"Murder Me, Murder You" is the first Mike Hammer starring Stacy Keach. Following this film, they made a couple more as well as a series. Then, a few years later, the series returned. So this makes "Murder Me, Murder You" the grandaddy of all these Stacy Keach/Hammer films and movies.
Compared to the few other installments I've seen, this first one is VERY weak. The biggest problem is that someone thought that EVERY woman in the story had to be incredibly hot and attractive. Now, I've been to New York City many times and NEVER saw women like these! There's even a dopey courier company where EVERYONE is a hot and sexy lady...sort of. I think Matt Helm films have less gorgeous women who want the hero than this film! It unfortunately made the film ridiculous at times.
In this story, an old flame of Mike's returns to his life. You learn they haven't seen each other in about 20 years and the ex-fiancee has a secret...she bore Mike's love child and never told him. After this ex- is murdered, Mike tries to find his daughter but the trail is quite cold. Apparently she doesn't want to be found because some folks are chasing her.
The death scene involving this ex- was incredibly poorly done. First, the EMTs used the defribulator on her wrong. Second, after only attending to this woman with a stopped heart for 30 seconds, they gave up and tossed a blanket over her...declaring her dead. EMTs do NOT declare anyone dead...that's a doctor's job. And, standard practice is to work on the victim and get them to the hospital as quickly as possible! Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy and it shows the writer had no idea what they were talking about in this scene.
Overall, while I enjoyed Keach playing Hammer, the rest of the film was pretty limp. It does get better later...believe me.
