Stacy Keach: From private eye to priest

Stacy Keach as private detective Mike Hammer, a role he pioneered in the '80s.

Source: https://www.popmatters.com/mickey-spillane-new-mike-hammer

(May be subject to copyright)

Every time I see the tough talking Archbishop of New York in “Blue Bloods” I cannot help but think of another tough talking character seeking to do good in New York.

This one wears a trench coat and fedora, narrates each episode, and is not above breaking the law to help out those in need.

I recently watched the season finale of “Blue Bloods” in which Stacy Keach reprised his role as Kevin Kearns, the Archbishop of New York and, although older and grayer, he will always be Mike Hammer to me.

The book is better
From a very early age, I started to like books about spies and private investigators, and the occasional lawyer. I began to accumulate a collection of books made up of various series – Matt Helm; James Bond; Travis McGhee; Sam Spade; and Mike Hammer.

I loved the ones written in the first person, because it felt intimate, like the writer was talking directly to me.

I was curious how that would translate to the screen when I heard either on “Entertainment Tonight” or read in “TV Guide” that Mike Hammer was, in fact, coming to the small screen as a made-for-TV movie.

Who is that?
Mike Hammer would be played by Stacy Keach, an actor I had never heard of before.

In fact, I had seen him in something else and it reminded me of a special time in my life. It was a movie called “The Long Riders”, that came out in 1980, but I saw it a couple years later on Channel 13 of peasant vision. It is a western with a really neat twist. The movie is about four sets of outlaw brothers – the James, Younger, Miller and Ford brothers, and they are played by real-life brothers. David, Keith and Robert Carradine played Cole, Jim and Bob Younger; Dennis and Randy Quaid played Ed and Clell Miller; Christopher and Nicholas Guest played Charley and Robert Ford; and Jesse and Frank James are played by James and Stacy Keach.

What stands out is not the movie, but who I watched it with.

My Mom’s best friend was Irma Schott. She, her husband Adolph and their kids Harvey, Gary and Karen would come out to visit on the farm. Harvey was the oldest, and stopped coming pretty early on. The other two kept coming, and Gary was a dear friend of mine. I didn’t have much in common with Karen, and she really wasn’t that enthusiastic about coming out after awhile, because it really was boring for her.

Gary and I did so much together. We played hockey in the kitchen of this old house on our farm; shot pellet guns; played baseball, soccer and football; wandered around the farm; played board games; and so much more.

One time, they all stayed over night. That Saturday night, our parents all went out together, leaving us home alone. We hung out, played games, and watched TV. That’s where we saw “The Long Riders”.

What I remember most was that the movie was on just as much for as background noise as anything else.

Then we heard the words, “I shot Jesse James.”

That really struck Gary, because he repeated that every so often throughout the rest of the night.

“I shot Jesse James”.

“Murder Me, Murder You”
The name of the made for TV movie was “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer: Murder Me, Murder You”. It came out in April of 1983 on Channel 7 of the peasant vision dial, when I was in Grade 8, and I remember it well. More than the movie, I remember talking about it the day after in the changing room after phys ed with my classmates Shawn Kingston and Joe Darveau.

“Murder Me, Murdr You” was awesome. I loved the first-person, voice-over narration, and always thought I would write my own detective stories like that. Stacy Keach was excellent as Mike Hammer, as he investigated the murder of an old girlfriend. Tanya Roberts, who had joined “Charlie’s Angels” at the end of its run, was also amazing as Mike Hammer’s secretary Velda.

Afterwards, all I could think was, “Would Mike Hammer become a series now?”

I would find that out in the next year or so.

“More than Murder”
Again, it was either “TV Guide” or “Entertainment Tonight” where I heard in fact Mike Hammer was going to series.

A second movie aired, again on Channel 7, called “More than Murder”. It was on in January of 1984, and it was also really good. This time Mike Hammer investigates the attempted murder of his friend and New York cop Pat Chambers.

Within the week, the first actual episode of the series aired, and the show was on.

It aired Saturday nights on CBS, and on a weeknight on Channel 7 in Southern Alberta.

Called “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer”, the show aired 12 episodes from January to April of 1984.

Then something completely unexpected happened.

Hiatus
Stacy Keach was caught drug smuggling and sentenced to nine months in prison. I remember following that on “Entertainment Tonight”. The show had been in production for its second season.

He would be released in six months on good behaviour.

That was part of what I heard called the Curse of CBS Saturday night. Three shows aired in primetime – Airwolf; Mike Hammer; and Cover Up. During production of Airwolf, a stunt man died in production; in Mike Hammer, Keach went to jail; and during Cover Up, lead actor Jon-Erik Hexum was killed in a shooting accident.

Return
A third Mike Hammer movie re-launched the series in April of 1986. Called “The Return of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer”, this time Hammer investigates a child trafficking ring.

The series returned in September of 1986 as “The New Mike Hammer”, and ran until May of 1987, when it was cancelled.

By then I was in Grade 12, life got busy and I kind of lost interest in the show.

It would return with a TV movie in 1989, then re-boot once more for 26 episodes in the 1997-1998 TV season, but never caught on again.

Parting thoughts
Stacy Keach continues acting to this day, at the age of 82.

It is interesting to see him play Archbishop Kevin Kearns on “Blue Bloods” because his character is much different from Mike Hammer. Yet, in the tone of voice and the look in his eyes, Kevin Kearns looks like he would have had the same toughness when he was the same age Mike Hammer was.

Beyond that, I found “Murder Me Murder You” on YouTube, and it was as good as I remember.

That’s why Stacy Keach will always be Mike Hammer to me.