Director: Roy Rowland
Writers: Mickey Spillane (adapting his novel), Robert Fellows, Roy Rowland
Producer: Robert Fellows
Cast: Mickey Spillane, Shirley Eaton, Lloyd Nolan, Scott Peters, Hy Gardner (as himself), Guy Kingsley Poynter, Larry Taylor, Kim Tracy, Charles Farrell, Murray Kash, Benny Lee, Bill Nagy, Hal Gilili, Clive Endersby, Larry Cross, Ricardo Montez, Robert Gallico, Tony Arpino, Nellie Hanham, Michael Brennan, Grant Holden, Frances Napier, (and uncredited cast) Pauline Chamberlain, Charles Adcock, George Holdcroft, Jim O’Brady
New York City private detective Mike Hammer (Mickey Spillane) has been a “drunken bum” for seven years. Hammer was devastated by the abduction and disappearance of his beloved secretary Velda while she was assisting on one of his cases. His former friend, Police Captain Pat Chambers (Scott Peters), brings in Hammer to get information from a dying sailor named Richie Cole (Murray Kash). Chambers wants Cole to identify who shot him because ballistics determined that the same gun also recently killed Senator Knapp, but Cole will only speak privately to Hammer. Cole tells Hammer an assassin called “the Dragon” shot him and that the killer’s next target is Velda. This shocks Hammer into sobriety and leaves him determined to find Velda before the killer does.
The Flashback Fanatic movie review
This story takes place at the height of the Cold War and deals with concerns about communism. As in many of Spillane’s Mike Hammer novels, we see how the broadest threats can intrude into the life of one man who will react in the most direct and violent manner possible. This bold individualism is what appeals to the Mike Hammer fan and Hammer’s violence vents a lot of real world anxieties for Spillane’s readers.
In his stories Hammer is not only self-righteous and overbearing, but it seems that he could be a dangerously unstable individual. He certainly is dispensing lethal justice to the kind of fiends that really deserve it, yet there are times when Hammer himself seems unhinged. I actually think this is an effective ratcheting up of the kill-or-be-killed mindset that would probably be the result of anyone facing the dangers that Hammer often does. Although I suspect that Spillane himself would have denied it, it has been suggested that World War II veteran Mike Hammer may be suffering a form of shell shock.
I recall that the very first time I saw this film Spillane’s performance impressed me very much. I thought that the man was not acting. That is a true compliment. Spillane obviously knows his character inside and out; therefore, he does not need to affect any sort of pose or work to project an attitude. He has confidence in his performance because he has an intimate understanding of Mike Hammer. As the closing credits of The Girl Hunters state: “Mike Hammer is Mickey Spillane.”
The other most famous member of the cast would be the striking blonde Shirley Eaton as Laura Knapp, the widow of a senator killed by the same gun that shot Richie Cole. Despite Hammer’s devotion to the missing Velda, he is enticed by the all too present allure of Laura Knapp’s bikinied beauty. She combines class and carnality with a nice sense of humor. Whew! What more could any guy ask for? This was just one year before Shirley Eaton would achieve screen immortality as the “golden girl” in the James Bond epic Goldfinger (1964).
Lloyd Nolan provides great support as Rickerby, the federal agent that is pressuring Hammer to help him find Richie Cole’s killer. Rickerby has a personal vendetta to avenge Cole’s death just as Hammer also has a personal stake in finding the Dragon to save Velda. The two characters are initially rather antagonistic, but they soon develop an opportunistic respect for each other.
For those who have never read a Mike Hammer story, The Girl Hunters film gives them an absolutely faithful rendition of one. Many dialogue passages are presented on film word-for-word from the original novel. One great rant that is shortened in the film is Hammer’s mansplaining to Laura Knapp about the consequences of her careless firearm storage. Those lines are typical of the kind of brutal energy in Spillane’s prose. In this film Hammer is dressed and behaves exactly as Spillane envisioned him. Perhaps just as importantly, not only for Spillane but also for his readers, is that at long last Hammer is using his weapon of choice: a Colt .45 automatic.
One of the best bits in The Girl Hunters film was not in the novel but is a reenactment of a true incident in Mickey Spillane’s life. Spillane told director Roy Rowland about his encounter with an ice pick-wielding tough in a New York City bar. The director was so impressed that he insisted they use it in the film. It is one of the all-time greatest tough guy intimidation scenes.
There are those that think this film spends too much time in dialogue scenes. We see Hammer being interrogated or repeatedly meeting up with people to find out background and facts he needs to follow the trail he hopes will lead him to Velda. Impatient, modern-day movie viewers may refer to this condescendingly as exposition. To be sure, there is a lot of info traded back and forth to keep track of in order for Hammer to fit the pieces of this deadly puzzle together. That’s why it’s a mystery, folks. That may not seem dynamically cinematic, but it settles me into the reality of this world Hammer must travel in to find a killer and hopefully his lost love. Along the way there are plenty of brutal reminders of the dangers involved in Hammer’s quest.
In true Mickey Spillane fashion, The Girl Hunters has an absolutely uncompromising badass climax at the very last minute. Spillane always thought that the final page of the story should not only reward the readers for the effort they spent getting there, but that a socko finish would leave them eager for the next novel. The finish to The Girl Hunters is classic Spillane and one of the nastiest film finales ever.
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