Mickey Spillane performs his personal creation, street-thug-turned-PI Mike Hammer, on this 1963 adaptation of his novel. The movie opens with Hammer on the draw back of a years-long bender, scooped out of the gutter by a bitter cop intent on prying info from a dying man. Impressed to wash up his act by the secrets and techniques he hears, Hammer hits the streets on a private campaign to seek out the love of his life. Future Bond lady Shirley Earton costars as a glamorous society widow who goes slumming with Hammer.--Sean Axmaker
