Murder Me, Murder You

Murder Me, Murder You is a madefortelevision movie starring Stacy Keach as Mickey Spillanes iconic hardboiled private detective, Mike Hammer. The movie marks the first time the fictitious gumshoe would be portrayed on the smallscreen since Darren McGavin played the part in the blackandwhite version of Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer, a syndicated television series 195860. Murder Me, Murder You was the first of two pilots the other being More Than Murder that blazed a path for the 1980s version of the CBS series Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer which debuted on January 28, 1984.

Screenwriter Bill Stratton was awarded the Edgar in the category of Best Mystery Teleplay Special, the first time any Spillaneinspired material was ever given the MWAs top award.The TV movie is significant because it marks the first appearance of Stacy Keach in the role of Hammer. After the second pilot movie, which served as the initial episode of the first CBS series, Keach would go on to star in a third madeforTV movie The Return of Mickey Spillanes Mike Hammer, which was followed by the return of the series to CBS, now titled The New Mike Hammer. He went on to star in a syndicated series, Mike Hammer, Private Eye, in 1997. In 1996 his voice was featured reading the audiobook version of Spillanes penultimate Mike Hammer novel Black Alley, and Keach continues to portray Mike Hammer in a series of radio novels entitled collectively The New Adventures of Mike Hammer. ........

Source: Wikipedia