A lot of great actors have played Mickey Spillane's bad boy detective. From the list of Hollywood heavyweights from Anthony Quinn to Robert Bray,Biff Elliott,Ralph Meeker,Robert Mitchum,Stacey Keach and even Mickey Spillane himself. Perhaps from the range of actors that were convincing,nobody did it better with style and class better than Darren McGavin. His portrayal of gumshoe tough guy Mike Hammer was not only laid back but was a class act. Mickey Spillane's character was basically the first title used for two syndicated television series that followed the adventures of fictional private investigator Mike Hammer. This was the first of the two television series featuring the gritty,crime fighting detective. The first from the mid-1950's starred Darren McGavin while the other from the early-1980's starred Stacey Keach.
"Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer",with Darren McGavin in the title role,was the first syndicated television series based on Spillane's title character,the adventures of a tough gumshoe hard-boiled private detective. The series was itself one extremely violent,sexist series that was one of the coolest detective shows of its day. The series produced 78 episodes and it ran two seasons in syndication from 1956 to 1959. The series was produced by Revue Productions/MCA-TV Universal Studios. Filmed in Hollywood of course,with the opening and closing credits of the show using that scenery of New York as its theme. The black and white filming of the series enhances the film noir atmosphere. The entire premise of the show is that the world is an evil and violent place(the setting is New York),and the strong and upright must be as tough and quick as the baddies to set things right.
In the space of a half-hour,Darren McGavin normally escapes assassination attempts on his life,beats at least one man to a bloody pulp while continuously flirts with one or more beautiful women,fires of some 50's tough guy slang while solving a murder and a mystery. The pace of this show is very fast and once you watch it you may want to keep up with what happens next. Darren McGavin's character of Mike Hammer was a tough gumshoe private eye while regularly played judge,jury and executioner to an assortment of bad guys and crooked lowlifes each week. All within a 30 minute time slot. In the final analysis when Hammer solves the mysteries and brings the baddies to justice he may have to go beyond or stoop down to the level to take a case ,but you knew he was on the right side. His crusade against crime,while bravely protects the weak,despite taking a regular share of abuse in just about every episode,takes risk to himself by going great lengths to protect his clients' innocent. He is strong,cynical and have to be extremely violent to do what he has to do. Mike Hammer was the epitome of 50's cool and Darren McGavin was a brilliant to watch here.
Darren McGavin,after Mike Hammer was canceled in 1959 McGavin switched gears starring in the short-lived western series "Riverboat"(which was also produced by Revue Studios), and would return to played another hardboiled detective in the short-lived 1965 series called "The Outsider",and later on would go on to greater fame as Carl Kolchak in the classic supernatural-detective show of the early 1970's "Kolchak:The Night Stalker" Bart Burns played the role of Hammer's trustworthy ally in the police department Captain Pat Chambers. Burns who go on to guest star in several television series including "Dragnet","Columbo","Ironside",and "The Rockford Files".
Speaking of the guest star roster for this classic series from the 1950's,you had stars that were coming up,but made a name for themselves during this time....from Barbara Bain,Robert Vaughn,John Forsythe,to Loren Greene,and even Carl Betz...the list goes on and on. What a show!
