My Gun Is Quick **½ (1957, Robert Bray, Whitney Blake, Donald Randolph, Pamela Duncan) – Classic Movie Review 11,394

The tough-nosed 1957 American film noir crime thriller My Gun Is Quick stars Robert Bray as Mickey Spillane’s hard-hitting private eye Mike Hammer.

Directors George A White and Victor Saville [Phil Victor]’s 1957 American film noir crime thriller My Gun Is Quick stars Robert Bray, who plays Mickey Spillane’s hard-hitting hero Mike Hammer in this tough-nosed, plot-heavy mix of murder and thievery.

Private eye Hammer finds that a prostitute’s murder leads back to the theft of a unique diamond ring, originally on her hand when he helped her during an assault, but now missing.

Hammer and an American army colonel (Donald Randolph) then try to find the ring and recover the other jewels in a cache stolen by the Nazis in World War Two and smuggled out of France after the war by the colonel.

My Gun Is Quick is an effective, low-key crime action thriller, the third in the United Artists series of Mike Hammer mysteries.

Thanks mainly to Mickey Spillane’s 1950 hard-boiled source novel, the film is enjoyable, even if it is held back by modest acting and a cheap-looking production. Notable in the cast, Pamela Duncan plays Velda, Hammer’s secretary, with Whitney Blake as Nancy Williams and Donald Randolph as Colonel Holloway.

Also in the cast are Pat Donahue, Booth Colman, Terence de Marney, Jan Chaney, Gina Core, Richard Garland, Charles Boaz, Peter Mamakos, Claire Carleton, Phil Arnold, John Dennis, Jackie Paul, Leon Askin, and Jack Holland.

My Gun Is Quick s directed by Victor Saville (credited as Phil Victor) and George A White, runs 91 minutes, is written by Richard M Powell and Richard Collins, from a screen story by Richard Collins, based on the novel by Mickey Spillane, is shot in black and white by Harry Neumann, is produced by George A White and Victor Saville (credited as Phil Victor), and is scored by Marlin Skiles.

Release date: August 1957.

It follows I, the Jury (United Artists, 1953), filmed in 3D and starring Biff Elliot as Mike Hammer, and director Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (United Artists, 1955), with Ralph Meeker as Hammer.

It is followed by The Girl Hunters (Colorama Features, 1963), with Mickey Spillane as Hammer, and I, the Jury (20th Century Fox, 1982), with Armand Assante as Hammer.

The cast

The cast are Robert Bray as Mike Hammer, Whitney Blake as Nancy Williams, Donald Randolph (Don Randolph) as Colonel Holloway, Richard Garland as Louis, Fred Essler as Ludwig Teller, Booth Colman as Captain Pat Chambers, Pamela Duncan as Velda, Genie Coree (Gina Coré) as Maria, Patricia Donahue [Pat Donahue] as Dione, Jan Chaney as Red, Terence de Marney as Jean, Peter Mamakos as La Roche, Claire Carleton as Nightclub Boss, and Phil Arnold as Shorty,  John Dennis, Jackie Paul, Leon Askin, and Jack Holland..

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,394

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