Mystery writer Mickey Spillane has died in Murrell's Inlet, South Carolina.Spillane was the creator of tough guy private eye Mike Hammer, played on television by Darren McGavin in the 1950s and by Stacey Keach in the 1980s and 90s.
A lot of people look down on Spillane's Hammer novels, saying they are just cheap, blunt pulp novels full of sex and violence. And to that I say "hell yeah!" Spillane was an underrated writer. He also starred in a famous series of commercials for Miller Beer, and appeared in many of the Mike Hammer movies and on Columbo and other shows.
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7-17-2006 @ 8:23PM
Dirk said...
I can only assume that anyone who would disparage Spillane's work has read about it rather than read it.
Not only was he damn fine writer and a worth successor to his hard-boiled forbearers (Hammet and Chandler), his work spawned perhaps the best example of the noir genre - Kiss Me Deadly and clearly helped inspire one of the best examples of neo noir - Pulp Fiction.
"Va Va Voom, Pretty Pow!" Translation: Rest in Peace Brother
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