☆ ☆ ½
The
Girl Hunters (1963) – R. Rowland
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Mickey Spillane can’t act. And, yes, this
film was some sort of massive ego trip for him, since he plays Mike Hammer
here. It turns out though that he’s not
too bad but no match for Ralph Meeker from Aldrich’s dark Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
or Stacy Keach in that 80s TV show. The film ends up being a lot closer to the
TV show. Hammer has gotten seedy but
cleans himself up to find out whether his ex-secretary Velda is still alive
and/or the victim of a commie assassination plot. He tries to prove he’s a tough guy a few
times and he keeps the cops and the feds at bay as he goes it alone. Things get complicated and femme fatale
Shirley Eaton (the girl who gets painted gold in Goldfinger) may know more than
she lets on. But I’m being generous if I
make it sound like the plot holds together – we don’t even find Velda in the
end. A curiosity at best.
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