Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in The Big Kill

Mike Hammer is another literary, or some would correct me, fictional, character that has survived in multiple incarnations of radio, television, and the silver screen. Visually, I'm most familiar with Stacy Keach's portrayal of Hammer from the CBS Television series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. However, the author, Mickey Spillane, took a stab starring as his own character in the film The Girl Hunters (1962) that Scorpion released on Blu-ray last year. Spillane's acting isn't stellar, but it isn't terrible. It works for the character. Although, having just recently watched The Girl Hunters it was hard to shake that image of Spillane as Mike Hammer in my head while reading the fifth novel in the series, The Big Kill (1951).

With as many women that Hammer notices eyeing him, you would expect a more rugged, handsome man. Spillane is short, stout, and his sarcasm falls flat. He resembles a cranky Jimmy Durante. Generally speaking, if it all possible, it is better to separate the author from the character. However, Spillane manages to combine the two entities into one believable creation. Imagining Spillane's physical appearance in the film role adds an unexpected quality to the images in my mind of the book. Almost a post-modern appreciation emerges with a sense of irony, especially when it comes to the outdated behaviorism.

I know several folks that find Spillane's character out of the times with his chauvinist and sexist attitudes. I admit I winced at few times at Hammer's quips towards females, but more so, I find myself chuckling at it. I can’t take it offensively. Perhaps Spillane knew it was silly. Luckily, I am able to separate from it. I see where it might rub folks some folks today wrong, but I do think the character motivations and the story wouldn’t work without the masculine slant. That is part of the appeal of the Mike Hammer series. In some respects, Mike Hammer is a crude, unsophisticated James Bond, especially when it comes to sleeping with the females.

Hammer is drowning his depression with booze when he notices a man carry a small infant into a crowded bar. Hammer watches and realizes that as the father cries, he’s saying his final farewells before he leaves his infant behind for good. Hammer chases after the father only to witness the fatal shooting. Hammer pulls his revolver and fires at the shooter while the getaway driver manages to run over his own accomplice in order to avoid Hammer’s aim.

The Big Kill is off to a roaring start. Angered, Hammer sets out to solve the mystery of why anyone would abandon their child and knowingly walk into their demise. Hammer vows to destroy the person responsible for putting this man into a situation that leaves his child an orphan. True to Hammer’s character, justice will pay no matter if you are male or female.

The novel has a few nice twists and turns and Hammer’s main squeeze and secretary is notably absent. The pace is fantastic, but towards the middle, I began to suspect who the real culprit responsible was and the final reveal did not impact as much as if I had not begun to ponder the mechanics of the story. I still recommend it though.