The Screen Test of Mike Hammer by Mickey Spillane

Originally published July 1955 in Male; this edition 1995

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Collected in: Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (ed. Bill Pronzini & Jack Adrian)

M

(D, V)

Drug Use (M) {Tobacco}

Violence (PG)

Representations

Gender:

Women simultaneously as infantilised possessions and dangerous manipulators.

Sex:

Only heterosexuality represented (brief story, but suffused with it)

Race & Ethnicity:

All characters unmarked US, presumed white.

Disability, Physical Diversity and Health:

'Crazy' people as murdering maniacs.

Awards

None found

Notes

This was very short and equally off-putting. Really brought to my attention the mistake I'd made in buying a Mike Hammer anthology - I'd got Mickey Spillane confused with Raymond Chandler. Only three pages long but oozing misogyny and one-dimensional macho heroics that would put an '80s action film to shame. Did not like, considering getting rid of the Mike Hammer collection unread.