My Gun Is Quick

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.

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.

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.

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.