Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer

I’ve gotten into old television series, especially those that are featured on DVD, and most especially those that come in a complete series package.

In the past, I’ve bought sets of sci-fi series that lasted only one season, and of detective stories from the 1940s and 1950s.

My most recent purchase (actually a few months ago) is Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer starring Darren McGavin as the private investigator. He’s a rough sort of guy, cocky and quick to punch a perpetrator bad guy in the face. Every episode has at least a couple of fisticuff scenes.

There were only 78 episodes to the entire series, which ran in 1957-1959. They’re only a half-hour long (actually 22 minutes), and are in black and white … Hey, we didn’t have color TV in the ‘50s; not many people did. Why, when I was a kid, I used to walk a mile to school in the sno—… er, never mind.

The series got a lot of criticism, not only for the violence, but also for the horny manner in which Hammer was attracted to the women he came in contact with. Many is the time when he kissed them during their first meeting, and you know that by the end of the show, he’s going to be going out with them.

A new woman every week … that’s pretty manly of the guy. It’s said that Hammer actually emulated Spillane’s personality.

One character was recurring – Police Capt. Pat Chambers, played by Bart Burns. They worked pretty closely together, often in a kind of unspoken competition, albeit relying on the other to watch their backs.

It’s a fun series, not real expensive, and guaranteed to provide fun entertainment when it seems there’s nothing good on any of the television channels. Heck, even with cable there are times when I find absolutely nothing I want to see.

What a jaded world I live in.