Movie Reviews for Writers: Mike Hammer’s Mickey Spillane

If you are a fan of pulp fiction or hard-boiled detectives in particular, Mickey Spillane isn’t a name you’re unfamiliar with. This documentary, written by Mickey’s oft-time writing partner Max Allen Collins, can tell you all the reasons why that’s true. 

“Mike Hammer was not the first fictional private eye,” says Otto Penzler. “While Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler were successful and well-known, they never approached the kind of success in terms of readership numbers or magnitude of recognition that Mickey had. If it weren’t for Mickey Spillane creating the basic mold, the other writers would have had a hard time inventing it. 

“You were influenced by Mickey Spillane whether you’ve read him or not,” says author Parnall Hall, “because every other private eye writer is influenced by Mickey Spillane.”

As true as that is, I prefer the way author Miriam Ann Moore phrases the same idea: “Nobody ever hit a noun against a verb like Mickey Spillane.” 

So, what can such a renowned writer teach us?

Read the full review:

https://seanhtaylor.blogspot.com/2024/03/movie-reviews-for-writers-mike-hammers.html