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I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I wanted to but couldn't!

Best movie ever!

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

First-rate Mickey Spillane adaptation, easily the best film version of any of his novels that I've seen. Private eye Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) investigates the reasons behind the death of a hitchhiker (Cloris Leachman in her film debut). It's a gritty, tough, violent noir with some good dialogue and morally grey (at best) characters. Meeker's the perfect Hammer. Albert Dekker has a small but important part. The rest of the cast is good except for Nick Dennis, who goes full Eli Wallach in his role as Hammer's mechanic friend. Robert Aldrich directs with style. The ending is pretty cool, but it's definitely one of those "love it or hate it" things. It's certainly memorable, which I think most of us can agree is part of what makes any film great.

This film could fairly be deemed as fascist-noir. If often misogynistic, noir is rarely this brazenly phalocentric. Mike Hammer (yup, really the character's name) is a seducer of women and abuser of both genders. The audience is to applaud his every bullying gesture. The many women in the film exist to move the plot along and/ or to worship Hammer as a sex-God. He, like all good entrepreneurial Americans, is humbled only when he learns that some "alien" may be getting its hands on the destructive power that America alone is "supposed" to wield. Having said all that, I must guiltily confess my love for this film. Shot, it seems, almost entirely on location, it transports one to the lost LA of the early '50s. And, if Hammer, um, rams his way through all forms of otherness, he still encounters many forms of it on a dazzling tour through the underbelly of 1950s American urbanity. For all that is reactionary about the film, it contains strikingly unracist depictions of African-Americans compared to many other films of its era.

Based on a novel by Mickey Spillane in atomic shape this is a great thriller to watch. The story is build up around the search for the great "whatsit". The tempo is high in this dark and intriguing story. Ralph Meeker does a high class performance as Spillane's tough private eye, Mike Hammer. Add to that a wonderful lineup of great character-actors like: Albert Dekker, Strother Martin, Percy Helton, Jack Elam and Paul Stewart. There are also some amazing cars and beautiful women. Great entertainment, directed by one of the true masters of the trade: Robert Aldrich. As a bonus we can hear the man with the velvet voice, the unforgettable Nat Kong Cole sing.

When my Grandfather took me to see this as a kid, neither of us were ready for what came along. It remained in my memory for many of the wrong reasons...namely, cheap shocks, and horror. The ending burnt itself into my nightmares for some years. Looking back with a trained eye and mature mind, it comes across the way many critics of its day quite rightly described it...as tawdry. Some critics have lately given it more attention than it deserves. It appears perhaps many folk who grew up with 50s-70s TV, may not have such a high expectation in the writing or production quality stakes, as they seem to be more easily pleased. The opening, while an immediate attention grabber, somehow has the look of a reasonable home movie. This look continues with a scene in Hammer's trendy apartment, where the full shape of the camera can be seen in shadow on his body, it then tracks with him and becomes even more painfully obvious as it ends up filling the floor space after he moves out of frame. This is an instant mood killer for the serious film lover. Any director worth his salt would have picked it up and re-shot it. But this is a quickie, wrapped up in around three weeks, and it shows. Hungarian born Director of Photography: Ernest Laszlo (Naked Jungle '56 ~ Stalag 17 '53) who went on to be nominated for better work, must have cringed when he saw the rushes! And while I quite liked director Robert Aldrich's "The Big Knife" in the same year, I think it was carried by Clifford Odet's penetrating story. Aldrich seemed more interested in being controversial than creative. Writer: Micky Spillane, when he saw the completed film, described it as one of the worst films he'd seen. He actually walked out the first time, then tried again, with no improvement. He cited A.I. Bezzerides screen play as little more than junk, turning his Mike Hammer character into no more than a sadistic thug. Bezzerides had achieved better when working with Jules Dassin on "Thieves Highway" in '49.I don't think Ralph Meeker's career was helped along by this film. Aldrich's soul-less direction left his Mike Hammer character quite bland, lifeless. Apart from one or two interesting roles, Meeker unfortunately languished in the background. An unusual early film (just about forgotten now) from MGM "Glory Alley" '52 showed some mild promise, and in the superb "Paths of Glory" in '57, he was even better - but these were not well followed up. Paul Stewart is good, so is Juano Hernandez in a small part. But Nick Dennis as Nick Va Va Voom (believe it or not!) is simply annoying to the extreme. Albert Dekker who's given somewhat prominent billing, is nothing more than a guest star, with only a few minutes screen time --an Aldrich audience con-- The girls are all reduced to cheap throw away sex objects, and none, save Cloris Leachman (with only a few minutes on screen) are very convincing.Frank Devol's music score is basically hammy, with embarrassing jabs and stings to herald any supposed drama. Devol excelled at jovial or melodic scores for TV sit com's, but regardless, Aldrich often used him for drama. Along with the somewhat slimy Wesley Addy as Lt Murphy, and Albert Dekker, I think many roles were simply 'jobs for the boys'.For those who like cheap 'B' grade 'wannabe' noirs, or sadism masquerading as entertainment...(the scene where Hammer jams Percy Helton's fingers in a drawer, while snickering with delight at his screams of agony, is sadistically obvious, and unintentionally funny at the same time)...then this movie won't disappoint you. Others might need to beware. As for "that ending" while it filled me with fear as a kid - with its curious container, filled with ultra radiant molten nuclear death, locked only by a simple key, that when opened...(complete with the sound of howling demons) explodes like a nuclear bomb! This type of blast would more likely have taken out an entire section of the coastline, not just the holiday beach house! It's little wonder then, that some intelligent editor removed from the original cinema release prints, those somewhat foolish shots of an already radiated Hammer and his muse - hiding from this massive blast in ankle deep water. This apparently unknown editor, did this by cutting directly from the blast, to the end title. BUT then...along comes some enthusiastic DVD researcher, finds the cuts, and puts them back in. Just the ticket for a modern audience...Goodbye Mr.Hammer!