Hannie Caulder (1971)
Hannie Caulder (1971), directed by Burt Kennedy.
First review
quote
You don't mind riding double with the dead man?
Another Raquel Welch western, R-rated and more brutal than Bandolero! (1968) or 100 Rifles (1969). Lots of blood splatter with vivid red paint, a color not found in nature.
Welch's husband is killed and she is raped by three vicious but comically moronic bank robbers: Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, and Strother Martin. Wandering the desert she falls in with bounty hunter Robert Culp. After some resistance he takes her to master gunsmith Christopher Lee and we have a long segment of her discipleship in the gunfighting martial arts. Then she's after the Clemens Bros.
quote
Lee: Fine looking woman.
Culp: Wants to be a man.
Lee: She'll never make it.
The rape and revenge plot would be pretty grim but the story is softened with some humor and light romance. Originally wearing nothing but a poncho, she later adds pants but still wears nothing else above the waist. It's a wool blanket; that must be rough. She picks up some snappy comeback patter.
The villains are just strange, as if wandering in from a different movie:
quote
Martin: I stole a Bible, Emmett. Do you want to read over Frank?
Borgnine: You know damn right well I can't read! The hell with him anyway!
Would you believe there is a walking on the beach holding hands at sunset with girly music scene?
Stephen Boyd appears uncredited as a mysterious gunman. There's no explaining him.
Filmed in Spain.
Second review
New notes and thumbnails from the Blu-ray.
Raquel Welch's production company made this, so it must be the film she wanted. She would not do nudity, but featured degrading rape and abundant blood splatter. (I respect the decision not to take off her clothes: once everything is exposed the mystery is over, right? There is more power in keeping covered).
The villain brothers wear filthy dusters, which I suspect is a jibe at Leone films.
A weird and nonsensical bit: during the opening bank robbery the camera looks out both barrels of a shotgun, an impossible point of view.
Robert Culp lightly oils his cartridge belt, the first time I recall anyone maintaining their leather gear in a western.
We have a lot of style drift in the score: action, girly romance, comical goofing.
British bombshell Diana Dors has a cameo as the bordello madam.
This is said to be well-liked by Quentin Tarantino, and you can see why. Apart from the rape-and-revenge story, the apprenticeship to the bounty hunter is like the master-pupil relationship in a martial arts film. He particularly liked Culp's master bounty hunter.
My thumbnails are from the original Olive Blu-ray. It looks like it was taken from an old scan done for DVD. The image is brighter than the DVD which helps with contrast, but is otherwise a modest upgrade.
I haven't seen it, but Olive has produced a "Signature" disc from a new scan which is said to have a better image and more extras, including a commentary track.
