Hannah Lee: An American Primitive

Loosley based on Mckinley Kantor's novel "Wicked Water", and paralleling the life of outlaw Tom Horn, this film was originaly released in 1953 in color and 3D. Carey is delicious as the villan, Ireland is the Marshall sent to bring him in and Dru provides the love interest. Great title song by Stan Jones,Ireland's only stab at Direction. Orginal release in 3D was fuzzy, blurred-re-released in 1954 in B&W and 'flat,' under the title "Hannah Lee" and shortly thereafter appear on TV. Referring to the film in his later years, Carey stated "A house of wax it wasn't!" Well worth viewing.

"Hannah Lee: An American Primitive" was originally a 3-D movie filmed in color. However, the copy I found was so bleached out, it looked like a black & white film. And, without the 3-D glasses, the film loses a lot as well.

The casting of the lead baddie in "Hannah Lee" was very strange. After all, Macdonald Carey was a very ordinary looking guy and often played in contemporary films as well as having a very long run in soap operas. So seeing him playing a hired assassin in the old west...well, that's a bit odd to say the least.

The story begins with Bus Crow (Carey) arriving in some town and immediately you realize what an awful jerk he is. After slapping the crap out of a kid, he then enters the nearby bar and begins slapping the crap out of the adults there as well. And, he's so mean that no one is willing to stand up to him. Not surprisingly, a group of baddies who want to run everything approach Crow with a proposition...kill a few homesteaders and help drive away all the small ranchers. Considering what a sociopath Crow is, he takes the money...and killings begin. But because Crow is killing folks with a high powered rifle at a great distance, no one can prove Crow is behind the killings....but it is painfully obvious Crow is the murderer.

Because of the killings, a Marshall (John Ireland) arrives in town and he seems to be the only one sure of Crow's guilt or who is willing to stand up to him. The rest of the town is either afraid or paying him!

The inexplicable person in all this is Hannah Lee (Joanne Dru). She runs the saloon and initially hates Crow...then falls for him. Considering how he treated her like dirt and how mean his is, this just didn't make a lot of sense....especially since she is supposed to be a strong career woman.

Aside from the fun in watching Carey's over-the-top performance, there isn't a lot to make this film stand out one way or another. The ending is pretty good but everything is so obvious that there really isn't much in the way of suspense. A watchable time-passer and that's all.

Despite the post-production problems this fine western drama incurred, it remains one of the best westerns of the 50s. Actually, the ORIGINAL 3D title was "Hannah LEE, an American Primitive." Later in 1954, Realart re-released it as "Outlaw Territory" and most often when shown on TV, it was under the title "Hannah Lee." The story is from Mackinlay Kantor's fine book, "Wicked Water" which was based on the life of Tom Horn. Dru, Ireland, and Carey turn out fine performances in a western tale told via flashback, as an old man feeds pigeons on a park bench. Unfortunately, the 3D process used was poor, and the color image was blurred when released flat. TV cut much of the original picture to fit time slots, and rarely has the entire movie been shown. It features a great title song, that ironicly is still available by Johnny Western on CD. If they ever show this one again, be sure to see it.