June 12, 1963 - Opening today is “The Girl Hunters,” a crime drama film directed by Roy Rowland and adapted from the 1962 Mickey Spillane novel of the same name. Exteriors were shot on location in New York with studio scenes in London. Spillane stars as private detective Mike Hammer, marking a rare occasion in film history in which an author of a popular literary hero has portrayed his own character. In the story, legendary detective Mike Hammer (Spillane, pictured with Shirley Eaton) has spent seven years in an alcoholic funk after the apparent death of his secretary, Velda. He is brought back to the land of the living by his old friendly enemy, police lieutenant Pat Chambers (Scott Peters).
