DVD Review: Mike Hammer Private Eye Complete series (1996-1997)

In 1947 Mickey Spillane created the character Mike Hammer. A hard nose tough private eye whose adventures were played out  in pulp magazines and comic books. This was all an attempt to pay for his schooling. Little did he realize that this character would endure long after he would pass away.

Mike Hammer has been apart of books, movies and even TV. Probably one of the most popular versions of Mike Hammer was played by Stacy Keach. He played the character not once, not twice, but three times. First in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and a sequel series The New Mike Hammer both in the 1980s. Than 10 years later in 1996 he would put on the fedora one more time in in the series Mike Hammer Private Eye.

This series would sadly onely last two seasons for a total of 26 episodes. But fans of Mike Hammer love these adventures. And now the good folks at Film Chest Media Group have released the complete TV series on DVD so that fans can relive these adventures over and over again.

Mike Hammer Private Eye bring our favorite investigator into the 1990s. He is a bit wiser, tougher and more sarcastic than ever. Along with him in this series is a new blonde secretary Velda (Shannon Whirry) and a new sidekick Nick Farrell (Shane Conrad). Mike is on the case to solve murder and more in 26 1900's throwback film noirs in this series.

Disc One: Prodigal Son | Beat Street | www.murder

Disc Two: Hoop Nightmares | False Truths | Halloween | Body Odor | Sins of the Father | A Penny Saved

Disc Three:  The life you save | The Long Road to Nowhere | The art of Murder | Countdown to Murder | The Cutting Edge | Big Brother's Secret 

Disc Four: A Candidate for Murder | Dump the Creep | Chop Shop | The Maya Connection | Lucky in Love | Songbird Part 1

Disc Five: Songbird Part 2 | Gone Fishin' | Dead Men Talk | A New Leaf Part 1 and 2

A previous release saw these episodes put on two sided discs, which I loath entirely. Here Film Chest Media Group went with 5 single sided disc. Now they easily could have crammed more episodes on a disc, making these episodes suffer DVD artifacts but thankfully they gave us 5 discs instead of 4. The episodes are presented in their original full screen format, so thankfully there is no stretching of the picture to fit widescreen TVs in this generation.

As for the case each disc gets it's own DVD hub. There is no DVD stacking, which is a kind of case I don't really care for. It comes with a glossy slipcover and a booklet insert with a complete synopsis of every episode included in this 2 season run.

Now while Mike Hammer Private Eye may not be the best of Stacy Keach's run as Mike Hammer it is still and entertaining and enjoyable film noir series. It is a true throwback to another time. I really enjoyed jumping in the time machine and seeing this film noir series. I think you will too.

So if you enjoy those films noir adventures, featuring hard nose private eyes with fem fatales. Mike Hammer Private Eye from Film Chest Media Group is a DVD set you are going to want to add to your collection. Head over to Amazon and order your copy today.


Out of 4 TV sets (4 being the best) Film Chest Media Group's DVD of Mike Hammer Private Eye receives...