Hannie Caulder

This offbeat Western could have been another standard revenge flick, but the vivid portrayals from the stars inject lots of spice and no small amount of humor into the proceedings.

Raquel Welch portrays "Hannie", and Robert Culp craftily plays "Luther Price", ace bounty hunter, mankiller, and Hannie's mentor.

The real stars of this piece are Strother Martin, Jack Elam and Ernest Borgnine. If you can imagine 'The Three Stooges' as utterly filthy, scummy vagabonds with a propensity for murder, rape and theft, you might get an idea of how this family operates.

Strother Martin in particular is a delight; in the middle of a gunbattle he engages in a clumsy fistfight with one of his brothers over some trivial matter. Another priceless moment is when he presides at a brother's funeral, using a stolen Bible that he cannot even read.

Look for Christopher Lee's subtle and well-crafted performance as a former Confederate gunmaker.

Not your usual Western, this film is well worth watching despite its flaws.

Rated 7.7/10.

The main virtue is more the acting than the story. The smart use of the mix of tension and humor. The presence of Christopher Lee in an atypical role for his career and the most than decent result , Raquel Welch demonstrating more than you expect and Robert Culp giving all the flavors of the lonely stranger from westerns. And, not the last, off course, a great dirty, vulgar, cruel, defining the term family in admirable way , trio gived by Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam and Strother Martin. So, just impressive.

Raquel Welch stars as the title character in this lively, oddball Western that alternates between a serious tone and a comedic one. Ms. Welch, who looks MIGHTY fine throughout, has her life forever altered by the villainous Clemens brothers. They kill her husband, take turns raping her, then burn down her house! Hannie becomes coldly determined to exact vengeance upon them, and keeps pestering bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp) to teach her the fine art of shootin'. Eventually, he agrees.

The movie has an extremely intriguing pedigree: it's produced by the British company Tigon, was shot in Spain, and was directed by American Western specialist Burt Kennedy ("The War Wagon", "Support Your Local Sheriff!"). Not only that, but it actually plays its nasty bad guys for laughs much of the time, and Ernest Borgnine (as Emmett), Jack Elam (as Frank), and Strother Martin (as Rufus) are priceless as they spend much of their time bickering with each other; Martin is particularly funny.

This thing gets off to one Hell of a great start by coming up with a unique way to view a bank robbery: through the barrels of a shotgun! Superb widescreen photography (cinematography by Edward Scaife, camera-work by John Harris), beautiful scenery, and soaring music by Ken Thorne only add to the fun factor. Welch is quite easy to watch, and Culp, in one of his best ever roles, is excellent as the reluctant teacher. Diana Dors is wasted in a nothing role as a madame, but there's still great curiosity value in seeing Sir Christopher Lee here, as he plays Bailey, the kindly gunsmith who lives out in the middle of nowhere; his performance is wonderful. Look also for Aldo Sambrell, uncredited as a Mexican soldier, and Stephen Boyd, who has perhaps the most interesting role in the entire movie, as the mysterious and ultimately helpful "preacher". He utters not a word, yet has an undeniable presence.

A jaunty pace and generous doses of the red stuff help to make this a solid visceral entertainment. Quotable dialogue includes the gem "There are no hard women, only soft men." Clocking in at a trim 86 minutes, "Hannie Caulder" doesn't overstay its welcome, or ever get too draggy. It's sexy, violent, and a real hoot, and one of the influences on Quentin Tarantino's pair of "Kill Bill" films.

Eight out of 10.

By 1971 the ripples the spaghetti western movement were in full effect in both sides of the Atlantic and Hannie Caulder is definitely a product of those times and the progeny of the films of Leone, Corbucci or Parolini more than the traditional oaters of John Ford or Anthony Mann. It's evident in the bloody gunshots, the sexual violence and the way the revenge plot unfolds.

Undoubtedly part of the genre revisionism that turned the western upside down in the early 70's is the genre reversal tactics that director Burt Kennedy employs. We had seen a woman adopting a traditionally masculine role in the bossy, no-nonsense, gun-totting saloon owner Joan Crawford played in Johnny Guitar. Hannie Caulder however takes a different approach and adopts almost verbatim the narrative skeleton of a typical spaghetti western - the anti-hero, traumatized by a past event, looking for revenge. Then proceeds to cast the beautiful Raquel Welch (and her tanned, well toned thighs) in a role that in Italy would have been exclusive to the likes of Franco Nero, Anthony Steffen or Maurizio Merli.

Three bank robbers on the run from the Mexican Federales stop in a horse station, kill the owner, rape the wife, burn the place down and leave her to die. A passing bounty hunter takes the wife under his wing and travels with her to Mexico to meet a gun maker that used to work for the Confederates. It's there that the typical "training" part of the anti-heroine takes place and where she makes the turn from a "wounded animal" to a woman coming to terms with the path of revenge she has chosen. By the end of the movie Hannie Caulder has transformed to a gutsy, smart and wisecracking antiheroine and in no uncertain terms has embodied the "angel of death" aspect of the black-clad antiheroes of the spaghetti western - which is also evident in the final fight that takes place in the middle of a sandstorm.

A major asset of the film is the cast. Not because they turn in Oscar worthy performances - they don't. But it's always heart-warming to see so many familiar faces in the same film. Apart from the ravishing miss Welch, Christopher Lee appears in a brief role as the gunmaker (and it's funny to hear his British accent so far removed from the foggy sets of Hammer studios), Ernest Borgnine yells his way through the film (annoyingly so) as the leader of the three bank robbers and Jack Elam and Strother Martin steal every scene as the other two brothers of this formidable trio.

Ah sue me! I think it's great. Raquel Welch plays Hannie Caulder, a gorgeous cowgirl who is raped and left widowed by three scuzzy brothers played by Ernest Borgnine, Strother Martin and Jack Elam. Hell bent on revenge, Hannie hooks up with smooth bounty hunter Thomas Luther Price (Robert Culp excellent), learns how to fire weapons and pursues her quarry to the day of reckoning.

That is it, it is what it is, Welch is stunningly beautiful and sexy and director Burt Kennedy wastes no opportunities to capitalise on this fact. If we are honest she's miscast, but it really doesn't matter, nor does finding Christopher Lee in the picture as a wily old gunsmith!

The mix of humour with a rape revenge storyline is a little uncomfortable at times, but not insultingly so, while Kennedy has a good eye for action. Edward Scaife photographs (Panavision) pleasingly out of Almería in Spain, and Ken Thorne's musical score trundles along without intrusion.

It's off-beat, even unique, and while it misses the chance to be a feminist Western of some standing, there's a real good time to be had here for those willing to buy into the daftness of it all. 7/10