Mike Hammer, Private Eye

Stacy Keach's Mike Hammer can be divided into the 80s version and then this one, the 90s version. In my opinion the 80s Hammer was much better. Look, call me a chauvinist, but beautiful women and cleavage are part of the Mike Hammer mystique. It's one of the things that made the 80s Hammer so popular. Unfortunately for the "new & improved" 90s private eye, Keach's wife Malgosia Tomassi, who also plays the useless yoga instructor, insisted there be less emphasis on skin. Can you say Yoko Ono?? I knew you could.

Also, say you're a private dick in New York. You carry a .45 for protection. Suddenly you round a corner and get jumped by two huge gorillas who begin pounding you with baseball bats. Obviously they intend to kill you or at least maim the crap out of you. Do you...

A) Grab your gun and repay the favor, or B) Lay there like an 88-year-old woman and take it.

If you said "A" then you're more of a man than THIS Hammer is. I don't know how many episodes I've seen this pathetic scene played out. I kept yelling at the TV "Grab Betsy, dumb ass, that's what you have her for!!" But alas, Keach never heard me. (BTW, "Betsy" is his gun) Until they release the 80s Mike Hammer on DVD, I'd suggest watching two Hammer movies Keach did: "Murder Me, Murder You," and "More Than Murder," both from the 80s. And both B.M.T. (Before Malgosia Tomassi).

A good detective can spot a fugazy in his sleep. That suit at the bar with the phony Rolex might fool that blonde with the big eyes, but guess what, pal, she's no blonde. And those big eyes? Well, let's just leave it at that.

There once was a pretty good series called. "The New Mike Hammer"(1984-89). It was good, sometimes very good. I liked the cast. I liked the plots. I liked the witty dialogue. OK, maybe at times it was only half-witty, but I liked it. And I looked forward to watching it. Sure it was filled with eye candy, but so what. I like candy, see, and lots of it. Keep it coming!

Which brings us to this piece of ... sure, it's called "Mike Hammer, Private Eye", but if you look closely, you'll see "Roleks" written all over it! It's got it all - crummy acting, ridiculous dialogue, non-existent sets, and all the production value of a student film. Yeah, OK it's got eye candy. Well, somewhat.

And geez, Stacy, I know she's your wife, but why do we have to suffer?

Mike Hammer (Stacy Keach) is a hard-boiled private investigator in New York City. Velda (Shannon Whirry) is his loyal assistant. In the pilot, Mike is looking for the killer of his friend Mike Farrell. The episode ends with Mike hiring the son Nick Farrell (Shane Conrad).

Stacy Keach returns in the late 90's to relive his earlier 80's success. In a way, I think this is a missed opportunity. They are now fully in the computer age and Mike Hammer is a complete computer illiterate. He is a man outside of his time. He is a 50's character living in the 90's. That's what this show should be about. He should be smoking and prevented from smoking in every other episode. They may have made that point once. There is one episode where he tried a cell phone and it looks utterly weird. I'm glad that he dumped it at the end of the episode. He should be having more fun with that aspect.

The franchise is populated by babes with boobs and men with bent noses. That does not bode well acting-wise. In fact, 90's erotic thriller queen Shannon Whirry is the best actress in most episodes. There are few future stars in the cast list. I've been rewatching a lot of the old shows and the good ones have surprising future stars in them. It's not the case here. This show is what it intends to be. Stacy Keach gets to return to his former glory. The humor is rather clunky. They need to get rid of the pizza in the opening credits. This show would work better if he is the old guy working the new world. This feels old and it refuses to revel in it.

This show is probably one of the best incarnations of the great Spillane novels. Tough and gritty with plenty of lovely ladies for the men. This show had a nice edge which although could be hard was also lose enough not to fall into self parody. Good turns by the cast of regulars. Especially Shannon Whirry as Velda. Its hard to see why this show only lasted one season. Considering the following and the syndication market this should have been on at least three seasons. But if you want to see a good Mike Hammer incarnation that has good stories along with being faithful to the character watch this one. Only complaint seeing Stacey get all these women. I am not going to dispute Mike Hammer having a beautiful girlfriend but him walking into a room and having women make sexual innuendos to him is just not believable but oddly appropiate for the show. Also I think we can fairly say that the lady in red is a hallucination that Hammer has and not a real women. Great show check it out!

"Mike Hammer, Private Eye" was nothing more then a watered down version of the 80s classics. Slow, and aging, Mike Hammer lacked the true "intimidation" a younger version of himself had. The 80s show was grittier, tougher, and more lively, while today it seems looser and more sophisticated. I tried getting into it, but I was FAR more upset that A&E canceled the old Mike Hammer reruns, then this old watered down version got canceled. Big disappointment, thankfully Stacy Keach went on to better things!