandwich. A guy then barges in and it was at this point, he roughs her up. Mike then takes an offense to that and beats him hard enough to give up and leave. After she finishes her soup and as she is about to leave, he then gives her some money so that she can buy herself some new shoes and so forth. And before he lets her go, he then notices a V crested ring on her finger. And without thinking nothing of it, he then heads back to his office to hand his secretary, Velda (Pamela Duncan) her egg sandwich. And while shaving, a cop then enters into his office to inform him that homicide detective, Pat Chambers (Booth Colman) wanted to see him. It was there he informed him Red has been found dead what appears to be a hit and run. He contacted him because Mike appears to be her next of kin as he handed her a piece of paper with his name and address that was discovered inside her purse/ hand bag. One thing that was missing was the V crested ring that was on her finger, convincing him that it may not be an accident and that it could be murder. His first lead is at the Bluebell Club, to meet one her best friends, named Maria (Gina Coré) to show him where she used to live. And it was not long before he finds out the identity of the person who may have killed Red.

While I was watching this, it has several remnants of several film noir movies from "The Big Sleep", "Murder My Sweet" and "the Maltese Falcon" to name a few.

This filmic version of a Mickey Spillane novel fulfills many of the requirements for a noir detective story, but falls short for various reasons. The cinematography is fine, but the sets sometimes feel like they look seedy because they were made on the cheap. Mike Hammer is played by Robert Bray, who is athletic enough, but lacks the gravitas of, say, Bogart and delivers his lines somewhat unconvincingly, which may be partly due to the writing. As I was watching, it felt like the dialogue was almost a parody, but if one were reading it in a novel (where the reader delivers the reading), it might be fine.

The story starts off well: a stylish passage through the dark streets with a jazzy music score. Hammer comes to a diner a little too grimy for Hopper's nighthawks, where he meets a redhead with broken dreams of Hollywood, who now plies the streets. He treats her with respect. Later, she will turn up dead, sparking the case that drives the story. And Hammer will bounce from clue to clue, meeting femme fatales and thugs along the way.

There will also be an object to be searched for, which might remind the viewer of "The Maltese Falcon". In fact, the major detraction for this film is its similarity to that film, not only in plot. There is dialogue that is almost identical to the Sam Spade story that featured Bogart in 1941. It does not feel like a coincidence. Even the ending is similar.

Because of the similarity, it feels totally fair to compare the two films, which leaves MGIQ wanting.

In the fine tradition of Mickey Spillane and a plethora of other PIs, Mike Hammer gets the job done. With a superlative cast of B actors and a B script, the film pulls off an entertaining hour or so of tough guy drama; where dames only get in the way. A better title might have been My Gun is Big or My Gun is Hard instead of My Gun is Quick, which in the world of sexual innuendo does not really rate that high, unless you approve of premature celebrations.

Watch out Plan IX From Outerspace...this is hysterical. The actors routinely shout their lines...scenes start with overtly posed characters...the "mystery" develops through a series of impossible coincidences...

A concluding death scene of featuring (of course) last words, clutching, a pause - and a chin dropping abruptly to chest caps this priceless work.

On a serious side, the cinematography creates excellent film noir seediness. You get a wonderful feel for a vision of seedy Los Angeles in the '50s. And the soundtrack is a perfect match to create a nice dark side of L.A. presence.

This is delightful and you will be smiling as it ends.

This movie has a reasonable approval rating among the reviews submitted so far, but I found it to be rather heavy handed and silly. I'm generally pretty forgiving with 'noirs' because I love them all but this one is mostly annoying from start to finish.

Robert Bray would have made a pretty good Mike Hammer but is held back by an appalling script and implausible story. He's 'over the top' angry and 'over the top' gritty and his blind quest for justice for a dead hooker he met briefly in a cafe is not a reasonable or appropriate reaction.

The private dick and his cop friend at odds across a table is pure comedy theater and ends up diminishing the on-screen relationship for the viewers rather than nourishing it.

Some things to watch, though... loads of 1950s Los Angeles scenery (both indoors and outside) to soak in. The girls are pretty, too and Donald Randolph makes the most of his lines with a maniacal rendering of the Colonel Holloway role.

But that aside - there's really nothing here to see. The story is long and drawn out with several scenes extended for periods of time with no dialog and seemingly no purpose. Watch it if you must... but don't say I didn't warn you!

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.

Director and producer Victor Saville gave us THE LONG WAIT three years earlier, also inspired from a Mickey Spillane - and Mike Hammer's advanture. I don't quite rememeber this previous film, I have it in my library however, but none of both are as excellent as KISS ME DEADLY from director Bob Aldrich, starring Ralph Meeker, the best Mike Hammer for me. But this very one remains a good time waster in terms of gumshoe scheme, ust the usual predictable stuff, and rather hard to get. I have already seen it several times since thirty five years and I can't remember it each time I see it...But don't miss it if it is available somewhere.