Un colt pour 3 salopards

After she is raped and her husband murdered, a woman (Raquel Welch) hires a bounty hunter to instruct her in the use of a gun so she can get her revenge on the three outlaws (Ernest Borgnine and two guys) responsible.

Quentin Tarantino said the film was one of his inspirations for Kill Bill. "Why I love Hannie Caulder so much is Robert Culp. He is so magnificent in that movie. I actually think there's a bit of similarity between Sonny Chiba and Uma (in Kill Bill) and Raquel Welch and Robert Culp in Hannie Caulder." You can totally see it during the training montage, which smacks of kung fu movies more than westerns.

And Christopher Lee is in this? How many westerns has he done? None other that I can think of. But what do I know? It is still great seeing him here.

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

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.

Pretty terrific western is outlandish, yet engrossing, satisfying and often funny (both intentionally and unintentionally). After being violently raped, widowed and left for dead by three dirty, cackling brothers, Raquel Welch learns to shoot a gun from hot-headed bounty hunter Robert Culp and hopes to seek her revenge on the mangy trio. Welch is sexy and droll as Hannie Caulder, and we are on her side from the get-go. She receives excellent support from Culp, Christopher Lee as a gunsmith and the three villains, Jack Elam, Strother Martin and Ernest Borgnine. A fairly unusual western which, until "Ms. 45" and "Sudden Impact", pretty much stood alone in the female sharpshooter genre. A large portion of its success belongs to Ms. Welch, convincing and sympathetic while riding the vengeance trail...but always remembering, "win or lose--you lose." Nobody won any awards for this, but it is exceptionally well done. *** from ****

A good solid 70's western of the revenge formula with one vital refreshing story point, a woman pursuing those who did her wrong. And she's not just any old cowgirl, as you may have noticed from the cast list. If the plot as a whole is not one of the most original, the great cast does give a good reason to see this movie. Raquel Welch does what she can in the bit limited role and she does it fine. Three western icons of Elam, Borgnine and Martin make a bunch of villains that is at the same time one of the most revolting and tracelessly funny. If you have liked them in earlier westerns of Peckinpah and Kennedy you get mostly the same great treatment here. Martin especially always ends up stealing the show as the most dangerous idiot in the west ever. Robert Culp gives a good performance as a bounty hunter and killer with a piece of heart still left and a sensible head. And for Christopher Lee fans like me, here he is noteworthy as always and apparently in his only western role of all the countless movie roles he has made. A pretty small role actually but it can't keep a great actor down.

The strong influences of Peckinpah and spaghetti westerns are pretty obvious and mix together surprisingly well. The plot could have deserved a bit more development but it gives fairly good enjoyment as it is, if you enjoy westerns in general. I consider this one of the better films from director Kennedy.