Vintage Pulp

June 12 2023

UNHAPPY HUNTING

Spillane gets mad and gets even in Red Scare revenge thriller.

We’re on a roll with these panel length posters. Here’s another excellent example, this time for Mickey Spillane’s The Girl Hunters. And when we say Spillane’s, he didn’t just write the screenplay (with an assist from Roy Rowland and Robert Fellows)—he starred. That Hollywood felt he could carry a movie gives you an idea just how big a celebrity he was. He also co-headlined 1954’s Ring of Fear, but we’ll get to that one later. In The Girl Hunters Spillane plays his own literary creation, hard-edged private dick Mike Hammer. The movie opens with Hammer as an alcoholic because his longtime secretary and unrequited love Velda has been missing and is presumed deceased. But when a dying hood hints that Velda is still alive, Hammer snaps out of his drunken stupor, shifts into revenant mode, and along the way uncovers a communist plot headed by “the greatest espionage organization ever known.”

Obviously, the salient question is whether Spillane can act. The answer is not really, and his one-note performance keeps the film from reaching its potential. A couple of times it even sounds like his lines are voiceovers by another actor. However, there are two high notes: a pretty good climactic fight in a barn equipped with a whirring rotary saw, and a co-starring turn from future Bond girl Shirley Eaton, who the filmmakers give three extended bikini sequences to heighten audience interest. Are those bonuses enough to make the film worth a watch? We would say no, but you can’t get around the fact that it stars one of the best-selling crime writers ever. If you’re a fan of pulp, we suspect you’ll enjoy the movie despite Spillane flatlining through its 103 minutes. The Girl Hunters premiered today in 1963.

The Girl Hunters, Mickey Spillane, Shirley Eaton, Hy Gardner, Roy Rowland, Robert Fellows, communism, poster art, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

January 18

1967—Boston Strangler Convicted

Albert DeSalvo, the serial killer who became known as the Boston Strangler, is convicted of murder and other crimes and sentenced to life in prison. He serves initially in Bridgewater State Hospital, but he escapes and is recaptured. Afterward he is transferred to federal prison where six years later he is killed by an inmate or inmates unknown.

January 17

1950—The Great Brinks Robbery Occurs

In the U.S., eleven thieves steal more than $2 million from an armored car company’s offices in Boston, Massachusetts. The skillful execution of the crime, with only a bare minimum of clues left at the scene, results in the robbery being billed as “the crime of the century.” Despite this, all the members of the gang are later arrested.

January 17

1977—Gary Gilmore Is Executed

Convicted murderer Gary Gilmore is executed by a firing squad in Utah, ending a ten-year moratorium on Capital punishment in the United States. Gilmore’s story is later turned into a 1979 novel entitled The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer, and the book wins the Pulitzer Prize for literature.

January 16

1942—Carole Lombard Dies in Plane Crash

American actress Carole Lombard, who was the highest paid star in Hollywood during the late 1930s, dies in the crash of TWA Flight 3, on which she was flying from Las Vegas to Los Angeles after headlining a war bond rally in support of America’s military efforts. She was thirty-three years old.

January 15

1919—Luxemburg and Liebknecht Are Killed

Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two of the most prominent socialists in Germany, are tortured and murdered by the Freikorps. Freikorps was a term applied to various paramilitary organizations that sprang up around Germany as soldiers returned in defeat from World War I. Members of these groups would later become prominent members of the SS.

DON GIOVANNI

Giovanni Benvenuti was one of Italy's most prolific paperback cover artists. His unique style is on display in multiple collections within our website.

WALKING AFTER MIDNIGHT